Presiding Bishop's Address from the Chair to the Executive Council
Episcopal News Service. November 8, 1991 [91223]
During our time together yesterday I said a little bit about the wonderful mini-sabbatical Patti and I had following General Convention. One of the things that made it wonderful was that every day we took great blocks of time for morning prayer and meditation and for reading aloud.
One of the books we read was a collection of meditations called Invitations to Prayer by a former dean of Westminster, Eric Symes Abbott. I would like to share one of them with you because it says something about life as a faith. community, and specifically our life together-just beginning -- as the new Executive Council.
We are all persons in the making
and in a real sense we are
making and re-making one another.
But how often personal relationships
are marred by hasty, partial or
over-severe judgments.
We must help one another,
not judge one another, and
we must leave the final judgment
to the divine patience.
One of the greatest promises
in the New Testament is that
we are accepted in the beloved.
Let us try to be the ministers
of acceptance.
We are all "persons in the making." My ministry has shown me the truth of that. We do "make and remake" one another. What an awesome responsibility! As we stomp about the landscape or wander aimlessly, we can easily tread on one another's souls. We must move with the greatest of care. We are going to come to know one another in a special way over the next years. I pray that we will move carefully and try to be ministers of acceptance.
I would like to begin with some reflections about our time together in Phoenix, because where we have been will shape where we are going.
Our 10 days in Phoenix affirmed a truth we already know: prayer and worship must be at the heart of Christian community. I believe the daily Eucharist and Bible study transformed the General Convention. I continue to hear stories of the small groups, the healing that took place, as we "made and remade" one another and as we were shaped by Christ.
Phoenix also affirmed for me that this church has a strong center. There is so much more that unites us than divides us. The strength of that center -- the cohesiveness -- provides an environment where those who are pushing up against the edges on one issue or another can do so. They can speak up. They can share their perceptions and have them tested. Through the struggles of faithful people, wrestling with issues, we discern the will of God. And this, we know, is the Anglican way.
Our General Convention showed us once again that we have very different ideas about how the church ought to be the church. We have common understandings, fundamental teachings that are central to our faith. We also have different ideas about how these teachings are to be lived out. For example, some want the church to be a place of nurture and support for the faith journey. And it is that. Some want the church to be the hands and feet of the cosmic Christ -- living out the values Jesus taught and exemplified. And it is that. Some want the church to be the vehicle for proclaiming the faith once delivered. And it surely is. Some want the church to be a force in the formation of public policy, bringing the Christian perspective to the moral questions before us. And it is. Jesus Christ calls his church to be all of these.
As individual Christians, we do not all put our emphasis in the same place. And each of us shifts the emphasis during our Christian journey. We. must honor the different ways we live out the faith. We must remember that all of these ways are needed and that each proclaims only a part of the Gospel. Jesus Christ needs and uses all of us and wants us to support each other. We, the baptized, are all ministers, and we carry out that ministry every day, where we are. Therefore, a major piece of the ministry of a national church, of a presiding bishop, of an Executive Council is to inspire and empower individual Christians to carry out their ministry in faith, where they are, and in the knowledge that they are not alone.
This leads me to today, this morning, to my sense of where we are right now as God's people, as you begin your ministry as members of the Executive Council during this triennium. I want to share with you some things that are happening, and also what I see as some of the dynamics of our common life.
For several years I have said that we must use our resources to do fewer things better. I believe the restructuring that has already taken place, as described yesterday, will help us begin that process.
I have also been saying over the last years that we must affirm the ministry of all the baptized. I have begun conversations, principally with members of our Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance and with the Planning and Development Committee, on the longer-term challenge of re-visioning the ministry partnership of the national church, the provinces, the dioceses, and our congregations. In this triennium we must think in creative new ways about how our ministry as a church can be carried out at the congregational, diocesan, and provincial level.
Beginning now, we are going to work to bring into sharp focus what has been coming into view over the last years. There are many ways to describe it. Decentralization is one. Local empowerment is another. I think of it as encouraging each of us to offer our gifts to God as we are called. I think of it as the Episcopal Church honoring the baptismal vows each of us has made. It my responsibility as presiding bishop, and our responsibility, to make our structures responsive in the very best way, so we can live up to our baptismal vows to do all in our power to support the baptized in their life in Christ.
Barry [Menuez] spoke yesterday about other ways, now developing, in which we are reorganizing for greater efficiency and responsiveness to the whole church. One thing he mentioned was the linkage of the senior staff for program to the provinces. In addition, I have reinstituted a program to link every diocese with a member of my staff.
As I address the dynamics of our common life, I need to acknowledge that there are some saddened, troubled, and angry people who are part of our faith community. Much of the anger is around the issue of sexuality, and particularly the ordination of gay and lesbian persons. Those who believe that homosexuality is just plain wrong, according to Scripture, have incredible difficulty sitting still for their church arguing about when and how and under what circumstances. That is to be expected.
I am quite sure as I stand before you this morning that we are not going to settle the issue of how Scripture is to interpreted any time soon. I also know that people of good faith who take seriously the authority of Scripture have different convictions about homosexuality. Further, I know that we are not being faithful to God as revealed in community if we each simply assume that we already have the whole truth and nothing at all to learn.
This is not new thinking. In 1922, a commission appointed by the archbishops of Canterbury and York said: "In estimating the relative value of different portions of the Bible, the standard is the mind of Christ as unfolded in the experience of the church and appropriated by the individual Christian through his spirit." The report notes along the way the efforts of St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas to help the faithful understand that we always struggle together to find the mind of Christ. That charge to struggle together remains before us.
It is not an easy thing to be in conversation with people who don't agree with our opinions. But I intend to lead this church into a deeper dialogue around those issues the Gospel calls us to address. We don't -- any of us -- have the whole truth. And we all have a lot to learn.
Another dynamic that has an effect on our faith community is the troubled and uncertain nature of our common life as a nation and a global village as we approach the millennium. We each experience this uncertainty. We have fears about our jobs, about what will become of us as we get older, about our children and what sort of future is before them, about our relationships, about the erosion in standards of ethical conduct for public officials and private persons.
The uncertainty of our times makes many of our members look to the church as a bedrock of stability, unchanged and unchanging. But, let us remember, God did not promise there would be no change. God promised to be with us through change, through uncertainty, through the flood, through the desert, and in the wilderness.
A development in our common life, which I believe is based on some of the dynamics I have just mentioned, is very troubling to me. Driven by both upset at some of the issues that we are addressing, particularly sexuality, and also by the difficult economic times, there are those who feel that withholding funds from the national church program is an appropriate response. This, to me, is not what the church is all about. It is not what good stewardship is all about. It is not what living together in a faith community is all about. I hope and pray that those who have considered such a response will have second thoughts. I believe we have a sacred responsibility as members of this church to meet as best we can our common responsibility while we work out together how we are to serve Christ.
My friends, this is the midpoint in my term as your presiding bishop. Those of you who are in the class of 1997 will be with me for the full journey over the next, six years. As we begin this journey, I want to share with you my sense of the ministry of the Executive Council, of our responsibilities and accountabilities. What better time to do that than All Saints' Day, when we give thanks for the saints who have gone before us, and work and struggle to be, in our own way, the saints of God.
In the Collect for today we pray: Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord.
We are knitted together. What a wonderful image that is of our community. It certainly gives us an accountability -- a responsibility -- one to another as we each are just one stitch in the knitted garment.
Our primary accountability and responsibility comes from our baptismal covenant. We are accountable to our maker. If we hold that always before us, we can't go too far wrong.
The Executive Council is accountable to the General Convention and to the larger church. It is critical that each of you understands that you represent the whole church. Though you may have been elected by a province or derive support from a particular constituency, your accountability goes beyond that. Central to your accountability is the need to be mindful of the concerns and aspirations, thoughts and plans of the larger church.
As we search for "the mind of Christ," we need to listen to what is happening around the church. Beginning with our February meeting, I ask that we reinstitute the reports from the provinces during each council meeting. Each meeting we will hear from a few provinces with particular concerns to share. This will not necessarily be a problem-solving session, but a time to raise some awareness.
That is one part of the interpretation role. Hand in glove with Executive Council's tremendous budgetary responsibility is the responsibility of interpreting to the church how those funds are spent. Executive Council members should be prepared to describe how our common ministry is carried out through the programs of the church. Particularly, you must provide for provinces a clear accounting of council activities and the mission and ministry of the church as corporately expressed. This will not be a simple task, but it is a vital one. I ask each of you to discuss this with the other council members in your province and decide what will be most effective.
Another interpretation task involves the standing committees and commissions. Those of you who serve as liaison have the responsibility to keep the council informed about the activities of your committee or commission throughout the triennium. I consider this two-way communications link an important-part of your ministry.
Another accountability I would like to mention is that of my staff to me and to their ministry in this church. They are a superb group of dedicated men and women, and you will come over the next years to learn something of their ability and their dedication.
We have many tasks before us before we gather in Indianapolis in 1994. Each of the standing committees will be addressing resolutions from General Convention for which they have responsibility. Last week I spent time "revisiting" these resolutions, and I have no question this is going to be a full three years as we undertake exciting new initiatives and continue with the work of the last triennium.
In Phoenix I spoke to the General Convention of my visions for our church. After a summer of thought and prayer I am more clear than ever that we are on the right path. I am more clear than ever that God is leading us. I am more clear than ever that God will continue to be with us, as we work and pray and, with joy and steadfastness, carry out God's holy will.
During these times of change and challenge it is a gift and a grace to remember that some things don't change. Some things are certain. The love and leading of Jesus Christ is certain. In that love, and in its guidance, we find the bedrock we so eagerly seek and desperately need. At the same time, through that certainty we are constantly called to newness of life. As we read in the lesson for this evening from Revelation:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
"See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.
This is a new council. We have begun a new life together, and God is with us. I am delighted that we meet today on All Saints' Day, and grateful for the "newness," the joy, and the wonder of our life in Christ.
I would like to close with the words of a woman in a religious order on the holy island of Iona, Sister Dorothy Stella. She said:
A vision without a task is a dream.
A task without a vision is drudgery.
When we have a vision and a task -- it is the hope of the world.
My friends, I think this says something about what it means to be one of the saints of God. We have a vision -- a very clear and challenging vision. We have a task, a very large task. And we -- members of one fellowship in the mystical body of Christ the Lord -- are the hope of the world. Let us be about God's plans for us.