2018-5 - The Free Will to be Biased

In our project we have now completed the Holy Cow Survey, the active listening sessions, created and distributed a profile of “us” (not a profile of what we are looking for), invited and received applications to be our new Bishop.

This is a reflection of the detailed work involved in reviewing the application letters and supporting documents including an Office of Transition Ministry (OTM) ministry portfolio, a resume, references and essays answering 4 key questions:

1.    As you read our diocesan profile, what most excites and challenges you about the possibility of serving as Bishop of the Diocese of San Diego?

2.    Tell us about a personal experience of cultural challenge and/or reconciliation. How did it affect you?

3.    In a time when some see the church in decline, how do you plan to help the church flourish in the 21st century?

4.    How does your ministry proclaim hope?

Candidates were asked to write their essays in ways that avoided revealing their race, gender, geographical locale, etc., and then the essays were further were redacted as much as possible, so they could be read and reviewed without bias or prejudice.

At the start of this work I was inexplicably drawn to 1_Corinthians 12:12-31 where St Paul describes the church as being one body with many parts, starting “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ”.

I prayed, reflected on this passage and recognized it is not just the church which is a body with many parts, our applicants also reflect the body of Christ in their ministry and aspirations, and our Nominating Committee is also a body with many parts.

As part of the body I needed to recognize even though we are one body, I am endowed with my own biases and free will to make my own decisions on what I was reviewing. What I may relate to in one application may not be the same for all committee members.

Before starting the task of reviewing the applications I read the notes provided by our Consultant on how to avoid bias in decision making and investigated the theological aspects of both bias and free will. This exercise later proved to be invaluable as I formed my impression of each candidate.

In my investigation I was especially struck by the theology of free will and how it not only applies to my acceptance of God’s gift of salvation, but also applies in my everyday thoughts and decisions.

Although the biblical view of free will is formed by the “fall” into sin by Adam and Eve and their willfully disobedience to God, there is now also the concept of freedom in all choices.

Often freedom and free will are used as synonyms but when I was reading the definition by Mortimer Jerome Adler, an American philosopher, educator, and popular author, I found I was struck by his definitions of freedom as:

v  Circumstantial freedom from coercion or restraint that prevents acting as one wills,

v  Natural freedom (a.k.a. volitional freedom) to determine one’s own decisions or plans, inherent in all people, in all circumstances, and without regard to any state of mind or character,

v  Acquired freedom to live as one ought to live which requires a transformation of a person to acquire a righteous, holy, healthy state of mind and character. This is the freedom from being enslaved to sin we all need to live up to Jesus’ commandments to love God and neighbor.

Then I started to define my own theology and decided I am most influenced by the teachings of Jacobus Arminius, the 14th century Dutch theologian.

I believe that while God is all-knowing and always knows what choices each person will make, still gives them the free will to make choices regardless of whether there are any internal or external factors contributing to that choice (circumstantial, natural or acquired).

When I started reviewing the applications I was very conscious that I have free will, and the freedom to state my own thoughts on the suitability of the applicant to be our Bishop.

I also recognized, just as with all the members of the Nominating Committee, I had my own biases that up to this point I had not really taken a good look at.

With my biases operating at an unconscious level, I was in danger of arriving at different interpretations of the exact same data from other committee members.

I may not intend to prefer information that confirms my beliefs, and I am sometimes not aware of all the ways I cater to this preference, but as with all members of the body I am susceptible to what is known as confirmation bias.

Conscious I am constantly bombarded by social media and half-truths in the news, and I can readily access a variety of news and information sources which confirm my beliefs and bias I needed to turn to my “bias recognition lens” to search for my own blind spots. It is these which could cause me to avoid, ignore or decline information I suspect may be negative or challenging.

When looking at scripture I was comforted in the knowledge there were others with firmly held beliefs throughout the bible which God needed to change.

St. Peter believed Gentiles who followed Jesus should practice all Jewish customs.

St. Paul believed such a requirement was adding to the gospel unnecessarily.

These Saints both received visions which revealed God’s will, expanded their understanding of God’s kingdom and changed their biases.

Looking past my own unconscious biases was challenging and took additional time in the reviews but I felt this was necessary to do what I was called to do to the best of my abilities.

In all the document reviews I tried to take what I had learned about free will and bias and applied the guidelines our Consultant had provided:

1.    Do give evidence and explanation to back up your decisions,

2.    Do make sure to give everyone, or no-one, the benefit of the doubt,

3.    Do make sure waiving of rules is done consistently,

4.    Do not insist on certain characteristics such as likeability, modesty or deference, from some and not others,

5.    Do not make assumptions on what people want or are able to do,

6.    Do have a clear definition of vague concepts such as “culture fit” if applied,

7.    Do give honest feedback.

During this process I was tempted to match the profiles and applications to the redacted essays.

I resisted the temptation and found that I felt a lot better about the results of the reviews and discernment.

In reflection, I now find this was a very powerful exercise which gave me the opportunity to resist temptation to cheat on the process, recognize my biases, change my beliefs, consistently apply my own free will in decision making, and the freedom to present my views.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will_in_theology

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2017/june/how-our-unconscious-biases-shape-our-beliefs.html

http://biasinterrupters.org/wp-content/uploads/Identifying-Bias-in-Performance-Evaluations-Worksheet.pdf

2018-4 - Ears to Hear

So far in our project I have; 1. Been called to serve on the Bishop’s Nominating Committee, 2. Attended a retreat which brought the team together and molded us through a common purpose and process, 3. Helped set up communications across the diocese and publish the process, the timeline, the biographies of the sub committees and frequently asked questions (and answers).

At this point I felt that the sub-committee teams were being formed and the exciting work was about to begin.

It was time for “"Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear."(Mark 4:9)

First, there was the need to listen across the diocese and gather information about each community’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges. We achieved this through a Holy Cow Landscape Survey which gave an overall view of how the diocese saw itself plus 357 specific suggestions the respondents would like considered.

At this point the Listening and Surveying Sub Committee planned and arranged the active listening sessions across 9 geographic locations. As the whole Nominating Committee was to be split across locations to conduct the listening sessions I was drawn to Mark 6:7 when Jesus “called the twelve and began to send them out two by two“.

Theologically I felt the Holy Spirit was with us in the listening process planning and with each congregation as they answered the call to participate in the sessions. As I prayed on this and looked for relevant passages of scripture to support my feelings, I was guided to Luke 10:2 “These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So, pray to God who is in charge of the harvest; ask for more workers to send into the fields.”.

When the sessions started, it seemed obvious to me the workers (attendees) we prayed for came!

To me, the start of each session was rather like a worship service, starting with a prayer and then preaching the objectives, guidelines, processes to each team.

All the attendees were to be split into multiple, diverse groups to discuss the 4 key questions the Listening Sub Committee had developed.

Just like many of the attendees I was surprised by the questions.

I was expecting direct questions such as “What do you want in a Bishop” or “What should our next Bishop be like” but the questions were expertly crafted to elicit discussion and opinion, including:

·         Who are we?

·         Who are our neighbors?

·         What is God calling me to do right now?

·         How can our Bishop help me (us) do what God is calling us to do?

In each group every person was given the chance to answer these questions followed by group discussion. Notes were taken to present to the Nominating Committee.

In these sessions I noticed how important it was to actively listen, to concentrating on what is being said rather than just passively ‘hearing’ the message of the speaker.

What I am reminded of again and again, is that listening is one of the most important interpersonal communication skills and unlike “hearing” is not something that just happens. It is an active process which requires a conscious and constant decision to listen to and understand the messages being delivered.

When I was actively listening, I tried to engage all senses, give full attention to the speaker, show interest in what was being said, be neutral and non-judgmental, not take sides or form opinions, and be patient.

In all these conversations if there were pauses and short periods of silence I was tempted to jump in with questions or comments, but I made a conscious effort to focus on the speaker instead.

I found this took energy, humbleness and patience to give each person adequate time to explore their thoughts and feelings and to focus on the message they were delivering through their speech and non-verbal signs. It took personal concentration and God’s grace for me to “have ears to hear”, rather than a tongue which would not be still.

I found I was not just listening and waiting to give a preconceived reply, I was listening with an open mind and open heart, recognizing that each person had different and valuable thoughts, feelings and a message to share.

Within the sessions and the resulting notes, I could see the Holy Spirit at work in all the discussions, reminding me of Isaiah 55:11 “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it”

At each session we had prayed, gave the word in the objectives and questions, and truly it did not come back empty. Together we all succeeded in our purpose and gave the information needed to develop the profile of our diocese.

From the Holy Cow Landscape Survey, listening session notes, and photographs from events across the diocese the Profile Sub-Committee wanted to develop a document which captured the sense of the people and the mission of the whole diocese. The profile would be pictorially and visually rich, focused on the community and convey the current mission, the geographical and cultural richness, and complexity of San Diego.

I felt that in the sessions we did have “ears to hear”, we did listen to each person and the Holy Spirit then guided the development of the profile.

Rather than publish a job description or laundry list of what we wanted in a new Bishop this profile would communicate a description of us, our neighbors, what we are being called to do and then asked nominees to tell us how they could help us.

Again, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit our words would not return empty.

In reflecting on the complicated process of active listening I think each community was heard and provided the information to develop a profile reflecting our hopes, dreams, and our challenges, but more importantly God’s will for our Diocese.

I think this part of the project is where God challenged all of us to respond to what we are being called to do, but one question to ask yourself is “Can you identify similarities and dissimilarities in how you actively listen and act on what you hear?”

2018-3 - The Tower of Babel

In my last blog I described the initial Bishop Nominating Committee retreat where I was allocated to the “Communications Sub-Committee”. Now was the time to “roll our sleeves up” and start working.

One of my tasks was to assist in defining what we needed to communicate, to whom, and how often. When thinking about this task I started to wonder why communication should be so difficult.

I prayed about this, and as I looked at scripture to help me understand why we do not communicate easily, I was guided to Genesis 11:1-9 - The Tower of Babel.

“Now the whole world had one language and a common speech.  As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there. They said to each other, “Come, let’s make bricks and bake them thoroughly.” They used brick instead of stone, and tar for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves; otherwise we will be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” But God came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. God said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” So, God scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel — because there God confused the language of the whole world. From there God scattered them over the face of the whole earth”

Even though the words "Tower of Babel", from the Hebrew word balal meaning to jumble or to confuse, do not appear in the Bible and is referred to only as a city and tower, it is now a phrase used to describe the confusion caused by multiple languages and miscommunication.

This story is an etiology, a narrative that explains the origin of a custom, ritual, name, or other phenomenon. It explains the origin of the multiple of languages and cultures.

God was concerned that by working closely together to build the tower the people were trying to determine their own destiny. God brought multiple languages into existence and as a result, humanity was divided into linguistic groups, unable to understand one another.

A first century Jewish interpretation explains this as a story of pride, an act of defiance against God, and resulting punishment.

Later interpretations proposed God's actions were not punishment but were motivated by the desire to expand humanity through multiple languages, multiple cultures and diversity across the entire world.

It is in these interpretations we see two different theological questions:

1.    Was it God’s punishment for the sin of pride?

2.    Or was it God’s gift of multiple languages and cultures, each with its own value?

In looking at God’s actions as a punishment I interpreted it as:

·         The people started with one language, 

·         They wanted a tower to reach the heavens, to make a name for themselves, and for nothing to be impossible for them,

·         They would no longer need to rely on God,

·         God recognized the sin of pride in their achievements and that they were moving away from their right relationship,

·         God punished them by scattering them all over the earth with multiple languages, so they would not work together and would need to rely on God’s benevolence.

In looking at God’s actions as the gift of grace to further develop the spirituality and culture of humanity, I interpreted the same words as:

·         The people started with one language,

·         God encouraged the people to reach for the heavens to make a name for themselves, so nothing would to be impossible for them,

·         God wanted to recognize their achievements, their belief, and wanted to expand their relationship,

·         God helped them expand across the world by giving them multiple languages and diverse cultures, so they would have to strive to work together and build relationships. 

When thinking of Genesis 11:1-9 as punishment I saw communication as a problem to be solved. Each message I developed would need a transliteration from my own Anglo Catholic viewpoint into multiple languages, irrespective of the culture of the people with whom I was communicating.

In thinking of Genesis 11:1-9 as God’s grace in building multiple and diverse cultures I saw communication as an opportunity to develop a neutral and meaningful message which could be translated considering both the language and the culture of the recipients.

Whilst working on the Communications Sub-Committee this thinking of multiple and diverse cultures as a gift from God provided me with the opportunity to put into practice what I learned in the School For Ministry (SFM) liturgy classes.

Our discussion on Vatican 2 taught us about the limiting aspects of transliterations versus the increased understanding through translation of liturgy into local languages which reflect both local language and culture.

By attending a few bilingual services, I have noticed there is a difference between reading Spanish without really understanding the message (or sacramental worship) versus taking a well-crafted, neutral message and delivering it into a Latino culture, translated using words which would be understood and relevant to the needs of the recipients.

In all my Communications Sub-Committee work I have taken the positive view it is the God’s grace which allowed the worldwide development of languages and diverse cultures. I try to ensure the message and information to be distributed is focused, factual, and does not contain my own cultural bias before sending it to be translated by someone who is a member of, and understands, the Latino culture we are communicating with.

Even with this understanding of communication, multiple languages, transliteration, translation, and multi culture there remains the theological questions; were God’s actions in Genesis 11:1-9 punishment for pride or the gift of grace to humanity?

2018-2 - Holy Spirit Led Meeting

When I was accepted onto the Bishop Nominating Committee I started thinking “why me? what have I got to offer?”

Then I started thinking about how this was also opportunity to praise God for all my blessings and I a remembered what someone said at a meeting I had attended “Stewardship is All you do, with All you have, All of the time”.

The Bible says God created everything, including us, and gave everything everyone has. Looking at it with this in mind “giving back” is also “All we do” (volunteer work) with “All we have” (skills and talents) and “All of the time” (using some of the valuable time God has gifted).

In praising God for all blessings, I should simply think of saying “thank you” by giving back and this work was my opportunity to use the talents, skills and time God has given me.

God has blessed all people with different skills and talents expecting them to use them to build the kingdom of heaven here on earth. This starts with concentrating on building relationships which reflect a right relationship with our Lord.

1 Corinthians 12 states “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many” and ….. “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it”.

In Romans 12, St. Paul proclaims the body is comprised of interdependent parts which cannot function alone: “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully”

So, I prayed about how could I be a part of a team and use my skills, talents and time. 

To start I needed to identify the skills and talents God has given me and say thanks for these gifts.

With the invitation to be part of the work of the Diocese, I was to be part of the team of Lay and Clergy called “to present a diverse slate of 3 to 5 candidates by November 16, 2018; following with the election of the 5th Bishop of San Diego”.

The first part of using our time was to attend a retreat held at the Mission San Luis Rey de Francia in Oceanside.

With a Search Consultant leading us, and 2 Chaplains supporting us in services and prayer, we applied the techniques of Active Listening and Appreciative Team Building to discuss and agree on the work to be done, build us into one team (body) and into sub committees (functions).

This “body” is a diverse group of 18 people from all parts of the Diocese, who based on their skills self-selected into sub-committees and defined their roles and responsibilities as:

·         Educating and Communicating, to provide document sharing, calendaring, web pages and online interview facilities. The team will also develop and distribute education material on the role of the bishop, history of the diocese, how a bishop is elected, and the ordination of a bishop, details on the nominating process and regular sub-committee progress reports, 

·         Listening and Surveying, to set up surveys and meetings throughout the diocese to collect needs, concerns, and ideas for determining the next bishop,

·         Profiling, to develop and publish a profile of the diocese, including such items as information form the listening sessions, history, financial overview, demographics, institutions, governance structures, ministries, mission or vision statements of the diocese. This information will be supported by pictures of communities as work throughout the diocese.

·         Nominating and Screening, to determine and action a plan on how to recruit possible candidates. They will develop forms for nomination, marketing and advertising material

·         Interviewing and Discerning, to manage the standard and objective interviewing process including initial application screening, second round online interviews, petition candidate interviews and the face-to-face discernment retreat.

The team was from all parts of the Diocese and as we met as “one body” we also aimed to work as “one body”. The only way we were able to do this was to listen to the Holy Spirit and allow ourselves to be guided.

When I think of the leaders of the early church, St. Peter and St. Paul, I can recognize they did not agree on many things, didn’t get along most of the time, and finally went their separate ways in their missions.

St. Peter insisted the early believers must follow the old ways, must be circumcised, and must adhere to the Jewish Law as defined in the Torah.

St. Paul’s vision led him to distant lands proclaiming faith in a risen Christ and urging believers to conform their lives to Jesus’s New Covenant.

What they had in common, though, was both understood the invitation to serve and build God’s kingdom.

During the retreat I felt the Holy Spirit was present, guiding discussions and decisions on how best to share skills, talents and time.

I felt the Holy Spirit enter our space from the first moment the Chaplains prayed for us until they conducted the Eucharist and sent us on our way.

I am sure that like St Peter and St Paul we won’t all agree on everything and may agree to disagree on some aspects, but as God’s work is undertaken the “body” and “functions” will be called to be open to guidance from the Holy Spirit.

2018-1 - Called to Serve

I am sure you have similar memories as mine of playing with friends after school. When I was growing up I was fortunate enough to live in a small semi-rural town in middle England where I could play outside in the afternoon and evening.

We lived in a house at the end of a cul-de-sac in an area full of young families most having only one car which was usually parked in the driveway, which gave me and my friends the dead-end road to play on.

After school we normally met and chose 2 sides for a game of street soccer (or football as we called it). We would play until it started to get dark or until we had the dreaded "call" for dinner.

Each time a parent would call their child in for dinner you would see a blatant attempt to ignore the call or pleas such as "just one more goal, please”, “just another 10 minutes please”, “can I come in when (“insert friends name here”) comes in?”, requests that recognized the call but were just delaying in the inevitable.

Fast forward a few decades and I was still too busy to heed a call. I was busy working or just trying to fill all my spare time with leisure such as going to the gym, walking, running, going to the cinema, or playing pickleball. 

This means I was also too busy when God tried to call me. Not a call to stop what I was doing but a call to take a moment to listen. 

Over time I had become accustomed to hearing God's call to serve, but I also thought I was an expert in ignoring it or providing excuses as to why I could not do what was asked.  But our God is very persistent, and the call is not likely to go away. 

In seminary I studied “calling” and how it happens through the process of Kenosis, from the Greek word for emptiness,which is the "self-emptying" of my will to become entirely receptive to a “divine will”. This is similar in all religions, sometimes referred to as the will of God or Allah, or the way of Brahman, Nirvana, the Tao (pronounced Dao), Dharma, Cosmos or the Almighty.

When called I am emptied, either totally or partially, which provides a void that is filled by the Holy Spirit to guide and direct my decisions, words and actions.

This kenosis is not something that happens once. It is happening all the time, I am constantly being emptied of self and filled with the Holy Spirit.This process transforms my thoughts and how I understand what I am called to do.

Recently I was called to serve on a Diocese wide team to nominate candidates to be our new Bishop.

First there was the email invite asking people to consider applying. This was ignored but then my Rector asked if I felt called to help and said it would provide an invaluable experience of working on a project at the Diocesan level.

This time I thought and prayed about it and the more I prayed the more I felt I should apply, which I did.

After a few weeks I had forgotten all about the application and then received a telephone call saying my application had been accepted and could I attend a weekend retreat to start the Bishop Nominating Committee process (more on that later).

I said “Yes” and soon after felt an emptying and trepidation over what I had just agreed to. When it dawned on me what I would be part of, the filling with the Holy Spirit took over and I was both elated and exhilarated.

In talking to others about “Calling” I am not the only person who had this experience, and I can now look back and wonder how I could have possibly thought of rejecting the invitation.

As it says in Matthew 20:1-16 we are called to work in God's vineyard, some in the beginning of the day, some at the 3^rd hour, the 6^th, 9^th or the 11^th hour. But as Christians we are all being called to serve in some way.

So, if you are feeling God calling in some way what can you do?.

Well, first stop and take time to listen. All the important things you are doing that you think cannot be delayed right now will actually wait 30 minutes, an hour or a whole day.

Then go somewhere quiet, pray, listen and enter into a conversation with God about what you are being called to do. It may be helping others as a volunteer, it may be spending more time studying scripture, it may be more involvement in the church, it may even just be as simple as talking to God more often through prayer.

Whatever it is, our God is not one who can easily be ignored or put off by worldly excuses, so just listen, say “yes” and be ready to embark on a wonderful and rewarding journey.