Paul Washington Preaches at Harris Consecration
Episcopal News Service. February 16, 1989 [89025B]
James H. Thrall, Diocese of Connecticut
BOSTON (DPS, Feb. 16) -- The elevation of the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris as bishop suffragan in the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts sends a strong, clear message to those who are oppressed, Harris's former rector said in his sermon at her consecration.
If all that the 7,500 people gathered in Hynes Convention Center, February 11, had come to see is the first woman bishop in the Anglican Communion, "you have missed the point," said the Rev. Paul Mathews Washington, rector emeritus of the Church of the Advocate, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Prior to her consecration, Harris was interim rector at the same church.
"You have come to see God, who with his mighty hand has lifted up one who has been at the bottom of society, and who has exalted her... to be one of his chief pastors," said Washington.
"It was God" who chose Harris for her historic role, who is saying through her consecration, "Today I have chosen a 'have-not' to be a leader in the Episcopal Church traditionally seen as the Church of the 'haves,'" Washington said.
"I am sending one to you today who does not have the credentials of the world... but one who can only say, 'Just as I am without one plea,'" he said. "That's all she can say, but that's a mouthful."
That is the way of God who could call as a bishop St. Ambrose (fourth-century Bishop of Milan) who "wasn't a priest," Washington said. "He wasn't a deacon. He wasn't confirmed. He wasn't even baptized."
As a black woman who is the great-granddaughter of a slave, Harris stands symbolically as one "born in slavery." This is a woman, Washington said, "who has had to struggle. She's been despised, she's been rejected," he said. "We must not overlook the fact that this woman ordained today is not just an American woman. She is a black woman."
Washington recalled Harris's record as an advocate for the downtrodden, and raised up examples of other black leaders of the past who combated racism in society and the Church. He reminded the gathering of past struggles, he said, because "I can't let us be people who come to church on Easter who have not gone through a Lent. There are some Good Fridays before this Easter we are now celebrating."
Harris called him, Washington said, on September 24, the day she was elected, to share her amazement. "She said, 'Paul, guess what,'" Washington said, to widespread laughter and applause. "That news to her was as incredible as the news was to another woman 2,000 years ago." But like the birth of Jesus, announced to Mary, his mother, Washington suggested, the consecration of Harris as a bishop was "inherent in eternity." "God ordained you to be a bishop a long time ago," he said.
When Harris participated in the illegal ordination of 11 women as priests at the Church of the Advocate in 1974, Washington said, "You did not know when you led that procession that God was preparing you to lead another procession," he said.
The Diocese of Massachusetts also stands in a tradition of leading the way, having elected the Rt. Rev. John M. Burgess, the first black bishop "not for 'colored people' but for the People of God," Washington said.
That knowledge of God's call should bring comfort at moments when the role she is playing seems overwhelming, Washington said. "Remember that the force behind you is greater than the task ahead of you," he said.
Toward the end of Washington's 45-minute sermon, Harris stood, as his comments became directed more specifically to her, and embraced him at the conclusion.