Bishop's Mission Corps in Mississippi

Welcome to the web site of the Bishop’s Mission Corps. We’re glad you found us and hope that the time spent here will give you an insight into a remarkable group of young adults who have found in the simplicity of the Benedictine rhythm of prayer, study, work and play a deeper understanding of the Christian faith and a renewed commitment to serve a broken world in the name of Jesus Christ.

In the midst of a very noisy and often confusing world, participants in the Bishop’s Mission Corps step aside to live in community for 40 days at Gray Center, the camp and conference center of the Diocese of Mississippi, where they have the time and space to listen to the still, small voice of God. That experience of knowing God within the stillness of the soul gives a new perspective to the serious work of mission that is also a significant part of the 40 days.

If this sounds interesting, we invite you to explore this site to see if God might be nudging you toward a new, and yet very old, path of discipleship. Perhaps you might wish to tell others about who we are.

In all things may the God of peace be with you.

Faithfully,
+Duncan

Please read the information provided at http://www.bmcms.org/?q=node/50 or in the "Aberdeen Information" section of this website. Downloadable documents pertaining to the summer mission are available. Please read through them and consider signing up for the this unique ministry!

Activities offered by the Bishop’s Mission Corps

The following is a tentative list of the activities planned for the forty-day BMC experience scheduled for 2008. Each one of these activities is featured in the tentative schedule also provided. As always, we are open to your suggestions. If you feel that the explanations provided are inadequate, if you think any activity itself could be improved, or if you would add or take away activities…let us know.

Prayer
1) The Daily Offices- The BMC’s association with monastic lifestyle is primarily found in its members’ commitment to a daily cycle of prayer. Morning prayer (Matins), Noon Day (Diurnum), Evening Prayer (Even Song), and Compline are to be observed daily within the community, and members will share responsibility for leading daily worship.
2) Silence- To each day will be given a period of greater silence and a period of lesser silence. This practice also comes from the Benedictine monastic tradition and its function is to supply time in the day for meditative prayer. Lesser silence begins after lunch and usually last about an hour. Greater silence begins after compline and lasts throughout the night until the opening words of Matins. The periods of silence offered may sound challenging to some, but they should be considered as an important opportunity for spiritual development. In contrast to the busyness of life, entering into the daily rhythm of silence helps to gain control over thought processes and adequately calm the spirit and mind. Also, the BMC will offer supplemental disciplines, including lectio divina (sacred reading) and centering prayer, in order for members to get the most out of holy silence.

I Love You God. It is a simple phrase and it is rarely said aloud. Several months ago I was talking with Katie and telling her “I love you” over and over again, as I do when our conversation is coming to an end, when I had the realization that I never really simply tell God I love you. I tell Katie as a proclamation of my love for her. I proclaim that love and let her know that yes I do love her. So why not God as well.
It could be me just being me and thinking too much into it. People I have told this to have said, "well we show God that we love him by helping others and living into his will." But is that all you can do. I also have had people say to me that we say I love you God every Sunday and I went to look at the language and it isn't there. We do say that the greatest commandment is to love our Lord God above all, but then after saying that we don’t say “and we do love you”. We leave it at that and go on never stopping to contemplate what it means to love God and to admit to yourself that you love God!
I don’t know what Katie would think if I one day I just stopped saying I love you! Or better yet, what if the phrase was only uttered in the ceremony at church where we publicly proclaimed that love. It simply does not make sense to me. We have statements of belief or faith in the creeds so why not a statement of love for God! A statement that says yes we are trying our best to put your will before our own and we do love you very much. We return that love that you give to us so freely as best we can.
These are simple things that I think most Christians seem to overlook or at least they don't vocalize them. We say the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul. We say that, but it is not the same as actually loving God and telling God that yes we do love you! Whether you like it or not, whether you make us mad or not, no matter what, We Love You God!!!

Hello all. I wanted to post a testimonial that I gave to our group at the beginning of our time together in September. This personal account of my faith struggles goes into some dark territory and at times into the irrational language of a frustrated adolescent. Yet the words are a true expression of the absence of belief that has been at the center of my being for the past few years. I am happy to report that the Mission Corps is helping me to escape the existential selfishness that you will find present in these words and that I believe myself to be a witness to God's presence in the world. So, bare with me friends.

I have also included a poem from Charles Bukowski that I read aloud to the group and I believe supplemented the undercurrents of my testimonial.

Reflection 1
September 10, 2007

I think Frank Wilson, the author of Faith and Practice, is correct in his observation that nothing can be absolutely proven. From scientific conclusions to definitive knowledge of our own existence, the hole of incomprehension is perpetually being blown wide open. Religion is one of the more successful human constructs to put in place of this void, but it is not enough for many.
While Wilson uses this observation to launch a preponderance of evidence for the existence of God, its implications plead me to begin in another place. If I can know no thing with a degree of absolute certainty (which, as I have said, I am willing to affirm with imperfect certainty) then I must start with what is closest to my own subjective account of what it is that I am. Here is where that begins.
I am alone.
I am the psalmist who holds contempt for his creation.
I am defined by negation.

Over the past two months we have been working with Gilmore Early Learning Iniative which is part of the Gilmore Foundation which is a non a non-profit foundation in Monroe County. G.E.L.I's mission is to provide the necessary resources to facilitate learning to the children of Monroe County. The Foundation works with many different groups to try and reach as many children as possible.

The BMC has been working with many different parts of G.E.L.I from their monthly reading parties to going to different day care centers in the county and constructing various items that would help with education of a child so they will be ready to start school. The reading parties are held on the third Tuesday of each month in Aberdeen, Mississippi and on the fourth Tuesday in Amory, Mississippi. We have witnessed an increase in the number of attendance since our first G.E.L.I party. "Geli", a gigantic and fun- loving dog , always joins the children in the fun of reading. There was a young girl at the last party who came late and was distraught that she had missed the reading with "Geli". Her behavior caught me by some surprise and also tugged at my emotions. It showed that this organization is positively affecting the lives of the children. It also showed to me a cry for knowledge and the desire to learn. At the reading party that was held in Amory it was cold and rainy but there was still a large turn out even with a move to another location across the street because of the weather. The desire to learn to hear the words of the story is growing in Monroe County. After watching a young child bring her copy of Pumpkin Pumkin to Church that she got at the reading party shows that Gilmore Early Learning Iniative is succeeding in all that they have set out to do.

Psalm 38 v9-15

O Lord, you know all my desires,
And my sighing is not hidden from you.

My heart is pounding, my strength has failed me,
And the brightness of my eyes is gone from me.

My friends and companions draw back from my affliction,
My neighbors stand afar off.

Those who seek after my life lay snares for me;
those who strive to hurt me speak of my ruin
and plot treachery all the daylong.

But I am like the deaf who do not hear,
like those who are mute and do not open their mouth.

I have become like one who does not hear
and from whose mouth comes no defense.

For in you, O Lord, have I fixed my hope;
you will answer me, O Lord my God.

Many folks are interested to know how the community is responding to our presence among them. Indeed, we are a daily presence in the streets and community life of Aberdeen, we make weekly trips to Amory, and our mission work has led us to all corners of Monroe County. In all of these locations we have been greeted graciously by our host and are very thankful for the friends we’ve made. Furthermore, our communion with the people of St. John’s, who have been very hospitable and helpful in our mission, is prospering. The only discord between the community and our mission that I am aware of has come from the larger community.

Last week we went over the last section of Faith and Practice, in which we discussed the problem of pain and evil. The problem comes from the attributes that we understand God to have which are that God is good, omniscient, omnipotent, and we do not fully understand exactly what that means. We also look at the world around and see that there is evil, or at least what we perceive as evil. Then we look at God and say, well if God has those attributes then why is there evil in the world. Wouldn't the Good God have created the world without evil? Wouldn't the omniscient and Omnipotent God be able to stop evil?

These questions are even the bases for many arguments against the very existence of God. People chose that it is better to give up on God completely rather than wrestle with these. But, that is not what we as Christians are called to do. We are called to wrestle with these questions and to love God, even when we don't really understand what this is all about. This is something that many people have done from St. Augustine, to St. Thomas Aquinas, C. S. Lewis, Bishop Frank Wilson, and countless Christians throughout the ages. It is part of living in this fallen world that we deal with the problems in it.

This brings us to St. Augustine. His thoughts on this problem are the bases for the churches teachings on the matter. Augustine argues that, in the allegory of the garden of Eden, God created everything good. So nothing that came from God was inherently evil, it was all good. God also created man with freewill. Because we have freewill God created us with the ability to choose against God, which is to choose evil, since all that is good is from and of God. In the allegory man chooses against God and therefor is sent out of the garden and is fallen. In the fallen state man brought evil into the world and therefore God did not cause evil.

As last Monday started as I started to pack for the trip that would take me to Camp Coast Care, my body was filled with different emotions. I tried to prepare myself mentally since this was my first trip to the coast after Hurricane Katrina.
Although I thought I was ready, my eyes were not prepared for what I saw that memorable Monday night. Highway 90 was the area I was most anxious to see, so when I finally saw it, several emotions came over me. While heading west to the camp, I was happy to see that the locals were trying to bounce back to the norm by holding the annual Coast Car Show. My happiness was quickly tainted as we drove between the Beach and the camp, because I began to realize that most of the houses and buildings were completely gone. I remembered people saying that they would get lost because most of the landmarks, historical and new, were no longer standing, but I still was not prepared for the sites I was seeing. The storm had not only taken away the tangible things, but it had destroyed memories. As we pulled into the camp, a rush surged through my body that felt almost like a rush of adrenaline mixed with a sense of calm. I believe that my feelings of adrenaline that to me seemed to come from the energy of the camp.
At six o’clock the next morning, I was ready to hit the ground running. Members of the Camp Coast Care staff greeted us and informed us of our first task for the day, which was removing windows from a house. Jordan, one of the members of Camp Coast Care, recommended we break the glass first to make removing the windows easier, but I found it more exciting to take the seals out without breaking the glass. One of the things I noticed that day, was that several families are still residing in FEMA trailers.

What does it mean to be a Christian? This is a question that I have been asking myself a lot these days. Just to give you a perspective on where my thoughts come from I am a person who likes to tie things together. I look for similarities and patterns in everything. The church is the place where I have put my focus, and that inquisitive nature of mine has caused me to ask this question. The simple reason is that I look around and see hundreds if not thousands of “Christian” denominations and ask another question. Who knows what a Christian is? Then I take another step back and see the other religions in the world. This brings many different questions up but I will stick with our original question: What does it mean to be a Christian?
We believe in Christ. That one is fundamental to being Christian so I would hope that there is no question about Christ being essential to being Christian. There may be debate about Christ’s divinity, but I will go ahead with the Anglican theology that Christ is both Man and Divine. So Christ has a duel nature just like they make duel core processors for computers that have double the processing power in one chip. We have Christ who has double the nature, both divine and human. I think that most people who call themselves Christian’s can agree on this.

Watson, Bailey, and I visited the Monroe County Home last Thursday before our trip to the coast. The home houses several elderly and mentally challenged persons and is located about 10 miles out of Aberdeen. Our intentions were to visit for the afternoon and discover new opportunities for our mission. Not only did we find an excellent opportunity for mission, but we also found a group of delightful people with much to share. I found that my own expectations were greatly exceeded.
This particular thread of ministry has always been one that has intimidated me, although I cannot completely trace the source of this apprehension. On a completely superficial level, the thought of visiting the elderly could mean suffering through a ghastly boredom. I can recall the prospect of ministering to the elderly coming up in my time as a member of the junior high EYC, shortly thereafter accompanied by a painful remark coming from someone in the group like, “Awww, do we have to?”. The foolishness of such remarks and such attitudes is clearly evident to any with a mature understanding of our Christian vocation. While these thoughts still may assault our conscience, they should be dismissed in light of our call to sacrificial love.
If I can place myself out of this first immature category, my remaining anxiousness was due the fact that I struggle in awkward social space. This anxiety is something that plagues me in almost every social setting, and I always feel that it is my duty no matter what the circumstance to fill any lapse in conversation. If I am unable to fulfill this duty, my self-confidence comes under fire. Consequently, I found myself particularly threatened by communicating and ministering to the elderly, because my inclination causes me to think that we could not have the first thing in common. All could potentially be lost in the generational gap and would amount to an afternoon of festering stress and discomfort.

Watson, Bailey, and I visited the Monroe County Home last Thursday before our trip to the coast. The home houses several elderly and mentally challenged persons and is located about 10 miles out of Aberdeen. Our intentions were to visit for the afternoon and discover new opportunities for our mission. Not only did we find an excellent opportunity for mission, but we also found a group of delightful people with much to share. I found that my own expectations were greatly exceeded.
This particular thread of ministry has always been one that has intimidated me, although I cannot completely trace the source of this apprehension. On a completely superficial level, the thought of visiting the elderly could mean suffering through a ghastly boredom. I can recall the prospect of ministering to the elderly coming up in my time as a member of the junior high EYC, shortly thereafter accompanied by a painful remark coming from someone in the group like, “Awww, do we have to?”. The foolishness of such remarks and such attitudes is clearly evident to any with a mature understanding of our Christian vocation. While these thoughts still may assault our conscience, they should be dismissed in light of our call to sacrificial love.
If I can place myself out of this first immature category, my anxiousness is due the fact that I struggle in awkward social space. This anxiety is something that plagues me in almost every social setting, and I always feel that it is my duty no matter what the circumstance to fill any lapse in conversation. If I am unable to fulfill this duty, my self-confidence comes under fire. Consequently, I found myself particularly threatened by communicating and ministering to the elderly, because my inclination causes me to think that we could not have the first thing in common. All could potentially be lost in the generational gap and would amount to an afternoon of festering stress and discomfort.

Formal Education Session I

Faith and Practice- by the Rt. Rev. Frank E. Wilson
Morehouse Publishing, Wilton, CT. 1939

Supplemental Reading:

Theological Outlines- The Rev. Fr. Francis Hall
Wipf & Stock Publishers (September 2004)
ISBN-10: 1592448615
http://disseminary.org/hoopoe/dogma/2005/07/theological_out.html

Summa Theologica: St. Thomas Aquinas
Christian Classics; New edition (June 1, 1981)
ISBN-10: 0870610635
http://www.newadvent.org/summa/

During this session we will look at Bishop Wilson’s book, Faith and Practice. Although this book is over fifty years since its first printing, it still has much to offer, and is considered by many to be the best introduction into Anglican faith and practice.

This session will be comprised of six meetings, in which each student will lead two meetings apiece. Each meeting leader will be asked to:

1. Prepare and lead an Inquirer’s class (or a class designed to introduce the un-churched to the faith). The class should be about one hour in length and should deal only with the material in the section the student is asked to cover.
a. The student should come prepared to introduce the material with confidence in a coherent manner. The other students, along with Fr. Reich will ask questions and participate as if they were inquirers to the Christian Faith.
b. The student leading the meeting will be asked to turn in an outline or ‘leaders guide’ for the section taught. The leader of the meeting may employ a variety of teaching methods or use material or aides within the Church of Saint John.

The second hour of formal education will deal with reflections on the section assigned. The other two students (who are not leading the meeting) will be required to submit a reflection paper dealing with (but not limited to) the following concerns:

1. An insight into the faith that was prompted by the book.

Hello and good day to all you cyber-heads. I hope this message finds you well.

Part of our continual duty as a member of the BMC is to share our reflections of this unique experience with the public. This exercise is meant to supplement the posts of our daily activities with a deeper account of how they are transforming our lives. My hope is that sharing some of my own testimony will encourage or, God willing, even inspire potential participants to sign up and carry out this ministry to its fullest. Our diocese is blessed with young adults of immense spirit and talent, and to think of what we could accomplish through this program is truly inspirational.
Because this ministry is so new, it has been difficult for us to let others know exactly what we are about. Frankly, we are still in the process of hatching that purpose out in its entirety, so please bear with us. This is especially true of our project here in Aberdeen.
In my own effort to share with my peers exactly what it is I am doing and why, many of their responses seem to carry the same misunderstanding. Namely, many of those I have talked with believe that they could never make it through the Mission Corps experience. They understand what I am doing to be very admirable, but see it as something that requires a MONUMENTAL commitment. While I will admit that the nature of this program is counter-cultural and certainly involves commitment, I believe that to think this way is to sell yourself short.

On Sunday September the ninth the three members of the Bishop Mission Corp along with Father Jeff Reich and his family blessed the house on 207 Meridian St.. The house was blessed with Holy water as well as incense in accordance the Rite of a House Blessing. The Blessing started in the front yard and moved into the house where each room was then blessed. It was a fun blessing and each person had a smile and a laugh as the service moved along.
House blessings date back to the time of early Christianity in which prayers are offered to protect members of the house from evil spirits. During the blessing, a prayer is said and then Holy water and incense are flung about the room. Along with the Blessing of the House, Father Jeff blessed a Shrine which contains two Icons (an Icon of St. Benedict and one of St. Elias) and Cross with a depiction of the Last Supper.
This was the first house blessing that I had been to in which incense had been used. To me the incense made the service more special. The fragrance seemed to make the service more holy. Father Jeff did a terrific job of leading the service and we appreciate all the hard work he already put into our ministry! Pictures were taken during the service and they can be found under the photos section of this web site and they can also be found on our Facebook group page, The Friends of the Bishop's Mission Corps.

God Bless,

Thomas Bailey Ward

Hello everyone,
We have just completed our second week in Aberdeen. I am sorry that it has take us this long to post on the site. We are going to try to post every week and there will be some pictures up soon.
Well, it has been a wonderful beginning to this new ministry and CJ, Bailey, and I have been adjusting to the simple Benedictine life style. We started off Friday before last with Mass at St. John's. Everyone at the parish welcomed us with open arms and the did a pounding for us on the following Sunday. We are very thankful for the reception into the community of Aberdeen, it made our first few days a little easier.
On that Sunday we began our schedule for the year which goes as follows:
Sunday:
Morning Prayer, Breakfast, Adult Sunday School, Mass, lunch,
lesser silence, evening prayer, dinner, Inquirer's Class(Book
Study in the future), free time, compline, greater silence
Monday:
Morning Prayer, breakfast, Formal Reflection, Holy Work,
noonday prayer, lunch, lesser silence, Holy Work and
Household Errands, evening prayer, dinner, free time,
compline, greater silence
Tuesday & Thursday:
Morning prayer, breakfast, Work with Gilmore Early Learning
Initiative(GELI), noonday prayer, lunch (either on site or
back at the house), Mission Work (either in the community of
Aberdeen, in the prison system, or with GELI), evening
prayer, dinner, free time, compline, greater silence
Wednesday:
Morning Prayer, Breakfast, Silent Study, noonday prayer,
lunch, lesser silence, formal education, evening prayer,
dinner, free time, compline, greater silence
Friday & Saturday
Morning prayer, Then we are off until compline on Saturday
but we will still be observing the offices and maintaining
our prayers in our off time. This time is used to go and see

We are so excited about the Aberdeen Mission Project, beginning next month. The members who will be participating have met and we have new information. There will be three missionaries living in a house that we have rented out in Aberdeen. C. J., Bailey and Watson will begin their internships on August 24. This will go on through May 11, 2008. On July 13, 2007 they elected the officers for the house. They are as follows.

C. J. Meaders ............................................ Sacristan
Watson Lamb .......................................Housekeeper
Bailey Ward ..........................................Guest Master

Dates will be posted soon concerning the blessing of the house. Check back for more information as it becomes available.

On Saturday, July 14, 2007 the following article appeared in the Clarion Ledger. Click Here for the original article

By Jean Gordon
jmgordon@clarionledger.com

CANTON — Since early June, C.J. Meaders has punctuated his days with prayer, reciting litanies and chants at sunrise, noon, early evening and before going to bed.

"The word I keep using is 'rhythm,' " the recent University of Mississippi graduate said. "That's something I didn't have in my school life."

Meaders, 24, is one of four young Christians who's been spending part of his summer living like a Benedictine monk. But rather than donning dark robes and cloistering themselves from society, members of the group typically dress in shorts and T-shirts and spend a good deal of time volunteering around this Madison County city.

"The impetus is to help young adults not so much with monasticism to explore religion as a vocation, but how to live a Christian life," said the Rev. Jeff Reich, vicar of St. John's Episcopal Church in Aberdeen, during a visit with the group this week. "The main reason is service to people in need."

Called the Bishop's Mission Corps, the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi launched the program last summer to help young people figure out how to use their faith to serve others.

A nine-month Mission Corps will be held August through May in Aberdeen.

"I'm trying to give my life meaning," said Lauren Wainwright, 24, of Hattiesburg, who joined the program after completing her graduate studies in political science. "This gives me a chance to breathe."

Service Work

Participants share a cottage at the Duncan M. Gray Episcopal Camp and Conference Center, where they eat, pray and work communally.

Update: Sunday, June 8, 2007 - I uploaded even more pictures from the forty day experience... Please check them out

We just finished posting some of the new pictures from the Bishop's Mission Corps Forty Day Experience. Please take a look. Click on Photos in the left menu, or click here

God Bless

We are now in the process of putting resources into the Reference library for the purposes of education of the Benedtine pattern of life, spirituality, the life of St. Benedict, as well as many other topics.

Please feel free to browse and read. You can view our library by clicking here. You may also select "Reference Library" on the left menu.

If you find anything that you think should be placed in there please feel free to contact us.

Thanks...

On August 24th The Bishop's Mission Corps (BMC) began their newest project in Aberdeen, Mississippi. This new ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi is the first of its kind.Its purpose is to provide an opportunity for Anglicans in their 20's to participate in a longterm internship program, which is based on a Benedictine pattern of life. This internship will give the participants a deeper understanding of what it means to be Christian in today's world. They are working with Gilmore Early Learning Initiative (GELI) on service projects in Aberdeen and Monroe County. There will also be many other opportunities for mission work in the community of Aberdeen.
Along with mission work the BMC will be immersed in prayer and learning. They are observing the daily offices, and assisting Father Jeff Reich, Vicar of St. John's Aberdeen, with all church services. As a part of the prayer we invite those who wish for us to pray for anything to send a prayer request to bward@bmcms.org or through our Facebook group Friends of The Bishop's Mission Corps. The learning aspect of the Aberdeen project will encompass Anglican studies, as well as structured discussions on what it means to be a Christian. These discussions will stem from spiritual reflections which members of the Corps present to the others.
Please remember that part of the mission of the Bishop's Mission Corps is to honor your prayer requests. Prays can be sent to bward@bmcms.org or the Facebook page.

You may now apply to be apart of the Bishop’s Mission Corps online. You may do this by going to Forty Day Experience, Application Instructions, then Online Application.

In the summer of 2006 a group of seven people (six young adults in their early 20s and a priest), at the initiative of the Bishop of Mississippi, spent forty days together at the Gray Center near Canton, Mississippi, living as an experimental Christian community informed by the insights of Benedictine wisdom and tradition. Each day involved intentional times of prayer, manual work, study time, silence and rest.

There were two major projects:
1] Camp Caritas, a summer camp program for the children of prisoners;

2] Regular visits to Yazoo City at the edge of the Mississippi Delta, looking at the opportunities and challenges facing many people in Mississippi, and considering how the Church might best serve in that context.

Out of that forty day experience came a plan for how the Bishop’s Mission Corps might develop in the future. There are very many economically disadvantaged cities in Mississippi, struggling with a variety of social problems; therefore: