wfn.org | Address from the Chair to the Execu

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May 9, 1997
Episcopal News Service
Jim Solheim, Director
212-922-5385
ens@ecunet.org

97-1763
Address from the Chair to the Executive Council Honolulu, Hawaii 
April 26, 1997

        Well, dear friends, after looking at that video, maybe I ought to
just sit down while I~m still ahead.  I first saw the video at the Justice
Summit in Cincinnati in February.  Brian Grieves was a driving force
behind the video, and the Summit as well, for that matter.  He is also
responsible for the book, No Outcasts.  I want to recognize Brian for
these incredible offerings to me, and to the church.
        Brian is another gift of Hawaii.  Patti and I remember well when
we first arrived here.  I had just been elected Bishop of Hawaii and Brian
was a priest of the diocese. Brian came by and there we were with our
children and in a state of complete confusion and no household things.
Brian came with a warm welcome, and also pots and pans, knives and
forks, the basic essentials so we could begin to cook. That was the
beginning of a wonderful friendship.
        I talked to Brian before the Summit and he said, very casually,
that there was going to be some sort of a video, but I had no idea what it
was.  I have to say that it just about blew me away. 
        The President of the House of Deputies set a magnificent tone for
us. I thank her for her gracious words this morning, and I thank God for
her.  I cherish the partnership Pam and I have shared these last six years. 
Working side by side with her has made an incredible difference in my
ministry. Pam is a deeply sensitive, intelligent and insightful leader of
this church who has blessed me, this Council, and the whole church with
her wisdom and love.  During some very difficult days in this triennium,
Pam was a rock of stability.  Words cannot express my personal
appreciation and love for her.
        It gives me immense hope to know Pam has offered to continue
her leadership for the next triennium.  The continuity and experience she
can bring are a great asset to the new Presiding Bishop and the next
Council.  Thank you, Pam, for your ministry, and your friendship, and
support to me.
        There is an expression used on these islands - which is "talk
story."  Today I want to talk story with you.  I might do some similar
reflection in my address to the General Convention, but this is the more
informal version, as befits our close association over these last years.
        I spent ten years in this wonderful place, and, there are a lot of
stories, joyful, funny, and some sad. At my first Diocesan Convention,
which would have been in 1976, there was a bill before the State
legislature on the death penalty and this provoked a real debate in our
Convention.  I remember leaning over to my chancellor, Jack Lockwood,
and saying "I really want to speak to this."  He whispered, "sorry, you
can't do that.  You're in the chair."  And as the debate went on, I
appealed to him again, but he remained firm and said, "no, no, you can't
do that."  We finally took the vote.  It was a tie!  And Jack turned to me
and said - "Well, now it's your turn!" It will not surprise any of you to
know that the chair broke the tie and voted against capital punishment.
        I remember the days of summer camp when I served my annual
tour as chaplain to the young people of our community.  Some of them
no doubt have children of their own now.  This was great practice for the
national Episcopal Youth Event that Patti and I have been going to over
the past years. 
        I remember the visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Robert
Runcie, in 1983 and how he lifted the spirits of this diocese and
community.  I especially remember his visit to Grace Church on Molokai
which is doing incredible ministry in an impoverished community.  They
are making an incredible witness of love and compassion.  I know that
the meeting with the people of that island was very meaningful for the
Archbishop as well.  
        I remember my public witness in those days, my strong
opposition to the arms race and proliferation of nuclear weapons.  Given
that Honolulu is home to a large population of military personnel, this
was not an uncomplicated thing.  One Easter Day we had a visit at St.
Andrew's Cathedral by Ronald Reagan.  As elaborate arrangements were
being made for him to attend the service I remember his advance
representative suggesting to me that the Dean should preach.  I said
without blinking, and with some chagrin, that the bishop would be in the
pulpit. I used to have red hair you know.
        I never intended to use the pulpit to challenge the president, and I
preached a message of the resurrected Christ. I was surprised when one
line in my sermon, which referred to the compassionate face of
government turning its back on the poor while pouring billions of dollars
into the arms race, turned up on the front pages of newspapers all over
the country.  It was just one line!  But I guess it stung and I wasn't
sorry.  Even so, I also remember that the president was very gracious to
me afterwards.  Well, as he walked out the door with me he said that the
music was wonderful. 

        My favorite news report of that day was a photo in The Boston
Globe of the President and me coming out of the Cathedral after the
service.  I was still wearing cope and miter and the caption on the story
read Tip O'Neil in a Cope?  I think I had more mail from that one line
than I ever have had from anything I have said as Presiding Bishop.  So,
you never know.
        My last convention in the Diocese of Hawaii took place in this
very hotel in 1985 after my election as Presiding Bishop.  And I
remember that we debated a resolution to divest our stock from South
Africa.  The General Convention had just passed such a resolution.  The
debate was a little hot, and the resolution did pass, but it was a squeaker. 

        I remember how South Africa was then, and see how it is today. 
Nelson Mandela, once a political prisoner, is now the president of a post-
apartheid free country.  It makes me realize so much has happened in
these last twelve years, both in South Africa and in the life of this
church.  These have been full years, and very rich.  
        As I reflect on what has been, this is also a time to think about
what might be, what the future might hold, about transition, and change. 
        The General Convention in Philadelphia will mark a transition not
just for me, but for all of us.  We will have a new Presiding Bishop, a
new Council--even though half of our members will be in their seats
come the November meeting--new budgets, and perhaps some revisions
in our structure and how we do business.  We don't yet know what the
new day will look like; though we can look back at the past but we can't
quite peer ahead into the future. All we can do is to be prepared, and I
believe we are doing that.  I see strong evidence that we are moving
toward this transition in healthy ways on several fronts. 
        First, as to the work of the Council, in all three areas of our
Council's life, as represented by the subcommittees, we have worked
hard to leave our house in good order and a faithful accounting of our
activities. I believe we can celebrate our accomplishments and give
thanks to God for the grace we have been given to move ahead, often in
incredibly difficult, and even tragic, circumstances.
        Second, the Blue Book reflects a great deal of careful work by
our Interim Bodies. It reflects, most important, our mission focus.  It
reflects our striving toward the values of the Kingdom.  It reflects as
well the priority we place on reasoned discourse in the effort to discern
God's will. It reflects our work to appropriate the treasures of our
Anglican theological heritage.
        Third, our staff is extremely committed, highly competent and
blessedly collegial.  The systems now in place for performance appraisal
and compensation review are, I believe, a gift to the next administration. 

        Fourth, I believe our process for the nomination and election of
the 25th Presiding Bishop has been a healthy and creative one, and we
owe a great deal to Bishop Cal Schofield, one of our number here, and
Kathy Tyler Scott who lead an excellent committee.
        I can say from personal experience that the time between the
nominations and the election is a kind of holding time for the nominees,
their families, and their dioceses.  I was nominated on March 11, my
birthday. The election took place one day short of six months later on
September 10, our wedding anniversary.  Let me tell you it was a very
long six months. This time, only three months will elapse between the
nominations by the committee and the election.  I'm sure that is going to
feel like a long three months for those most closely involved.  It is an
awesome thing to let your name go forward for this election.  It is
terribly important for all of us to pray for the nominees, their spouses
and families, and their dioceses, and the House of Bishops as they
prepare to elect.
        On July 21, the House of Bishops will elect and the House of
Deputies will pass judgment on that decision.  We will have a 25th
Presiding Bishop.  As number 24, I want to say this.  My dear friends,
Presiding Bishops come and go. The gospel is always the same. 
Regardless of the outcome of the election, the challenge of this church
will be to continue to honor its diversity, to respect its unity, and to
affirm its mission in the world.  The issues we have faced these past
twelve years will be with the church for a long time yet. Anyone who
thinks that by electing some "right" person we will move into a kind of
nirvana, is in for a surprise.
        I remember someone saying to me about some of our struggles
around sexuality: ~Ed, you didn't invent these issues and they won't be
settled in your time.~  That was certainly true, and the same could be
said for many other areas of struggle as well. 
        This Office, this vocation, this ministry is larger than the
particular occupant. I have held up the values that Jesus lived.  But that
hasn't been about me. It's about Jesus. It's about the Spirit of God that
has been given to the community. It's about how we have been given a
new commandment to love one another. It's about how we have been
called to forgive 70 times seven. It is about the struggle and yearning of
Christians to respond to the imperatives of the gospel with love and
courage and compassion. It's about the need to be a community of
reconciliation, even in the midst of sharp disagreement about how God is
calling us.  Even when we disagree about important things, such as the
role of gay men and lesbians in our church, or the role of women in the
ordained ministry, or the role of government in the promoting of the
common good. 
        These issues are before us and they are going to be before us until
we come together, together, to some kind of resolution and broader
understanding that blesses us all.  Difficult issues these are, but they are
our issues in our generation, in our time.  The church does not exist in a
vacuum. Every generation must re-define mission in the context of its
own reality.  And that means the addressing of issues by the community
of the faithful who follow Jesus Christ.
        When Patti and I walk out that door at 815 Second Avenue on
December 31 I pray that I will be able to say that I have responded as
faithfully as I could to the ever flowing stream of issues that have come
across my desk during these years. 
        The Justice Summit two months ago was a high point of the last
triennium. You know, to be in a room with over 550 Episcopalians on
fire with their commitment to peace and justice filled me with a hope for
the future of this church as nothing else could have.  They witness to the
vitality in our church of the ministries that make peace, and do justice,
and care for God's creation. No matter what structural changes may
come, these ministries will be alive in those people and in thousands of
others who share their vision.  And I hope this Council can affirm that in
these next days. 
        My dear friends: our work as a Council has been undergirded by
a talented staff of people of whom I am very proud.  It's not easy to be
productive when staff is reduced by one-third, when program money is
slashed or reduced every year, when people question, sometimes in
mean-spirited ways, the need for any program beyond the local. I have
felt terrible pain at the loss of resources for mission and how that has
affected the ability of the staff to meet the demands placed on them by
those we serve all around the church.  In the midst of difficult
circumstances, they remained steadfast in their commitment to carry out
the program directives they have been given. 
        I hope this is recognized and the General Convention will not take
precipitous action on our national structure without first being informed
of what we do at the Episcopal Church Center and in our Washington
and Philadelphia, and Oklahoma offices, and elsewhere.  You who have
served this Council know a good part of the story, but even you, even I,
do not know it all.  I will say this many times in the next few months,
but I say it now that you may hear it.  I thank my staff for the fidelity
and support given me in the best and worst of times, and even when
things were hard between us.
        And then there is Patti, my love, my companion of 43 years, and
I hope 43 more, who has shared my life with me as I have shared hers. 
I am so proud of her ministry in her own right.  I can tell you this.  If
people have thought I was something of an "activist," they obviously they
haven't met Patti!  She has been an example to me of a Christian who
lives out her baptismal covenant, whether with her passion for justice in
Palestine and Israel or her love for her children and grandchildren.  Patti
is without guile and has the best common sense, the best sense of humor,
and the most wonderful laugh of anyone I've known.  But most of all,
she has been a loving and faithful partner and I feel so blessed to have
her by my side.
        Patti and I are elated to have some of the family here today. 
During these last nearly twelve years our family has grown a bit.  We've
added some wonderful daughters-in-law and one wonderful son-in-law. 
Twelve grandchildren have been added to our family in the last 12 years.
Welcoming them into the world has been a delightful distraction from the
duties of Presiding Bishop.  Patti and I are much blessed by the love,
closeness, and support of our children, and now their children.  
        Dear friends, you too mean so much to me. We have had
wonderful moments, and some dark days.  Sometimes I think these have
been the worst three years of my life.  Other times, I think they have
been the best.  
        I will never forget any face around this table and your ministry
alongside me. I want publicly to acknowledge your remarkable service to
your Presiding Bishop, your church, and your Lord.  
        Once during the last three years I was asked by my spiritual
director what I thought was God's purpose in making me Presiding
Bishop. Why did I think I was called.  I was taken aback and couldn't
answer.  And he said, maybe this calling was a means by which I could
work out my own salvation. I have thought about that quite a lot.  What
does it mean when you are called to something in order to work out your
own salvation?  That is a question for a lifetime.
               And I want to share with you that that is exactly what has
been happening for me. Through these days, with God's grace, I have
been working out my own salvation.  For me that has meant discovering
an identity with the ministry of Jesus, his cross and his resurrection.  It
has meant coming to understand that the issue is not the pain, or the
suffering, it is what you do with it.  Coming to understand this, I
believe, is what the Christian journey is all about.  Sometimes, especially
during the difficult times, we are given to know this at a deep place in
our hearts.
               In the video we just saw, I spoke of my father and how he
came to me in a dream and told me he was healed, we was OK.  This
was a man I loved, but because of alcoholism he was never OK all the
time I knew him. 
               Because of you, and a staff who stayed by me despite
anger and pain, and because of Patti who laughed and cried with me, and
my family, who delighted me with their incredible love and support, and
because of  hundreds of others who prayed for Edmond, their Presiding
Bishop, or wrote or spoke and told me to hang in there, I can say today:
Dad, I'm OK too.  I could tell him that I know God has been with me,
and with all of us, wanting us to become our truest selves, who we are
meant to be.
               You have been channels of grace, for me, and for the
whole church.  For all that we have been together, for all that has been
and all this is yet to be, I offer my deepest thanks. 

Edmond Bishop
Presiding Bishop and Primate