God Is Moving Among Us
Address to the 127th Convention of the Diocese of Bethlehem,
June 12, 1998
It is a privilege, my sisters and brothers in Jesus Christ, to address
the Convention as our Diocese gathers to worship God and plan our
work. Like many of you, I find myself feeling excited by all the
ways in which we are growing in our awareness of the riches of God's
grace, and the many, many gifts with which we have been blessed.
This afternoon I want to review some of those graces and gifts, and
then look at what I believe lies ahead. Obviously I start with Sharing
the Bread.
The Sharing the Bread Festival was a wonderful moment; there is
no disputing that, praise be to God. We hoped for 800 to 1,000, and
were blessed with over 2,000 in attendance.
But numbers are the least of it. People made new friends, some got
reacquainted with old friends. Most of our parishes had a display
or demonstration booth or a musical group. Like you, I was stirred
by Bishop Mark's vision for a Church that faces out rather than in,
and overwhelmed by the presence and power of the diocesan youth choir.
Beyond that, my own heart was touched by the presence of so many
young children, children happy to be there. Some of them, have in
fact written to me about that day.
The worship was an exquisite blend of the traditional and the contemporary;
and I don't think there was a person there who will ever forget the
experience of being in that armory filled with what sounded like
10,000 voices singing, “I will raise them up at the last day.”
Many of our clergy and lay people have written in their newsletter
and elsewhere about the festival. My personal favorites are two pop-up
cards I received from the Sunday School at Indian Orchard.
I want to share just two anecdotes as reported around the diocese.
The first comes from the Rev. Gwendolyn-Jane Romeril; the second,
from the Rev. Hannah Anderson.
I saw a man walking with his daughter at the Bread Festival. Every
so often someone would stop them and talk. In one instance, a man
with great pain written on his face reached out and was embraced.
The man looked into his eyes and listened intently. After a while,
his compassionate presence wrote a new expression on the pained
man's face. Then the man laid hands on the pained man's head, and
prayed. Right there. Out of respect for the act of healing taking
place among them, a few of those passing by stepped back and watched,
silent, in prayer, waiting. All in a very natural way, in the midst
of an ordinary day. This ordinary day was made extraordinary by
sacred intention, definition and commitment. Lord, could we not
make every day like this? A vignette of the Early Church had unfolded
before me. It was a Pentecost experience.
The
Rev. Gwendolyn-Jane Romeril
God was full of surprises. The greatest surprise to me was that
most of the people who had gone to the Festival came to worship
on Sunday morning as well, full of energy and spirit. Almost half
of our congregation experienced the Festival. The love they brought
back to share with others at Grace was palpable. It flowed from
the worship service into an extraordinary moment after the final
hymn when a woman requested prayers for healing. I invited people
to stay if they wanted to do so. Forty adults and children gathered
around her to pray for healing. Hands outstretched, hearts filled
with faith, words of compassion and love. The parishioner -- our
sister in Christ -- wept with the realization that she was encountering
the Lord through our simple act of reaching out in faith.
I wonder if this would have had occurred had we not gone to the
Festival. I wonder what other healings, reconciliations and surprises
happened because of the gathering at an armory in Kingston. I wonder
how we will grow into being the inside-out church in our respective
communities. Lord, I wonder what in the world will happen next
in this Spirit-filled diocese.
The
Rev. Hannah Anderson
This week I signed over two hundred and fifty thank you letters
to those who helped with the Festival. I did that simply to put a
bit of personal energy into a form letter, and it did not take as
long as it sounds, but obviously more is needed. We cannot call all
those who helped with the Festival to the stage here, but let me
call on the two chair people, Robert Rust and Canon Doris Bray, to
come forward so that we can through them thank all who gave of themselves
so generously to our Sharing the Bread Festival. Bob and Doris, for
all the people you represent, please accept a heartfelt thank you.
So What’s Next?
We are going to have to examine our life as a diocese in order to have more
moments like that festival, and I will return to that subject later. Here
it is crucial to say that as wonderful as that day was, it was not meant
to be an end in itself. We come together at this convention much more aware
of the value, the beauty, the power of life with God. We come here today
having tasted richly and having drunk deeply from the goodness of God. Today
we come to answer the inevitable post-festival question, “So what is
next?”
Reading Our Budget
With that thought in mind, what is next for the diocese, all of the committees
and commissions of the Diocese were asked to start with zero in making budget
requests for 1999. They were asked to start with our vision and mission statements
and to ask for and explain budget amounts in relationship to the task we
have adopted in accepting those statements last December. If you have not
read the explanatory, narrative portions of the budget, please do so tonight.
They will give you a description of how members of the diocese hear their
call and ours.
I want now to offer a few notes on some of the areas of the budget
and our mission. I have no comments to make financially -- that decision
is yours, and then the Council must balance the budget on January.
The comments I want to make are to help us to read our budget as
a theological document. It's a good skill to learn. Then we can start
reading our own checkbook as a theological document.
Social Ministry
I want to start with social ministries. The Jubilee Committee is taking a year
off to lead the diocese in examining our social ministry, and so you don't
see much of a request from them. The World Mission Committee lost its chair,
and has not been reconfigured. Its main work in the past became the Irish
Youth exchange, and that is now under other wings, and the Irish will be
visiting us this summer. It is my hope that as we become more aware of the
need for strong voices and compassionate action in response to events in
Africa, particularly the Sudan and Uganda, World Mission will be reborn among
us with vigor and a clear sense of purpose. There will be other moments in
our schedule to hear about Sudan and about the Presiding Bishop's Fund for
World Relief, and I ask you, please, to give them your full and prayerful
attention.
But with regard to social ministries in general, I would die a very
sad man indeed if the history of Bethlehem were that in 1998 we switched
our energies from social ministry to evangelism. What I am hoping
the Festival and our new awareness of ourselves will do is to help
us see that just as it was one and the same Jesus who preached the
gospel and reached out to feed and heal, it will be one and the same
Diocese of Bethlehem that brings the world redeeming words and the
healing deeds.
In addition to reviewing our Jubilee ministry, and our reconstituting
the World Mission effort, we are taking another step to recognize
the importance of social ministries. The Rev. Eleanor Hart has agreed
to serve as Missioner for HIV/AIDS, Wholeness, and Health, and will
have a base at St. Alban's Church, Sinking Spring. It is my hope
that Ellie will keep the needs and opportunities of her ministry
constantly before us, and that many of the baptized will find joy
in working with her. Finally, there is renewed staff and Trustee
involvement in the leadership of New Bethany Ministries, which is
discovering many new possibilities for ministry as it restructures.
Lay Ministry
Another area of the spending plan for 1999 involves the Commission on Ministry,
and it involves putting our money where our convictions have been regarding
lay ministry. At my urging, the present Commission on Ministry is prepared
to take on its full canonical responsibility for raising up and equipping
lay ministries along with ordained ministry. They are willing to do so, but
need more people, so we have a resolution about that, and they will need
more resources, which explains their budget request.
Issues of money aside, I ask you to recall our nationally-noted
video called “Every Child is a Blessing.” I hope we can
all take cue from that and realize that when you grow up you don't
stop being a blessing. Every teenager, every adult, every elderly
person is a blessing. It is our task, our privilege, to help every
baptized person believe that about themselves, and recognize how
God can bless the world through them. That's the job of every sermon,
every Eucharist, every Bible study, of course, but the Commission's
canonical responsibility will be to help make that happen, and to
offer opportunities to equip and train us all to share the blessing
that we are with the world around us. The Committee on the Ministry
of the Baptized has done an outstanding job of providing resources
for undergirding and inspiring the spiritual life of our people,
and I hope that they will also continue to serve us with that vision.
Communication as Evangelism
There is an item in the budget that is not really an increase, but the number
is larger because we are grouping expenses differently. That area is communication,
and we have pulled into that area amounts from other expense lines to make
clear what our ministry is. I cannot emphasize to you enough the importance
of every parish having a communication strategy. Communication, especially
print and electronic communication, is at the heart of our culture; it needs
to be understood as a key part of our evangelism. It is a major shift for
most of us to switch our mindset from publicity to evangelism when we think
about communication. Accordingly, Bill Lewellis and the Communication Ministry
stand ready to help parishes and districts think theologically about communication,
and then act effectively to get the word out.
Our own efforts as a diocese continue to be recognized as a model
for the Church in many areas of communication. In addition to in-house
efforts, Bill Lewellis writes a regular column for one newspaper,
and I write a column which is carried in four other papers around
the diocese. We also have a weekly hour on major cable stations in
parts of the diocese, Interfaith TV; you may have seen it. I'm telling
you that simply to illustrate a point. If you just look at those
three little avenues, we have a way to preach to over 800,000 people
who may never set foot in a church... 15,000 talking to 800,000 In
your own communities, please consider what St. Paul would have done
in his day if he had your local newspapers, broadcast stations and
cable systems. Please think about that. Out in cyberspace, I am happy
that the long-delayed diocesan website is making its debut, and I
know that a number of our parishes have sites well in place already.
More people use the world World Wide Web than you can ever imagine.
Let them know that there is bread to be shared at your parish.
A Camp in Sight
I have spoken to you before about our need for a camp for our young people
and for other outdoor events. I have only good news to share in this regard.
In the first place, St. John's Church in Hamlin has given the diocese a tract
of land which we will use as a temporary camping facility, but which ultimately
can serve as a year-round spiritual refuge, a prayerful green belt in the
middle of yet another place in the diocese which is building up rapidly.
I thank St. John's, and ask their delegates to rise to receive our corporate
thanks.
Beyond St. John's generosity, I hope soon to be able to tell you
that we have a site for a permanent large camping facility. We are
looking at two very good possibilities. All three of these sites
have materialized because lay people in this diocese are serious
about our life together. I thank God for that spirit every day.
Youth
In general, youth work in the diocese continues to accelerate. Youth events
are attended by numbers we used to think were impossible since 1956, and
I have been gratified to see young people from so many parts of the diocese
at youth events. Part of Father Badgley's secret is a system where the people
with the primary responsibility for making youth policy and making youth
events happen are the youth. That means that he and they work in their own
peculiar idiom, to be sure, but you cannot argue with results.
I made a point of not giving anyone special thanks at the Festival,
because it was all to be an offering to God for the good of the people
- but if you could have seen young people helping with set up and
then at the last minute helping to clean up 1,200 misdelivered chairs,
you would have known that Christian young people are alive and well
in the Diocese of Bethlehem. I am grateful that some of them have
volunteered to serve as pages at our convention this weekend. There
is something we can do to express our respect for what they are doing.
The Constitution of the Episcopal Church allows for youth over 16
to have some voice and vote representation, and I hope you will give
prayerful consideration to amending our own Constitution to recognize
this part of our body with representatives that they can choose to
sit with the Convention. And, I believe, at our next Convention,
that will come up. So please keep thinking and praying about it.
Worship at Convention
Let me turn from the budget to a few other aspects of our life together. First
of all, worship at this Convention will be a bit different. In planning it,
the Liturgical Commission and I have tried to spread the special moments
in worship throughout the Convention, so they can each have a bit more of
our attention and none of them weigh down the liturgy.
So at Evening Prayer today we will have the UTO ingathering, and
those offerings will be presented at the Eucharist tomorrow. At that
service tomorrow morning we will also welcome new canons and recognize
the Episcopal Church Women's contribution of books for needy children.
At noonday prayer tomorrow we will remember the names of brothers
and sisters who have died in the past year in a way that will enable
us all to be actively praying as we do so. I am grateful to all who
have worked to make these services so rich for us.
Structure of the Diocese
As we integrate evangelism into our daily lives, there are a number of things
that will require our attention. The first regards the structure of the diocese.
For more than 30 years the Diocese has been divided into Districts,
numbered 1 through 8, except that there is no 5. These districts
were designed to be program and budget arms, but never became such.
So they sort of survive as your appendix. They function a bit as
gathering mechanisms for clergy Bible study. The are also supposed
to gather to elect lay and clergy representatives to Diocesan Council,
except that they don't, so I end up appointing a majority of the
Council, and this state of affairs undercuts the basic democracy
that our national and diocesan Constitutions envision. But much more
troubling to me is the fact that there is in this diocese no regular
forum for grass-roots discussion, for working together, no regular
gatherings outside of parish boundaries for praise or prayer.
Coming out of Sharing the Bread, the two comments I hear most are:
(1) When will we have another festival? and (2) Why can't Convention
be more like that? We have discovered that being together can be
a moving and joyful experience.
This summer I will be appointing a task force representing all seven
of Districts 1 through 8 to consider the time and manner of our coming
together as a diocese, and the more local organizational divisions
we need to accomplish our mission. They will be asked to present
concrete plans to our next Convention.
New Clergy
There are a number of other initiatives coming up that you may want to keep
in mind for support in prayer and personal encouragement.
We have been blessed with the addition of quite a few new clergy,
and the staff and I will be meeting with them in an ongoing fashion
to help them understand ministry in this diocese and to help them
build lines of support with and for one another.
Adult Education
We will be entering a bit of diocese-wide adult education. Beginning in the
Fall, there will be a course held twice a month on Saturdays with the simple
purpose of reading through the Bible, picking up the story. This will be
required of aspirants for Holy Orders, and all those in diocesan training
program coordination, but it is designed for and open to all the baptized.
There will be information about that in Diocesan Life.
Stewardship
If we are going to be a diocese that shares bread with both spiritually hungry
and physically hungry people, we are going to have to take a new look at
stewardship as a way of life. We are privileged and fortunate to have a very
strong stewardship committee, and will need to direct our attention to the
resources they provide. If your parish has not taken up their offer of free
stewardship consultation, someone to work with you, I urge you to do that
before September.
Let me state my two strongest convictions about the stewardship
of money. First, each of us has to face the fear that stewardship
of our money raises so directly. Each of us, if we take the use of
our money as part of our discipleship, must recognize that any meaningful
stewardship will involve having voluntarily adopted a visibly lower
standard of living than our social and economic equals enjoy. I repeat,
if we take the use of our money as part of our discipleship, we must
recognize that any meaningful stewardship will involve having voluntarily
adopted a visibly lower standard of living than our social and economic
equals enjoy. For some of you that means making the car last one
more year. I don't know what it means for all of you - but I don't
know anything more counter-cultural, if not heretical, to say in
America than that you should live at a lower style than you earn.
Nonetheless, I believe it to be true; I believe it to be God's will
for every one of us.. I asked you earlier to move from publicity
to communication when you think about evangelism; please consider
prayerfully what it would mean for you to reorder your financial
properties so that you would look a little odd to your friends, look
like a disciple of Jesus as you go from giving as dues-paying to
a budget to giving as discipleship and mission. You see, guilt will
not get us to give from the heart. Neither will fund-raising. The
ministry of all the baptized includes - perhaps starts with -- each
of us asking ourselves, “How do I follow Jesus with the use
of my time and money?”
Belief number two is that you aren't giving enough until you feel
yourself making a real contribution to something you believe in and
you feel it in such a way that it makes you very happy. When I lived
in Minnesota a long time away, we had a senator named Hubert Humphrey;
he was called the “happy warrior.” When we begin to have
a vision of ourselves cheerfully, joyfully, working for something
we want to see happen in the world, we will understand God's delight
in the cheerful giver, the happy contributor. When the joy of supporting
the spreading of the Gospel because you want that to happen is as
strong as the joy of getting that house or boat or car, Christians
really begin to blossom. I think that if each of us looks back over
our lives carefully, we recognize that the most satisfying moments
were often when we had done something for others with a full and
open heart. God loves a cheerful giver because that's the person
who's learning how to enjoy life.
A Personal Word
Now a personal word, a word about my health. I had not intended to bring this
up here, but news from a letter I wrote to clergy has leaked a bit, and my
hand is somewhat forced in the matter. So let me tell you some things that
are rather simple. If you consider all that has been going on in our Diocese
during the last few years, coupled with two years of a commuter marriage,
you may believe that I came to this spring rather tired and in worse physical
shape than usual. This two-year point is apparently difficult for bishops
in general.
In any event, I have consulted both an internist and a psychiatrist,
and their joint recommendation on health maintenance, diet and exercise
is what you would guess. This is going to deprive me of a couple
of opportunities this summer, chief of them being attendance at the
Lambeth Conference, but I am determined -- having discovered that
I like you and love you -- I'd like to stay alive a while with you.
So I will be devoting my energy to doing less, exercising more --
Diana has graciously, in fact already begun, to conduct 6:30 a.m.
forced marches. The neighbors are stunned. Also, I will be doing
a little less of my own driving and will be assisted in some of the
routine office work by a kind volunteer, Father Jack Marshall, from
among our clergy.
I plan to make changes in my life, but I plan to make no change
in my availability and presence in the diocese; and I hope the changes
I make will be transparent to clergy and people. As far as Lambeth
goes, I will be inviting a bishop to give us an update in the fall.
We have some relationship with a bishop somewhat closely related
to the Lambeth Conference.
St. Brigid’s
I have saved the good news for the end. The first good news is that our newest
mission, St. Brigid's, Moorestown, has absolutely outgrown its quarters in
a bank basement, and with the help of a kind and generous gift of a anonymous
member of the diocese, they have bought a former Methodist church in Nazareth,
and they will be coming above ground very soon.
Congregational Development
That's not all. You may remember that I told you last December that the Incorporated
Trustees had cooperated in allowing me to take some of the unrealized appreciation
in the Leonard Hall fund to start new mission work. Well, with that money
and other funds, we have begun a church-planting fund, and the second good
news is that the Congregational Development committee has been working long
and hard to develop plans for mission sites, and it looks now that in 1999
and 2000 we will see us three new Episcopal mission efforts in our diocese.
I won't steal their thunder by getting into details, but do want you to know
that we are on the march, and will be inviting neighboring congregations
and local groupings of churches to help welcome and launch these new efforts.
I really believe that these congregations will be up and running long before
Windows 98 is debugged.
God is moving among us
So I end as I began, with the language of excitement, with a high sense of
expectancy, and with my gratitude to be part of the life of this wonderful
diocese. God is moving among us, and we have a rare and beautiful fellowship
in which to move with our Lord. Thanks be to God.
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