Gathering at God's Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This month at the Patheos Book Club, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gathering at God's Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This month at the Patheos Book Club, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"{Take & Read}\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-05-15T18:41:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-05-21T16:25:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/files\/2012\/05\/KatharineJeffertsSchori-247x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deborah Arca\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deborah Arca\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/\",\"name\":\"Gathering at God's Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-05-15T18:41:07+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2012-05-21T16:25:40+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a622c83c6f34ff7abb06463e51081c\"},\"description\":\"This month at the Patheos Book Club, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gathering at God’s Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/\",\"name\":\"{Take & Read}\",\"description\":\""I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" {Jorge Luis Borges}\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a622c83c6f34ff7abb06463e51081c\",\"name\":\"Deborah Arca\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/45ef5b3bd5e9465897c2c3f973e0d324?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/45ef5b3bd5e9465897c2c3f973e0d324?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deborah Arca\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/author\/debarca\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gathering at God's Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori","description":"This month at the Patheos Book Club, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gathering at God's Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori","og_description":"This month at the Patheos Book Club, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/","og_site_name":"{Take & Read}","article_published_time":"2012-05-15T18:41:07+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-05-21T16:25:40+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/files\/2012\/05\/KatharineJeffertsSchori-247x300.jpg"}],"author":"Deborah Arca","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deborah Arca","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/","name":"Gathering at God's Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-05-15T18:41:07+00:00","dateModified":"2012-05-21T16:25:40+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a622c83c6f34ff7abb06463e51081c"},"description":"This month at the Patheos Book Club, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gathering at God’s Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/","name":"{Take & Read}","description":""I have always imagined that Paradise will be a kind of library" {Jorge Luis Borges}","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/f9a622c83c6f34ff7abb06463e51081c","name":"Deborah Arca","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/45ef5b3bd5e9465897c2c3f973e0d324?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/45ef5b3bd5e9465897c2c3f973e0d324?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"Deborah Arca"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/author\/debarca\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1878\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1878,"date":"2012-05-15T12:41:07","date_gmt":"2012-05-15T18:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/?p=1878"},"modified":"2012-05-21T10:25:40","modified_gmt":"2012-05-21T16:25:40","slug":"gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/takeandread\/2012\/05\/gathering-at-gods-table-a-qa-with-presiding-bishop-katharine-jefferts-schori\/","title":{"rendered":"Gathering at God’s Table: A Q&A with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This month at the Patheos Book Club<\/a>, we are delighted to be featuring a new book by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori, called\u00a0Gathering At God\u2019s Table: The Meaning of Mission in the Feast of Faith<\/a><\/em>. \u00a0The book is a beautiful and passionate exploration of the meaning of mission in the context of contemporary life, and offers a profound reminder of our role in God\u2019s vision for a restored and reconciled world. Click here to read an excerpt from the book.<\/a><\/p>\n

$\"\"$ <\/a>We had a chance to ask the Most Rev. Jefferts Schori a few questions about her book. \u00a0Her responses follow.<\/p>\n

Why did you write this book and who did you write it for?<\/strong><\/p>\n

This book was developed from sermons and addresses I\u2019ve given in the last couple of years.\u00a0 It addresses mission in its broad sense, because this is a season in which the Church is remembering that its task is to turn outward to do the work to which God has called it.\u00a0 Most of that work is \u201cin the world\u201d rather than \u201cin the Church.\u201d\u00a0 I put those phrases in quotation marks because there is not nearly so much distinction as most people think.\u00a0 The work of mission means what we are sent to do.\u00a0 It cannot have its primary focus on those who are already members of the Church.<\/p>\n

In the Christian tradition, mission has often been understood in terms of proselytizing. How does your definition differ \u2013 or resonate \u2013 with that? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Mission work is not so much about proselytization, but about transformation.\u00a0 Counting conversions is not the point \u2013 changing the world is \u2013 and it often happens one person at a time.<\/p>\n

Do you expect this book to change anyone\u2019s mind? About what?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do hope this book expands how people understand mission.\u00a0 The fault line between at least a couple of Christian \u201ccamps\u201d is whether mission means evangelism or mission means social justice work.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think you can separate the two, and I think mission is actually broader than both together.\u00a0 I also see signs that the wider Church is beginning to heal those divisions, in the hope that together we can do far more than any one of us alone.<\/p>\n

What is the biggest challenge to the Church for living a more mission-focused faith? \u00a0And what\u2019s at stake if we fail to embrace our role in this work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Part of the difficulty in most western parts of the Church today is the intense self-focus.\u00a0 Mission invites, encourages, and prods Christians to recognize that they don\u2019t exist for themselves but for the world.\u00a0 To many people it feels safer to stay inside and focus on people who are already \u201cin\u201d the church, but that is not the way of life.\u00a0 Education, formation, and worship are essential parts of the inward work, but they rot if they don\u2019t put all of that to work in serving, ministering to the people beyond the in-group.\u00a0 Missionaries put their gifts to work in God\u2019s mission to heal and transform the world \u2013 and we have countless missionaries doing that in their daily lives, without leaving home.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"