Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee

By Emily McDonald
South East Correspondent

Lord George L. Carey brought the lofty position of Archbishop of Canterbury up close and personal to more than 500 people at St. Paul in Chattanooga on Aug. 10. The 103rd Archbishop of Canterbury, now retired, gave the sermon at a Service of Choral Evensong that was part of St. Paul’s yearlong observance of its sesquicentennial.

Carey, who served as archbishop from 1991 to 2002, was accompanied by his wife, Eileen.

“Everybody who came in contact with him came away feeling personally closer,” said the Rev. Hunter Huckabay, St. Paul’s rector. “The man has such a presence – they both do. They are clearly a team.”

The service began with a procession that included the archbishop and Bishop Charles vonRosenberg.

Archbishop Carey spoke about “bearing witness,” a theme addressed in both readings for the evening: Romans 15:1-13 and John 3:22-36. “Burning is at the heart of bearing witness,” he said. “But one can only be a witness if what we have seen and discovered still excites, still enthuses our hearts and still makes sense to our inquiring minds.”

The gospel reading shows the “breadth of the Christian faith” and the reading from Romans calls for a “deeper unity, which only makes sense on the basis that even in New Testament times there were deep divisions,” he said. Carey touched briefly on General Convention, during which the election of an openly gay bishop was affirmed. “For some, it was the church at its most progressive and prophetic; for others, it was the church at its most regressive and heretical.”

There are two things “each of us must heed carefully when the church seems to let us down,” he said. First, “the Kingdom of God is far greater than the church, and your and my commitment must be directed to serve that kingdom.”

Second, it must be remembered that “the church, because it is composed of people like you and me, will make mistakes and will always be in need of renewal,” he said.

Prior to the service, Lord Carey told a Chatta-nooga Times Free Press reporter that he disapproved of the election of the Rev. Canon V. Gene Robinson as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. “It’s very sad.” He expressed the hope, however, that people won’t leave the church because of convention action.

The service was followed with a reception in Key-Andrews Hall. The archbishop and his wife greeted all who wished to speak with them and willingly posed for photographs.

Arrangements for the archbishop’s visit required many phone calls, letters, e-mails and hours of planning by the church’s sesquicenntial committee, resulting in what Huckabay called “one of the high points” of the church’s sesquicentennial.

Related stories in this issue:

• Laymen from three dioceses gather at annual event