Sermon for Ordination of James Mathes
Bishop William Persell of Chicago
Sermon for Ordination of James Mathes
Saturday, March 5, 2005
"With the healing of division, with the ceaseless voice of prayer, with the power to love and witness, with the peace beyond compare: come, Holy Spirit, come."
Amen.
As few who are present today would know, or remember, I began my ordained ministry in 1969, in Tustin, California, at a time when San Diego and Los Angeles were one diocese. So, in a sense, for me, this is a happy homecoming. I'm honored to be here for this exciting, hopeful occasion and to be able to say to you, on behalf of the wider church, 'Congratulations' and 'thank you' for making such a wise choice for your next bishop, a man who has the faith, wisdom, courage, experience and youthfulness to lead this diocese for many years into a healthy, creative future.
I knew Bishop Bob Wolterstorff when the Diocese of San Diego began and I've had a good relationship with Bishop Hughes, as we served together in the Diocese of Los Angeles, on the Board of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, and in the House of Bishops. Bishop Hughes' graceful presence and good humor have been valuable contributions in many sometimes-stressful situations. With you, I pray God's blessings on Gethin and Lenore as they enter the next phase of their life and ministry.
While your new bishop served so ably as my Canon to the Ordinary, one of his jobs was to give me truthful, unvarnished feedback, so I begin today by repaying the favor. Jim, it may be hard to realize with all the planning, hoopla, gifts, and the gathering of family, friends, Episcopalians, and representatives of other denominations and faith traditions, from near and far, but what we're doing today is not all about you. I have no doubt that you will become a great Bishop of this diocese and the wider church. You have the commitment, faith, intelligence and experience to be a leader in the Church and in the wider community. You have the support of your wonderful, vivacious wife Terri, for which you will grow more and more thankful every day, and you have the blessing of two children, Lee and Sara, who will help you to keep everything in perspective, recognizing what is ultimately most important in your life.
So if what we're doing here today is not all about the new Bishop of San Diego, what is it about? I would suggest it's about God, our unity in Jesus Christ and our mission in the world.
First of all, it's about coming together to offer praise and thanks to God. We're here to worship, so God is the main focus of our attention. In our spirit-filled worship today, in such a large gathering, we catch a glimpse of who we are and who we might become in all our rich diversity as the body of Christ.
Our coming together today is also about helping the Diocese of San Diego, with the leadership of your new bishop, to discover how to live together in unity and love. This is the challenge before us at all levels of the life of our church from our congregations through our world-wide communion. Can we live into and bear witness to our unity, which is Christ's gift to the church, despite our profound differences? I believe that with God's help we surely can. The diversity of race, culture, geography, theology, biblical interpretations, and understandings of human sexuality, to name a few of our differences, must be seen as enrichments of our common life in Christ, which together portray a fuller, more complete image of Christ to the world. The body of Christ is poor and rich, highly educated and with little or no formal education, strong and weak, of every language, race and culture. Each of us and our dioceses and congregations fit someplace into the mosaic which conveys the full image of Christ. It's not our place to try to convince others in our communion that ours is the only or fullest picture of the truth. We need one another, conservatives, moderates, liberals, radicals, and more, to approach the truth of Christ, which is larger, than any one of our own limited visions or understandings.
As we go about the hard work of building and maintaining our unity as Christ's body we must do so prayerfully, carefully, and with the deepest respect for those who are different from us. To build the unity of a diocese or communion involves building relationships across the boundaries that can divide us. I was delighted to hear that you are embarking on a companion relationship with the Diocese of Maseno in Northern Kenya. In Chicago our companion dioceses of Renk in the Southern Sudan and Southeast Mexico are proving to be a real blessing as we come to know, pray for and support one another in our common life and mission. What we are doing, as you will be doing with the Diocese of Maseno, is building up the Anglican Communion from the grass roots, by developing strong relationships and lasting bonds of affection: relationships which are stronger than divisive issues, bonds of affection which are stronger than political power struggles.
An ancient word for bishop, pontiff, comes from a word meaning 'bridge builder.' Much of the bishop's responsibility is helping to build bridges across diocesan divides and those in the wider church, community, and world. But as a bridge builder your bishop's work will be a symbol and example for the bridge building work necessary on the part of each one of us if we are to live and exhibit the unity for which Christ prayed and for which he ultimately gave up his life, emptying himself, taking the form of a slave and being obedient to the point of death.
Our being here today is about our worship of God and it is an expression of our unity, a unity which is sometimes fragile and which demands our most careful, prayerful attention. Next, we need to be clear about who we are and the context in which we live and minister, as we refocus and reenergize our evangelism and mission. Our congregations must reach out in healing and reconciling ways and become places which demonstrate God's overwhelming and outrageous hospitality to all.
Our mission, which is God's mission in the world, must guide us in all that we do. Personally, I am proud of and thankful for the witness of our Episcopal Church in so many ways. We have been leaders in the inclusion of women at all levels of the life of our church.
We are working to welcome refugees and newcomers to America into our congregations. We are striving to overcome racism and to become an antiracist institution.
We have been bold to work over many years for greater understanding and inclusion of gays and lesbians in the church and for their human rights in our communities.
As a church we send personnel and millions of dollars each year to support world wide mission efforts as well as relief and development.
Our church celebrates freedom and honors differences in theology, churchmanship and biblical interpretation basing our unity on a few essentials as put forth in the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral, while not trying to spell out every detail of our faith for full agreement.
We have much for which we can be proud and thankful, but at the same time, there is so much more which demands our attention.
When people look at the Episcopal Church and other denominations once called the Mainline, what do they see?
They may see struggling denominations, battling for market share in a dwindling demographic of potential members. They may see a Church called into being to proclaim God's unconditional love for everyone, erecting boundaries and designing barriers to keep people out, or in their place.
They may see a Church divided by race and class. They may see a Church which has lost its passion for justice, truth-telling and peace, a Church that provides therapeutic balm to cover gaping wounds of injustice and oppression.
They may see a Church which was formed in opposition to Empire, a Church whose members suffered persecution and death for proclaiming that Jesus, rather than Caesar, is Lord: they may see the church now blessing the Empire's deeds, wars and rule. They hear little objection to government imposed torture of prisoners and the denial of human and civil rights of captives sent to other countries for torture and interrogation.
They may see a Church focused inwardly upon its own life, fighting fierce battles over issues of gender and sexual orientation, rather than accepting the rich diversity of people God has called and focusing with a laser-like concentration onGod's mission in the world. The Church does not exist for itself, but for the world.
A Church that is weak, divided, demoralized, and not attending to mission is not a faithful representation of Jesus Christ and is incapable of making the kind of impact needed so desperately in our world.
So we have a church that is doing many significant things extremely well, and we have a church which sometimes seems incapable of having the necessary impact for good demanded by God and the needs of our world. Sometimes we are faithful; other times we go astray. And all of this takes place in a world with increasing environmental degradation, wars, terrorism, a growing gap between rich and poor, hunger, poverty and lack of educational opportunities and medical care. Especially hard hit are children. More than a billion children, who are more than half the children in the world, suffer extreme deprivation because of war, HIV/AIDS and/or poverty. Childhood is not carefree or fun for far too many.
This is our world as it is today. This is the world into which Canon Mathes will be ordained and serve as a bishop. This is the context in which we have all been called to serve and to bear witness to the good news of Jesus Christ.
Many churches are trying to make our world a better, healthier, more joyful
place for children, but we have a long, long way to go. This mission will require
greater spiritual, political, philanthropic and educational work to make a real
impact, to change children's lives. I believe that a good lens through which
to view our mission priorities is the question, "What difference will this
make in the lives of children?'
Our mission must be discerned through serious attention to where we see God acting in the world. Where lives are being changed, where hope is kept alive, where healing of bodies and relationships is occurring, where the struggle for justice and peace is engaged, where children are loved and respected and can play and learn in safety-there we observe God's power at work in our world. There we are to join with others in mission for the coming reign of God.
Jim, having put this service in the perspective of our worship of God, our work to maintain the unity of the church, and our need to understand the realities of our world, which demand a laser-like focus on mission and evangelism and inclusion, let's get back to you.
Your life as a bishop will call for all of the love, prayer, creativity, energy, vision, imagination, and wisdom you can muster. It will also call heavily upon your skills as an organizer, listener, pastor, teacher, developer, leader of worship, writer and communicator. In short, it's a wonderful, but impossible job. You cannot do everything and be everything that you and the people of this diocese will want you to be and to do. For one thing, there are limits on your time and resources. For another, the expectations placed upon you will often be contradictory. So, my bit of advice to you is, be yourself. You are gifted in so many ways. Say your prayers; stay connected to God, your people, and the wider church. Keep your sense of humor, build and nurture relationships. Eventually, develop a strategic plan so the Diocese of San Diego will be able to move from where you are today to where, together, you discern that God is calling you to be. Then marshal the people and resources to implement your plan. But why am I telling you all this? It's nothing new to you. It's exactly what you helped us to do in Chicago.
The lessons chosen for this service very appropriately direct us to try to have the same mind in us that was in Christ Jesus-who humbled himself, emptied himself to take the form of a slave, born in human likeness. There are many who may want you, and expect you, to be more than human and who don't want you to be emptied, humble, and full of the mind of Christ, as slave or the servant. There may be temptations for you to forget this passage from Philippians. Resist those temptations with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.
Our Isaiah passage speaks of the Holy Spirit who anoints us and sends us forth. In the gospel our risen Lord breathes the Holy Spirit into the frightened disciples who have been hiding behind locked doors and says, "As the Father has sent me, so I send you."
Soon this gathered community will pray fervently for the Holy Spirit to anoint and send you to carry out the mission described in the Book of Isaiah, the mission Jesus took as his own. You, and the clergy and people of this diocese have through baptism received the Holy Spirit. You have been sent to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to prisoners; to proclaim (Jubilee) the year of the Lord's favor.
How will your life as a diocese maintain and enhance the unity of Christ's body, the church?
How will your mission support God's mission in the world?
How will what you do make real the love of God for the world's children?How might your location on the border of Mexico lead us to a more informed and compassionate program of immigration for our nation?
If I were to give you a charge it would be from time to time to ask yourself these questions.
Your many friends from Chicago and elsewhere around the church will be watching closely to see how you answer them, that we may continue to be inspired by and learn from your wisdom and leadership, as these are questions we all face as we seek to be faithful followers of Jesus Christ.
May God continue to guide, bless and be with you, Jim, as you lead this diocese into God's future.