| The East Tennessee Episcopalian November 2000 |
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| A Message
From the Bishop
Dear Friends, These memorable words commend themselves to us from "The Catechism" of our Prayer Book: "The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship; and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the kingdom of God." (p.856) As bishop, it is my privilege to encounter faithful Christians all over East Tennessee who live into their duties to follow Christ, to worship, and to work, pray, and give for the spread of God's Kingdom. Week by week I find myself honored and humbled by your faithfulness. You perform all kinds of ministries in your local congregations. For instance, I remember standing in the narthex of one of our large churches on a recent Saturday morning and watching two members of the altar guild go about their tasks of preparation for corporate worship. In the quiet stillness of that time, the efforts of faithful Christians performing their duties became incarnated in a lovely way for me. On another recent occasion - in one of our smallest congregations - a reliable, hard-working parishioner stepped forward to substitute in our worship for a fellow member who was unexpectedly absent that Sunday. Again, I saw in action the acceptance of Christian duty by a faithful Episcopalian. In these and so many other ways, I consider myself quite privileged to catch such glimpses of your faithfulness. You also perform duties on behalf of our diocese, and for those efforts I likewise am grateful. You serve on diocesan committees and commissions. You give your time for the good of the Church beyond the local congregation. You offer efforts, energy, and advice for the good of the larger Church. For what you do and give in these settings also, I am grateful, and I give thanks to God for you. Along with many such occasions of gratitude and reasons for thanksgiving, at times I do experience a sense of disappointment, however. One such recent circumstance involved the relationship that we hoped to form with the Diocese of Nassau and the Bahamas. As perhaps you read in last month's "East Tennessee Episcopalian" or elsewhere, the bishop of that diocese hosted a group of Anglicans who have chosen to distance themselves from the Episcopal Church and who have been very critical of our Church. I responded with a letter expressing my concern and dismay. The bishop of Nassau and the Bahamas sent word back to me that he had not yet formally requested a companion relationship with us, and now, he does not intend to do so. In any event, I certainly wish that bishop and his diocese well as they struggle to live into the call and duty we all have to live as faithful Christians in our world, even though we may differ significantly in some ways to do so. While we will not be official companions on that journey, nevertheless I have indicated to my Bahamian counterpart that our prayers continue to be offered on their behalf. Therefore - in our joys and in our sorrows, in our times of thanksgiving and of disappointment - may we all seek authentic ways to follow Christ, to worship, and to work, pray, and give for the spread of the Kingdom of God. I commend you in my prayers to those duties we share, for together we claim Jesus as Lord. Faithfully
yours, |
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