wfn.org | Presiding bishop's column for Episc

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April 18, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1749
Presiding bishop's column for Episcopal Life: A call to prayer

In his column for the May, 1997, issue of Episcopal Life, the national
newspaper of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning
reflects on the process of selecting nominees for the election of the next
presiding bishop.

       Well I remember the announcement of the nominees in 1985. It
was my birthday, March 11. The election was held one day more than
six months later, on our wedding anniversary, September 10. What a
long six months it was!
       Fortunately, the timetable is different this time, and only slightly
more than three months will elapse between the nominations from the
committee and the election. I think this is a healthy change. The period
between the nominations and the election is a kind of limbo, a holding
time, for the nominees, their families, and their dioceses. It is a time
when it is difficult to make plans in any area of your life.  
       Several months ago during a visit to a diocese someone said to
me: "I bet you wouldn't have missed a moment of the last 11 years." I
thought about that, and laughed as I responded that there might have
been just one or two moments I wouldn't have minded missing!
       I'm sure you know: the ministry of the presiding bishop is not all
tea and cakes.  There are rough patches, tough decisions, stress and
pressure. Even so, I can't imagine a greater blessing than to serve as
presiding bishop. It saddens me when people who have focused only on
the difficulties see this as a terrible task. They are looking at a tiny piece
of the picture. This ministry has incredible possibilities for serving God
and God's people. As I've often said, I have the best job in the church.
       Over these last 11 plus years, I have been given an opportunity to
witness the goodness of people, their grace-filled ministries, their
sacrificial offerings.  Because I am privileged to be the church's chief
pastor, I have learned from people of their struggles and
accomplishments, their grief and their joys. I have shared in very
intimate ways the lives of sister and brother Christians, both in this
country and all around our global village.  
       I have had an opportunity to challenge the church to discern as a
community what God is calling us to be. I have been called to articulate
a vision for the church based on the discernment of the community. The
vision is not mine alone, but arises from the community of the faithful. I
have been called to name the vision, and then oversee its realization
through my governance responsibilities as the church's chief executive
officer.
       These indeed are awesome responsibilities, and this is only a
partial accounting. Of this I am certain: only prayer makes it possible for
me to respond to God's call to me with both steadfastness and joy. The
prayers of people all around the church mean everything to me.
Sometimes I have a deep sense of being carried by prayer. My own
prayer life is also absolutely essential. Whoever is called to this office,
whatever his abilities, must be deeply grounded in the life of faith or he
will simply be buried under a mountain of irrelevant paper, or drown in
a sea of care and worry.  That might sound extreme but it is a lesson I
have learned very well since 1986.
       In my office we are keeping a calendar of events already
scheduled for the 25th Presiding Bishop: meetings with me and the
president of the House of Deputies, with the Council of Advice, with the
Executive Council. Even though no commitments have been made
beyond regularly scheduled meetings, the pages are far from blank.
These calendars will be given to each of the nominees. In a way they
will be symbolic of what might be, and of the uncertainty these bishops
surely will feel during the next three months.
       We owe a great deal to the nominees--who have prayed and
thought carefully about their call to the Office of Presiding Bishop. It is a
momentous decision to allow your name to go forward. During this time,
it is an important discipline for all of us to surround the nominees, their
families, and their dioceses with prayer.  It is also important to pray for
the House of Bishops as they prepare to elect the 25th Presiding Bishop
at General Convention in Philadelphia on Monday, July 21.
       There are many things that hold us together--the Episcopal
Church.  There is none more important than our prayer for one another.
Please know of my prayers for you, and thank you from a grateful heart
for your prayers for me.

Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning
Episcopal Life, May, 1997

Photographs available in this issue of ENS:

1. Candidate for presiding bishop: Frank Griswold III of Chicago (97-
1740)
2. Candidate for presiding bishop: Robert Rowley, Jr. of Northwestern
Pennsylvania (97-1740)
3. Candidate for presiding bishop: Richard Shimpfky of El Camino Real
(97-1740)
4. Candidate for presiding bishop: Don Wimberly of Lexington (97-1740)
5. Pasadena conference presses for blessing of same-sex unions (97-
1741)*
6. Andrew Sullivan says marriage is the key issue for gay people (97-
1741)*
7. Pasadena conference celebrates gay and lesbian relationships (97-
1741)*
8. Common Cathedral gathers varied congregation on Boston Common
(97-1745)
9. Priest takes outreach of Common Cathedral to Boston streets (97-
1745)
10. Eucharist celebrated at Common Cathedral on Boston Common (97-
1745)
11. Wyoming bishop is new dean of St. George's College in Jerusalem
(97-)*
12. Episcopalian designs new dome for Church of the Holy Sepulcher
(97-1748)*

* This photo is available in color.

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