An Open Door and Many Adversaries: Thoughts on the Eve of Convention

November 2007

I will visit you after passing through Macedonia – for I intend to pass through Macedonia – and perhaps I will stay with you or even spend the winter, so that you may send me on my way, wherever I go. I do not want to see you now just in passing, for I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits. But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries. (1 Corinthians 16:5-9)

Why I Voted No

October 2007

Before I built a wall I’d ask to know What I was walling in or walling out, And to whom I was like to give offense. Something there is that doesn’t love a wall. (Robert Frost, “Mending Wall”)

He is our peace, making both groups into one and destroying the barrier formed by the dividing wall, the hostility between us. (Ephesians 2:14)

You may have read that in New Orleans on September 25 there was one vote opposed to the adoption of “A Response to Questions and Concerns Raised by our Anglican Communion Partners,” the House of Bishops’ reply to the demands made of the Episcopal Church by the Primates of the Anglican Communion in their February 19 communiqué from Dar es Salaam. That vote was mine. Let me explain.

On Having a Lot of Nerve

September 2007

But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved. (Hebrews 10:35)

No Better Healing Pain than History

August 2007

Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. (Luke 1:1-4)

You Peer Inside Yourself

July 2007

Once when Jesus was praying in private and his disciples were with him, he asked them… “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” (Luke 9:18, 20).

On Being a Truly Pentecostal Church

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (Acts 1:8)

On Violence

May 2007

When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. When evening time came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. (John 6:15-16)

Baptism at Boksburg

April 2007

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death … so we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4)

Amidst tensions between the Episcopal Church and the majority of the 38 autonomous churches of the Anglican Communion, and while many prepare during Lent to present themselves this Easter for baptism, it is important to recognize that the major difference between most of the others in the Communion and us is that they do not have in their Prayer Books the Baptismal Covenant as we do.

The Level Playing Field

March 2007

In the fifteenth year of the reign of the Emperor Tiberius, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judaea, and Herod tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came upon John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. (Luke 3:1-2)

Looking Ahead in 2007

"It is my privilege to address this body whose members did such extraordinary work guiding our diocese through the session of the 223rd Diocesan Convention last November 11 and January 6."

Always Start with a Birth

January 2007

As Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi came from the East, saying, "Where is the one born king of the Judeans? For we have seen his star at its rising and have come to worship him." (Matthew 2:1-2)

A Church for Others

December 2006

And the king will answer them, "Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me." (Matthew 2:40)

Grace and peace to you, beloved in Christ, the clergy and people of our diocese. A special greeting to my dear friends and colleagues, Bishop Lee and Bishop Coleridge, the latter whom takes leave of us today after six years of wonderful ministry among us, and about whom I will have more to say at the Noonday Prayers.

The Ultimate Paradigm Shift

With all wisdom and insight [God] has made known to us the mystery of his will... as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

The investiture of Katharine Jefferts Schori as our 26th Presiding Bishop this month is historic because she is the first woman to be elected to our church's highest office.

On Extending the Dog Days of Summer

August 2006

See, I am sending you out like lambs in the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. (Luke 10:3-4)

When our daughter and son-in-law told us they had been invited to a friend’s wedding this summer in Istanbul, Joan and I agreed to take custody of not only Oliver, their six-month-old son, but also Franklin, their English Golden Retriever, last week. Having met our obligation, I can say with certainty that caring for a dog is much easier than caring for a baby.

General Convention a "Pentecostal Moment"

July 2006

Thirty years ago, building on our nation's bicentennial celebration of the revolution of 1776, I taught a course on liberation theology as part of an annual week-long adult education conference in the Diocese of Los Angeles. In those days liberation theology was novel, fresh, and provocative.