My dear Mississippi sisters and brothers in faith:
I greet you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and welcome you to this 186th Council of the Diocese of Mississippi. I welcome you on behalf of our five host congregations in this Central Convocation: St. Mark’s, Raymond; All Saints, Jackson; Grace Church, Canton; St. Luke’s, Brandon; and St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Jackson.
You’ll be getting to know each of these congregations a little better as the weekend goes on. If you look at your bulletin. Aesthetically, what binds these churches together is the color red. Red of our Lord’s ascension garment is linked to the red doors. It is through the blood of Christ and the blood of the martyrs that we enter the church, and, thus, red is an ancient traditional color of church doors. But they are also bound together, as we all are, by a commitment to be one church, together in Mission: Communities of invitation, transformation and reconciliation:
In addition to thanking the many volunteers from our host churches, I want to also express my deep appreciation to several who have made enormous commitments of time and energy to making our time together so very special: Our co-chairs of this Council, Bill and Susan Hill and The Rev. Janet Ott; the Rev. Shannon Manning and the Diocesan Commission on Music and Liturgy; Mr. Mike Flannes for his ongoing coordination of vergers and a variety of other backstage responsibilities, Mike shares so freely from year to year; and, of course, Canon Kathryn McCormick and the entire diocesan staff whose time, energy and focus, quite literally, from Thanksgiving on becomes planning for this annual gathering of the Episcopal Church in Mississippi. Thank you, thank you to those who worked so hard that I have not mentioned.
And to take a moment of personal privilege for two other thank yous. First, The Rev. Pat Sanders was an enormous influence on my priestly formation. Pat died earlier this month at age 91. I preached and celebrated at Pat’s memorial service last week. So, thank you Pat for what you gave to me. Secondly, thank you to the priest who was here at our first Diocesan Council – the Rev. James Beauregard Roberts who is attending his last Council as an active priest. Literally, Bo has served faithfully five of the nine Mississippi bishops in this diocese having been sent to seminary in 1963 by my grandfather. Bo will be retiring in the near future. He promises. Thank you, my brother, for your faithful witness to Christ and loyalty as a parish priest for 47 years!
This year, as we prepared for Council, we decided to try something new. Because of my trip to South Sudan and a concern about the stewardship of time and resources, Canons Johnson and McCormick and I decided to put our pre-Council presentations in video form and posted them on YouTube. I haven’t checked and won’t ask how many of you availed yourself of that resource, but there are reports of hundreds of thousands of hits and that video presentation has gone viral across seven continents.
In all seriousness, even the church, even this bishop is learning something about how to use technology to be better stewards of our resources. We are learning about what works and what does not, and you can expect to see an increasing use of this medium in the coming years.
As an example, last year, as you recall, we found a great response to an invitation to read scripture with me during Lent and receive four or five daily reflections per week from me, via Constant Contact as we read through the four gospels together. And to my utter amazement, over a thousand people participated in one way or another last year.
This year, I will be reading and reflecting on the Book of Genesis – a book full of great mythic narratives that too often we assume are only Sunday school stories for children. There is a brochure in your registration packets that describes how to register to participate, again to use this medium called Constant Contact.
The theme of this year’s Council is “Empowering for Mission.” If you’ll recall, the themes of this annual gathering have, since 2006, reflected in a variety of ways our diocesan vision: One Church in Mission: Inviting, Transforming, Reconciling. Indeed, our last three years we have focused on the foundational element of that vision: Mission.
Over these 13 years that I have been your bishop, I have tried to say in as many ways as possible that the church has been called into being, its very existence, by God to be an instrument of God’s redemptive and reconciling activity in the world. In one sense it can be said that the church, in and of itself, does not have a mission. Rather, God’s mission has the church. The church does not exist for itself, and self preservation is never its truest calling. The church was created for the world Christ died to save. “You did not choose me. I chose you,” said Jesus. “And I appointed you to go and bear fruit.”
Now this foundational focus on mission, I’ve said over the years, does not mean that facilities, worship, pastoral care and local programming are unimportant. Quite the contrary, they are the means by which the congregation is nurtured, strengthened, trained and supported for God’s mission in the world. But all of those wonderful things are never to be understood as ends to themselves, but the means “so that” we might be instruments of God’s healing and reconciling grace in the world. The healing of our own soul is always, always “so that” we might serve the world in His name.
Sometimes that work is very close – as close as our family, friends and colleagues; sometimes that work is structural, as we seek to make our systems and institutions more effective instruments of justice and mercy; and sometimes that work is very far away – Haiti, Honduras, Panama, Uganda or South Sudan.
At their best, “empowering for mission” is what local congregations do. They care for one another in good times and bad. They teach and nurture and challenge and they think and talk and try out what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ ever provoking that fundamental ethical question: “How then shall I live?”
And in the day by day, week by week worship of the local congregation, we, the people of God find an increasing capacity to make our lives – “ourselves, our souls, our bodies” – an offering to God …
“So that” we can step out into an often fearful, broken and despairing world as vessels of God’s healing and hope.
But a reminder about what we all know full well:
As we spend time in that fearful, broken and despairing world we, ourselves, if we are being faithful, will often be battered, lose confidence, sometimes even lose faith. And, more often than we care to admit, we return to the very altar from which we set forth with great enthusiasm with our tail tucked between our legs. It is there, again, we find the healing balm of Christ’s presence, the support of fellow pilgrims. We find renewal for the next stage of the journey. And off we go again.
And again and again and again this happens. That is the holy and life-giving dynamic of vibrant congregations.
My calling as your bishop is to hold that missional vision ever before the church; to nurture that missional activity within congregations, to offer resources – personal and programmatic – to congregations and clergy to support mission (this is what our worship this weekend, the workshops this weekend and the presentations will be about); it is my job, it is what you called me to be, and when you are broken by the challenge of missions, as best I can to pick you up, dust you off and say, “Now, let’s try that again.”
I am aware of the struggles of many of you – as individuals and congregations. Part of my calling is to walk with you in these struggles and to share something of the burdens you bear. The greatest frustration of this office, my friends, is that there are so many things I cannot fix, try as we might. In these times, I can only be with you with the hope that Christ dwells deep within the brokenness and scarcity of our lives. In some moments this is all I have to offer.
Even as I acknowledge the struggles of some, I am also delighted in so much that is good and exciting going on in this diocese.
Our enrollment at Camp Bratten-Green at Gray Center broke another record this past summer. Well over a thousand young children came to be a part of the program. Bridges Out of Poverty continues to spread throughout the diocese. Several churches have had major increases in pledged income. Many have raised their percentage of the voluntary proportionate pledge resulting in significant increases in their pledges to the ministry and mission of the wider diocese.
Tomorrow there will be a variety of workshops on many issues, many concerns. There will be those on parish stewardship campaigns and local planned giving programs. Financial health in a congregation does not happen by accident. Careful planning makes a great deal of difference, so I invite you to these and all the other workshops. They are designed to be mission empowering opportunities.
There have been capital campaigns begun or completed at St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Jackson; St. Christopher’s Church of the Ascension, Jackson; and St. Timothy’s, Southaven (who also pledged 10% of their campaign to Mission outside the parish).
I am also aware of the vibrancies of our college campus ministries at Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Jackson State, Southern and Delta State. The church is there for our children. This is, of course, a great example of what we can do together as one church, things that we cannot do alone.
Our Spiritual Renewal Retreat in August continues to minister to increasing members of gay and lesbian persons from Mississippi and a wide range of surrounding states. This year’s retreat leader will be the Rev. Ed Bacon, former dean of St. Andrew’s Cathedral.
There are a variety of programs now being offered that are significantly focused on empowering mission for lay leaders of congregations – Leadership Conference in March (for wardens, vestry and mission committee members, treasurers, finance committee members and any other interested lay persons), the Cooperative College for Congregational Development each summer, the Bishop’s Annual Stewardship Summit in June, and Lay Leadership Training Institute, a year-round training program for lay leaders. These and others are offerings to local congregations to support and empower local mission and ministries.
We have begun serious thinking about how we can be a healthier church. A task force on Wellness has begun working with me to think about how we could impact our system toward health and wellness. Last year’s Clergy Conference focused on spiritual and physical health.
A new initiative this year will be a day focused on clergy and family wellness – again an effort to improve the health and well-being of those called to serve God in unique ways: Empowering, empowering for Mission. Dr. Kathy Knight from the University of Mississippi and a member of this task force is available in a booth tomorrow for nutritional consultations and lifestyle changes.
Of course there is a church beyond our borders. General Convention met in Indianapolis this past summer. Though the national media was predictably focused on the approval of the trial (“provisional”) use of a liturgy for the blessing of same gender relationships, I was particularly encouraged by the prevailing sentiment that our church could not continue to do what we’ve always done. There was a clear sense that much of our structure and the way we do business is broken and needs reimaging. Mission and evangelism was at the front and center of every conversation – from progressives and traditionalists alike. Sisters and brothers, it has been a long time since I heard such unanimity at General Convention. We approved a resolution – inspired in part by a similar resolution passed by this Council last year – to completely over haul the national church structure. An icon of the winds of change that were blowing was a decision to relocate from, even to the point of selling, our Episcopal Church Center in New York City.
Of course, structural reorganization will not be the answer to what ails us as a church, but the great energy of mission and evangelism that undergirded this action was enough to give me great hope.
I need to briefly mention one last item beyond our diocesan borders. As you know, the bishop of the Diocese of South Carolina and his diocesan convention have acted to remove themselves from the Episcopal Church. Last weekend, the Presiding Bishop, in a separate convention, met to reorganize this diocese under a new bishop.
This is not the time or occasion to detail the events that led up to this action, except to say that I have yet to see an account of these actions that describe accurately what I know to have taken place.
Suffice it to say that I am troubled by various actions of all those involved and do believe that this fracture could have been avoided – at least in a perfect world. But that’s not the world we live in. We live in a broken, fallen world where perfect options for action are rarely available.
And so I grieve for our church. And I pray for Bishop Charles vonRosenberg and for those who are seeking to reorganize this diocese and who met in convention last week. But I also pray for Bishop Mark Lawrence, a former colleague and friend, and others in the seceding diocese. They are not evil people.
A perfect storm of imperfect decisions, poor timing, human failings and unpredictable natural events have brought the people of South Carolina to this moment. May God have mercy.
As we look forward to this coming year, I am excited about a large number of new and ongoing initiatives. Next week a team from Mississippi embarks on its 32nd annual medical mission to San Joachim, a small village in the mountains of Honduras. The bishop of Honduras, a friend and colleague, the Rt. Rev. Lloyd Allen, under whose authority the team operates, is with us Council this weekend and will address Council tomorrow morning.
So many of your congregations have responded to my charge to involve yourselves, in some way, in overseas mission work. Many of you have taken your own initiative and are personally related to ministries overseas. Thank you so very much.
Using the model of the Honduras Medical Mission and the experience gleaned from 31 years of ministry there, this year we have chosen to undertake two new missions that focus primarily on medical ministry. I have just returned with three other Mississippians from our first medical mission to the Diocese of Twic East in South Sudan. I will speak in more detail about that experience tomorrow.
In March, a group of doctors, nurses, clergy and others will travel to Kesese, Uganda to assist in the ongoing HIV/AIDS educational ministry of the Bishop Masereka Christian Foundation. On a personal note, word has come to us of the serious illness of Bishop Zebedee Masereka. Things appear to be improving, but your prayers are requested for this remarkable visionary leader.
Another new initiative is set to launch this fall. After three years of planning with the seminary of the Southwest and eight other dioceses, the Mississippi Iona School will open its doors to students in September. Housed at Gray Center, this school will significantly upgrade our educational training for our deacons and will also serve as the means by which we train bi-vocational (and at least for the time being) non-stipendiary priests – a new concept for this diocese. Once this Iona School is up and running it will offer seminary quality education for a wide range of ministries as we continue to look for ways to empower mission in this diocese.
Three years ago in a letter to clergy and congregations, I invited you to take five years (2011-2015), years that will mark the 50th anniversaries of major civil rights moments in our state’s history, to take this time as an occasion to deepen your local commitment to racial reconciliation. I am aware that being faithful to my request has been difficult for some. I am deeply appreciative.
At that time, I also wrote that we would be offering high profile events on a diocesan level that would serve as icons for this renewed commitment. Two years ago focused on the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Riders with a walk from the site of the Jackson bus station and a service of Repentance and Reconciliation at the Cathedral. Last September we marked the 50th anniversary of the entrance of James Meredith into Ole Miss and the subsequent riot with a rain-shortened Walk of Redemption and Reconciliation at Ole Miss.
This year we will mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Medgar Evers, by one of our own – an Episcopalian named Byron De La Beckwith – with a service that will include an address by his widow, Merlie Evers-Williams. In addition, it looks as though our Presiding Bishop will be joining us in November for a nationally broadcast conversation on the state of race relations fifty years after these watershed moments.
On the ecumenical front, I continue to rejoice in the ways that we have found to deepen our relationship with our sisters and brothers of the Roman Catholic, United Methodist and Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Mississippi. We share common strategies for engaging our state legislators on matters of common concern. Our covenant relationship with the United Methodists deepens as ordained ministry is shared in Port Gibson, joint programming such as the training for spiritual directors, known as Journey Partners, is shared and these commitments are renewed each year in a shared eucharist around the state on the feast of John and Charles Wesley – March 3. This year, St. Peter’s by-the-Sea will be our host. And to introduce him to us, and us to him, I have invited Bishop James Swanson, the new bishop of the Mississippi Conference of the United Methodist Church to be our preacher at our closing eucharist.
Our relationship with the ELCA church continues to mature, even after the closing of our shared LESM project. A combined congregation, the Lutheran Episcopal Mission of the Annunciation, in Perkinston continues and Church of the Creator, Clinton, has called a Lutheran pastor, the Rev. Bob Blanton, to be their (at least at this point) part-time pastor.
All these developments are, I am absolutely convinced, activities of the Holy Spirit bringing into being what our Lord, himself, prayed for – that we all might be one. Each of our traditions has gifts that the others have lost or forgotten. We need each other to be the Body of Christ.
Each year in my address, I try to highlight a unique and creative ministry that goes unnoticed to the vast majority of our church, hoping that such a witness will empower creative ministries in other places. This night, I share with you the simple, but profoundly transformative ministry of Storybook, a ministry of the aforementioned Lutheran-Episcopal Services in Mississippi (LESM) that was taken in by this diocese and St. James’, Jackson after the closure of LESM.
Storybook goes into prisons to record an inmate reading a children’s book. That recording and the book that has been read is then taken to the child of the incarcerated parent. Such connection encourages reading in the high risk child as well as maintaining the crucial relationship between parent and child. Tammie Stephens of St. James’ is the coordinator of this program and I am so proud that this is something we can do together.
So much that is so good is happening in this diocese. But there are new challenges and new opportunities that stand ever before us. We have got to find a better way to be the church together, recognizing in the other (with whom I may profoundly disagree) a measure of God’s truth and Christ’s presence that I am, of myself, incapable of seeing. We desire diversity, not because it is a politically correct thing to do, but because we profoundly need each other to be whole. Without the other I cannot long survive.
And we need to find better ways to share our faith and the transformational good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ with a spiritually starving world that increasingly sees the institutional church as a non-option for its spiritual hunger.
And we need to deepen our commitment to the poor, the lost and the forgotten – those among whom Jesus seemed to spend so much of his time.
In spite of what some have suggested, our Lord has not abandoned this church. I am convinced of that. I know “through many dangers, toils and snares, we have already come,” and the Holy Spirit continues to lead shape, and transform this particular church in so many remarkable ways.
Sisters and brothers, after considerable prayer, conversation and discernment, I have become increasingly aware that I have done about as much as I can do for this church as your bishop. The challenges of the next decade or so will require more energy, more creativity and more passion than is left in my tank.
I have increasingly spoken of myself as a transitional figure as we have gone through some remarkably interesting things together: The election of the first openly gay and partnered bishop; the fury and aftermath of a hurricane named Katrina; the worst recession since the 1930s; all in the midst of a cultural and social upheaval taking place at warped speed.
I have believed that, in the words of my grandfather, “These times were made for us, and we were made for these times,” and I have tried to suggest that the way through the challenges of this and every age is always rooted in the mission of the church and not its maintenance.
But, honestly, I am tired. Finding myself increasingly unable to lead with the clarity and creativity that is being called forth from leadership in this moment. In a word, I am having a hard time keeping up. You need fresh energy, and we need to plan for a transition to new leadership.
Thus, at this 186th Annual Diocesan Council, I am formally and officially issuing a call for the election of a Bishop Coadjutor who would serve for a brief time with me, assuming greater and greater responsibilities, until he/she formally assumes the role as Bishop Diocesan two years from now at the 188th Diocesan Council.
I have, of course, been in consultation with the Standing Committee whose responsibility it will be to guide the election process. The President of the Standing Committee, the Rev. David Knight, will speak to Council tomorrow, and will discuss plans and a process that will commence immediately and will lead to the election of your next bishop.
Now I’ve got a couple more things to say. First, I still have a few things left to do, and while you’re focusing on electing my successor, I will be finishing some of the unfinished projects of my episcopacy. “I ain’t dead, yet,” and I plan to continue working as hard as I can until I hand over the diocesan crozier to my successor at this Council in 2015.
Secondly, and listen carefully for this will equally excite and dismay this Council. I was ordained in this church 38 years ago. Thirty-eight years ago there were no female clergy. 38 years ago the liturgy of the church was found in the 1928 Book of Common Prayer; 38 years ago the storm that we were rebuilding from was Camille; and 38 years ago the Church had not yet declared, even in the most basic sense, that baptized gay and lesbian persons were due the full pastoral care and concern of the church.
Much has changed – in our culture and in our church – in 38 years. We stand on the shoulders of those who have helped us negotiate and navigate extraordinary changes as “new occasions teach new duties,” even as they struggled with the presenting issues of their day. I think most particularly, this night, of Mississippi’s own John Maury Allin, the sixth bishop of this diocese, later elected presiding bishop, whose opposition to women’s ordination was well-known but who led the church through that extraordinary transition during his tenure as Presiding Bishop.
With Bishop Allin in mind, let me talk about our presenting issue. Over most of my tenure as your bishop I have shared with you my misgivings about the blessing of same gender couples. My concerns have been, and continue to be, that of the confusion of the liturgy of the blessing, the confusion with the sacramental rite of marriage. The sacrament being a part of our received tradition that we hold in trust.
I have struggled, prayed and talked with you about all of this throughout my episcopacy, but I have tried to place this particular matter in the context of other, and I believe, far more foundational matters. I have said over and over again that our unity is not based on agreement on this or any other particular issue, but in our common baptism, nurtured at a common altar that feeds us for a common mission in the name of Jesus Christ. So it has been that my deepest grief is not that the church has moved forward on something with which I have reservations. I can certainly live with that. No, my deepest grief is that this issue has so dominated our common life and has so become the litmus test of church groups and groupings that we have found so little energy for anything else. I still share concerns about the inevitable confusion between blessings and marriages. For this reason at General Convention, as you know, I voted against the authorizing of the trial use of the liturgy for the blessing of same gender relationships – even as the Mississippi deputation – lay and clergy – unanimously voted for the authorization. So whenever I was asked about future decisions on this matter, my standard answer has always been, “that’s for you and your next bishop to work out.”
However, in recent months in prayer and reflection, as I have thought about my impending retirement, I have found that response increasingly inadequate for my own soul. After many sleepless nights, I have become increasingly clear about a few things:
1. It would be a great mistake for this diocese, for this church, for this one particular issue to dominate the search for and election of my successor;
2. I have become aware that in some places in this diocese, my ban on the authorization of this liturgy has become a very serious impediment to local mission and evangelism. This church has seen a significant increase in gay and lesbian membership since 2003 and my ban on this proposed liturgy has been perceived, mistakenly, but understandably, as a kind of bait and switch maneuver.
3. And though I still have my reservations, I have become clear that at in this moment I am being called to be a transitional figure (not unlike John Maury Allin) and to assist in the discernment by local congregations as to whether, in their particular context, the use of this liturgy could be a pastoral option with which to empower mission in their particular community.
General Convention authorized this liturgy as a vehicle for trial or provisional use. I have decided that we will use it in this way. In other words, there will be a specific window of time for its use and reflection that will last this triennium until General Convention 2015.
The model that I will be using and moving forward in this decision is that of the Diocese of Texas. You know that model. Like the congregations in Texas, each congregation in Mississippi will have several options:
1. A congregation may choose to take no action one way or the other – this is not an issue for them, they may decide.
2. Or the congregation/the rector may self-differentiate themselves from this decision by stating that they will not conduct or participate in this liturgy.
3. If the priest and vestry of a congregation – after prayer and careful study – desire to make use of this liturgy for missional purposes they may petition me to grant them an exception, in their case, to my ban on its use. That petition shall:
- Indicate the process of prayer and study that was undertaken;
- Describe how they see its use as beneficial to the mission of the church in their community;
- Describe the process proposed for preparing a couple for this blessing and how this congregation will support that couple; and
- The congregation and priest will make a commitment to report back on their experience in time for input at General Convention 2015.
I will then make my decision on a case by case basis.
This process is not intended in any way to shift the local liturgical decision-making authority away from the rector or vicar to the vestry. Our canons are quite clear about who makes liturgical decisions. Rather, given the sensitive nature of this decision, I am simply requiring serious and prayerful consultation with the lay leadership of the congregation.
I will try to say this again with some clarity:
1. The Standing Liturgical Commission has said again and again, this liturgy for blessing is not a marriage rite. I will take them at their word. The State of Mississippi will not authorize such a marriage rite and my own conscience would not accept it
2. No priest, no vestry, no congregation will be asked to do anything that violates their conscience. This liturgy will be only be authorized in congregations that have met the aforementioned criteria and have individually petitioned me to lift the ban in their particular congregation and context. You may or may not understand this at this point, but unlike the conscience clause shaped by a “gentleman’s agreement” on women’s ordinations in the late 1970s, protection of conscience on this matter has been inscribed in our canons.
There are many practical questions that I have not addressed in these remarks. Clearly, there are many practical questions that I have not even thought about. So to reflect with me on some basic guidelines and to counsel me in regard to what will be frequently asked questions, I have formed a small task force to work with me on these immediate concerns. Our work should be concluded and resources and guidelines made available within the next 2 months. I will be soon be setting a meeting of clergy to share these resources and guidelines.
Now, to state the obvious, this clearly is a change from what you have come to expect of me, and I have taken this action, in this particular moment in time, with the full knowledge that it will be a dramatic shift in one aspect of our common life. I am well aware of the extraordinary diversity of emotion that this decision will evoke. This announcement will delight some of you. For others this will be experienced as horror and betrayal. I recognize both realities. I am painfully aware that the assurance that I have given some of you over the years has now been shattered. I am deeply conscious that you will, understandably, question my motives, my values and my faithfulness to this office to which you called me thirteen years ago. It is the path that I have prayerfully chosen, and I will take responsibility for my actions, even if it means a rupture of some very important personal relationships.
Now, hear me clearly. I have chosen to take this step not because I have had a sudden conversion – or lost my mind – depending on your perspective. No, I have painfully and prayerfully chosen this course so that the deep emotions that this action evokes can be borne by me – one who has walked with you through so much over these last 13 years – and not by someone who must address it at the outset of his or her new ministry with you.
For those who feel betrayed, I will accept your anger. I trust that I have earned your respect over these 13 years, and that we can find ways to talk and go forward together. That is my deepest hope and prayer. This conversation will be the highest priority for me over these next two years as we prepare for your new leadership. I will be available beginning this week to go any and everywhere to meet with congregations and individuals to discuss the implication of my decision.
Over the last ten years I have talked with many of you about whether or not there is a place for you in this church. It has been an ongoing question asked by traditionalists as they reflect on the actions of General Convention. It has been an ongoing question asked by gay and lesbian persons as they reflect on the actions of their bishop.
I have said, again and again, there is a place. Not only is there a place, but the church cannot be the church without you. St. Paul gives us that extraordinary image of the imperfectness of our own grasp of God’s truth when he says everyone of us “sees through a glass darkly.” Each of us has distorted perceptions of truth, and we need each another – our unique gifts, our unique perspectives – to give us a fuller, but always imperfect, vision of God’s truth and God’s purposes.
We are, in all our diversity, made for each other’s salvation. Each of us feels the claim of God on our lives, or we wouldn’t be here this night, and each of us responds as best and as faithfully as we can. We are, I truly believe, every one of us, doing the best we can. That has been a foundational principle and assumption for me over these past thirteen years.
Have I done the right thing for this church in this moment and this time? After considerable time in prayer I can say, I believe so. Am I absolutely sure? Of course not. But I will offer this decision on the altar of God and pray that God might use it – bless it, if God will, forgive it, if God will, redeem it as God always will – in ways that God will always use what is offered. It is always and only in the assurance of God’s redemption that we dare do anything in his name.
I’ve given you much to think and pray about. We will have some time tomorrow around your table with your delegation to reflect on what I’ve said tonight.
As I said a few moments ago, “I ain’t dead, yet.” We’ve still got work to do together. And for all that we’ve disagreed about and all that we’ve fought over, I cannot imagine a people with whom I would rather do God’s work.
May God continue to guide and direct us in all that we do. Good people, I love you so very much. Amen.
