Episcopal Relief and Development personal reaction and debrief

I will admit I've never been one for leaving any thing up to providence. But that is exactly how I ended up being a seminary coordinator for Episcopal Relief and Development. On our incoming class retreat we were given the opportunity to "discern" who was called to work with as a representative to the seminary on this cause. In this process of discernment we went around in a group and shared our strengths and weaknesses. As it turns out I think I said something of particular interest to my classmates because they unanimously elected me to be one of the *six* coordinators between CDSP (Church Divinity School of the Pacific) and Episcopal Relief and Development.

Being that I was one of six people who were tasked with the of representation of this group that I had never heard of (Episcopal Relief and Development) to the school I felt like it was a bit of a sham to be honest. Do you really need six people to promote a fund raising, and outreach program that is built into the Episcopal church to an Episcopal seminary? Felt awkward.

Well I just attended my first seminarian network meeting for Episcopal Relief and Development this past weekend - and I am unable to express how much of a difference it has made in my understanding and appreciation of this kind of work.

I'll be honest and say I've always had great respect for those who work in non-profit, but I am hesitant to say whether it is a lifestyle that I would ever like to take on for myself. As I traveled to Virginia for the seminarian network meeting of the Episcopal Relief and Development I was quite suspicious of the whole situation - I was concerned it was going to be just a bunch of people sitting around a table talking about how saving lives is important, but not really doing any thing about it. As it turned out this suspicion was only partially true - we did sit around a table and talk, but we were talking about some very tangible ideas and gathering some great information.

I was quite moved by the fact that the meeting was held at Virginia Theological Seminary - the implications of this for me included the fact that I was able to visit a very good friend in Washington DC, and being a history nerd I was able to really embrace the locale and appreciate the history VTS has played in the Episcopal church. And in the midst of visiting my friend in DC I was able to experience the city as an adult, which is quite different from my random trips back as a child. I was able to talk about politics a little bit, and recognize the impact that things like a faith based organization can have to the politics even of a staunch atheist. The recognition that DC is both a monument to our nation, as well as a working city that runs our nation is a bit of a head trip. But in the greatest sense of the word realizing DC as a city, and monument is empowering. As someone who has been questioning the point of graduate school for a few weeks it was refreshing to feel like there is a place for a non-secular mind, in this secular world we live in (but don't get me wrong I still won't define the divinity for you).

What frustrated me most about the meetings this weekend were the varied theological understandings of what social justice within the context of the church entails. There were some in the room who felt that although by working to save the lives of those less fortunate we are not fulfilling out baptismal covenant unless we are trying to save their eternal souls as well. This frustrated me to no end simply because I am a person who sees the world through fairly secular eyes however I feel that I certainly have a tinge or religiosity to my world view. Within this religious-cum-secular view that I bring to the table I was simultaneously frustrated and confounded as to why social justice does not automatically equate to doing justice in the name of God.
Further more are we in any way failing our baptismal covenant by saving the mortal lives of people, or does our covenant require us to seek the eternal salvation of a person no matter their own belief? Further is it not the duty of the leaders of the church to help the people in the pews understand that whether you call yourself Episcopalian, Catholic, Baptist, or any other variant that it is your duty to help save the lives of those less fortunate. To me this is the great disconnect that I felt: I would rather have four living Muslim kids than one dead Christian kid - I mean that in the most sarcastic notion possible; but in reality I am far more concerned with the generation that I can help than the possibility of saving the soul of one person. The salvation of that one person is between that person and the Divine, not between me and my covenant as a person of faith.

I am invigorated, and really excited that the the secular political world has a place for a confused crazy kid like me. We'll see how it all shakes out...