We Come Together as God's People
Address to the 129th Convention of the Diocese of Bethlehem
Bishop Paul V. Marshall -- June 9, 2000
Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem
The most important thing about our convention is that we have
it.
It is a privilege and a joy to greet you today as our diocese comes
together for the 129th time as a convention. It's also a pleasant
duty to thank on behalf of all of us Mrs. Spillman and the planning
committee at the Cathedral for their hospitality. They are having
three events in one weekend in this room, which is no small task.
I have learned during the past few years that I can depend upon Dean
Lane, Canon Jackson, the choirs and other leaders of worship here
- and I'm pleased to acknowledge that debt.
TELLING FAITHFUL STORIES
We began this afternoon with the hymn, Lift Every Voice and Sing,
a hymn that is known to some as the Black National Anthem, and a
hymn that has multiple layers of meaning for people throughout this
country.
One of those meanings is that people know who they are when they
tell their stories in a way that connects the past, the present,
and the future with their faith. Listen again to the words of the
last stanza, as sung by Scot Horst.
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
Thou who hast brought us thus far on the way;
Thou who hast by thy might,
Led us into the light,
Keep us for ever in the path, we pray.
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget thee,
Shadowed beneath thy hand,
May we for ever stand,
True to our God,
True to our native land.
FAITHFULNESS AND DIRECTION
In that hymn, memory and hope work together to provide those who
sing and those who hear with faithfulness in the present and direction
for the future. This is the precisely the story that we bear as Christ's
Body, the Church. Sharing in the death of Jesus Christ we have come
through death to life with him, and so live a new and different life.
That central event that we cannot forget if we are to be true to
God, true citizens of the city made without hands, is the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. If we forget the truth of our redemption, the truth
of our identity, there is nothing else about us worth remembering.
Jesus of Nazareth still asks us to follow him.
GETTING OUR HANDS DIRTY
At each of the pre-convention meetings I read to you St. Paul's
words about "striving," about pushing ever forward towards what he
called "the upward call of God in Jesus Christ."
We know that our personal spiritual life is in deep trouble if we
do not feel ourselves to be striving, working for maturity in Christ,
and caring for Christ's poor. As a diocese, it is a very good sign
that we are striving, pushing out in all directions to be Christ's
body as we tell the story and serve those in need. I would put it
this way: it is a very good sign that, as a diocese, our hands get
dirtier every year.
THE CONTEXT OF OUR BUSINESS
On Wednesday a reporter from the Easton paper asked me if anything
important would happen at our convention! After what I hope was a
tantalizing silence, I responded very seriously that the most important
thing about our Convention is that we have it. I meant that. Our
convention is our gathering to worship as a body, our connecting
and reconnecting with one another, our experiencing ourselves as
among God's people in northeastern Pennsylvania. That matters in
and of itself. It also provides the context in which we handle the
business part of our life. That is, it is only in the context of
our life as God's people at play and prayer that we take up our tasks.
I've tried to make that clear in planning our liturgies. I'm hoping
that none of the services will feel rushed; each will allow time
for the kind of prayer that enlightens and lifts up the heart. For
example, in most of our churches it might not be practical to sing
the words of the Creed and Prayers of the People. We do that in this
larger gathering to give each of us the chance to enter into those
familiar words in a new way, to be lifted by them.
Two years ago when we started singing Jesus, remember me, when you
come into your kingdom at the reading of the names of the departed,
one delegate said to me that in one sense she was sorry when we ran
out of names! I won't go that far, of course, but I still rejoice
to know that someone let that prayer take her to God's presence.
I heard at a recent meeting of the Congregational Development Committee
about an accounting professor who told his class that the hardest
thing an accountant has to do is tell the owners of a small business
that despite what they think their cash flow is, they are bankrupt.
The opposite is true, too. It is a matter of great importance just
how a bishop reports to a diocese that spiritually they are getting
richer, that they are healthy and growing. It is tricky because we
don't want to think that it is our own doing that we celebrate, and
it is trickier still how we tell our story because we don't want
to work with the impression that there is nothing left for us to
do or that everything has already been done for us by somebody else.
It is with that warning to myself that I try to reflect on the growth
and challenges in the Diocese of Bethlehem since we last met.
NEW BETHANY MINISTRIES
Close to where we sit at this moment is the home of New Bethany
Ministries. Its legal name is Episcopal Ministries of the Diocese
of Bethlehem. In the last few years New Bethany has learned how to
die in order to live, and is on a very good track again. Tonight
at our banquet we will learn more about support received for New
Bethany. But I want to say here that the Trustees of the diocese,
and Canon Robert Wilkins in particular, have stepped up to the plate
for New Bethany in a way that we can only admire and give thanks
to God for.
CHURCH PLANTINGS
With regard to church planting we have come to an interesting point.
We have the money, the building, and the core group to start a parish
in Womelsdorf, but have not been able to secure the services of an
experienced "church planter" priest to guide the effort.
I have really been giving God a hard time about this; but I'm beginning
to wonder. Is it possible that after all the real wrestling with
the seeming impossibility of getting a priest, does God perhaps want
us to trust the laity to start this church?
I don't want to scare the horses this early in Convention, but the
idea is a serious one. Quite a few churches in this diocese began
just with the gathering of a few lay people for prayer. We are seated
in one now. Perhaps that is how we are called to go into Womelsdorf.
We're also getting ready to begin work in Schnecksville, and I hope
that by the time of our next convention we will have representatives
of two new churches to greet. Please keep these efforts in your prayers.
YOUTH
There are a number of items to report on state of ministry with
young people. For the first time, we have as voting members of this
convention a delegation chosen from the youth of the diocese by the
young people themselves. May I ask that the youth delegation stand
for our welcome?
Continuing with young people, I am very happy to tell you that we
have reached the letter-of-agreement stage and, barring the truly
unusual, will be receiving shortly about 300 acres for a camp and
diocesan gathering place near Lily Lake.
For me, one of the most interesting parts of this process has been
learning how much time projects of this size take. The efforts of
Father Dane Brag, Char Horst, and many others will pay off for years.
The person who has been on this case from the beginning, however,
and whom I most wanted to be here to celebrate with us today is Jim
Saba, who has put hundreds of hours into this task; but Jim is in
Wilkes-Barre General with what appears to be a stroke. So, as we
rejoice, we need also to hold Jim up in our prayers.
Let us pray: O God, the strength of the weak and the comfort of
sufferers: Mercifully accept our prayers, and grant to your servant
James the help of your power, that his sickness may be turned into
health, and our sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Other items on the youth scene are also causes for joy. Christophany
had an attendance of more than 150, and needs to split into two sessions.
Happening is healthy and energetic, and will build into its structure
an adult table. The Irish youth are coming, and you will have available
in the exhibit hall more information on their visit.
AFRICA
There is a prayer that begins, God bless Africa. You will have an
opportunity during the "hearings" part of the day to learn a great
deal about opportunities for us to work with Africans in the Sudan
and in Swaziland.
My visit to our missioners in Swaziland this winter taught me much,
but I have not yet gotten over the horror of seeing people ravaged
by disease curled up in the fetal position on the floors of hospitals.
The hospital we visited, by the way, was having a good day because
its census was only 35% over the capacity of the building.
Between AIDS in Swaziland and the relentless persecution of Christians
in the Sudan, there is the real possibility that we will think of
Africa only in terms of what it needs from us. To do so is to slide
down a steep and slippery slope and to begin to feel like Lord or
Lady Bountiful, taking off a few moments to do something "for" helpless
souls far away.
While Africa has very real needs, and some of them are desperate,
it has immense resources, and Christianity in Africa is powerfully
alive. African Christians have sensibilities about community, justice,
evangelization and relationship that can very much help us as we
find ourselves working in an increasingly fragmented and profane
culture. Jesus Christ is very real in and for the African Church.
And I hope we can have that reality increased among us as we begin
working with Kajo-Keji, the diocese in exile from Sudan.
We have much to give Africa besides our greater financial wealth,
particularly in the areas of planning and prioritizing. The partnership
proposed to us is just that, a partnership from which each member
church should gain a great deal while experiencing the pleasure of
giving. To sit at each other's feet and to learn together promises
to be a truly life-giving experience.
SATURDAY CLASSES, DIOCESAN TRAINING DAY, CURSILLO, PHOEBE GRISWOLD,
CHRISM MASS
Learning from each other is what we have been doing here within
the diocese this past year. Saturday classes ran through the year
with a variety of lecturers. Our Diocesan Training Day in March was
successful beyond all expectations, and Cursillistas have begun holding
regular reunion meetings.
Perhaps the outstanding educational or inspirational moment of the
year was the visit by Mrs. Phoebe Griswold, the wife of our primate.
Her message about following the crucifer will not soon be forgotten.
There has never been such a crowd at Kirby House before, and we thank
the diocesan ECW for arranging the day, and the Kirby House staff
for responding to the great numbers with grace and flexibility.
What is nicknamed the Chrism Mass, the service at which oils for
the year are blessed, and at which the clergy renew their ordination
vows, has become over the years an event where the laity outnumber
the clergy, which is as it should be. Christ Church in Forest City
and Trinity Carbondale, in fact, came with a busload. I mention all
these events not just because of numbers. What they have in common
is that they have been for me moments of experiencing our spirit
of common identity in Jesus Christ and our willingness to walk together
as a body.
SHARE THE BREAD
On Pentecost Sunday, you should begin to hear in each church the
praying of the collect for the Share the Bread 2000 festival. I want
to make clear that, whether you bring a friend or not, everyone is
most welcome at the festival, and I do hope to see as many of us
as possible gathered to celebrate our identity and mission, along
with many visitors.
The First Union Arena will comfortably hold all the people we can
bring, and there is more free parking than we can use. It will be
a day to enjoy our religion and our relationship with each other.
STEWARDSHIP
I am pleased to tell you that stewardship in the diocese continues
to increase. What pleases me most about this is that our stewardship
teams are reporting the increasing connection we as a diocese are
making between our faith and our resources. They are heartened to
know that people are increasingly asking them for education on connecting
life, faith and money.
In the same vein, I am pleased to announce that we will have more
planned giving workshops. You may want to mark November 4 for the
kickoff event of major work on planned giving. And next winter we
will begin a Legacy Society. These are not small matters. We know
historically that support for the church among the living ebbs and
flows with social, demographic and financial circumstances; and there
is need for each one of us to see that our support of Christ's body
continues after our lifetime.
People sometimes speak cynically about people writing wills with
a plan to rule from the grave. I think of my will an as opportunity
to serve from the grave. As Saint Francis said, "To serve is to reign." The
Legacy Society will give us the chance to do both.
MAXIMIZING THE PAYOUT FROM OUR DIOCESAN INVESTMENT TRUST
I haven't spent a lot of time at previous conventions talking about
money, because I am not a numbers type, and I have had to learn a
good deal about this part of our life. I think I am ready now to
discuss some financial concerns with you.
Because we have to wait for information that comes only as parishes
submit financial reports and other data, diocesan budgeting means
that there is a degree to which we always make our best guess at
convention and leave a precisely balanced budget to Diocesan Council
in January.
There are some strengths to that approach, as it has been and is
our practice to put a challenge in front of the diocese at Convention.
But there are also some problems. Estimating isn't precise planning,
and a good deal of what we do does require precise planning.
I want to suggest four things. Some we'll think about; some we'll
act on; and one has been done for us.
In the very first place, and this has gone into effect in the last
week or so, we are going to maximize the prudent return from our
Diocesan Investment Trust, so that both parish and diocesan budgets
can have a better participation in the growth of that trust.
A recent State law allows the Trustees to pay more than merely the
dividends and interest they receive, allowing investors to participate
in the hitherto unrealized gains in our portfolio. Now it is possible
to distribute annually a fixed percentage of the average market value
of the trust over the last three years. What that means for you right
now in terms of hard, cold cash is that within the range allowed
they've chosen, because of the wonderful performance of the market,
to go this year with the high end so that you will receive about
7% on your investment this year. That essentially doubles what we
received last year. This move allows the trust to remain competitive
with CD's and still enjoy growth which CD's do not.
There may be parishes or institutions that don't want to take a
7% payout. The mechanism for reinvesting unneeded payouts remains
unchanged. So no one has to take more than they need.
There is a planning aspect to this change in the DIT as well. In
the late fall the Trustees will determine what the distribution will
be for 2001, following the state guidelines, averaging the value
of the portfolio over the last three years. What this means is that,
if they do this in September, you will have a piece of solid information
you can count on during the next few months when you are developing
your budgets in parishes. That will eliminate guess work on many
levels, not just the parish.
I am very grateful to the Trustees and staff who put in the hours
to make this a reality for us. A letter about this was mailed to
parishes yesterday, and before the fall distribution announcement
is made there will be a small brochure you will receive as well.
The rule requiring a three-year average as the basis of distribution
calculations should avoid rapid up and down movements in the payout,
but we must count on the fact that there will be changes in the payout
as prudence and circumstances dictate.
THE BASIS FOR ASSESSMENT RATES
The second issue is not before us. I ask you just to think about
something: about basing our diocesan assessment rate on income rather
than expenses. We're the only diocese in the Episcopal Church not
to use income as the base, and we suffer for it .. Suppose large
and wealthy church X loses a rector. Their assessment goes down under
the present system, because they are not paying the rector's salary.
But, in order to keep the diocesan income level, the percentage will
change so that little churches Y and Z will have to pay a larger
assessment.
So, the purpose of this change would be to help keep the assessment
rate relatively level, preserving parishes and diocese alike from
the jolt of sudden seesaws. I'm proposing nothing at this convention,
but I ask that you think about that and, as you have ideas, please
do share them. The idea would not be to increase the amount of assessment
income to the Diocese, but spread the load more equitably.
FAIR SHARE ASSESSMENT
Another thing I ask that you think about is moving entirely to a
fair-share, assessment-based, budget.
As a Convention we determine what we want to do as our joint ministry
for the next year. We express that plan as a budget. It seems obvious
to me to say that if we decide to do something, we should simply
each pay our fare share for what we decide to do. That would still
leave a great deal of room for a "wish list" of projects or ministries
that congregations could adopt by way of "acceptance" if they were
able and moved to do so. Again, I ask only that you think about that
-- to make less guess work and more equity.
THE CONVENTION/VESTRY CONNECTION
Finally, the Task Force on Structure is asking us to think about
something. We'll have some things before us tomorrow. When vestries
make their own local decisions about participation in the life and
finances of the diocese, it makes sense for them to have the best
information possible. As you'll see tomorrow, our diocesan treasurer
and other financial people make the reasons for financial decisions
taken here very clear -- otherwise we wouldn't do it. For vestries
to act on those decisions locally, it's helpful to have eyewitness
reporting on what happened at convention and why.
The Task Force on Structure has a recommendation in this regard
that warrants our serious consideration. While there may be more
than one way to attain the goal they have in mind, I do not think
anyone disagrees about the need for the convention and the vestry
to operate with the same quality of information.
CHILDREN'S MINISTRIES
We have been with each other long enough that I can risk being very
blunt with you. I need to say to you that, by and large, thoughts
of the Episcopal Church fall on deaf ears in Harrisburg. The present
Governor's administration is the first one that simply refuses to
meet with the gathering of Pennsylvania Episcopal bishops.
On top of that, from my most reliable source, I learn that when
some legislators receive messages from Protestant churches or from
the Pennsylvania Council of Churches, those messages are ignored,
sometimes laughed at or left unread. However, when the Roman Catholic
bishops speak, Harrisburg listens. That's not for a religious reason.
It's this: those bishops together can get a million or two million
signatures on a petition in one weekend, and elected officials notice
numbers like that and pay careful attention.
Several possible conclusions can be drawn from that story; the most
obvious is that, whenever we can, we need to be allied with the Roman
Catholics if we want our point to get across. But you and I know
that such partnership will not always be possible. Still, there are
many issues where Roman/Episcopal/Lutheran cooperation is possible,
particularly in moral areas like advocacy for the poor and for children.
Let me give you an example. There was a cartoon in the National
Catholic Reporter last week. There's an Uncle Sam figure happily
yelling, "We're on top of the World!" The next frame: "We're rich!
The stock market is booming, unemployment barely exists, and budget
deficits are a thing of the past!" Frame 3: He's tossing money in
the air. "Budget surpluses are the rule! The money is pouring in!
We're rich, rich, rich!" Frame 4: "Why someday we might even be rich
enough to educate our children."
I know for a fact that in at least one of the cities of this diocese
there are inner-city schools so under-funded that teachers must buy
crayons, paper, and other supplies themselves, and church groups
have been pitching in for other basics, including books.
For generations in America, the principal tool for escaping poverty
has been education, and it is entirely unacceptable that children
who most need that tool of escape are denied it, and have been denied
it for so long that we may have to ask if educational neglect is
an institution in parts of the Commonwealth.
That such a high number of children who are neglected in inner-city
schools are Hispanic and African-American forces us to ask if what
is institutionalized here is not also racism. Who will speak for
these neglected people?
We have not found a successor to the Reverend Hannah Anderson, who
took up the part of Margaret Sipple's work that concerned children's
ministries, and that has troubled me deeply. It is hard to get excellent
people to take a part time job.
We once had in this diocese a video that many of you have seen called "Every
Child is a Blessing." Because of what I told you before about the
increase in funds available to members of the Diocesan Investment
Trust, I will be asking some of the beneficiaries of that increase
to support a full time children's advocacy missioner in the diocese
to help us insure that every child in our schools and in our churches
is, indeed, received and treated like a blessing, prepared to contribute
to the work of society and share in its productivity. The Diocese
of Pennsylvania has begun work in this area, and I will ask whoever
leads our efforts to coordinate that with our neighbors to the south.
GENERAL CONVENTION
I'm sure you all know there is to be a General Convention of the
Church in Denver this summer. There are people going with very heavy
agendas of many kinds, agendas in which they believe with all their
hearts. There are also many people fearful of the outcome of that
convention.
My own overall concern as I go to Denver is that the Church not
be divided, and I will continue to work as I have, for deepened unity
with those whose views I do not necessarily share.
I think I made this clear last year in terms of hospitality towards
the right wing of the church, and if you've read the General Convention "Blue
Book" for 2000, you know that I have tried to bring precisely the
same principles into play as we deal with those on the left wing
of the church.
The point for me is we must always ask the question: Which is worse:
the presence of what I may believe to be incorrect teaching on the
one hand or further division in the body of Christ on the other?
The world does watch what we do. Our witness to the world is shown
in how we love each other and maintain community.
The fact is that you can try to persuade only those people who have
stayed in the room. Whoever takes responsibility for pushing people
out of the room needs to consider well what they are doing. And I
would say that to people who choose to leave the room, as well.
The issues before General Convention are very serious, but none
of them for me is more important than our maintaining witness to
the unity of those who confess with their lips that Jesus Christ
is Lord and who wish to live out his resurrection as they walk in
the way of their baptism.
I am not tense about General Convention. I go there determined to
do what I can to help those who want to keep the church together,
but there's one more thing about that.
GOD OFFERS TO TEACH US A NEW WAY
I spoke to the clergy last fall about the place of suffering in
the priestly life and in the lives of Christians, and how we bear
the pain of those people in our care. There are Christians of many
persuasions within the Episcopal Church right now who suffer a great
deal.
One conservative bishop whom I love dearly and have known forever
said that he feels like a child in a family that is facing divorce.
Any of you who have been children in those families know that terror.
Other people I know in the liberal camp of the church have felt
as though they've never been loved and feel they've been orphans
inside the church.
Unless our concern for all who suffer in the church is real and
unless that concern shapes how we talk to them and how we behave
towards each other, there is very little about the church worth saving.
On the other hand, I deeply believe that to the extent that we are
willing to address each other on the common ground of our life in
Jesus Christ, to the extent that we refuse to punish each other,
there can be great gifts for us.
None of what I am saying to you fits my personality type, or my
instincts, both of which prefer clarity and immediate closure. Like
many of you, I struggle with those other preferences daily. Nonetheless,
what I believe most surely - and personally - is that God offers
to teach us a new way, a way based more on the cross and less on
quickness of thought than we usually prefer, and I believe that in
the struggle to receive that gift we become more like Jesus Christ.
The scripture passage in which I have increasingly come to rest
in the past few years is a simple one: "He who calls you is faithful;
He will do it." As we enter another year of our life together, I
can think of no better expression of our confidence and our joy.
He who calls us is faithful; he will do it.
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