St. John's, St. Cloud, welcomed their new priest last month. The Rev. Richard J. Bormes comes from the Diocese of Missouri, where he was Canon to the Ordinary for six years. He is a "second-career" priest, having previously been partner in a real estate business in Deephaven, MN. During those years he was an active layman in the church. After going through deacons' training, he concluded that his true calling was to priesthood, so he started again "from scratch," attended seminary at Seabury-Western in Chicago, and was ordained priest by Bishop Anderson in June 1989.
Dick Bormes summarizes his theology of priesthood this way: "I believe that the ministry of Jesus Christ is given to the whole community of the Baptized. What is essential to my ministry as an ordained person is the task of uncovering the grace and gift of the ministry of all people; not dispensing ministry, but making it viable; calling people to the reality of our mutual life in Christ in our Baptismal covenant. I see my role as one of leadership as priest, pastor, teacher in the Spirit through compassion and story."
Dick has bought a house in St. Cloud. He has three grown daughters and two grandchildren in the Twin Cities ("close enough, but not too close"). He likes to bike, walk, ice skate, and ski crosscountry, and is a "serious gardener"; indoors he is a "good cook and novice bread baker."
The congregation of Grace Church, Royalton, is closing. They will hold their final service on Sunday, November 14, at 1:30 pm. Everyone is invited to join with them in this celebration of their history, as they remember their past mission and ministry, and prepare to join in ministry with other congregations.
Cedar Morrigan, our regional lay representative on Diocesan Council, has resigned to answer a call to be part of the Spirit of the Heartland Total Ministry Team. Many thanks to Cedar for her ministry in the past year. We hope to elect our new representative at Diocesan Convention. If you are a convention delegate, while you are in Duluth, please look for our Region Dean, Myra King, to be updated and to cast your vote.
We have a group of people from several Region III churches preparing to be licensed as preachers:
Good Samaritan, Sauk Centre, is recovering from their Friday the Thirteenth disaster. The wall that collapsed that day in August is being rebuilt. The new wall, facing Main Street, includes two windows from Grace Church, Royalton, along with the newly repaired rose window and the only remaining original window. The congregation, which has been worshiping in the parish hall, plans to be back in the sanctuary for Advent to welcome the community for Lessons and Carols.
The new Spirit of the Heartland Ministry Team is temporarily without a minister to coordinate communications, so MotherFlash has generated an interim cyberminister: "Team Talk." Team Talk is an online discussion board or forum, free and open to the public, for discussion of church and theology, for posting news or your favorite quotation, for requesting prayers, or even for talk of beagles, roofing, or raccoons. Stop by and read the notes and/or join the discussion: http://www.MotherFlash.com/discus
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