Worship, Witness, Acts of Compassion
Emphasize the practices that define us
Address to Diocesan Convention 2004
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
October 16, 2004
Sisters and Brothers in God's bakery,
Tunkhannock
I have met with the vestry and rector of St. Peter's, Tunkhannock, twice since
their disaster last month. What impressed me most was their total lack of
whining or self-pity and their calm focus on doing what needs to be done
without panic or fear. They have been very much on my mind as a kind of role
model of late. I should acknowledge that before I say anything else. They're
a good example for us.
Archdeacon
You have heard for yourselves in today's eucharist what kind of person will
be serving our common life as archdeacon and I can only express my gratitude
to Father Stringfellow for his taking on this demanding ministry. [Read
the sermon he preached at the Convention Eucharist] The twelve months
since we last met have gone by very quickly and have, as we all know, included
some moments of difficulty. However, as I look back over the year, I find
I have many more happy moments for which I will always be thankful.
Presentations on reading Bible today
Slightly over 1200 of us met in what turned out to be 11 meetings throughout
the diocese to consider the basics of our faith, how we interpret the Bible,
and how we read it in the face of contemporary issues. While I found those
presentations and the public discussion energizing, I was touched most deeply
by the private conversations that followed in most places. People with a
wide variety of viewpoints offered moving testimony to their walk with Jesus
Christ.
I will carry with me in particular the witness that
parents made both publicly and privately on those 11 evenings about
the treatment their children had or had not received from God's people.
These encounters solidified my long-treasured awareness that the
core energy in this diocese is the sincere desire to follow Jesus
in this time and place, that our areas of pronounced disagreement
are overshadowed by our common commitment to the Lord.
I will be making a similar teaching tour of the diocese
during Lent, with a less heavy topic, but with the continued agenda
of giving us opportunities to study the scriptures and our mission
together.
A strong sense of identity
As any soccer parent can tell you, Christian faith is no longer culturally
supported. The choice between keeping our baptismal promises and fitting
in with our peer group grows more difficult every year.
We can learn something from others. As the renaissance
of American Judaism in the post World War II period has taught us,
religious groups that intend to survive best do so by emphasizing
the practices that define them. For Christians, those practices are
worship, witness, and acts of compassion. Religious groups that do
not provide their membership with a strong sense of identity, identity
at some cost, fade to irrelevance. As Episcopalians we have a rich
heritage of practices that I am glad to see increasingly emphasized.
As I visit our churches, the thing that strikes me
is that despite their wide variety of style and manner, most of our
parishes are not focused on themselves. The majority of our parishes
understand themselves as communities where Christians are built up
and nurtured so that they can be of some earthly use to their savior
and be on the planet in the same way that he was: proclaiming, healing,
giving of self.
A priest for whom I have considerable affection said
recently to me that, in and through it all, he does indeed want to
be a one-issue priest: his one issue is life in Jesus Christ in all
its fullness.
That attitude is visible in so many ways among us:
we have had youth from Morgantown and Clarks Summit (and no doubt
other places) go to give their presence and their hard work to communities
in the developing world last summer. The Episcopal Church Women,
as you have heard, have worked overtime to care for the needy. New
Bethany Ministries has had a healthy increase in support, and I hope
some of you took the opportunity to visit them yesterday.
The churches in the Lehigh Valley from Emmaus to Jim
Thorpe on one axis, and from Trexlertown to Easton on the other axis,
have oversubscribed a building project for Habitat for Humanity.
You will have a chance to buy a tee shirt from them both to assist
and give witness to this project and their next effort.
The Via Media program, an evangelistic effort somewhat
like the Alpha program, is drawing standing-room only crowds in Allentown,
and we will shortly be training leaders for this program throughout
the diocese. There are, indeed, people who are interested in what
we have to offer.
Kajo Keji
As I wrote this, I had before me the accounting statements from Kajo Keji in
Southern Sudan. By the end of September the weekly shipments of food to the
refugees stood at 100 tons, with about half of the money expended, so they
are safe for a month and a half.
When word of this disaster reached me, I knew you would
respond, but I was not prepared for the depth of generosity and compassion
you have shown. [At press time, funds sent to Kajo Keji by the Diocese
of Bethlehem approached $75,000.]
Contributions continue to come in. You may be tired
of hearing me about this, but I babble on because I do not yet have
the words to tell you the depth of my emotions at what the people
of this diocese have done to fend off death in that suffering corner
of Africa.
Some parishes have deficits this year, one has had
a devastating flood, but no parish represented in this room today
turned a deaf ear to the cries from Africa. This outpouring has been
what I will cherish about the year 2004 above anything else. In January
when I bring your regards to the Sudanese in person, it will be full
of the awareness that our hearts, mouths, and money have truly met.
AIDS in Africa
Our World Mission committee continues to monitor the AIDS crisis in Africa.
I hope you will look at their display and talk with Dr. Ned Wallace as you
have opportunity.
Hearing the call to ordained ministry
If the response to the cry from Africa was the most moving experience I've
had these last twelve months, it was not the most surprising.
We have a new and delightful problem. There is a dramatic
upsurge in college-age persons hearing a call to ordained ministry.
I will be meeting with another young man in his twenties on Tuesday.
While that is very encouraging, it also presents a challenge. College
students already have debts and don't have significant resources.
Seminaries cost what all education costs these days - and the Episcopal
Church is the only major denomination that has never significantly
subsidized its seminaries. As I was rejoicing in the presence of
these young people, I was also worrying about how we could assist
them with this costly enterprise. Then the phone rang. Repeatedly.
It was a persistent man from St. Luke's in Lebanon, a man whom I
had never met, who called to say that he would like to start an organization
in the diocese with the aim of assisting seminarians by means of
a club modeled on those in Philadelphia and other areas of the country.
I'm going to ask Mr. Bud Katzman to stand. Please memorize
his features. He will be contacting each of your parishes about the
possibilities for a club of church people in your neck of the diocese.
I ask that you give him your full attention.
He will also be available at lunch for anyone wishing
to discuss this venture with him. He presents us with an opportunity
to deepen our fellowship and assist the Church in claiming its future.
I wish I could join, but these groups are for lay people only - something
of a drawing-card, perhaps.
The Holy Spirit has plans for us
Things are happening that tell the worrywart in me that God's Holy Spirit still
has plans and purpose for us. While it is true that Episcopalians tend to
be one or two standard deviations from almost any norm of the day, perhaps
that fact will insure the capability both for creativity and hard work.
It is to organize ourselves for the next year's hard
work that we come to this convention. Resolutions before us will
ask us to think theologically, to consider what we believe to be
the nature of the church, and to think in practical ways about how
we will do our common task in northeast Pennsylvania.
I want to comment on the three pieces of legislation
before us that I had something to do with.
Incorporation
The first is the simple one-line resolution for incorporation. We urged each
parish for years, and finally insisted, that each parish be incorporated
because of the legal protections provided to corporations, but never got
around to incorporating the diocese, so this one is a simply matter of housekeeping,
and to get Bishop Rowley to stop teasing me about being the only unincorporated
diocese in the state.
Due process
The second is considerably more sensitive. I have spoken to this convention
at least twice before about my great discomfort with the fact that over the
last century when we have had to close over fifty small parishes as the economy
of the region changed or for other reasons, this was done just by the bishop
saying so. On the one occasion I have had to do this I hated it, as I also
told you at the time. So we are beginning to address that, although there
is more to do.
Because our constitution already describes a process
that puts the matter in the bishop's hands when a parish refuses
to pay its assessment, I have asked that there be some basic rules,
some due process, so I would not have to make that kind of decision
alone ever again. And thus you have the resolution before you.
Let me say first of all that, as of today, no parish
in this diocese is refusing to pay its assessment. The one large
arrears we have carried has been paid in full. What we are asking
for here is that the Convention, not the bishop, make final decisions
in this painful area. I prefer to think of this not as the bishop
passing the buck but as the diocesan community taking more responsibility
for its corporate life.
A dangerous resolution
Finally, I must speak very frankly. There is a dangerous resolution that you
should be clearly warned about. I am in dead earnest about this, because
it could change the life of this diocese irretrievably.
In the resolution that comes from the Bishop, Council,
and Evangelism Commission, we are being asked to adopt a program
that will not just nod at the idea of sharing the Christian message,
but will adopt a program that will ask each of us to do work, to
take a hard look at how each parish operates in relation to newcomers,
to get about the business of welcoming souls to God's table with
renewed focus and intensity.
It involves deadlines and public accountability. This
resolution, more than anything else in your packet, will determine
the shape of our lives in the next few years. In my very first address
to you, and every year since, I have made my sense of urgency about
this work clear, as ask now that we begin to fish in earnest, but
under no circumstances do we have the option to cut bait.
Seven words
One of the fun things the resolution asks each parish and the diocese itself
to do, is to come up with a mission statement that is no more than seven
words in length.
Why seven? Seven is a mystical number, but it is also
the maximum number of words the average person can remember without
their being set to music. If we adopt this resolution, forming the
seven-word mission statement can be the most fun you've had in church
for a while. Don't be surprised if the middle school and high school
students come up with the best possibilities. This initial process
is meant to be both fun and educational, not a burden, so please
receive it as a gift and an opportunity. It also provides a basis,
a zero base, against which to measure every activity and priority
in the parish's life.
Israel/Palestine
Concerning our immediate future, beyond the question of inviting people to
life in Christ, there are other urgent topics. The situation in Israel and
Palestine is not improving. A subcommittee of World Mission is exploring
ways in which we can help children - Jewish, Christian and Muslim children
from that tragic situation - have an experience of mutual respect and forbearance
by coming to a program in this country. As we know more, we will be bringing
this to your attention; meanwhile, please keep this concern in your prayers.
Safeguarding our children
We are in the very final stages of solidifying new standards for safeguarding
our children from abuse as they participate in church events. It does require
time and energy from lay volunteers to go through this training, just as
I and all the clergy will have to do, but we know too well the cost of not
doing it.
Happily, the training that is being offered will be
coming to us in two versions. A lighter and more general form will
help those whose contact with young people is occasional. A more
intensive training will assist those whose contact is in depth.
For my own part, I am not considering this just another
burden or a demand on my time. I will go to this training as a gift,
glad to be equipped to be a better servant to our young people.
Youth ministry
While youth are on our minds, let us ask the youth delegates to this convention
to stand and be recognized.
Through a three-year grant from the Leonard Hall Fund
we are glad to have a part-time diocesan youth missioner in the person
of Deacon Demery Bader-Saye, who began in July.
Please keep this ministry in your prayers. I was glad
to see something of a record turnout at the Bishop's Day for Youth
this summer, and hope you are encouraging all those interested in
the Happening event that will take place in early November.
Camping
Camping is taking longer than I hoped. A very able committee is still on the
case, and Maggie tells me that there will be a big meeting this month with
officials of a promising site. We have been working informally with the Lutherans.
Their camp program continues to welcome our youth, but we will continue to
focus on ways to have a program that enables us to intensify understanding
of ourselves as Episcopalians.
The Windsor Report - a beginning
As some of you know, a year ago Archbishop Rowan Williams appointed a committee
to address how Anglicans can best maintain communion in a time of growing
theological diversity. The precipitating events, of course, were the decision
of the Canadian church to bless same-sex unions, and the consecration of
an openly gay bishop in New Hampshire.
The report from that committee is due to be released
on Monday. I have not seen it, nor do my usually well-informed moles
in New York have anything reliable to say about what's in it. Bishop
Mark is the only American member of that commission, and I have,
out of respect for our relationship, not pumped him for details,
so we do not know what it says.
We do know that sex sells newspapers. You may expect
to see broad coverage of the Windsor Report, as it is being called,
in your papers next week. Since I do not know what is in it, I can
offer no useful comment on the content. I can tell you what I do
know. The report will make recommendations for consideration by the
Primates, the Anglican Consultative Council, and finally by the Archbishop
of Canterbury. The report is to be understood as the beginning of
a process, not a verdict.
The bishops of our Province will gather on Friday,
November 19, to discuss the document. The entire House of Bishops
will meet in January to formulate a response, sadly during the time
when I am in Sudan, but I will participate in the November meeting.
I will share with you what I know of the overall response to the
document when there has been time to discuss it. After I have read
it next week, I will be in communication with you. I will use the
November clergy Bible studies to look at whatever the report contains.
Focusing... through differences
I have been grateful during the last year for the number of lay people who
have come to me in my office to discuss their concerns about the issues now
confronting the Church and the wider communion. This Diocese is a treasure
to me because, for the most part, it is a community where we can explore
our differences calmly and in love. It is also a community where we will
keep our focus on what unites us and on the tasks Christ has given us to
do. That is not to dismiss the current issues as unimportant - they are very
important - but to keep them in proportion.
Samuel Seabury
I usually take a brief spot in this address to tell you what I've been up to.
In the last six months I have published two books. One, on Samuel Seabury,
was written while I was on sabbatical. It has taken its time through the
academic publishing process - some poor editor had to check 800 footnotes.
I mention it to you because it is primarily an exploration of the roots of
the Episcopal Church, sociologically and historically, and those things that
have made us distinctive from the very start. It will also explain to you
why I value all of our Prayer Book tradition so highly. What is fun about
the book is that it is also high-tech. Along with its 300 pages of text there
is a CD-Rom with that much data again, to be consulted at points while reading
the main text.
Same-Sex Unions
The second book, out last week, is much shorter, and was put together in odd
moments of vacation over the last two years. It is about today's burning
issue, just as the Seabury book was about the burning issues of 1789. This
new work is an attempt to take a step away from the arguments and help the
reader understand what the issues are in the question of same-sex blessings,
so that debate can be informed.
I don't think it argues a point of view over all, and
it may tell you some things you didn't know about marriage in general,
so I offer that to you as well. I think each book can contribute
to our understanding of ourselves and the kinds of challenges being
an Episcopalian has always brought. Naturally, being an introvert,
I have arranged for neither of these books to be available at convention.
So much for enlightened self-interest. Canon Lewellis will have a
note in Diocesan Life about how you can get them if you are interested.
Dedication and energy
In wrapping this up, my sense is that we have recovered our momentum and direction
after the several difficult events of 2001. The energy I've seen in the diocese
in the last year is very encouraging. Diocesan Council more than ever sees
itself as a leadership group. The Trustees are firmly committed to their
stewardship of our assets as empowering ministry. The Standing Committee
was almost ecstatic last week when discussing with St. Gabriel's their plans
for not just senior housing, but senior housing coordinated with the parish's
ministry and a major expansion of their church plant. And on and on. As we
continue to grow in dedication and energy, I am bracing myself for what God
will do here next. Thank you for your kind attention.
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