From here on, our task is all about living out the New Covenant. We are charged both with being God’s people toward one another and with doing God’s will in the world around us. What we are given to do and to be is very likely just the same as was given to the first disciples of Jesus as they went out from the upper room. The wind of the Spirit of God had blown over them and freshly empowered them, literally inspired them, to proclaim in deed and in word the Good News of God’s Love for all. Their call is our call; our vocation is the vocation of the apostles of Christ our Lord.
Our diocese has elected a new bishop whose task it will be to remind all the rest of us our call, and to empower God’s Church for the carrying out of our mission. Our new bishop will need our prayers; indeed he needs them now, even before he becomes officially our bishop. Pray for the Rev. Andy Doyle, and know that he is praying for all of us. Give thanks that, in some important ways, our diocese, the congregation of all the people, has chosen to end business as usual in order to chart a new path toward our future. And let us commit ourselves now to continue to do our part to ensure that our diocese stays true to this new course.
My vocation to be a nominee in the recent election has been met. With the helpful efforts of many, and with your prayers and those of many others besides, I was able to respond to this vocation with integrity. My candidacy brought to the discussion some important concerns. These resonated with people across the diocese and helped many to understand the kind of episcopacy they were and were not seeking. I am grateful for what my candidacy accomplished. It was not just I myself, but you my community of faith and faithfulness, who spoke up with me by speaking to me all these years of the values and priorities that we live out here at ECR every day. It is this aspect of my candidacy of which I am most proud.
The election is over, but our witness goes on. Our call is alive and vibrant, as is the Spirit that is moving within us and through us. It is helping us to accomplish God’s will for us, guiding us to be God’s people, God’s incarnate presence in the world at this place and at this time. My underlying vocation from God remains the same as it has always been: to communicate the Good News of God’s Love for all to God’s people, known and unknown. My specific call remains the same as well: to serve and to lead this community of ECR in our collective mission to the world around us and in our ministry to one another. It is this aspect of my ministry of which I am most proud.
Our task remains the same: it’s all about living out the New Covenant. With all that lies ahead for us here at ECR, it is little wonder and a great joy that we continue together to chart that new path that God has given us to follow. We emphasize the eternal gifts that God has given us to enjoy and to share. We hold out the blessings of our Episcopal heritage as unique among the family of Christian traditions. And we work to open wider our welcome home to more and more people who are seeking what we know, what we have, and what we are here at ECR: the Love of God for all.
God’s Peace. Jim +
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