Thanks for coming! Whether it be out of obligation, curiosity, arm twisting, guilt or excitement you're here - at maybe the only Episcopal Tent Meeting in recorded history! From the bottom of my heart I want to thank you for taking a chance on this
crazy old bishop of yours - to gather at an event that I believe can be a powerful image and symbol for the calling of God in our time.
Thanks to all those who have worked so hard to make this crazy dream a reality:
To Luther Ott and his planning committee and countless volunteers, the diocesan staff and our Gray Center hosts. To the waterbearers who have beat the drums in local congregations, to the Daughters of the King who have held us in prayer, to Dr. Horace Boyer and Mr. Fran McKendree, our musicians, and to the Trustees and anonymous donors who have made significant contributions - this costs more than $15.00! Thank you and God bless you - each and every one.
I want us first to notice the context of our gathering. Here gathered are young and old; some more wealthy - some less so; persons of color and persons of pallor, some of deep and mature faith and some of us just hanging on. It looks a lot like our church.
We've gathered in a tent - a biblical symbol of God's presence among a people on a journey. One of the unique characteristics of the tent and tabernacle in our Old Testament reading is that the Hebrew people really didn't know where they were going, but they believed God was leading and they dared to follow.
We're also here at Gray Center where for more than 50 years children and adults have been shaped and formed into people who love the Lord. They've been shaped by a unique spirit that blows through this place. This old place has been hallowed by laughter and tears, prayers and all night talk sessions, retreats and renewal events. God speaks here - sometimes in words, more often in a voice deeper than words. It's been called the heart of the diocese. I believe it may be its soul.
But this is also a place of bloodshed - though the details are a bit sketchy, we are becoming convinced that a Civil War battle was fought on the very ground on which we now sit. Like our native Mississippi, this place has been shaped by deep horror and tragedy, and yet it has also been a place of grace and healing and courage and hope.
And before that tragic moment in our history, Native Americans and white settlers walked through this land on a portion of the Natchez Trace. And further and further back it goes. We are simply the latest to journey to and from this place.
And so today we have come to this remarkable place to listen for God and to God - We will listen in the words of Holy Scripture or in the breaking of the bread. Maybe God will speak in the words I use this day. Maybe God will speak in the music that we sing - music that is not normally sung in our churches - or maybe in the Spirit that permeates our common lives. Maybe it will be in the discomfort of seemingly impossible goals and expectations. Maybe in the gurgle of a fountain full of waters from throughout the world. Maybe in the still, small voice that can only be heard days, weeks, months or even years later. But, I believe that if we have come to this place to listen - God will surely speak.
During much of this last year I have tried to do two things. First, I have been teaching wherever and whenever I can about certain sociological and demographic trends that are challenging all Christian denominations in the beginning of the 21st century. I have tried to suggest that these trends are reflective of a major cultural shift that is requiring all mainline churches to rethink institutional and congregational models - models and practices with which we have all grown extraordinarily comfortable.
Secondly, I have shared with you five concepts/words that I have found myself being drawn to as I try to listen to and give voice to God's call to the church in our day.
One church in mission: Inviting, transforming, reconciling.
It is now time to take those first risky steps into a specific plan that will help direct this church toward becoming the missionary community that we, in our best moments, have longed to be. Three things need to be said before I share these initiatives with you. First, there will be a summary of these initiatives available at the lunch hour. During our midday break there will be people in the chapel to visit with you about many of these initiatives - for conversation, additional information and the means by which you can get involved. We will gather - maybe not in a tent! - in two years to be accountable for what we begin today. This is a beginning, not an end. It will not usher in the Kingdom of God, nor will these initiatives solve all of our problems, but I trust they will shake us up - out of our self absorbed lethargy and toward an increasingly faithful response to God's claim on our lives that propels us into the world Christ died to save.
One Church
I have shared with you my deepest belief that in the midst of our deep theological divisions God might be unfolding upon us a deeper understanding of what it means to be united as one - birthed in the common waters of baptism and - a moment that we return to over and over again as we die to self that we might live in and for Jesus Christ.
Regardless of whatever else holds us together, the bishop is the ordained icon for our oneness in Christ. In the old way of being the church, the bishop was the chief administrative officer of the church. In the older and more ancient way of being the church, the bishop was the chief apostle, teacher and witness to the resurrection. My brothers and sisters, I am far more useful to this church as apostle - and beginning in 2006 my model for being a bishop will change dramatically.
Using what I have learned from a pilot effort on the Gulf Coast, beginning in 2006 I will be in residence in various communities for extended periods of time. I will be making congregational visitations for confirmations, of course, but I will also be available as teacher and pastor and spiritual guide in ways that have been impossible under the old model. Much of what I will be talking about in the following comments will be the focus of conversations with vestries, mission committees and individuals.
The change in my role will require a change throughout the diocesan structure. We will undertake a complete reorganization of our diocesan structure - asking first, what are we trying to accomplish and secondly, what structures are needed.
One Church in Mission
When I have spoken to you about being a church in mission, what I have tried to say is that we have been gathered together for a purpose that includes, but is greater than, satisfying our own spiritual needs. "You did not choose me," Jesus said. "I choose you...to bear fruit not of your own making."
God calls a people together and creates a community because God has something in mind to use these people for. From the ancient Hebrews, to the first disciples, to the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Mississippi. - There is a purposefulness in God's call that is greater than our own need. God shapes and forms us within the church to be instruments of grace and healing and hope beyond ourselves.
Bearing in mind this change to go beyond ourselves, within the next three years we will establish three new congregations that will target primarily those not yet a part of a Christian community. One will be in the Gulf Coast region. A task force has begun preliminary work in finding a suitable location. A second, less traditional congregation, will be launched in the Jackson area. It will seek to address and respond to the unique yearnings of young adults. The Rev. Chuck Culpepper will be the church planter. I will be reworking his job description in order to free him up to take on this new challenge. A third congregation will be established as a separate, self governed church with a particular mission focus on the Spanish-speaking community.
As an additional mission initiative to young adults, we will inaugurate the Bishops Youth Mission Corps. Modeled on the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, this will be a lived experience in community for six weeks based on the Benedictine structure of life: balancing prayer, work, study, play, spiritual direction and training for mission. Housed initially at Gray Center, this particular experience will be open for those who have completed three years of college through age 26. The Rev. Alston Johnson and the Rev. Tim Jones are working with me to complete the design of this program.
Too often, the faithfulness of lay people in small congregations to reach out beyond themselves is undercut or discouraged by the constant turnover of clergy. Though most people are not aware of t his, our retirement program, as designed by the Church Pension Fund, actually encourages a limited stay in small congregations. This diocese will establish a system of annuity benefits that will encourage clergy with unique gifts for small congregations to put down deeper roots. Small churches have unique gifts within the body of Christ that need to be nurtured and strengthened.
One Church in Mission: Inviting
I've talked to you about being more than a welcoming church and have challenged you to look closely at the invisible barriers and mixed messages that we communicate that keep many away.
I've challenged us to be an inviting church, practicing radical hospitality. There are many ways to measure an increased ethos of invitation, but this is one I will use. It shall be the goal of this diocese to increase its average Sunday attendance by 50% by the year 2010. That is what our friends in Texas call a BHAG - big, hairy, audacious goal. Sure it sounds impossible. Sure there are numerous obstacles for all of us. But follow those questions of resistance - where do they lead? Don't be afraid of your resistance to such a goal. Talking about all the reasons why it can't be done might open up new models for being a church truly committed to evangelism. It is simply not true that everyone who deserves to be an Episcopalian already is!
But what if we stopped talking about how its too crazy to even imagine and begin to say "If we are to be successful, what will we need to do?" The diocesan office and those committed to this ministry will be offering resources, consultations, the sharing of "best practices" and training in order to assist in this BHAG.
I can hear it now and you will hear it at home - "all the bishop is interested in is numbers" - I'll tell you a little story from Kevin Martin - you're free to share it. A mother, father and their eight children were on a vacation in a motor home. After a brief lunch and bathroom stop they got back in the motor home and continued down the highway. As the father drove the mother counted her children. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...! Wait! We've got to turn around and go back. We're missing one!" she exclaimed. "Oh, you're only interested in numbers," replied the father. Sure it is about numbers because those numbers are human beings - hungry for an encounter with God and a community that dares to be their guide. Another percentage goal. For as long as I have been involved with Camp Bratton-Green we have claimed that it is our best tool of evangelism. I believe there is much truth to that contention. However, what does it say about us that, excluding Special Sessions, our best tool of evangelism is 99% Caucasian.
My dream is to one day have our best evangelism effort reflect the diversity of our state. My immediate goal is to have a camping program that by 2010 has 25% of its campers as children of color. That will require some changes in he way we do things. There are lots of young children in your community who need the experience of Camp Bratton-Green. What are we going to do about that?
One Church in Mission: Transforming
Over the past year I have preached that the church's business is transformation - changing lives, changing societies and changing communities. Most of that transformation is a slow and gradual process shaped by God the Holy Spirit within the communities where we place ourselves to be formed.
In our increasingly secular world the church needs to recover its God-given responsibility to shape and form disciples. Our Lord's last words to his followers were not "go and convert to a series of theological propositions." Rather, he said "go and make disciples" - people who could be in relationship to Him and instruments for the inbreaking of the Kingdom of God.
To assist in the forming of disciples and the transforming of lives we will be creating at Gray Center the Center for Formation and Mission. Conceived as a resource for adult formation and training for mission, this Center will offer adult education courses, retreat opportunities, spiritual direction and a variety of resources to deepen the faith of the faithful, and to assist local congregations in preparing people for the mission God has given us.
Plans are in the works - as the necessary funding becomes available. Let me repeat that, as necessary funding becomes available, to relocate the lovely church and parish house of St. George's, Itta Bena, to Gray Center as the first step in the development of a retreat center. This will be the first step, but we will grow program and facility to meet the formation and mission needs of this church.
We Episcopalians have been given the opportunity through our sacrament of confirmation to renew lives and deepen discipleship culminating in the renewal of baptismal vows before the bishop with the apostolic rite of the laying on of hands. Too often, we have squandered that opportunity and those who are presented to me for confirmation may have had a brief glimpse of the Christian tradition through the heritage of Anglicanism, but all too often they have been inoculated with but a slight dose of the Christian faith that has made them immune to the real thing.
I will be asking a task force to assist me in the creation of expectations for confirmation preparation. I am also aware that many of you are doing wonderfully creative things in your churches. I want to find ways to share the "best practices" of formation, particularly as it relates to confirmation.
In the coming years as I meet with vestries, mission committees and clergy in my new visitation pattern, one of the questions that I will be asking is "What opportunities for personal transformation are available in this congregation?"
EFM, DOCC, Cursillo reunion groups, Bible study and prayer groups are used by some churches as the means by which many have experienced transformation in their lives. I have accepted an offer by my new friend, Mr. Keith Miller, for Mississippi to be a pilot diocese to field test another small group resource. Keith will be in the chapel to answer questions that you might have about his revised offering of The Edge of Adventure.
One Church in Mission: Reconciling
"God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation." I suppose no other passage of scripture has influenced me over the years than the section from St. Paul's second letter to the Corinthians that was read as our epistle this morning.
Allow the words to settle within - the old life is gone - a new life begins - Reconciliation is complete. We are one with one another - responsible to and for one another, because we are one in Christ. The mission of the church is to point toward and live into this new reality.
There's one significant barrier to reconciliation. Reconciliation requires a cross - on Calvary's hill and within any attempt that we might make to be instruments of reconciliation. Reconciliation is costly - there is always a desire to go the easy way.
Though the final decision on any budget item rests with our Executive Committee, because we are one with the needs of the larger world, I am committing this day to work for the acceptance of the United Nations Millennium Goals to address world poverty in an intentional and multilateral way.
Endorsed by Lambeth Conference in 1998, reaffirmed unanimously by our Anglican Primates (no small matter, I'd say), this commitment of 0.7% of our income from the diocese to projects of our own choosing, is reflective of what it means to be an Anglican in a global community - you might recall we're having some discussions about that these days. I commend it to each vestry and mission committee for your prayerful consideration as well.
I have formed an ecumenical partnership with the bishops of the United Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches to be an advocate in the state legislature for the most vulnerable in our state - our children. The program is known as Congregations for Children and it will be our voice in the political discussions in Jackson and throughout the state. Certain things will be required for a church to be designated as a Congregation for Children. Carol Stewart has information during the break that will give details of this initiative. Whether or not your congregation chooses to affiliate in this ecumenical effort, it is my clear expectation that within the next two years, every congregation in this diocese shall be engaged in a ministry to and with children beyond its own membership. That is what it will mean to be the Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Mississippi!
I have set a goal of an increase of 50% of average Sunday attendance by 2010. I now challenge each congregation to increase by that same 50% of the number of persons it serves outside of its membership by 2010. Church attendance and servant ministry go hand in hand. It is not either/or. What we experience in the breaking of bread drives us into the highways and byways where broken bodies, broken dreams and broken hearts await the healing, reconciling word and touch and hand of the gospel.
Some of this is risky. Some of this sounds foolish. Some of it will require a capital campaign to effect. Yes, Virginia, there will be a capital campaign in our future. We can argue and debate the particulars, but from the bottom of my heart I believe that it is the direction God is calling us to travel. All of these are clearly defined, measurable goods and tasks. But, my deepest hope is not that we will simply accomplish these tasks and move on, but that these initiatives from my soul - will inspire your soul - to take seriously the claim of God in your life. To pray and listen to what God is asking of you and your church. What foolish, risky and costly paths lead you toward the new creation God is unfolding? What is being birthed in your life and in your church that may require the release of old ways?
I have been asking this church to take seriously God's claim on us and the implications of that claim on our common life. A few months ago Kathy and I began discussing what appeared to be God's call into our personal life. What we prayed about seemed foolish, risky and costly - the waters of our own baptisms began to wash over us as we asked what might need to die so that Christ might live in us in new ways. Last week we became foster parents to our first daughter - Awur Agany - her Christian name is Tabitha and she is from the Sudan. At one level it makes very little sense - But at the deepest level of my soul it is exactly as it should be, and it makes all the sense in the world.
I have no idea of how God will speak to you or this church this day, but don't be afraid to wade in the waters of your baptism. Don't be afraid to step beyond the storms that rock our own boats toward the master who calls us out of the false security of our own tiny ships into the loving and reconciling arms of the one we call Lord. It is He whom we serve. And it is He who shall be our guide.