Letter From Bishop vonRosenberg

I will have difficulty identifying the Second Sunday of Easter as "Low Sunday" ever again! This year the Washington National Cathedral observed "Tennessee Day" at that time. While not many people from East Tennessee were present, I was honored and blessed to be the celebrant at 11:00 Sunday morning.

The memories, impressions, and reactions that I take from that experience certainly are varied and numerous. One of those is a commitment to encourage and cultivate the relationship of our diocese with the National Cathedral. Opportunities to enrich our mutual lives culturally, spiritually, and in terms of mission abound in that relationship it seems to me, and I intend to open the door of our association more widely.

In that regard, a familiar awareness reemerged from my experience at the National Cathedral. The sense of being deeply blessed by our connections in the Episcopal Church struck me again and again. As I stood at the altar and looked out at the congregation of more than a thousand people from all over the country … as I offered the eucharist to individuals within that assembled throng … and as I encountered people who had associations with churches and individuals in East Tennessee, I was deeply impressed by those life-giving connections that offer us support, guidance, and grace.

Therefore, once again I discovered a personal well-spring of thankfulness for individual Episcopalians in East Tennessee, for your lives within the faithful communities of our churches, for our diocese which holds us in the reality of one Church, and for our connections with the larger Church as Episcopalians in the United States and as Anglicans world-wide. I am therefore delighted to recommit myself to the vows of my consecration - vows that concentrated on the office and person of bishop as a sign and symbol of church unity.

We certainly have our differences within the Episcopal Church. However, those differences can strengthen our relationships, just as doubt can strengthen faith. Even as we recognize and accept differences among us, the bonds of union need not be jeopardized. Therefore, I celebrate the blessings of our Episcopal Church, even as I give thanks for our connections on a weekly basis - from the smallest church in East Tennessee to the Washington National Cathedral.