Date: Mon, 27 Sep 2004 00:35:04 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: [ENS] Faithfulness in focus at House of Bishops meeting

Monday, September 27, 2004

Faithfulness in focus at House of Bishops meeting

By Pat McCaughan

ENS 092704-1

[ENS, SPOKANE, Washington] - Faithfulness amid struggles confronting the
Episcopal Church is essential for "any authentic expression of Christian
life," Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold told worshippers who packed the
Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist during Sunday morning services here
September 26.

"At the end of the day all that really matters is not who wins or loses but
faithfulness," Griswold said in a sermon preached during the House of
Bishops' meeting now underway through September 28. "And faithfulness is
required of us all, wherever we stand on any number of questions, none of
which admit easy answers and can only be lived patiently and in a spirit of
mutual respect..."

Gathered here with the goal to deepen reconciliation and communion across
the church and the Anglican Communion, more than 130 bishops are studying
ways to build relationships that surpass theological and political
differences underscored by the consecration last year of an openly gay
bishop.

"This is not an easy time in the life of our church, nor for that matter is
it an easy time in the life of this nation or the world around us," Griswold
said. "The other, the stranger, is frequently looked upon with suspicion, if
not fear, and even hatred. We who proclaim a gospel of reconciliation, and
of division overcome not by agreement but by love, are engaged in struggles
that have drawn much of our energy away from a common sense of mission and
turned us in upon ourselves."

He added: "Sexuality, that fearsome, awesome, unruly dimension of what it
means to be truly human appears to have trumped the Creeds in determining
the fundamentals of our faith."

Griswold asked: "Is it not possible that what may be perceived by many as
sexual otherness is in some way revelatory of the fullness of Christ in us
-- the hope of glory? This is a question we are presently living -- a
question that contains within itself many other questions, each of which
contributes to an answer that has yet to be revealed."

Noting that the "strains in the Anglican Communion at this present time" are
"an urgent invitation to encounter the other and to enter into one another's
reality," Griswold called the church to self-examination.

"Given the disproportionate power that the United States has in this world
-- and, by association, the Episcopal Church has in the Anglican Communion
-- is it not time to meet our Anglican others in a stance of availability to
realities other than our own?"

Griswold's sermon came 22 days before the October 18 release of the report
of the international Lambeth Commission on Communion. While Griswold has not
speculated on the content of the report, he said "it will contain a number
of recommendations to guide the churches of the Communion, in all their
distinctiveness, into the way of mutual care and concern, inviting them, in
the words of St. Paul, to bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law
of Christ."

Griswold's sermon also challenged the bishops to live into the questions
raised by the current struggles in the church. The homily commented on Luke
16:19-31, the morning's gospel passage in which a rich man has in death come
to awareness of Lazarus, a poor man covered with sores who sat at his gate,
just at the edge of the rich man's awareness.

"A question for each of us: who is the other who stands at the edge of my
awareness? Who is it that I either fail to see or am afraid truly to
acknowledge because at some level I know that if I give space to the other
will oblige me to change and to see with different eyes?

He cautioned that, in meeting the other, it must be done "not with confident
self-assertion, which is so characteristic of the American way, but with a
genuine availability to the other, and a willingness to receive what is
proffered, even if it comes ... in anger."

Cathedral's 75th year, endowment gift

The bishops were among more than 400 worshippers at the Gothic-style
cathedral, located near downtown Spokane. A carillon recital preceded the
service, featuring two compositions by John Courter, commissioned to
celebrate the cathedral's 75th anniversary and the 35th anniversary of the
dedication of the carillon, both this year, host Bishop James Waggoner of
Spokane said in welcoming remarks.

Following the service, Waggoner accepted a $10,000 check from Bishop Jon
Bruno of Los Angeles to kick off an endowment fund.

Waggoner said that Bruno, as a guest preacher at the Spokane diocesan
convention two years ago, challenged the diocese to start an endowment fund.

"He surprised us all when, in the middle of the sermon, he said whenever the
foundation was up and running he'd give us the first $10,000," Waggoner
said.

"So he called me up and said, 'bring the check,'" Bruno interjected, and
added: "This is a gift from the four bishops of Los Angeles and from the
Diocese of Los Angeles. It represents the good stewardship and planning
which has made it possible for us to do things beyond anybody's
expectations."

Honest exchange, common ground

Later in the day, when the House assembled in session, several bishops said
that, while still holding different theological positions, they were able to
find common ground through insights gleaned from presentations about
"otherness" by guest speakers Professor Miroslav Volf of the Yale Divinity
School and San Francisco author Richard Rodriguez. Following the
presentations, the bishops met in groups of 20-30 to share their
perceptions.

Bishop Gladstone "Skip" Adams of Central New York, reporting the
conversation in his group, said it was "the most real conversation I think
I've ever had in the House of Bishops."

He said the discussions pushed the group to question, "how can we build a
framework among us, who we are in the Body of Christ, to honor our
individual stories, recognizing in the midst all we are trying to do is be
faithful no matter what our perspectives?"

He said the presentation by Volf gave them a way to discuss the issues each
is facing in his or her own diocese and Rodriguez's "vulnerability enabled
vulnerability to take place in our conversations."

Rodriguez brought an energy level that was remarkable, said retired Bishop
Charles Duvall of the Central Gulf Coast diocese, reporting his group's
conversation. "It led us to think about ourselves, led to a description of
our own incorporation of others within our selves. It was very revealing,
honest, open, energizing. It felt like Volf gave us a theological framework
while Rodriguez presented us with an image of us in that world and
framework."

His group expressed the desire to "just get on with it," said Bishop Ed
Leidel of Eastern Michigan, who said it was "one of the better experiences
we have ever had ... We were glad we were here."

The Rev. Dr. Michael Battle, chaplain to the House of Bishops, shared a
conversation he had with Rodriguez in which Rodriguez called the bishops the
most attentive audience he'd ever faced.

"He believes this is a unique work you're doing," Battle said.

In drawing the session to a close, the Presiding Bishop observed that "more
is going on than any of us realize. Those of us who are focused on outcomes
are perhaps not aware of all that we are doing ... I cannot tell you how
privileged I feel to share ministry with all of you."

--The Rev. Patricia McCaughan is senior correspondent for the Episcopal News
Service.

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