Weekly Reflection from the Bishop

The Feast of Saint Irenaeus of Lyons

28 June 2024

In Christ we all belong.

Live the Gospel.

Pray every day.

Walk in the Way of Love.

Share the faith.

And get a COVID booster if you need one.

Whenever we move from…concern about man to concern about things, we make things - it may be ideals, ideologies, world outlooks - into an idol, and there is no idol that doesn't claim blood. And [the] blood is always human blood - it will always be men and women and children that will have to pay the cost of it.

Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Today our General Convention ends, and we begin a new chapter in the life of the Church.  At this Convention the House of Deputies re-elected Ms Julia Ayala Harris as their President, and the House of Bishops elected Bishop Sean Rowe as our next Presiding Bishop.  Ms Ayala Harris is 43 years old; Bishop Rowe is 49, becoming the youngest bishop to occupy the primacy.  At no time in our history has the senior leadership of the Church been in such comparatively youthful hands.   Not only is this a new chapter in our life as a Church; a new generation has come into its own.

We cannot but give thanks for the ministry of our retiring Presiding Bishop, Bishop Curry.  He has been a remarkable leader, and his combination of genuine humility, evident love of God and of us, and his electrifying preaching, have been gifts to the Church.  We shall miss his gracious presence as our primate, but we are hopeful that we shall still hear his voice from time to time.

In the prayer for the ordination of a bishop, the Presiding Bishop prays these words:

We give you thanks that from the beginning you have gathered and prepared a people to be heirs of the covenant of Abraham, and have raised up prophets, kings, and priests, never leaving your temple untended.

In the election of Bishop Rowe, we see God’s faithfulness continued, for the temple of the Church will not be untended.   And we see in the leadership of both Ms Ayala Harris and Bishop Rowe the hope that a new generation brings to us.  It is not true that there are not fine younger leaders who can assume the mantle of leadership in our Church, and two of them we now receive.  They know each other well, trust each other, work together confidently, and have received clear mandates in their elections.

We do not wait to see what they will do.  We pledge ourselves to be their partners in the work of the Gospel that is ours to do together.  We often breathe a sigh of relief when a new rector is called or a new bishop elected; but we ought rather to take a deep breath, because in fact the real work only then begins.  We often say that we want youthful leadership.  Well, we have what we say that we wanted.  Will we support them, work with them, follow their lead?

In his first remarks to the Convention after his election, Bishop Rowe quoted Thomas Merton, whose words seem written for us today:

In a time of drastic change one can be too preoccupied with what is ending or too obsessed with what seems to be beginning. In either case one loses touch with the present and with its obscure but dynamic possibilities. What really matters is openness, readiness, attention, courage to face risk. You do not need to know precisely what is happening, or exactly where it is all going. What you need is to recognize the possibilities and challenges offered by the present moment, and to embrace them with courage, faith, and hope. In such an event, courage is the authentic form taken by love.

There could not be a better manifesto at the beginning of this new primacy.

Bishop Rowe also has said this in an earlier occasion:

I believe that we do not have to settle for being a declining, dying Church.  I think that the idea that this Church is in decline, that we can’t do anything about it, that it’s never going to get much better, and that what we are really going to have is a remnant of faithful people, is a lie straight out of hell.

Let us be ready.  These are not the words of a leader who will be patient with laziness or doleful resignation. The Church is in the hands of a new Presiding Bishop who will want us to get on with the job in renewed vigour and expectation that God is not yet finished with us.

So we give thanks to God for the renewal of hope and expectation, not in particular leaders, but in God.  For it is in our hope in God, not in our faith in leaders, that the way forward will be found.  Good leaders can help show the way, but it is God that makes the way.

We pray this prayer a lot, as it is one of the most beautiful and majestic prayers in our Prayer Book.  And it is just right for today:

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light: Look favorably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

With love and prayers,

+Peter

Kate and I and the cats are once again grateful to the generous anonymous donor of cat food.   You have no idea how much this helps.

This is the last Reflection before the summer break.  These Reflections will resume in September.