Ian S. Markham - Faith Rules: An Episcopal Manual

FAITH

RULES

AN EPISCOPAL MANUAL

IAN S. MARKHAM

WITH SAMANTHA R. E. GOTTLICH

For our mothers, who always had faith in us:

Beryl Evelyn Markham
(19271981)

Jennifer Rose Gottlich
(19572015)

Copyright 2016 by Ian S. Markham

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

Unless otherwise noted, the Scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Morehouse Publishing, 19 East 34th Street, New York, NY 10016

Morehouse Publishing is an imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated.
www.churchpublishing.org

Cover design by Jennifer Kopec, 2Pug Design
Typeset by Rose Design

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress

ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-3297-7 (pbk.)
ISBN-13: 978-0-8192-3298-4 (ebook)

T he truth is that none of us have ever lived before. From the youngest infant to the oldest elder we are all novices, kindergarteners, beginners at life.

I suspect that is one reason we need God. If I may say it this way, God has been around quite a while. The Bible sometimes speaks of God as Ancient of Days. There is a great well of wisdom for living in the Divine. And the human family has also learned some things over time, well worth passing on.

Ian Markham and Samantha Gottlich are two disciples of Jesus, yet two people representing different generations, two people from different countries of birth, one the dean of a seminary and the other seminarian studying at a seminary.

They share two profoundly significant bonds, though. They are both children of God, and they are both baptized disciples of Jesus Christ.

A disciple is one who learns from and lives by the teaching and wisdom of a great teacher. We who are Christian are disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, learners of his way, living in his Spirit.

In this wonderful book, or guidebook, or tract for our times, they have gathered and given voice to some rules of faith and living that have roots ancient and deep. The wisdom in these pages has been gathered over the centuries of human being living in relationship with the God and with fellow human beings. What they share with us here is nothing less than the wisdom of the Way of Jesus, the wisdom of the Ancient of days who came among us in the person, the life, and the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth.

In one of their rules they suggest that the great composers know that the miracle of music is really the result of the mystical discovery of the transcendent in our midst. And that mysterious process of creation by a composer can lift the hearer up into the same transcendent realm of glory when the music is played or performed.

But part of the mystery of the miracle is that the music is made by reading and interpreting little notes on a piece of paper.

This book is a series of little notes. But what music they make.

Y OURS IN C HRIST ,

M ICHAEL B. C URRY

P RESIDING B ISHOP OF T HE E PISCOPAL C HURCH

R ead this, Davis Perkins, the publisher of Church Publishing Inc., said to me as we sat together having a Coke at General Convention in Salt Lake City. It was Michael Pollans Food Rules. And think about the question: what would The Episcopal Church equivalent look like? he added. On the flight home, I did so. It was a great readone epigram on each page, with a short explanation. The epigrams were memorable, wise, and insightful. By the end of the flight, I had a draft of sixty-four rules for Faith Rules.

Therefore let me begin by expressing my gratitude to Davis Perkins. He is a hardworking, proactive publisher who is constantly ready to work with an author to fill a gap that the market doesnt yet know is there. It is impressive. It is always a delight to work with him.

Robert Heaney suggested the title; Samantha Gottlich brought excitement, energy, and a willingness to draft rules. We convened a small group of readers; so thank you to Dr. Lisa Kimball, Ms. Heather Zdancewicz, Ms. Jackie Bray, Mr. Austin Smith, Mr. Luke Markham, and my wife, Lesley Markham. Naturally all mistakes remain our responsibility, but we appreciated the energy and advice.

Wendell Berry gave us permission to reproduce his poem, Grace, from Poetry Magazine, June 1967. We are grateful to Ryan Masteller for his careful stewardship of the manuscript into production and to the highly talented Benjamin Hart who has produced the remarkable illustrations.

Finally, writing is always a shared role. Katherine Malloy in my office creates the space in the calendar. My senior teamMelody Knowles, Barney Hawkins, Heather Zdancewicz, Katie Glover, and Justin Lewis-Anthonyare a great support at all times. And as the book was written, I appreciated afresh our friendship with Gloria Ventura.

I AN M ARKHAM

I share Ians gratitude to Davis Perkins and to the team who read our manuscript. Thank you for supporting us in this project. And I am grateful to Ian for the opportunity to collaborate on this book. It has been a great experience.

Writing this book has offered me time to reflect on my own faith journey, so Id like to take this opportunity to thank all those who started and helped me along the way. To my grandparents, who gave me my first Bible and introduced me to The Episcopal Church, the countless youth leaders, camp counselors, and priests who showed me what it meant to live and love in Christian community, and my brother, JD, for being the love project incarnate, thank you. Im especially grateful to my students, co-workers, and mentors at the Episcopal Student Center at the University of Texas who lifted me up and affirmed my calling throughout the discernment process for Holy Orders. Im grateful to Austin Smith for the courage, strength, and faith he shares with me every day. And I am thankful for the faithful guidance and mentorship I continually find within my community at Virginia Theological Seminary.

S AMANTHA G OTTLICH

Faith Rules is an invitation to live life under the rule of faith, through these sixty-seven rules that take a person to faith and then into the Christian faith and then into The Episcopal Church. It is written out of the conviction that life lived in the context of faith is the only way to live authentically. We believe that God really is. We believe that if we live attuned to the deep dynamics of existence, then we will sense the transcendent love of the cosmic all around us. Therefore we start the book with an invitation to the seeker to start living life sensitive to the depth and textured nature of reality.

This book is written out of the sense that the tradition of Anglicanism, which is embodied in the form of the Episcopal Church here in the United States, is a beautiful blend of thoughtfulness and faithfulness that can speak powerfully to the predicaments and challenges of being human in the twenty-first century. Religion is often ugly. It can be intolerant, bigoted, cruel, anti-intellectual, and unable to accommodate modern discoveries. The Episcopal Church tries very hard to witness to an alternative reading of faith. We aspire to learn from and accommodate the best of modernity; we welcome disagreement; we want to challenge our deep-seated prejudices; we believe that reason has an important role to play in faith; and we try as hard as we can to focus on the big picture, what we are calling the love project.