Beginning the New Journey: “Farther Up and Farther in! (continued)
However, Bishop Guernsey urged the parish to look towards the future and the building of a new DNA for the future of Anglicanism. "We cannot look in the rear view mirror." Bishop Guernsey stated. He encouraged CCA not to just look at itself as part of the 44 Ugandan parishes in the nation but as one of the 300 Anglican congregations across the United States. "Anglicans need to be united. We are all one community whether AMIA, REC, part of CANA or Uganda." While Common Cause Partners are a federation at present, Bishop Guernsey looks forward to a time when they will be all one church. "We are in the midst of a new reformation. A time where we are turning from the declining faith of the materialistic West to the growing faithful Anglicanism of the Global South." He encouraged Christ Church to not only escape the materialism of our culture, but embrace the joy that Christ gives.The objectives of the parish should be to evangelize our community that does not know Christ, to be reliant on Christ, and to do the good God has asked of us in His time and not our own. We should not pray not for just our own needs but to discern God's Will and pray that Will into being. He cautioned against the pitfalls of Christianity like doing that we think God want us to do without discerning his will first or what Bishop Guernsey called 'sub- optimization' – 'doing the very best you can at something that ought not to be done at all' .
Father Brian's and Deacon Nan's Installation was the next day and was a festive affair. Music was provided by a variety of musicians of Christ's Church and both hymns and choruses filled the air. Both Brian and Nan gave their vows to the church community and Eucharist was celebrated. Bishop Guernsey spoke on the Parish centering its life on holiness and discerning God's will for themselves personally as well as a community. Afterwards, a dinner to celebrate the new clergy of Christ Church was held at the Thornton Building for the community.
Sunday, the parish celebrated 3 of it's 9 new baptisms since Fr. Miller came to Butte – including Fr. Brian's youngest daughter, Emily. On this last day, Bishop Guernsey spoke on the need of Christ Church to bring the Light of Christ to others in the community. He stated that we should share Jesus with others because of the need of others (Matt. 9:36-39), because we love them (1 Thes. 2:8), because of the joy of sharing the Gospel (1 John 1:2,4), because of Christ's love in us (2 Cor. 5:14), because of Christ's command to us (Matt 28), because Christ depends on us (2 Cor. 5: 19-20), because it is impossible to be quiet about Jesus (Acts 4:20() and because it will help us grow in our knowledge of Christ (Phil. 6). Christ Church then celebrated Eucharist and enjoyed a meal with Bishop Guernsey before he left for Billings to teach in the evening.
“It was just such a wonderful weekend,” said Kristine Hoenstine. “We had such a great time of fellowship with old friends and new, we saw our clergy officially installed, and were encouraged in our Faith by our awesome new bishop. What a blessing it has been. Nice to know to see our church community not only arriving into its own ministry, but pressing towards new horizons in our Faith.”