1. Radical Sending: Mt. Everest, the Church & the Base Camp
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Radical Sending:
Mt. Everest,
the Church
& the Base Camp
PrentissLowe Productions present Radical Sending: Mt. Everest, the Church and the Base Camp.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

2. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Everest Base Camps
Whoever treks Mt. Everest or any high mountain needs one or more base camps along the route. They are the watering holes, the safe places along the journey, necessary for the hike and the hikers. Here are several base camps for Everest climbers, located at strategic places for the climb.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

3. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
At the Basecamp
Base camps support the hikers in many ways, among them food, guidance, support, equipment, affirmation, shared stories, rest and recuperation.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

4. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Being Equipped
To make the trek, the hiker especially needs to be will equipped.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

5. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Trekking
But the base camp is not the destination. It is a way station for the hikers on their journeys.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

6. The Church as A Base Camp
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
The Church as A Base Camp
One image that may be useful is that of the church as a base camp for a hiking expedition. This is a fruitful image for the church.
The church is a base camp in which a community of people gathers to reflect on life, be reminded of their identity, and make plans for exploration. From there, each person goes out during the week to take on that part of the mountain that is theirs to explore. The base camp exists to serve the climbing team. In itself, it is neither the goal of the expedition nor the mountain itself. The value of this image is that it affirms the importance of the community and institution but it does not mistake the institution for the central reality.
Let’s consider a metaphor: the local congregation as a base camp. Reflect on those things which a base camp provides: food, guidance, support, equipment, affirmation, shared stories. Are they not similar to what a local congregation might provide its members/hikers? [Note: Read this slide.]
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

7. People deserve our help in making help of all seven days.
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
The hikers don’t exist for the good of the base camp.
The base camp exists for the good of the hikers.
The implications of this view of the church’s role for working people are clear. The church needs to focus on its timeless tasks: it is to be a place of worship, education, and community. But it also needs to evaluate how well it is empowering people for the work on the mountain those other six days.
The church exists for the people, not the reverse.
People deserve our help in making help of all seven days.
The Rev. Dr. Steve Jacobsen
Hearts to God, Hands to Work, Alban Institute
Sometimes a congregation gets this reversed, that the hikers/the members are there to make the base camp, the congregation, run better. We need to remember that the base camp exists for the good of the hikers. The hikers don’t exist for the base camp. [Note: Read this slide.]
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

8. The Hiker’s Calling The Ministry
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
The Hiker’s Calling The Ministry
Q: Who are the ministers of the Church?
A: The ministers of the Church are lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons.
Q: What is the ministry of the laity?
A: The ministry of lay persons is to represent Christ and his Church; to bear witness to him wherever they may be and, according to the gifts given them, to carry on Christ’s work of reconciliation in the world; and to take their place in the life, worship, and governance of the Church.
Book of Common Prayer, p. 855
So let us take a look at what it means to be a hiker/member of the Church. In the Episcopal Church’s Catechism we find the definition of Ministry. Notice the order. The very first order of ministry is lay persons, then bishops, priests and deacons. Then notice the priority of a lay person’s ministry. The first three are calls in one’s daily life of home, work and community. Last is the church role. [Note: Read this slide.]
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

9. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Through our Baptism we are called and empowered to be Christ in our own worlds of family, work and community.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

10. The Hiker’s Job Description The Baptismal Covenant
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
The Hiker’s Job Description The Baptismal Covenant
Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Father?
People: I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Celebrant: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, the Son of God?
People: I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended to the dead.
On the third day he rose again.
He ascended into heaven,
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
Celebrant: Do you believe in God the Holy Spirit?
People: I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic Church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting.
So the Catechism defines who the hikers are and what their ministerial calling is, primarily in their daily lives. Now we move to the hiker’s job description found in the Episcopal Church in the Baptismal Covenant. (BCP P ). It begins with the Baptismal (Apostles’) Creed, that ancient affirmation of the Church’s faith. That it comes first underscores why Christians do what they do, their motivation. It undergirds all that follows.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

11. People: I will, with God’s help.
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Celebrant: Will you continue in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant: Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord?
The job description follows with the hiker’s ministry in and with the base camp; being nurtured, supported, fed and forgiven.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

12. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
It is within the congregation’s life that it provides the community in which the hikers are prepared for their journeys.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

13. People: I will, with God’s help.
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Celebrant: Will you proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ?
People: I will, with God’s help.
Celebrant: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving you neighbor as yourself?
Celebrant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
Then the focus of the job descript shifts from inside the congregation’s doors to the world of the hiker’s daily life.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

14. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
Our calling to be Christ’s eyes, ears, hands and feet, to be salty and light-hearted Christians. (Matthew 5: 13-16)
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

15. The Hiker’s Marching Orders The Dismissal
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
The Hiker’s Marching Orders The Dismissal
+ Send us now into the world in peace, and grant us strength and courage to love and serve you with gladness and singleness of heart (p. 365)
+ And now Father, send us out to do the work you have given us to do, to love and serve you as faithful witnesses of Christ our Lord. (p. 366)
+ Go in peace to love and serve the Lord. (p. 366)
 + Let us go forth into the world, rejoicing in the power of the Spirit. (p. 366)
Finally the sending, the radical sending, of the hikers into their world of home, work and community. We have been commissioned by our Baptism, in the Eucharist we have been fed for the journey, and now we are given our marching order: GO!
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

16. The Liturgy through the Lens of the Dismissal
A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
The Liturgy through the Lens of the Dismissal
When the Liturgy comes to life, the Liturgy comes to life!!
“If we get the dismissal right, we get everything right and make the whole world, the Eucharist.”
Gregory Pierce
The Mass is Never Ended
When the liturgy comes to life, the liturgy becomes connected to life. When the liturgy becomes life giving, it connects with real life.
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.

17. A supplement to Radical Sending: Go to Love and Serve (Morehouse, 2015).
So, as the baptized, let us go forth into our worlds rejoicing in the power of the spirit. Let us “walk wet,” remembering the power of our baptism to shape our lives and the way we choose to live. That is when the liturgy comes to life!! Thanks be to God!!
Copyright © 2015 Demi Prentiss and Fletcher Lowe. All rights reserved.