Inaugural Sermon
Diocesan Press Service. June 11, 1974 [74172]
John Maury Allin, Presiding Bishop/Episcopal Church
In my own heart and experience at this moment I find that attempting to proclaim the word in the midst of such dramatic presentation in the presence of this company -- and the faith and love which this company represents -- words are inadequate from a preacher. I would therefore attempt to bear a greeting, to express appreciation and gratitude, to give witness to my faith, to issue a call to the church and to pray for a response.
The proper greeting of course is "grace be unto you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. " I would greet you, welcome you here, but I would hope also that the very presence here of this company in this significant place, from this height in our nation's capital is a more important greeting to the world in the name of Christ. May his grace and may his peace be carried from this place by us to the utmost parts, to those who know him not. May we know here our mission to be as channels of his grace which by his grace we can be, messengers, ambassadors of his peace into a world of conflict, pressures, neglect, need. I am so grateful for all of you who have come. Especially those who come from great distances. I'm grateful for those of you who represent our brothers and sisters in Christ in other communions, especially Joseph Cardinal Suenens from Belgium, our brother Gerald, the Bishop of London, representing the Archbishop of Canterbury, and all of those who have come. I'm grateful for those like the Rev. Edward Wilson, President of the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference, dear friend Joseph Brunini of Mississippi with whom I have shared the ministry of Christ. I'm grateful for all of you and I welcome you in the name of Christ.
Now an expression of appreciation, now an expression of gratitude. First of all I'm grateful for all of those who have done so much to make this offering, this celebration a reality. And begin with those most important great people who fill the churches of this land who in reality are the hope of this land; those people who have arranged flowers and set up television cameras and all other sort of things. The important work that is done with dedication, done with a certain joy, a certain delight that all together becomes an offering acceptable to our Lord God himself. I'm grateful for the committee that has worked, I appreciate all who have shared and do share.
And then I want to express gratitude and appreciation for the life and service of him who precedes me in this office. With him I share the Christian name John -- John [Fines. It is no matter of mere politeness that compels me to say what must be said. For his witness has been and will be of that strength of character which is Christian witness and bears the heat of the day with a conviction and devotion to his Lord and the mission of the church. Many do not agree. It is evidence of our need for redemption in this world that when we do not agree we so frequently, even within the fellowship of the church, react in anger. In our blind misunderstandings we strike out. We frequently speak with authority which we do not have out of our fears and our prejudices.
John Hines was not without his share of misunderstandings, I'm sure. No one in this fellowship is endowed with absolute wisdom. But he has the grace of God which produces so constant and magnificent a pursuit of the way; that integrity which can take misunderstandings and the criticisms and the abuse. Of all the lessons I would learn from him, from the many examples he has set, I pray that I might have that courage, and seeking in prayer and in consultation the will of the Lord as I come to understand it, and as this church comes to understand it, that I be faithful to it, though hell freeze over. May we be by our faith reminded that the call to Christian ministry is not to a popularity contest nor the development of personality cults, but to faithful service; the willingness to lose ourselves for Christ' s sake. I have such an example. We all do. For that we have occasion to give thanks.
I want to say a word of appreciation and gratitude for Mississippi. I shall resist the temptation to tell you all I know. But it is a mysterious and lovely land and the Lord is there as he is in Minnesota, Massachusetts, Montana and Maine. Oh yes, we are populated by the same sort of human beings with whom God has populated the rest of the world. That's why we so frequently can have our problems identified. And we have great reason to do penance and a long way to go. But there's also great potential and beauty, and I've learned to receive hospitality there. I've discovered the faithful there who are faithful, who in the midst of the confusion, are found standing steady. For the likes of such I give a priority of thanksgiving. They have nourished and shared life with me and love. The interesting thing about it is that I find that it somehow enables me to recognize that same sort of life and love wherever I have gone. I don't believe that Mississippians have been so dispersed across the face of the earth, though they are a rather mobile people. It is because we too are the children of God. We are learning, perhaps at times slowly, to be brothers and sisters in Christ.
Now a word of witness to the faith, as I understand the faith and as you will hear me say over and over because perhaps it is my only speech. I understand religion to be a relationship and I find God within the relationships in this life. Religion is relationship and in my relationships I find religion.
Sin is that which interrupts, destroys relationship. The catalog of classic sins has not been outdated. It is still our pride, our envy and our jealousies and our avarice and our gluttony that plagues the household, plagues the nations of the world. You see, religion is relationship to us Christians because God is love, the very source of relationship. And sin is possible because God in his love, giving us the power and ability to relate to Him in love, had to give us the right not to love; the choice to obey or disobey. He is consistent in that gift. Others would take our right of choice, our free will away. God never does, so we become disobedient, so we build idols for ourselves of other interests, and we put our faith in them and respond to them. God knowing that also, being love, not only creates but redeems and sustains. The heart of the gospel is John 3:16 -- " For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that all who believe in Him should not perish. " That is good news. In spite of the confusion, the desperate conditions, the smog that in our own consciousness and in our world would blot us out and separate us one from the other, the pollution of our foolishness, God's clear sunlight shines and penetrates the smogginess. By that light we can find the way. Christ is the way. We can have that grace to seek and tell the truth and come to life. God is love. He would have us love him and love one another.
But the witness is not complete, if one stops there; the suggestion that we somehow love abstractly. Love is demanding and the Prince of Peace demands of us, commands us to be obedient, to respond in love, to love one another, to learn of Him. "Take my yoke," he says, "and learn of me" -- follow me, serve me, serve others. Offer your live, and in so doing, you can find life. In His service we will find freedom. That this church must remember. That is our most precious gift and we are called by Christ to share it. And we must give the whole loaf to those with whom we would share: the love of God and the responsibility that love provides; to love in turn, to serve in turn; not to expect to be forgiven unless we are willing to forgive. No forgiveness is possible or valid if it not be of love.
My call to the church from this hour, at this place: I accept the responsibility placed upon me and call upon this church and to all that might heed, that we examine our relationships in the light of the love of Christ; examine them prayerfully, examine them faithfully, examine them lovingly, examine them with a readiness to repent. And we need to continually. We need to be reminded, to call back, to turn from some foolish effort, distraction.
Let us examine our relationships internally within the fellowship. Let us examine our relationships ecumenically. Let us examine our relationships of outreach to a world filled with hostility and hunger and pain.
Let us examine them. It cannot be assigned to a committee. It cannot be turned over to the House of Bishops. It certainly cannot be left to any one person in one office. The fellowship gathered for the sharing of life should examine with care our relationships.
Frequently, Episcopalians anyway, indulge themselves in the worst form of mental exercise. They jump to conclusions. And having reached those conclusions we take off as if we had been endowed with all wisdom. And the next thing you know we are having all sorts of arguments about what God has told this group and what God has told that group. Frequently, it would be helpful if we stopped and listened together so that all of us could hear what God really is saying.
I don't know what form it will always take but I am convinced that He will lead us into righteous relationships wherein we can find justice and love and peace. That is not just something we talk about. That is something we must experience as we exchange our life and share our service within this church.
And the question still must be put ecumenically: Are we doing all that we can do? Are we perhaps still hung up in some system of words, some tradition which is not as important as we have thought? Can we not find greater ways to draw together? Perhaps it is that we should not worry so much about the formalities of worship. Perhaps we would find the necessity of worship if in all that we seek to do in the name of Christ we seek to do ecumenically. That is not new but it is a reminder that seems to be timely.
To all the world beyond the household of faith, may the doors always be open in the household of faith. May the members of the household of faith remember that though it is sometimes considered fashionable among Episcopalians to hire someone else to do the job for us, that is not valid ministry. We are called to be engaged, to meet and to share, to go forth into all the world, to discover that the thing we have in common with the rest of humanity is our individual uniqueness. We are all alike because we are all different. Black eyes can share faith with blue eyes. Red skin and yellow skin and black skin and white skin can worship God and serve God together. The most practical opportunity to serve God is in serving and sharing with one another.
Yes, that's the call. I'm aware that it should be more explicit. I'm aware it needs to be more specific. But you see my faith also is that within our relationship we can develop the specifics together. That's what we're called to do. It is for this reason that I pray for the response of the church, believing, because I have experienced love in the church. I have.
Oh there are some tedious fellow members. There are those who would try men's souls. But there is also within those same tedious ones, flashes of love and the capacity to accept, even to be open. Believing that, knowing that, experiencing that, I pray that we may respond so that we may accept the ministry that Christ offers to us as he offers to us his salvation; that as we would be reconciled in Him, we may be reconciled one to the other; that we may find reconciliation by seeking to reconcile and to be reconciled, to forgive and be forgiven, to love as we are loved. To love even when we do not feel loved.
I suppose every sermon needs a text to be valid. And so I leave you with this one. It's from St. Paul's epistle to the Corinthians in the fifth chapter, the 18th verse: "All things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation. "
God bless you.