Presiding Bishop's Address from the Chair to The Executive Council, Milwaukee, February 25, 1992
Episcopal News Service. March 5, 1992 [92063]
During this past weekend we gathered as a faith community and spent some intense and fruitful time listening to one another's stories. I am going to continue in that spirit and begin my address to you this morning by telling a story.
A good friend of mine, one who is practical and literal in his approach to things, tells this story on himself. During a time of spiritual dryness -- to which even the most devout are subject -- he was hiking alone in the mountains. He was feeling disconnected and insecure -- vulnerable in the face of an unpredictable future and the precariousness of all life. As he hiked higher and higher, scrambling over rocks, he prayed the profound prayer of mumbled conversation with a God who seemed not to be listening. "And if you know me God, and if you are in this with me God, and if you are God, just give me a sign." He hiked on for a minute or two, over the barren and rocky landscape, in that state of inner mumbling and confusion. Suddenly, the trail took a turn and then, right before him he saw -- a sign. It was a white sign -- about three feet square. On it, in bold black letters, was written: "You are entering an area of unpredictable weather."
Now, that is a sign! My friend said he laughed and cried in the joy of release that comes when you have wondered where God is, and then know. He had been met. He was not all alone in that rocky, forbidding place. He was not without a comforter and advocate in an unpredictable world. God knew him, knew how it was for him. As he told it later: "God knows me so well, knows my literal nature, that if I ask for a sign he is going to put it on a six-foot pole so I won't miss it!"
I have thought about that story these last months as we have moved into our new triennium, being faithful, being obedient, and responding to how God is calling us. We too are looking for signs. We must look carefully: some of them are not going to be on poles.
The plan for our retreat these past days came out of our understanding that we are responsible for discerning the signs of the times. We need to look around and see where we are. We need to map the terrain -- as we plan for our future.
Jesus said: "You know how to interpret the sky. Why can't you interpret the signs of the times?" I believe Jesus calls us to do this interpretation, and I want to share with you some of the signs I see around us.
With the New Hampshire primary just behind us, it is an unmistakable, inescapable fact that this nation of ours is preparing for a very significant election. The decisions made next November as ballots are cast will help shape the future of individuals, of cities and towns, of our nation, and of our global village. Each day we read and hear from the candidates and their defenders and adversaries. We hear accusations and allegations, charges and countercharges, promises and predictions. In the midst of this, regrettably, much of our citizenry has simply tuned out. Perhaps because the election year rhetoric is just that -- rhetoric. The campaigns too often fail to address at a deep level the problems we face. Too seldom do they involve the people in dialogue about our national goals and priorities.
Why Americans Hate Politics is the intriguing title of a book by E.J. Dionne, who has been a New York Times reporter. He writes: "Americans hate politics as it is now practiced because we have lost all sense of 'the public good.' Over the last 30 years of political polarization, politics has stopped being a deliberative process through which people resolved disputes, found remedies, and moved forward. When Americans watch politics now, in 30-second snatches, they understand instinctively that politics these days is not about finding solutions. It is about discovering strategic postures that offer short-term political benefits. We give the game away when we talk about 'issues,' not 'problems.' Problems are solved; issues are merely what politicians use to divide the citizenry and advance themselves."
Unfortunately, politics is a spectator sport that only occasionally bears watching. The percentage of people who vote in our nation is at the bottom of the list of industrialized countries. Only 36 percent of voters turned out for elections in 1990.
Dionne goes on to say: "Because of this flight from public life, our society no longer fosters a sense of community or common purpose. Social gaps, notably the divide between blacks and whites, grow wider. We have less and less to do with each other, meaning that we feel few obligations to each other and are less and less inclined to vindicate each other's rights."
Because we are not engaged in substantive discourse about what matters, the gap is filled with what Dionne says are the "politics of attack and by issues that seem unimportant or contrived." I believe each of us can confirm this by bringing to mind some of the so-called "issues" of the presidential campaign to date.
This absence of moral discourse, this flight from public life, this polarization and lack of a sense of public good, surely these are disturbing signs of the times in which we find ourselves.
In a similar vein, James Davison Hunter, who is the professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia, describes what he calls the "culture wars" in a book of that title. His description of the dynamics of public culture is compelling. He makes a persuasive argument that the opposing factions hold allegiance to different sources of moral authority. Without a common basis from which to work, Hunter says that "in public discourse, 'dialogue' has largely been replaced by name calling, denunciation, and even outright intolerance. In the words of the old adage, the contemporary culture war has become a contest that will determine 'not who is right -- but who is left."' He says that "in today's cultural climate, voices of quiet, reflective passion are rarely heard."
I think both of these observers of the political and cultural scene have something to say to us as we try to discern the signs of the times. We have only to look around us to see the tragic results of the erosion of community and the flight from public discourse and involvement they point out. I will name one. This February we have been celebrating Black History Month. In our church we have observed Absalom Jones Day, honoring an African American, born in slavery, who became the first black priest in our church. These are the positives. We don't have to look far to see the negatives. We don't have to look far to know that persons of color -- looking at the signs -- see a regression in progress toward equality. See a rise in bias-related incidents and crimes. See a diminishment in hope. See a dream deferred -- once again. My dear friends, as we recommit ourselves to the eradication of racism, let us not ignore those signs. They are all around us.
So, we read the signs, as we have done this past weekend on retreat, and we ask, Where are God's people in this? Where is our community? Specifically, we, as presiding bishop and Executive Council, might ask: Where is the Episcopal Church?
In a lesson for this evening we read from John: "We love because he first loved us.... The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also." My dear friends, I believe this fundamental commandment says a great deal about how we are to live in these times: "Those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also."
Let there be no mistake. The church -- and I speak now specifically about the church in which you and I have leadership responsibilities -- the church discerns the signs of the time as the first step of being faithful to living in the time, but being of the kingdom. Being of God's kingdom.
As God's people we must not take on the political and cultural models with all their imperfections. We must bring the insights and ways of our faith, of the kingdom, to our cultural and political life, rather than bringing the tactics and rules of our political and cultural life to our life of God's people. I would like to suggest there are ways to do this, and things to avoid.
As a start I say: Beware of sound-bite theology. It is not an easy thing to do theology in an age of sound bites, 30-second solutions, and facile explanations that don't explain much of anything. Partial facts are no substitute for deep truths. For those deep truths we must search.
We must not appropriate to our faith community the model of campaigning. We are meant to be proclaiming... not campaigning.
We must not appropriate to our faith community the model of applying simplistic labels. Labels serve political groups imperfectly. They utterly fall apart when we are describing the blessed company of all faithful people.
We must not appropriate to our faith community the need of the culture to be "right" about this or that. We are not meant to ask if we are right, or at least more right than someone else. We are meant to ask if we are faithful. And don't worry. God will sort out the rightness.
We must not appropriate to our faith community a hankering after power and authority. We do not take the authority of God unto ourselves. As I said to you in my homily on Saturday, our Lord tried to explain that to James and John.
As we look for signs, I want to tell you that I see some other signs, some powerful signs in our faith community. They do not look like those I have spoken of in the culture. I believe they are signs of the kingdom, and I rejoice in them. We can rejoice in them.
One of these signs of the kingdom is our understanding of the necessity for partnership. Over the last month or so I have met with various bodies in our church, among them the Joint Standing Committee on Planning and Arrangements as they began preparations for our 1994 General Convention in Indianapolis, and the Executive Committee of the Joint Standing Commission of Program, Budget, and Finance. In those meetings there was a new sense of how we are meant to work together, how we need to work across lines. I know we all agree that the wonderful sharing we have just had with members of Program, Budget, and Finance at our retreat was a sign of our interconnectedness.
Also, last month I had a superb meeting with the senior management of my staff. This was a gathering of about 23 or so persons who have management responsibilities on my staff. There again I witnessed not only a high level of commitment to a partnership with the broader church, but a stepping back from any sense of "turf" toward full collaboration across unit lines. This meant a great deal to me, and to all of us as we gathered for that time of sharing.
I have said before and I will say again that there is not a finer, more committed group of men and woman anywhere in the church than the dedicated individuals who carry out their ministry serving on my staff. They are working diligently in response to the mandates given by General Convention, and to assist in the ministry and mission of the dioceses and the parishes. It is very true to say that in many, if not most cases, these women and men are the program.
The reorganization and downsizing that took place last fall after General Convention have committed us to making creative changes in how we do business. We are working toward doing fewer things better. We are focusing on enabling the dioceses and parishes for ministry and we celebrate the fact that the ministry of local congregations is growing ever stronger. I believe this is a direct result of a recovery of our understanding of the ministry of all the baptized. That is another sign of living in the kingdom. In the kingdom we honor and support the ministries of one another. We must continue to do so as we move through this triennium, facing and prudentially anticipating the economic realities. We must pay attention to where the needs are and how we can respond. We must look at the problems, knowing that we are called to be part of the solution.
In a further word on the signs of the times I call to your attention the absolutely superb paper you have received from the treasurer as part of her annual report on our statistics. Episcopal Church Trends: Analysis and Suggestions for Action is real grist for our mill to enlighten us -- and I might say encourage us -- in the short range, and to assist us as, led by the [Executive Council's] Planning and Development Committee, we work through our long-range plans.
In much the manner of my friend hiking in the mountains, I too have looked carefully at the signs. I have tried to read and interpret what I see before us, particularly in the first year of this triennium. I want to share with you now my best thinking, and my recommendations about how we can be responsible in the stewardship of our resources and creative in our ministry over this next year. I am making these recommendations about the 1992 budget following consultation with senior executives, then the senior staff for program, and most recently with the Administrative and Finance Committee.
I want to note here that I believe we have only begun to appropriate all of the wisdom that came out of our time together this weekend. We are beginning together to look at our opportunities and our resources in fresh ways. I further believe that what I will put before you this morning is not only faithful to the substance and spirit of General Convention, but that it reflects the new understanding that we are together coming to as we, with God's help, discern the signs of the kingdom.
Before I get to the specifics, let me note three guiding principles that came out of General Convention on which my recommendations are based. First, I spoke earlier of my understanding of people being program. I refer to those persons who make up my staff who work with the various entities of our church and our partners around the world. These staff persons, whose numbers have been reduced while their tasks have increased, carry out ministry on behalf of our whole church, and also support and enable the ministries of dioceses and parishes. We have made commitments to their ministries, and we must honor those commitments.
Second, we came out of the General Convention very clear that the recovery of our understanding of the ministry of every baptized person -- to which I alluded earlier -- has implications for how we deploy the total resources of this church for ministry. Local congregations need to be supported in work locally. They need to be strengthened and affirmed in doing what they do best. Similarly, the diocesan structures and the national structures need to do what is best done at those levels.
In sum, the gifts of the spirit are given to the community and we are called to work together, honoring the gifts of one another. We are called to work in partnership, and we are called to work in ways that bring out the best each of us has to offer, so that all may lay their gifts before the altar.
Having articulated the guiding principles, let me now lay before you the four guidelines I propose as we make our budgetary decisions for 1992.
First, I recommend that we fully meet the amount budgeted in 1992 -- for base budget support for national staff and fixed costs. That amount reflects the effects of downsizing and restructuring.
Second, I recommend that we fund at 95 percent the direct support for overseas and domestic dioceses, including the diocesan ministries of the Episcopal Council on Indian Ministries and Coalition 14, Black Colleges, ecumenical partners -- that is, the National Council of Churches and the World Council of Churches -- as well as the Anglican Consultative Council and our direct support of the dioceses in the wider Anglican Communion.
Third, I recommend that, after the first two commitments have been met, the remaining funds be allocated for our national programs proportional to the funding originally allocated by General Convention. I have directed the senior executive for program to provide me with specifics for the implementation of the program priorities with the resources currently available, with a full report to be made to the Executive Council at our next meeting. We will work toward fulfilling the mandates we have been given, to the best of our abilities, in the best way we know how, using the resources available.
Fourth, I recommend that should greater funding than anticipated become available, or less than anticipated be received, those dollars be added to, or subtracted from, this final category -- that is, the program dollars we have to work with.
These indeed are challenging times. They are also calling on the best in us. We have financial restraints, but our budget is and will remain balanced, and we will make choices that may lead on, sometimes unexpectedly, to a strengthened common life in Christ and fresh vigor in our mission and ministry.
I began by telling you of a hiker, alone in a forest -- or so he thought. Then, he found he was not alone. I end with another kind of forest, another pilgrim on the path. I share this from Thomas Merton because I resonate so much to it in my own soul. I offer it to you, hoping it will speak to you as well.
"The Lord has been very good and yet I still fight my way through the forests. That is to be expected. I can depend less and less on my own power and sense of direction -- as if I ever had any. But the Lord supports and guides me without my knowing how, more and more apart from my own action and even in contradiction to it. It is so strange to advance backwards and to get where you are going in a totally unexpected way."
Totally unexpected. That is what grace is all about. A gift. My dear friends, we must read the signals, discern the signs. Living in the kingdom as we do, let us, above all else, pray for grace. Let us rejoice at our life in the kingdom and thank God for what we have been given from his full store, grace upon grace.