The
East Tennessee Episcopalian March 2000 |
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The Rt. Rev. Charles
vonRosenberg's
It is my great honor and privilege to address you as your bishop on this occasion. I thank God for this opportunity, for our diocese, and for each one of you. During the next minutes, I want to share with you something of my view of our diocese and of my hopes for our common future as the people of God in East Tennessee. At a later time, I will present to the Assistant Secretary the record of my official acts as bishop in 1999, and that record will be printed in the Journal of these proceedings. However, I will not bore you with that listing of statistics at this time. Rather, on this occasion, I want to offer a variety of topics for your consideration. These include matters that have occupied much of my time and energy in recent months – or else, I anticipate that they will do so in the year to come. In addition, I know that many of you are involved in these areas of ministry and concern as well, and as a result, these matters claim a sense of priority for all of us. Therefore, I am delighted to call your attention to them in my address and to encourage your reaction, your conversation, and your prayers in response. Vision Statement It was a year ago – at the Fifteenth Convention of the Diocese – that I shared a statement of vision with the delegates gathered then. That presentation was offered on the day prior to my ordination and consecration as bishop. And, I must say, I felt a bit presumptuous in terms of that timing. Nevertheless, you have been kind and supportive as we have struggled together thus far to find ways to live into the vision that I pray originates with our Lord. The vision continues to be this: The Diocese of East Tennessee is one Church. We are called to love in the name of Jesus Christ and to grow in people and in resources for ministry and for mission. We anticipate miracles, as God works through us. I invite you to engage in that vision and to pray it as well, as we enable the vision to become reality in our life together. Diocesan Staff I want to spend a few minutes now in recognition of some of the people who work hard to make the vision statement real in our midst – the outstanding staff of Diocesan House. I would like to introduce these folks to you, and I want to mention a word or so about their responsibilities. Please stand when I call your name. Alice Clayton ably serves as Canon to the Ordinary, with particular responsibilities for administration at Diocesan House and for clergy deployment. Tami Dyke is my Executive Secretary, and, as such, she is an extremely valuable right-hand person for me. Mary Berl is the Financial Administrator who keeps all the rest of us – and the Diocese – in responsible shape financially. Rosemary Davenport serves well in several capacities – Assistant to the Canon, Secretary to Bishop and Council, and Insurance Administrator. Georgia Knazovich is the Cathedral Bookshop Manager who works hard to provide resources for individual Episcopalians and for our churches. Lynn Lazlo – who could not be here –serves as our Receptionist and provides that first, friendly contact at Diocesan House. Caroline Dicer is the valuable, part-time Bishop’s Deputy for Program who helps originate and facilitate various diocesan undertakings. Barbara Reed co-ordinates our “Protecting All God’s Children” program and is Circulation Manager for The East Tennessee Episcopalian. Two off-site personnel also provide wonderful support for diocesan ministry. Patricia Askew serves ably as Youth Coordinator. And Pam Doty has recently taken on the responsibilities of Editor of The East Tennessee Episcopalian. All these people understand their work to be ministries of service – service to the missions, parishes, and people of the Diocese of East Tennessee. They also have the unenviable task of trying to make the bishop look good – and, I can assure you, that often is a nearly impossible job. I know that you join me in giving thanks for this fine group of dedicated diocesan staff. In addition, many people spend much time and energy serving our diocese, and sometimes it may seem to them and to us that they are staff as well. Especially do I want to mention the efforts of Doug Overbey, our Chancellor, and Don Sproles, our Treasurer. Finally, two people not currently serving the diocese officially have nevertheless given me much appreciated counsel and support. The first two bishops of East Tennessee – Bishop Sanders and Bishop Tharp – have kindly agreed to participate with me in visiting diocesan churches. In addition, they have been wonderfully present to me during this first year of transition, and I will continue to count on them in the future as well. Area Mission Teams The process to identify a strategy for mission in East Tennessee began at the December 1996, diocesan convention. A result of that process was to be the development of local teams to consider and to implement the work of mission within our diocese. Now, it is important to understand that term, “mission”, in this context. The mission of the Church refers not only to mission congregations but to the various efforts that we undertake as faithful followers of Jesus Christ. That is, we need to ask “What would our Lord have us do in his name in this time and place?” The answer to that question identifies our mission. The Area Mission Teams are entrusted with the responsibility of asking what our Lord would have us do in Northeast, Middle East, and Southeast Tennessee … and, then, they are further entrusted with guiding our diocese into appropriate responses. It will be my privilege to commission our Area Mission Teams on Sunday and, subsequently, to work with them in implementing calls to mission in the future. Companion Diocese Part of our mission work beyond East Tennessee takes place through our Companion Diocese relationship. In recent years, this relationship has existed with the Diocese of Haiti, and a great deal of significant ministry has been accomplished in that land of great poverty. Our work in Haiti continues, but the time of our official companionship with Haiti has concluded. Therefore, Bishop and Council has authorized a new companion relationship with the Diocese of Nassau and the Bahamas. We need to say that there may be something of a public relations challenge in this new relationship, for the image of Nassau and the Bahamas is not one of great need, as in Haiti. Nevertheless, just as all of East Tennessee is not like this Meadowview Conference Center, so not all of the Bahamas can be accurately understood from travel brochures. Indeed, the devastation after recent hurricanes there has caused damage that will not be repaired for years to come in parts of the Bahamas that are seriously lacking in resources. I am grateful to St. John’s Cathedral for the efforts already accomplished in the Bahamas. And I will be looking to the Cathedral for leadership as we venture into this new relationship that I hope and pray will be mutually beneficial for the people of East Tennessee and of the Bahamas. Now, let me introduce to this convention several special guests that we have with us representing Nassau and the Bahamas. The Very Rev. Patrick Adderley is Dean of Christ Church Cathedral, and we have asked him to address this gathering later today. The Rev. Stephen Davies is the Diocesan Youth Officer, and he will be spending time with our youth during the next couple of days. Finally, Deacon Angela Palacious serves as the Coordinator of the diocesan program, “2000 and Beyond”, and she will be one of our primary contact, I understand. Welcome to all of you. Please give our best wishes to Archbishop Gomez, and please know also of our excitement as we enter this relationship with you and of our prayers for your diocese as well. Archdeacon Included in this year’s diocesan budget is the salary for an Archdeacon for our diocese. Funding this position indicates a tangible commitment to mission on the part of the Diocese of East Tennessee. The Archdeacon will be my deputy in working with the Area Mission Teams, with our mission congregations, and with our Companion Diocese, as well as with various other programs for mission. I myself will continue to be as involved as possible in various fields of mission. However, it has become clear to me over the past year that my responsibilities are quite varied and widespread. I cannot spend the time and energy on our missionary work that the Gospel mandate requires of us as a diocese. However, the Archdeacon will concentrate on mission – as one who identifies resources, who visits mission congregations regularly, and who facilitates new and previously-untried means of furthering the mission of our Lord in East Tennessee and beyond. I will not retreat from my own commitment to mission. However, the Archdeacon will enable us to be more focused and more committed to our Lord’s calling to us as people of mission for God’s sake and for the world. Camp and Conference Center Task Force Later this afternoon, you will receive a report from this group that has been appointed by Bishop and Council to investigate the feasibility of a camp and conference center for East Tennessee. In that oral and written report, you will learn something about the past and future work of this task force. However, in addition, let me share with you how very important I believe their work to be. A camp and conference center has been described as “the living room – or the den – of a diocese.” That is, such a center can serve as the gathering place for all kinds of diocesan groups and programs, individuals, vestries, mission councils, youth, and campers. A camp and conference center symbolizes and embodies diocesan unity – and, indeed, diocesan reality…that is, what it means to be a diocese. A group of churches and individual Episcopalians becomes a diocese in new ways when there is a place to be the diocese. A camp and conference center can be such a place. I, therefore, commend the Camp and Conference Center Task Force and its report to your special attention. Stewardship Let me turn for a few moments to a consideration of stewardship – and, especially, financial stewardship. I want to say how very grateful I am to the churches in East Tennessee who accepted your full diocesan asking for the year 2000 … and to others of you who have taken great strides forward in accepting a larger share this year than in the past. Without such commitments, much of what I have discussed today would be impossible. Thank you for your trust and for your commitment to our diocese. I have begun appointing a new Stewardship Commission for East Tennessee. My hope and prayer are that this group will lead the diocese in taking more seriously our stewardship responsibilities as faithful followers of Jesus Christ. Further, I believe that such a diocesan program will bear fruit locally and greatly benefit our individual congregations. Jubilee 2000 Several areas of social ministry have been consolidated under this one general heading. Jubilee 2000 aims to bring to our attention certain resources and opportunities to live out the Gospel in the world. “Respect for the Earth” is the name of one component that deals with environmental concerns. “Sharing Wealth” refers to the subject of debt forgiveness. “The Release of Captives” has to do with initiatives for peace. And, finally, “Reconciliation and Respect” takes on the persistent challenge of racism in our society. Please pay attention to displays and information that involve this important group of topics dealing with practical Christian living. In addition, please be aware of our Church’s intention that all congregations should include the Jubilee 2000 curriculum as part of their Christian formation program during the next year. Related to Jubilee 2000 in East Tennessee, I want to call special attention also to our Appalachian ministries and to the resource directories of such ministries that have been placed in your packets. Indeed, please recognize that a ministry in Appalachia may provide a convenient, particular, and unique opportunity for a local church to respond in love to some of God’s people in need. The ordinations in Singapore Before concluding this address, I feel the need to deal briefly with an unpleasant subject. As some of you know, two weeks ago in the Diocese of Singapore two priests from the United States were ordained bishops in order to be sent as missionaries to the United States. This action has been charitably described by the Archbishop of Canterbury as “irresponsible and irregular”, and he added, it will “only harm the unity of the (Anglican) Communion.” Whether or not those ordinations will be recognized is now being considered by the Archbishop himself. Justifications presented for these ordinations have included various concerns about the Episcopal Church in the United States – and especially, declines in church membership and an apparent lack of appreciation for the authority of scripture and the creeds. Such rationale has been addressed and disputed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Presiding Bishop, and many, many others. My personal reactions to these ordinations have been many and varied. However, I basically come down to the point of sadness ... sadness because this action represents another threat to the unity of the Church, which I as a bishop have vowed to preserve. We need to stay together and listen to one another, for we all have much to say and much to hear. Nevertheless – in spite of my sense of sadness and in spite of my desire to be inclusive – as bishop here in East Tennessee, I need to be clear that we intend to abide by the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church. I have taken the vow to follow the Church’s doctrine and discipline in three different services of ordination, and I have no intention of breaking my word. A bishop ordained in Singapore has no claim to jurisdiction here, and I hope that all of us are clear about that fact. Meanwhile, I continue to invite and to encourage your prayers – prayers for wisdom and for faithfulness among our Church leaders, prayers for charity toward all people, and prayers for the unity of the Church, which is the Body of Christ on earth. Having spoken to that matter, now I want to finish these remarks in the spirit of the rest of this address. In appraising the life of the Diocese of East Tennessee – its mission and ministry – we must pay heed to our past as well as examining the present and anticipating the future. I am indeed indebted to the bishops, clergy, and lay people who have worked hard in this part of God’s vineyard in former times. A wonderful foundation has been laid for future efforts. There is work for all of us to do now. I have presented in this address some of the particular areas of concentration for our time and energy and money in the year to come and beyond. Above all else, though, we must be diligent in prayer and in worship. Anything we do as the Diocese of East Tennessee – if it is to be truly successful – must glorify God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, may we commit ourselves to seek God’s will as our primary priority. Then, with single-minded attention and effort – and by God’s grace – may we be instruments of the will of God in accomplishing that which God would have us do. In that spirit, I will conclude these remarks with the prayer that frames the statement of vision, mentioned earlier. Let us pray: Gracious God, grant us the vision to perceive the Diocese of East Tennessee as one Church. Grant us the strength to respond to your call to love in the name of Jesus Christ and to grow in people and in resources for ministry and for mission. And, finally, grant us the faith to anticipate miracles, for you are faithful in working through us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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February
12, 2000