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Diocesan Convention Address
Trinity Church, Rutland, Vermont – November 8, 2008
The Right Reverend Thomas C. Ely
(Published in the December 2008 Mountain Echo)
[Download the bishop's address in MS Word]
Early in September a story on Vermont Public Radio by reporter John Dillon caught my attention. The story began “A stream in Northfield will soon run free for the first time in seven decades.” Dillon goes on to describe the removal of a crumbling concrete dam from the Cox Brook – a tributary of the Dog River. The removal of the dam brings disappointment to some who will miss the old swimming hole created by the dam, but its removal will open up miles of spawning habitat for wild trout, much to the delight of anglers.
As John Dillon explained it, the Dog River is one of very few Vermont streams that are not stocked with fish raised in a hatchery. The big brown trout, the colorful brook trout and the rainbows here are all wild; and they need clean, running water to spawn. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service paid for much of the work under a program designed to restore stream habitat. John Dillon concluded his report with a delightful comment by Madeline Lyttle, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, about the care with which the workers paid attention to both the river and the fish. "These equipment operators have been rescuing fish in their hard hats. It's been great watching them. They'll see a fish in a pond, the fish can't get out of the way, and they'll jump out of their equipment, and they'll scoop them up in their hard hats and gingerly put them down river."
I thought about this wonderful story for days and even went to VPR “on line” to listen again and again. If I were a fisherman the prospect of great fishing would have been reason enough to delight. What captured my imagination was the picture of new life being made possible when the debris of a neglected dam was removed. The story points to the future and new possibilities for sustaining both habitat and life created by the removal of a crumbling dam, even though it had served a different and worthwhile purpose for some in days gone by. There was, as well, the delightful description of those construction workers and their concern and action on behalf of the fish.
The story of the Cox Brook running free for the first time in seventy years reminds me how important it is for us to be open to the changes and chances of God’s future, both for our diocese and for the planet. God hungers for us to be able to run free and give birth to new life. It reminds me of the importance of stewardship in every dimension of our lives. And it speaks to the deep concern and compassion for all creation built into the DNA of the human spirit.
Serving as your bishop these past seven and a half years has been among the greatest joys and privileges of my life. Thanks to the good and faithful efforts of the people of our diocese, I believe we are a healthy diocese; a diocese committed to deepening our understanding and practice of baptismal ministry; a diocese committed to inclusive ministries of justice, compassion and outreach; a diocese committed to expanding ministries of global mission and reconciliation; a diocese committed to the vitality of every congregation and to working with community, ecumenical and interfaith partners to bring about God’s reign for a hurting world struggling for its very breath. We are a diocese committed to preaching and living the liberating Good News of Jesus Christ for all.
My hope and prayer as we press on together in mission and ministry is that we will continue to build upon the good work we have accomplished and then go even further under the banner of our Convention theme: Tending God’s World, NOW! I believe it is imperative that we take seriously the crisis of global climate change as a spiritual as well as a practical matter, accept the sacrificial life style changes needed, and make our homes and churches a blessing for God’s creation. And here, let me offer a word of appreciation for the many energy saving measures you are taking in your congregations, including conducting the energy audits called for in last year’s Convention resolution.
Our Baptismal Covenant calls us to participate in this ministry - Christ’s ministry of global reconciliation - which is the missio dei, the Mission of God. The reconciling work needed in order to sustain the future of our planet is inherent in every dimension of our mission and ministry - locally and beyond. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals are all linked to one another and to the Gospel. They address poverty and hunger, universal primary education, gender equality and the empowerment of women. They address child mortality, maternal health, HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, and environmental stability. An agenda so broad requires us to engage effective strategies that will proclaim the Good News of God’s love in Christ with conviction to a skeptical but yearning world. In this ministry my hope and prayer is that we will care about one another and all of God’s creation with the same tender compassion demonstrated by the workers at the Cox Brook Dam. They got off their construction equipment simply and profoundly in order to save a few fish. They could have done otherwise, but they did not. We can do otherwise, but I pray that we will not.
In service of this mission the Episcopal Church in Vermont is blessed with a rich and proud heritage. During the past eighteen months we have celebrated the 175+ years of mission and ministry inaugurated with the decision of our ancestors to withdraw from the Eastern Diocese, form the Diocese of Vermont, and elect John Henry Hopkins as their first bishop. Since 1763, even before our first State Convention in Arlington in 1790, and in generations ever since, Episcopalians in Vermont have been a faithful voice and witness for the Good News of Jesus Christ in the State of Vermont. This goodly heritage of ministry is calling us to be faithful in our own time with all that we are and all that we have.
I am grateful to those who served as members of our 175th Anniversary Committee. Perhaps our greatest sadness during this time was the death of our honorary chair, Carolyn Kerr, widow of Robert Kerr, the 7th Bishop of Vermont. I still recall the smile on her face when we cut the Anniversary cake at Saint Stephen’s, Middlebury eighteen months ago, and how she delighted in singing the anniversary celebration hymn – From the Valleys and the Hamlets – written by Judy Krum from Saint Peter’s, Bennington. I’m sure she was singing with us this morning!
There were other notable highlights from our anniversary celebration, including two publications by Diocesan Historiographer Elizabeth Allison; the many new parish banners created for the occasion; the bishop’s calendar project from the students at Rock Point School; the parish shield project that now welcomes everyone to “our cathedral;” the commissioning of a new choir anthem (that unfortunately is not quite ready for prime time); our participation in Vermont Day at the Washington National Cathedral around the theme of racial reconciliation, with Congressman John Lewis; the Convention visit from our Presiding Bishop last year and the generous offering of $34,000 presented to her from all our congregations in support of the MDG Inspiration Fund and the Nets4Life project of Episcopal Relief and Development; the environmental focus and theme of this year’s Convention and Ministry Fair Workshops; and the procession around the diocese of Bishop Hopkins’ crozier during each of my visitations. Perhaps we could have done more, but I think what we did was enough to honor this season of our life as a diocese; and besides, there is an opportunity for another celebration in 25 years! I think Elizabeth Allison may already be at work on that!
We began our anniversary celebration eighteen months ago at Saint Stephen’s, Middlebury, where Bishop Hopkins was elected on May 31, 1832, and we conclude here in Rutland where Bishop Hopkins presided over his first Diocesan Convention 175 years ago, on May 29th and 30th, 1833. During the intervening time between then and now many crumbling dams have been removed from the fabric of our country and our church, allowing streams of living water to run free and spawn new and abundant life, not the least of which is the history made this past Tuesday in the election of an African-American to serve as President of the United States, which Congressman John Lewis described as a non-violent revolution. And, here I need to say that I think John McCain’s concession speech was as gracious and generous a message as any I’ve heard. Vermont has had its share of participation in many of those barrier removals, including the complex legacy of Bishop Hopkins’s involvement in the church’s struggle with slavery and the Civil War; the Suffrage, Voting Rights and Civil Rights movements; the Peace and Anti-War movements; the legal provision of Civil Unions for gay and lesbian couples; and today the environmental crisis, calling us to new patterns of thinking and behavior.
Among the most significant ecclesiastical barriers that the Episcopal Diocese of Vermont has helped to break down was the prohibition of women in ordained ministry. In this octave of All Saints (if you will permit that liturgical indulgence) we celebrate the 15th anniversary of one landmark event in that theological and justice struggle for the inclusion of women in all orders of ministry. On All Saints Day (November 1) 1993, our preacher this morning was consecrated as the 9th Bishop of Vermont and the first woman elected to serve as a Diocesan Bishop in the Episcopal Church. Mary Adelia, my dear sister in Christ, seminary colleague, friend, predecessor, spirit-filled and visionary leader, we are grateful that you have honored us by your presence and inspired preaching at this Convention. Please indulge us now as we take this opportunity to thank you once more for your groundbreaking and courageous leadership and for your faithful ministry among the people of Vermont.
Looking ahead and moving forward in our life and ministry as a diocese has its own particular challenges and opportunities. None of us ever knows what challenges we will face, what opportunities will come our way, or what barriers we may be called upon to dismantle in order for new life to spawn and flourish. Nonetheless, we must try to anticipate, plan and respond to where we believe God is calling us at any given time in our history. This is true in our individual lives, our families, our congregations and our diocese.
Because of the environmental crisis of global climate change and the urgency with which Bill McKibben and others have said we must act, I am persuaded that this is the number one theological, moral, ecclesial, and political priority for our diocese at this time. That being said, I am quite mindful that I alone do not determine our diocesan priorities, so I invite you to consider for yourselves whether or not you agree – and then let’s talk about it. As I mentioned earlier in this address, this focus on the climate crisis is not to the exclusion of other things. In fact it is deeply connected to our other mission priorities, including the priority of helping those facing overwhelming choices between food and fuel in this time of economic crisis. As we continue to engage those other mission priorities I believe we must keep the healing of this planet ever before us.
With that in mind, let me announce two initiatives. First, I will reestablish our Diocesan Committee on the Environment and charge it with keeping this subject before us, both in terms of education and action. The Reverend Anita Schell-Lambert, Rector of Saint Peter’s, Bennington and convener of the Program Committee for this Convention, will serve as chair of this committee. I will seek concurrence from the Diocesan Council in December, and if Council shares my concern I will appoint additional members to serve on this committee. You are welcome to make your interest known to Anita or to me.
Secondly, in addition to this Committee and in cooperation with its work, I will convene a Task Force to study and plan for what it will take to bring renewable energy projects to Rock Point and to make Rock Point - by the year 2015 - a model of energy conservation and efficiency in Vermont and beyond. Chuck Courcy, our Property Manager, is already in conversation about this with others, including the students at Rock Point School. I will bring this agenda to the Rock Point Board in December for discussion and action. I have every reason to believe that there are many people with expertise in this area, who value and cherish Rock Point as we do, and who are ready to assist us in this effort.
In addition to the global reconciliation challenges and opportunities about which I have already spoken, there are three other matters related to our diocesan life that I want to address briefly. They all relate in one way or another to stewardship, as of course does everything else I’ve talked about so far.
First of all, I am very mindful that in this time of both economic and environmental crisis there are many challenges facing the congregations of our diocese as you seek to balance budgets, care for aging and inefficient buildings, provide pastoral care to members, offer meaningful worship and Christian formation, support and encourage people in their ministries in daily life, reach out in love and concern to others nearby and far away, and do effective planning for today and tomorrow. I want to celebrate your faithfulness in all these things and remind each of you that none of us is alone as we go about the work of being the church in Vermont. You have each other. You have community, ecumenical and interfaith partners. And you have me and the members of the diocesan Ministry Support Team.
Collegiality and collaboration are at the heart of my ministry DNA. I believe such cooperation to be a Gospel value and good stewardship practice. God made us to be in relationship, and even those few among us called to a more solitary life are reminded of the prayer from Compline about our common life depending upon each other’s toil. Nurture your neighborly relationships. Lean on each other in the best sense of that phrase. Call upon one another and upon the diocesan Ministry Support Team for help, support, encouragement and ideas. We have an abundance of gifts and talents within our diocese and on the diocesan Ministry Support Team. No one has to go it alone. We have each other. We are a community, a body, a church.
Secondly, the good stewardship of our diocesan property and financial resources is essential to our future. The addition of Angela Emerson to our diocesan Ministry Support Team is making it possible for there to be more attention paid and more help given in this area of our common life. Annual commitment programs, planned giving efforts, formation for all ages, and the effective use of our time and talents are all part of this attention to good stewardship. The themes of generosity and abundance are woven throughout the Gospel and so they must be woven throughout our lives as well.
At the diocesan level we are paying particular attention to this in our restructuring of the Bishop Booth Conference Center and in our preparations for a Diocesan Capital Campaign. Last year, Convention authorized the creation of a Capital Campaign Committee, and I have recruited several gifted persons who are prepared to serve in this capacity. Several factors, not the least of which includes the present economy and the financial operating deficit of the Bishop Booth Conference Center, caused me to move more slowly toward a Capital Campaign then I had otherwise wished to do. Now, with a plan in place for stabilizing the operation of the Bishop Booth Conference Center I feel more confident in moving forward, since I know that one of the major components of a diocesan campaign will be the BBCC. As for the economy - how that will play out in terms of our timing remains to be seen.
My third matter of concern is the stewardship of our relationship with the Anglican Communion. I frame this matter in the language of stewardship because my participation in the Lambeth Conference this past summer convinced me more than ever to embrace Paul’s admonition that none of us can say to the other, “I have no need of you.” Our lives within the Anglican Communion, like our lives with every other human being and every other living thing on this planet are intricately connected. Those of you involved in global mission efforts already know what I mean. The goal is not to agree with everyone else; the goal is to live with everyone else. The Baptismal Covenant calls us to respect the dignity of every human being – indeed every living thing. With God’s help, I will continue to do that and I am confident that you will as well.
To be sure, I don’t have all the answers; but I do firmly believe that our most promising way through and beyond our current Anglican Communion struggle lies in our willingness to be in relationship with one another in mission. As we labor together, discovering each other’s hunger to serve faithfully, I believe we will meet Christ: Christ in the world we seek to serve, Christ in our partners, and Christ in ourselves.
A favorite and perhaps familiar Hasidic parable about light and darkness goes like this: A rabbi asked his students, “When is it at dawn that one can tell the light from the darkness?” One student replied, “When I can tell a goat from a donkey.” “No,” answered the rabbi. Another said, “When I can tell a palm tree from a fig.” “No,” answered the rabbi again. “Well, then, what is the answer?” his students pressed him. “Only when you look into the face of every man and every woman and see your brother and your sister,” said the rabbi. “Only then have you seen the light. All else is still darkness.”
My encouragement, and indeed a goal of our Diocesan Strategic Plan for Growth and Ministry, is for each and every congregation to be in relationship with people in other parts of the Anglican Communion – especially in contexts very different from our own. I have a dozen or more ways in which that could happen for you – from Sudan to El Salvador; from Haiti to Honduras; from Palestine to Ghana; from Rwanda to Uganda - and our Global Reconciliation Committee is ready to help as well. Make these relationships a central part of your life as faith communities. This involvement is not in place of your local and domestic mission and outreach efforts, but in addition. Again, it is drawing on our abundance and generosity to break open the dams of our own hearts so that life giving water can flow freely and fully from us to spawn the new life that will come as a result.
Finally, let me conclude this Address with a word of appreciation to the members of the diocesan Ministry Support Team and then a closing word to all of you.
In preparing the 2009 Diocesan Budget, the Diocesan Council named support for the congregations of our diocese through the work of the diocesan Ministry Support Team as one of its three priorities. That decision means a great deal to me and to us as a team. The gifted women and men of the diocesan Ministry Support Team – both our Administrative Group in the office at Rock Point and the Ministry Development Group working in the field – bring a deep commitment, proven competence, as well as joy and faith to their work. They serve and support the congregations, institutions, committees and commissions of our diocese as an extension of the Bishop’s apostolic ministry of oversight and pastoral care for the whole diocese in a truly collaborative and collegial way. Please call upon us as both resource and support in your congregations and ministries.
And now a closing word to all of you and through all of you to all the people of our diocese among whom it is my great privilege to serve. The psalm we used at the Eucharist this morning – Psalm 122 - was the psalm used by the delegates in their devotions just prior to voting in the election that called John Henry Hopkins to be the first bishop of Vermont. It was also used as a portion of the closing devotions during Hopkins’ first Convention in 1833. I’ve taken some liberties with the words of Psalm 122 in an attempt to express my appreciation for our life and ministry together and the great joy and honor I feel in serving as your bishop.
I was glad when they said to me,*
“Let us go to the house of Hopkins, (and Bissell, Hall, Booth, Van Dyck,
Butterfield, Kerr, Swenson and McLeod)”
Now our feet are standing*
within your gates, O Rock Point.
The Diocese of Vermont is built as a community of faith*
that is at unity with itself;
To which the people go up,
the baptized ministers of God,*
the assembly of congregations in Annual Convention,
to praise the Name of the Lord – (this year in Rutland).
For there are the faithful leaders,*
the display booths, and Bonnie’s Box lunches.
Pray for the mission
of our diocese – Prayer, Mind and Deed:*
“May we whom you have called be faithful.
Peace be within our
church – and
beyond,*
and compassionate generosity within our hearts.
For the sake of the world you have made*
I pray for our conversion and amendment of life
Because of all your goodness and love*
I will seek to do you good.”
Tending God’s World –NOW! Let’s get on with it together, and like those construction workers at the Cox Brook Dam may we do so with generosity, compassion and joy, and welcome the new life made possible in and through service to God’s reconciling mission, for the sake of your grandchildren and mine.
Glory to God whose power, working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to God from generation to generation in the Church and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen.
Faithfully,
+Thomas
