My sisters and brothers in Christ: What a great joy it is to gather with you this weekend. Last night as we formally began this 179th annual Diocesan Council I was reminded anew of
how deep are our roots in this church and in this peculiar little postage stamp of land we call the Diocese of Mississippi. And as we gathered, both informally and in the formal liturgical procession; as we viewed the film that sought to interpret two monumental events in our common life, I was reminded anew of how much we need each other. And as I look out over you this morning - I know much about you and you know much about me - I am reminded anew that who we are as a people and what we shall become as a church is not so much a product of our unique gifts and strengths, but a result of God's grace working through our human frailties to do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.
I bring you greetings from our former bishop, the Rt. Rev. A. C. Marble, now working as an assisting bishop in the Diocese of North Carolina. Chip called me yesterday to ask to be remembered to you and tell you that we would be in his prayers this weekend.
Before going further I want to thank the people of St. Timothy's Church, Southaven and the congregations of the Northern Convocation for their hard work in preparation for hosting us this weekend. Special thanks to co-chairs, Ms. Anthie Sutterfield and Mr. Joe Scott, from St. Timothy's, and their rector, the Rev. Andy Andrews for their leadership and hospitality. Thank you, one and all. Special thanks to the most underappreciated group of people - my staff/your staff at the diocesan office. I am the figurehead and mouthpiece for their unselfish and unrelenting work that so often goes unnoticed - Liley Gilbert, Catherine Johns, Kathryn Weathersby, Lauren Auttonberry, Carol Stewart, Elissa Tucker, Kyle Seage, Debo Dykes, Charlie Deaton, Chuck Culpepper and David Johnson. Please stand so that we can say "thank you." This past year from Tent Meeting to Katrina has challenged their creativity, tested their patience and stamina and forced us all to become a more forgiving community so that we would keep from killing each other!
Once upon a time in a galaxy far away before the great turmoil of the church and the great winds of the sea, I was a parish priest. And it was given to me in those seemingly simpler times to do rather large amounts of pre-marital counseling. The final session was always devoted to talking through the liturgy for the blessing of a marriage, so that I could discuss both
the theological and psychological implications of the words that we would be saying and praying over the couple.
In most cases a very slight glaze would develop over the eyes of the love-struck couple as they listened politely to what I had to say. Recognizing the reality of their very limited attention span at that particular moment, I would also make an appointment to coincide with their one year anniversary.
Now it will not surprise any of you to know that those follow-up appointments

often had an entirely different tone: They would say things in wide-eyed recognition: I

have discovered that "I will," means something different than "when I feel like it." And, that part about "forsaking all others," is not just about my old boyfriends. It's also about what I do with my mother in this marriage.
The experience of marriage has deepened the meaning of the words of marriage. Same words, but the experience of sorting out the intricacies of that remarkably complex relationship we call Holy Matrimony had given a poignancy to the words that earlier the couple could never really comprehend.
Last night, the video tried to help us remember the words of the Tent Meeting on August 20. We heard those words I had been preaching for over a year: One Church in Mission - Inviting, Transforming, Reconciling. I talked a lot about baptism as the means by which we die to self so that we might live with Christ and in Christ. I said that we, as individuals and certainly as the Episcopal Church, are much more comfortable living out of our social, political and economic power and influence. But maybe God, in our day, was inviting us to learn in a profoundly different way what it means to be a church in mission - not through our own strength, but precisely through our conflict, our weakness and our vulnerability. I invited you to wade in the waters of our baptisms, unafraid of what might have to die, for the new life in Christ would be sufficient.
Those words were spoken to this church on August 20. On August 29, 150 mile per hour winds and a 30 foot high wall of water came ashore on the Mississippi Gulf Coast and forever shaped how I, at least, will ever understand those words. The experience of Hurricane Katrina has not washed out the vision of the Tent Meeting. The storm has profoundly reinterpreted it, and infused our vision with meaning and a poignancy I could never have imagined. Take a look at the logos on the Council booklet. Water and wind and tents have new meaning these days.
Before the great storm, some had reservations about a vision that dared to claim, in the midst of our serious internal conflicts, that we were "one church." As the support of a legion of volunteers and financial contributions from Mississippi and throughout this country and the Anglican Communion were shared with us, the folks on the Gulf Coast learned what it meant to be "one church" in ways they had never experienced before.
Over 200 congregations from throughout this country have entered into formal partnership with churches in the coast convocation. The various ways that these congregations have worked together have been invaluable resources for recovery. One church.
Two other examples will illustrate what I mean: During the fall a package arrived with more than a hundred dollars in small coins with an accompanying letter. The coins, the letter said, were gifts from a group of homeless persons being ministered to by an Episcopal Church n Asheville, North Carolina. They had sent us the money, the letter said, because they knew what it meant to be homeless and how scary it sometimes is. They wanted us to know they were praying for us. All members of the homeless congregation signed the letter. One church.
As you heard in the movie last night - the Episcopal Diocese of El Salvador, a poor church in a poorer country designated its entire offering in September - plate and pledges - to the Gulf Coast recovery effort. One church.
My brother bishop, the Right Reverend Julio Murray from our companion Diocese of Panama, called me up last week to say that he wanted to be here with us - to be a companion and stand in solidarity with us. You will be hearing from Bishop Murray later this morning. The regularly scheduled Panama Medical Mission was sent to the Gulf Coast. Team members came from Panama to care for those victims of Katrina. One church.
One church means that together we can do more than we could ever do alone. In your Council packet, there are brief written reports from each congregation on the coast with updates on their future plans. I'm sure that all will be glad to share their dreams and visions with you. (Ask Coast Convocation churches to stand). My sisters and brothers, we are the church with you and for you.
A generous gift in early September from Mr. Jim Barksdale provided for the salary of clergy on the coast through the first four chaotic months after the storm. That immediate financial security for clergy and their families allowed them to more fully address both the immediate and long term needs of their congregations and surrounding communities. Your gifts and those of thousands around this country as well as the Church Pension Fund have given considerable financial relief to all the coast congregations as they seek to rebuild their lives, their churches and their communities.
As a result of a meeting this past Wednesday, we have formed a partnership with the Diocese of Louisiana to launch a multi-phase national fund raising campaign to help restore and transform the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church in Katrina-impacted areas. This joint campaign is being directed and managed by the Church Foundation and is fully supported by our Presiding Bishop and the entire program, mission and stewardship resources of our national church office. The launch goal of this nation-wide campaign will be in or around March 1. That campaign will necessitate a virtual overall or my spring schedule. If dates must be changed or appointments rescheduled, or if you feel like you are being jerked around - please forgive me.
In addition, we have learned an expanded understanding of what it means to one church as we lived into the merger of our social ministries with the Lutherans, a union that we approved and celebrated at last year's Council in Natchez. We had to build a structure into that ecumenical vision as we were trying to fly it in response to the greatest natural disaster in this country's history. The development of this relationship, unique in this country, for both Lutherans and Episcopalians, is one of the great miracles of this time.
Later this morning you will be hearing a more detailed report on our church's response through LESM to the immediate needs of the coast post Katrina, what our next steps are and what is our long term vision for social ministry and economic development.
There have been many heroes in the midst of this natural disaster. The steadfast faith of so many on the coast, just doing what needs to be done, day by day, sustained by their faith and the love that surrounds them has been an extraordinary witness to all of us. I must say a very personal and deeply felt "thank you" to all of you who worked below the radar screen in your congregations to facilitate resettlement of refugees, to organize mission trips, to host food drives and all the other sacred activities in this season.
I know that hundreds, even thousands of people have contributed in extraordinary ways to this recovery ministry, and at the risk of offending some, I want to publicly thank the congregations of St. John's, Pascagoula, St. John's, Ocean Springs and St. Thomas, Diamondhead for their ongoing hospitality in making space in the midst of their personal turmoil, for the thousands of volunteers who have come to Mississippi to offer their gifts. Coast Episcopal School was our largest relief facility. The headmaster, the Rev. Paul Stephens, and the board of the school provided more than a little space for what FEMA called the "best operation on the coast."
The site manager at what became known as Camp Coast Care was the Rev. Joe Robinson. Joe has lived in a trailer on the coast since early in September and his vision and ability to make things happen at Camp Coast Care gave the church a ministry to both the coast and to the thousands of volunteers from around the country and the world who themselves were renewed by the spirit of the living Christ as they offered their gifts within this unique community.
It should also be noted that deacons, icons of servant ministry for the church, were the key players of our relief efforts. The Rev. Deacon Diane Livingston is the diocesan coordinator of volunteers; the Rev. Deacon Nick Roberts is the coast coordinator for LESM; the Rev. Deacon Frank Spencer is the president of the LESM board; and the Rev. Deacon Carol Stewart, part-time executive director of LESM who was hired in August, now administers a multi-million dollar operation with thirty employees. God bless you and thank you all.
What it means to be one church in mission has also been reinterpreted by the storm.
In a few moments we will address the subject matter originally scheduled for our Special Council in October. The Windsor Report, originally released in October of 2004, has been studied, critiqued, dissected, criticized and applauded as one very imperfect means of providing a way forward in the midst of our deep division within the Anglican Communion.
However, I believe that it is terribly important to understand why unity within the Christian church matters at all. And why within our own Anglican tradition this communion of relatively autonomous national churches makes any difference. Why not simply go it alone?
Why not continue in our own peculiarly western habit of breaking off from groups that we don't like?
First, the fragmentation of the Body of Christ into ever smaller units is one of the great sins of the church in this or any age. I am convinced, particularly as I become increasingly invested within a particular religious body, that one of the great questions that I will have to face before my Maker is why did I devote so much of my time to the perpetuation of the brokenness of Christ's body, the church? Any church that dares to call itself one, holy, catholic and apostolic must take the question of unity very seriously.
Secondly, division in the Body of Christ renders increasingly impotent the witness of the church. Windsor is very clear when it says that the unity, communion and radical holiness to which Christ's people are called are not ends to themselves, but are gifts given by God "to serve and signify God's mission to the world, that mission whereby God brings to men and women, to human societies and to the whole world, real signs and foretastes of that healing love which will one day put all things to rights."
In other words our unity, our communion and the holiness of our lives are witness to the truthfulness of what we claim to be as Christians. To say it another way, our fractured common life (both within local congregations, within our own tradition and within the larger Christian community) appears to give lie to the truth of what we claim about the reconciling love of Jesus Christ.
The quality of our life together is an indispensable element in our mission to a hungry, despairing and conflict-ridden world. I will not be a part of any segment of our already fractured Christian community that seeks to further divide us - whether it be those who wish to say to our third world sisters and brothers we have no need of you, or those who are so convinced of the purity of their own motives that any means justifies self righteous ends.
My brothers and sisters, the sinfulness of the human heart gives us all an infinite capacity for self deceit and self justification. Our self righteous indignation over the sins of others has so often blinded us to the log in our own eye. The gift and grace of humility that is so needed these days flows from that ancient ascetical and often neglected discipline called repentance. Maybe it's my own Calvinistic tendencies, but it seems to me that the rise in self righteousness in our church is in direct proportion and relationship to the practice of the optional nature of confession in the liturgies of our church.
I know it is not that simple. But something in the air we breathe is encouraging us to build walls of self justification instead of bridges of openness and vulnerability. In a new book on the Desert Fathers and Mothers, Archbishop Rowan Williams writes that one of the gifts of the desert is to strip a person bare, so that they have nothing to protect them from God's penetrating gaze and the members of their community. Such vulnerability seems like hell. But, says the Archbishop, "the real hell is never to be able to rest from the labors of self defense."
With what I have just said in mind, you need to know that I am comfortable with the resolution that has been submitted by the Rev. George Woodliff, as are 10 of the 11 members of the Theology Committee that I appointed to help direct our deliberations at the Special Council. This very diverse group worked exceedingly hard to find some common ground on which the whole church could stand. All of us would have changed a few words and several of us had difficulties with the explanation that accompanies the resolution. However, in the context of what I just described as the mood of our church, I think they did a marvelous job.
I am also comfortable with a newly introduced resolution that reiterates the integrity of diocesan boundaries. I will be clear about the choices that I have made on the ethical litmus test issues of our day. I have set certain standards. And I will be clear on what you can expect of me. Then I will release my imperfect theology and moral insights to Almighty God and allow God to use them, forgive or redeem them as God wills for God's purposes, not mine. One writer has suggested that the church suffers not so much from doctrinal atheism, but rather a kind of functional atheism. A functional atheism believes we must solve the churches problems before bedtime because God is impotent to unravel our mess.
I may one day have to stand before the judgment of Almighty God for forsaking my vows as a bishop, but I truly believe that the internal organization of the church; whether or not simple ecclesiastical courtesies are observed in church; or whether or not we can reach consensus on the most contentious ethical questions of our day are less important to God than whether we can be molded by the Holy Spirit to become ever more life giving instruments of God's grace and healing and hope. If you think I spend too little time and energy on the former, please know that it is because I believe God is calling me more clearly to the latter.
If our conversations about unity, communion and radical holiness of life are at the core of our mission to the wider world, let me return in these last few minutes to share my abiding belief that something extraordinary is happening in this small, sometimes beaten up, but remarkably grace-filled Episcopal Church in Mississippi.
Let's begin with the budget. Despite Hurricane Katrina and its devastating impact on at least a dozen churches; despite the lingering internal disagreements, and despite an extraordinarily high number of churches functioning either with interim rectors or supply clergy, our budget is remarkably strong.
Part of the reason, of course, is related to the assistance of the wider church that I mentioned before. Part of the reason is that we have made some budget cuts and have frozen diocesan staff salaries. But in large part the strength of this budget is due to churches in this diocese who said "now is the time to step up" and witness to a greater commitment to our common ministries through an increase in our voluntary proportionate giving. Seventeen congregations increased their percentage gift to the diocesan ministry, including 3 from the coast - St. Patrick's, Long Beach; St. Mark's, Gulfport and St. Peter's "in" the Sea, Gulfport.
All Saints, Tupelo, raised their percentage gift 25% only to discover a few days later an enormous Katrina-related increase in their construction costs on their new building complex. But you're still good for the pledge, aren't you Shannon?
Bear with me a little longer, for in a cynical world, we need to share stories of hope.
Because of your commitment to our common life, despite Katrina's best efforts, we have effected or made substantial progress in seven of the fourteen vision initiatives I announced at the Tent Meeting:
1. We are reshaping the ways that I will be doing visitations in an effort to
give me more quality time in and among your congregations and communities.
Increasingly, I will be spending seven to nine days within a particular
convocation to deepen my pastoral, teaching and missionary role as your bishop.
2. In addition to rebuilding the coast congregations, we have a new church
start in Jackson. St. Alexis is a congregation with a specific missionary
approach to young adults. The congregation has petitioned me and will be
coming to you later this morning to accept them as a mission of the Diocese
of Mississippi. The Rev. Church Culpepper is our church planter for this congregation. Chuck has delegated his diocesan youth responsibilities to the Rev. Charlie Deaton so our ministry to youth continues with strong leadership.
3. The Bishop's Mission Corps has been designed and is now recruiting young
people in their 20's for a Benedictine experience of service and study in the summer that will help shape the next generation of leaders in our church. The Rev. Tim Jones and the Rev. Alston Johnson have provided the leadership for
this extraordinary project. This initiative is already attracting interest from around this country.
4. The Center for Formation and Mission has been launched at Gray Center.
The Rev. Debo Dykes has been appointed as program coordinator. In
addition to creating a programming component at Gray Center, plans
are now in the works for a School for Mission to be offered in the early
summer of 2007. You will be hearing more about this later this morning.
5. "Congregations for Children," our ministry of advocacy, has been "re-launched" by Episcopal, Methodist and Roman Catholic bishops. A well documented and
carefully researched guide is now available to congregations who
wish to expand and deepen their ministry to children outside their
church fellowship. Susan Womack and Elizabeth Hocker have assumed the leadership of the Episcopal partnership of this project. Ecumenical advocacy workshops will be available throughout the state in the coming months. A more complete report will be provided later today.
6. Your support has brought to fruition the commitment I made at the
Tent Meeting to the millennium goals of the United Nations, a
commitment endorsed by every primate in the Anglican Communion, to address the challenges of global poverty and disease.
7. In addition, serious conversations have begun to take place about what it means to be a church of invitation and what are the institutional changes necessary to make racial diversity a priority in this church
In addition to the Tent Meeting initiatives, your support has made it possible to make campus ministry to the students and faculty of Jackson State a reality. The Rev. William Ndishabandi has accepted my call to serve at All Saints', Jackson and to develop the ministry to faculty and staff at Jackson State University. Though final details of this new initiative have not yet been completed and agreed upon, our campus ministry at Jackson State will be fully operational by the fall of 2006.
Speaking of campus ministry, the mission Church of the Ascension, Hattiesburg, founded as a ministry to the students and faculty at the University of Southern Mississippi and generously supported by the diocesan budget since its founding, will be coming to Council to ask that it be designated a parish with all rights and privileges thereto.
While that is exciting news in and of itself, this congregation, in addition to funding its own vicar/rector, has made a commitment to increase its support for the fulltime University chaplain at Southern until that support reaches 50% of the costs of that ministry. Oxford and Starkville - do you hear what Southern is up to? Not that I would intentionally forment sibling rivalry, but go and do likewise!
Now, please be assured that the Kingdom of God is not yet ready to be ushered into this fearful world. In addition to the inability of our church to speak effectively to the deep hunger of the broader culture, there are also considerable challenges we face as the Episcopal Church in this state. 1) Small congregations are increasingly unable to attract or support fulltime ordained leadership. 2) Internal conflict continues to sap too much of our energy. 3) Our Hispanic missioner accepted a call to the Diocese of New York and our ministry to Spanish speaking persons in the central part of the state has deteriorated considerably. 4) Many of the internal structures of the diocese - committees, commissions, etc. were left unattended in anticipation of a major reorganization this fall. Katrina's aftermath left us with an atrophied older structure and nothing in its place. 5) The ministry of Gray Center has not yet found financial solvency. 6) All Saints' School, an extraordinary ministry of this diocese for almost 100 years, faces financial challenges that imperil its very existence. 7) I am increasingly aware that the joys and delights of this office to which you have called me are more than any one person can bear.
At the Tent Meeting I told you to expect a capital campaign from me sometime in the near future. Again, Katrina has caused considerable delay in thinking through such a process. Nonetheless, to address some of the challenges I listed, as well as to provide additional and necessary long term financial support for our most grace-filled dreams and visions, I will be organizing an exploratory task force to begin a process that I trust will lead to a diocesan-wide capital campaign to begin some time in 2007.
I could go on and on, but I trust you are hearing something very special happening. I don't think it is because we are a necessarily good people. I think it is more likely because we are a broken people - our history as well as our present circumstances have taught us about the frailties of life. - but a broken people open to the redeeming grace that is beyond us.
In our best moments we have learned deep and abiding truths from our history - about courage and place and family and humility.
We have learned we are not the masters of our fate or the captains of our souls, despite what all the self help books - Christian or otherwise have told us. We are a people whose very existence is a gift of grace.
Standing on the slab of St. Mark's, Gulfport the Sunday after the storm, as people held on to each other like there was no tomorrow, we sang the words of an old familiar hymn that I will
never ever sing the same way again: "Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come. Twas grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home."
It is out of that experience of being broken by life, both as individuals and as a people, that we can come to a perspective that is unavailable to the proud and the strong. Discouragement, bitterness and cynicism are always tools of the evil one who seeks to convince us of God's impotence. But for those who have been knocked (or washed) to their knees by life and have discovered that all, indeed, is grace; for those who have had the courage to live into that life-transforming hope - the world and our place in it looks different, very different.
I want, thus, to close with words from a 20th century martyr and saint, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, an advocate of the poor who was assassinated as he celebrated mass at his cathedral:
"It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view. The Kingdom is not only beyond our efforts...it is beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete...but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for God's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but this is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are the workers, not the master builders; ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own."
May God bless us with a vision broader than the narrowness of our own sight. May God bless us with a hope that is a radical "yes" to God's redemption of even our worst. May God give us that mystic union of courage and humility before the challenges that confront us. And may God make us prophets of a future, and a mission, that is not our own.