Newspaper Columns by Bishop Paul V. Marshall
We Invite you to Free your Spirit
Bishop Paul V. Marshall
September 2000"We're a small church, but we don't know it."
A parishioner said this to me recently about Grace Episcopal Church in downtown Allentown. Through three large community ministries -- AIDS Outreach, Grace Montessori School and Grace Community Foundation (a food bank plus) -- Grace parishioners connect with people of many faiths and races far beyond the walls of their building.
Rather than suppressing their soul by focusing on survival - small churches are tempted to do that -- they have freed their spirit.
Grace is one of 68 Episcopal churches of the Diocese of Bethlehem, some 17,000 Episcopalians in a 14-county area of eastern and northeastern Pennsylvania. We are a small diocese.
We try not to allow our size to define us. Two years ago in May, more than 2,000 of us came to the Kingston Armory (near Wilkes-Barre) "to celebrate God's love and to learn new ways to share it." We called that celebration "Share the Bread" because Bethlehem, in Hebrew, means "House of Bread."
The living memory of most of our people suggests that 300-400 of us come together in this diocese for our annual convention and 800 for the consecration of a bishop. It is significant, I believe, that so many more of us gathered "to celebrate God's love."
We are preparing for another stretch on October 14 (9:30 to 5:00), this time at the new First Union Arena in Wilkes-Barre. The Arena will easily accommodate 5,000.
"Share the Bread 2000" will be an event designed to free your spirit: a family celebration for Episcopalians, a gospel festival for sisters and brothers in Christ of whatever denomination and, we hope, God's occasion for a new beginning for people who are not active in any church and who may not yet know the transforming power of God's love.
You are invited. Come and see. There is no admission fee - and we'll buy lunch if you let us know you intend to be there. Please call 800-358-5655 or visit www.diobeth.org for details.
Bishop Catherine Roskam of New York will share unique insights into what it means to live out the gospel of Jesus Christ in an increasingly urban and complex world.
"When we put ourselves in God's hands to be bread," she suggested to us a few years ago, "God keeps messing around in our lives, elbows deep in flour, never quite finished, making us ever more delicious and nourishing. The process is dynamic, creative, intimate and sometimes painful. It's not easy being bread."
Episcopal priest, author, artist, media producer musician and master storyteller Jim Friedrich will share with us his deep perceptions of the gospel. He has for some 32 years helped people encounter the gospel by creating through prayer, skillful storytelling and a gifted religious imagination learning experiences that speak to hearts.
Bishop Manasseh will join us from the Episcopal Church of the Sudan, a church that has been under constant persecution. We have a great deal to learn from a man who can explain to us their troubles and, even more, their hope. In the midst of their persecution, the church is growing.
I will be doing a not-for-preachers-only presentation focused on what goes into proclaiming the word of God today, how to address the culture in words it can hear without denying the gospel we treasure. I'll also have the opportunity to preach at our festive afternoon Eucharist.
We hope to share in creative and faithful ways the wonderful, incredible news that God does, indeed, love us and invites us into partnership "to restore all people to unity with God and each other through Christ." The Church exists for that reason. We are at our best when we are doing that. And, when we do that, we free our spirit.
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