The Diocese of Bethlehem
has been about compassionate generosity this year
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
Address to Diocesan Convention
October 14, 2005
Cathedral Church of the Nativity
Archbishop Empey, Distinguished Guests, Colleagues, Sisters and Brothers...
Grace and Peace to you in Jesus Christ.
Walking in the path of Jesus Christ
I greet you at this 134th convention with profound gratitude and
humility in face of the ministry you have practiced in the last twelve
months. Although
it was by no means our intended theme for this year of our common
life, it
has turned out that what the Diocese of Bethlehem has been about
this year
is compassionate generosity.
We have responded to one domestic and two foreign disasters and at
levels of
generosity unparalleled in our history. While much-needed money has
certainly been the most obvious gift, I would celebrate with you the
goods
and services that have also been volunteered in ways we've not seen
before.
Along with those acts of care, we can also point out that the Lehigh
Valley
parishes put considerable sweat equity along with cash into Habitat
for
Humanity, and that Epiphany, Clarks Summit, sent a mission team to
Africa
and a youth mission group to Belize.
The ECW has been absolutely indefatigable in their efforts to support
the
Mother's Union of Kajo Keji (and you can work with them in the display
area), and they continue to support needy kids here in Pennsylvania.
The church in which we are gathered continues to give away its entire
offerings on Christmas and Easter, a remarkable reminder that the path
to
prosperity is generosity.
I could go on and on: the point of these samples is that God's people
in our
relatively small diocese are walking in the path of Jesus Christ. On
behalf
of all the thousands of people whom you have helped since last October,
I
thank God for you.
Keep the main thing the main thing
I have learned a great deal from being part of this community in
northeastern Pennsylvania, and I recently had the opportunity to share
a bit
of that learning in the House of Bishops, where I do not speak very
much at
all, possibly because of the length of the lines at the microphones.
In our September meeting I found myself saying to my colleagues that
it is
perhaps time for us in the leadership of our church to stop fretting
about
how we are getting along and focus instead on the work we are called
to do.
Keeping our main focus on doing the work of Jesus Christ is what will
keep
us together.
The church has known difficult issues and hurt feelings since the fifth
chapter of Acts, and we will always have to minister with our brains
and
hearts to that fact, and do so with sincerity and humility. At the
same
time, we must remain in mission to be alive. I am grateful that the
tradition of this diocese, as Bishop Mark put it, is to keep the main
thing
the main thing.
Patience with one another's complexity
What I have learned in my time with you is that there is a deeper truth
here
that takes us to the center of our relationship to the crucified Christ.
One
of the oddest things about divorce law in this country is the number
of
jurisdictions where a divorce can be obtained on the grounds of
irreconcilable differences. My experience is that successful marriages
all
have several or even many irreconcilable differences-but that husbands
and
wives have learned, despite their differences, to be reconciled with
one
another, which is something quite different. Because of their love
and
commitment they can coexist with the differences-and sometimes those
differences are even resolved in time. The essence of relationship
is
patience with the complexity of the other.
In this vein, speaking to the already saved, St. Paul urges Christians
to be
reconciled to God and each other because in the mystery of reconciliation
we
discover our true union with Christ. The practice of reconciliation
among
people leads to and from the truth of our reconciliation with God.
Reconciliation is not about finding out who is right, although sometimes
that must also happen. It is not about the exercise of power that we
call
forgiveness, although that often must happen. Reconciliation with God
is not
a juridical process. It begins with accepting the fact that we are
accepted
and embraced by God on a level far beyond score-keeping about behavior
and
then beginning to realize that this is the gift of life.
Reconciliation among people is just the same thing. It is about encountering
others in the way that Jesus sees and values them, in the embrace
he opened
to us on the cross. As we attempt to follow Jesus, all of us constantly
journey towards the center of this experience, but each of us knows
how even
a little fear can cast out love. Each of us knows exactly what St.
Paul
means we he writes of a "dividing wall of hostility."
When humans approach one another out of strength, indignation, or the
old
stand-by of hurt feelings, some things can be resolved and some goals
might
be met, but the gospel will not be experienced and the walls stay up.
When
we come to each other undefended and vulnerable as God's children alive
by
Christ's grace, then can newness of life come forth?
I don't know about you, but I find this difficult. It requires work
and the
discipline of prayer to overcome our more primitive responses and encounter
each other as God does. What I am chiefly thankful for is that God
has
injected me into a diocesan community where the practical knowledge
of what
I am struggling to describe and to live has been in place for generations,
and is something into which we continue to grow. My colleagues in the
clergy
and the lay leadership of the diocese continue to work hard to deepen
our
experience of reconciled community. One of the benefits of being our
size is
that we can know one another on more than a superficial level, and
God can
do things through our life together. I say that deliberately to be
affirming
of you, and sincerely so, but I mean something else as well.
Because we have this treasure, we are compelled to share it. Before
us is a
resolution that will take us to stage two of our evangelism program.
Nobody
is likely to vote against evangelism, I know, but please do understand
that
this resolution calls on all of us to act in measurable ways for the
good of
those in our communities whom God is seeking.
We owe thanks to the evangelism commission for their work, and can
be proud
that parish cooperation with last year's resolution is high. I am
particularly touched by the thought and inspiration reflected in the
crop of
parish mission statements that you produced last Lent. As we move to
stage
two, let us pray and act in the same way.
Doing new things
While we will pray and work for God's family to increase, we must also
recognize that outside of urban areas, the Episcopal Church is comprised
primarily of small parishes. We need to recognize that just as not
all
dioceses are huge and rich, not all parishes will become or can become
corporate-sized, especially as the birth rate among Episcopalians is
less
than replacement-level. (These days Anglicans tend to be made, not
born.)
This is a good moment to recall how many of our small parishes do very
significant outreach ministries, and how many are devoted to the welfare
of
the children of their communities. Large or small, parishes are doing
significant new things.
Electronic connectivity
Most of us know how much Gen-Xers and those after them do their church
shopping via the Web, and there are many excellent websites in our
community. One parish has already begun podcasting sermons and music for the
millions who download such programs to their computers or personal music
systems, and Bill Lewellis will be doing the same for the diocese by year's
end. Sync your pods, dudes.
Additionally, two of our parishes have begun serious television outreach
with the excellent spots the national church has made available, and we hope
that others will be venturing out into the ether during the coming year.
If you haven't participated in our electronic community on our diocesan
internet list, Bethlehem of PA, please go to our website to get your feet
wet.
Three things to celebrate
There are three things I would like to celebrate with you in a special way
today. The first is that, with the recent ordinations, I can report to you
that our clergy roster is almost exactly 50% women. I hope the day comes
when that doesn't matter, but for the present it is for me an occasion of
joy and enrichment.
Second, when we met last year, St Peter's in Tunkhannock had just suffered a
devastating flood. I was with them last week as they continue to occupy a
former shoe store in a strip mall. There is a great deal to admire in their
rector and people just for keeping on keeping on - what delights me is that
they are also staying in mission mode during a very challenging time! Would
the representatives from St. Peter's please stand.
Finally, tomorrow morning, please be prepared to clap, and perhaps join in a
chorus of When Irish Eyes are Smiling as St. Brigid's in Nazareth is
admitted to full parish status.
Ten years ago they began life in a bank basement with a handful of people
and the leadership of Canon Teter. A great deal of hard work and prayer has
brought them to this day in fairly short order.
It is a thrill to have Archbishop Walton and Mrs. Louie Empey of the Church
of Ireland with us to celebrate that moment. Would the Empeys please stand.
We will hear from Archbishop Empey later today and he will be preaching at
our Emerald Eucharist tomorrow.
Ministry with children and youth
I am happy to report that after some difficult years, youth ministries are
being reborn and reshaped: A group from Bethlehem attended the national
Episcopal Youth Event in splendid form. Standard programs such as Happening
and Christophany have continued with new emphases on worship and
discipleship. The annual Bishop's Day for Youth took on a new, er, face this
year as many became clowns or even superheroes through the magic of paint
and costume. Most important to note is the emergence of a Youth Council - a
welcome answer to my hope that the diocesan community will increasingly
generate and take responsibility for its life.
The work of children's advocacy goes on. Highlights this year have been the
day with children, teachers' dinners, and now especially Cruising To Equity,
about which you will be learning more tonight at Evensong - in times of
limited resources this program is an excellent example of various groups in
the diocese working together.
For the future...
Long-range planning
For the future: Council's major job in 2006 will be long-range planning
together with members of congregational development, evangelism, and other
departments to have something of substance to report to our next convention.
Southern Sudan
One of the major parts of our life still to unfold is the question of what
kind of fruit our commitment to Anglicans in Southern Sudan will bear.
Those of you who attended the presentations Diana and I made last spring
know that our visit there was a watershed in our own experience. I told the
groups who came to those presentations that some things I had held near to
my heart, especially the establishment of a full-service conference center,
simply cannot happen while the need of our companion diocese is so
appallingly great. I have rearranged my own stewardship to contribute more
to Africa while not slighting work at home, and I know that many of you have
done the same.
What lies ahead is the question of what major effort we can undertake
together, and we have begun to explore that in a formal way. Council hopes
to have a plan before you in the spring.
Stewardship and Planned Giving
The budget before you includes lower numbers for some items and much larger
numbers for stewardship and planned giving. The higher numbers reflect
Diocesan Council's intention to bring on a person to work in the areas of
stewardship and planned giving. We have placed them there rather than in
staff salaries this year to make them stand out.
As we move ahead in our common discipleship the ministry of money is the one
area where parishes consistently ask for assistance, and Council is doing
its best to make that happen.
Since the Diocesan Council you elect cannot print money and has not proposed
raising the assessment, it is important to know how this will be paid for,
since we are required to have a balanced budget.
I had to make the difficult decision to do without the assistance provided
me by a canon to the ordinary, and Canon Teter has been gracious in
understanding and cooperating with the priorities that life is putting
before us. She will return to part time status as Canon for Ministries, and
continue to work with the Commission on Ministry and Congregational
Development. Much of what Canon Teter has been doing will fall on the
shoulders of the Archdeacon, so it will be our common ministry to make sure
that he is not overly burdened.
Electronic mailings
The budget we will consider projects a slight surplus at the end of 2006,
but it is our smallest surplus in some years, and leaves very little wiggle
room for emergencies, so you probably should expect to see economies
continue.
With the cost of mailing a letter going to $.39 in January, we are going to
go out of the printing and mailing business to the fullest extent possible.
Almost all bulk mailings will be in electronic form, and we expect to save
between 12 and 20 thousand dollars through this economizing.
Video conferencing
Everybody needs to save money on fuel, so by January, under the guidance of
the reverend, learned, and resourceful chief geek of the diocese, Father
Nick Knisely, we will use a grant of money to quite inexpensively install
four very basic video-conferencing sites to cut down on fuel costs and the
amount of time and money we lose when we must cancel meetings during the
snowy season.
There will be one site in Bethlehem and one in Douglassville. We still need
to find two churches in the north and northwest regions who have both
parking and broadband connectivity and wouldn't be offended by the presence
of a Macintosh in their precincts. Please let Father Knisely know if your
site is available. Special consideration will be given to locations near a
Dairy Queen.
In-house computer services
Part of our economizing will be consolidating computer services in-house and
having one person also maintaining the website and doing our electronic
publishing.
Because this work needs to be done in Bethlehem, we will have to proceed
without the help of our long-time webmaster, Barbara Caum. Please let
Barbara know of your gratitude when you see her tomorrow.
Clergy compensation
Ten years ago, this diocese was in the top twenty-five percent of the
Episcopal Church for clergy compensation, adjusted for regional cost of
living. We have slipped to the third quartile, and the news is a bit worse.
Of our extra-large parishes, only 11% pay the figure this convention adopts;
of the large parishes it is a bit better at 77%; two-thirds of medium sized,
but only 22% of small parishes pay within our agreed guidelines.
I understand that you cannot get blood out of a stone, and that sometimes
money is just not there. Please do know that the stewardship and planned
giving questions are important for this reason too: it is increasingly
difficult to get well-qualified clergy interested in positions in the
diocese because the compensation is relatively low.
Those of you in business know the importance of investing in personnel if
you want growth, so I simply take this opportunity to remind you that the
recruiting and retention of top people cannot be taken for granted as they
have exactly the same concerns in life as everybody else. We will have to
work together to improve this situation over time, but let us keep it in
awareness.
Parishes in distress
I suppose that the issue before us this weekend that has drawn the most
curiosity is the proposed canon regarding ministry with parishes in some
kind of difficulty or distress.
This is not a disciplinary canon as was the one we adopted last year, nor is
it a big gun. It is rather one more step in what I have told you each year
is a fairly intentional democratizing of our processes, many of which used
to be undertaken by the bishop alone. The bottom line is that no parish
would be involuntarily closed or merged without what is a super-majority of
convention agreeing that such action is in the best interests of our common
mission.
But use of the bottom line is the least contemplated part of the canon. The
top 90% of those lines have as their goal provision of means for pastoral
intervention while it is still early enough to be of real help.
The reality is that there are at this moment parishes, in fact entire towns,
in northeastern Pennsylvania that are in some jeopardy, and we don't want to
lose them. It is entirely understandable that parishes feeling anxiety
about their future would be alarmed by this very conversation, but this is
one of those moments when clarity of process will ultimately do a great deal
to those elephants that occasionally appear in even the best of living
rooms.
Christ's spirit. Treasures to share. New methods
There have been really only a few themes in what I've said. The first is
that Christ's spirit moves mightily in this household. The second is that
we experience treasures to share that are desperately needed in our culture:
as the marquee at Christ Church in Reading says, "You are welcome, whoever
you
are" - and that is the truth. The third is that circumstances are calling
us
to new methods and greater efficiency in our work together.
I told the clergy assembly last month that I have never been more excited
about the possibilities for our work than I am now. Doors are opening for us
in every direction that matters, and I look forward eagerly to our moving
through them together for the sake of all God's children.
Thank you for your kind attention.
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