wfn.org | [ENS] Serve Him Day and Night in the Temple

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

11/6/2003

Serve Him Day and Night in the Temple
Sermon at the Consecration of V. Gene Robinson as Bishop Coadjutor of the
Diocese of New Hampshire, November 2, 2003

by The Rt. Rev. Douglas E. Theuner 

[Episcopal News Service] Therefore are they before the throne of God, and
serve him day and night within his temple; and he who sits upon the throne
will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.
(Revelation 17:15-16)  
Gene, to begin with I have a word of advice for you. Sue and I were married
by the same priest who later presented me for ordination. On the night
before each of those momentous events in my life he gave me the very same
piece of advice: "Don't go through with this unless you believe that you
can't live the rest of your life fully without doing it. Consider that
little piece of advice a small bit of apostolic succession. 
       
We have gathered here to ordain and consecrate a Bishop of the Church of God
who will be examined in this solemn assembly. In that examination, Gene, you
will be asked to acknowledge that you are persuaded that "God has called you
to the office of bishop. The emphasis is on GOD, not on you. God has acted
and you are called to respond. God has called you through the convention of
the Diocese of New Hampshire and that call has been confirmed by the House
of Bishops and the House of Deputies of the Episcopal Church and they are
the members of the Body of Christ, and those alone, together with the Word
of God, to which you swore conformity at the beginning of this liturgy, and
to whom you are canonically accountable. It is the same process by which
every other bishop in our church has been elected and consecrated and it is
no more or less valid for you than it is for any of us.  "Accordingly", the
Preface to the Ordination Rites tells us, "the manner of ordaining in this
Church is to be such as has been, and is, most generally  recognized by
Christian people as suitable for the conferring of the sacred orders of
bishop, priest, and deacon.."  Today we honor not you, but God and God's
call through God's church, as our church understands it.  Your call is only
to conform to this by agreeing to accept this call and fulfill this trust in
obedience to Christ. Now it is part of our tradition that in all such
matters one has the option to accept or reject a call offered by God through
the Church. So the final confirmation of your call is yours, Gene, and
you've got about a half hour left to make that final decision. Personally, I
hope I don't say anything in this sermon to lead you to change your mind.
But I might because the burden you are about to assume is a heavy one as I
hope to explain. 
	    
I have known you thus far in your life and ministry to be faithful in
prayer, and in the study of Holy Scripture", and I will continue to pray
"that you [and all of us]  may have the mind of Christ." You will need to
continue to study Holy Scripture in order to boldly proclaim the Gospel of
Christ, enlightening the minds and stirring up the conscience of your
people. 

And what is that Gospel of Christ which a bishop is to boldly proclaim and
interpret"? In preparation for this sermon I re-read the four gospels, the
books which together tell us "the Good News" of Jesus Christ. Now I trust
there's nothing unusual  about me or any other preacher studying the gospels
in preparation for a sermon but on this occasion I read them through
specifically with a view toward discovering anew what they tell us of Him
Whom we call Lord and Master and His relationship to His brothers and
sisters as He sought, as our new bishop will be charged to seek, to "show
compassion to the poor and strangers, and defend those who have no helper."
And that, I rediscovered, was the entire focus of His ministry. I'm not
talking about isolated bible passages individually considered. I'm talking
about the sum of our Lord's ministry; the "whole", "full" Gospel. I'm not
talking about quoting; I'm talking about comprehending. I'm not talking
about seeing what appears to be the obvious, as distressing as that may be
to any of us; I'm talking about understanding the whole life and the total
ministry of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Our Lord's attention was entirely directed to the outcast and the
marginalized; the poor, the halt, the lame, the blind, lepers, women, people
possessed with demons, prostitutes, tax collectors, Roman soldiers,
Samaritans, Syro-Phoenecians , thieves..... His wrath was reserved for the
members of the religious establishment of his own faith community; Pharisees
and Saduccees, scribes, elders and chief priests, money changers in the
temple....and  his own chosen disciples. And now we seek to incorporate a
new member into the religious establishment of our time; to make him a
bishop, a modern day chief priest. O to be sure, the Pharisees and
Sadducees, scribes, elders and chief priests were generally "fine" people;
believing themselves dedicated to God and the service of God's cult. They
fasted, they tithed, they were, by their own proclamation, "not as other men
are". And yet, we are told by our Lord,  they went down from the temple
condemned; condemned because they thought so much of themselves, condemned
because they bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's
shoulders. They were chastised by our Lord  because they thought people were
made for their religious establishment; not their religious establishment
for people. They were condemned because they loved to go about in long
robes, and loved salutations in the marketplaces and the best seats of honor
in houses of worship and the places of honors at feasts...and for a pretense
made long  prayers...... Who are we kidding? Look around us! Have we met the
enemy and found out that they are us?			  

The  gospels speak OF the people of JESUS' LIFE AND TIME but they speak TO
US IN OUR TIME. And our time is a different time and, whether we who might
wish to control people's thoughts and lives like it or not,  every person
interprets scripture in his or her own time in his or her own way. As our
Presiding Bishop has recently reminded us "there is no neutral
interpretation of scripture". In a  recent column in the CHRISTIAN CENTURY
Martin Marty quotes a mid-nineteenth century divine from South Carolina -
not of our denomination but of one of similar enough history, culture and
theology -  who thundered from his pulpit as with the voice of God: "If the
scriptures do not justify slavery, I know not what they do justify. If we
err in maintaining this relation, I know not when we are right - truth then
has parted her usual moorings and floated off into an ocean of
uncertainty.".... Sound familiar? No doubt he was sincere in his beliefs and
many others held him to be but one would be hard pressed to find a cleric of
his or any other denomination who would share that fervent view today....at
least publically.

Nevertheless, the inerrancy of certain biblical passages remains the issue
for some; the excuse for others. Over the centuries the church has dealt
with many changing interpretations of scripture on such matters as slavery,
divorce and remarriage; issues of war and peace and  church polity among
them. On the latter issue, for instance, there is a vignette from New
Hampshire's own history in the seventeenth century in which in a
confrontation between Anglicans and Puritans in Dover, a Church of England
supporter accused by a Puritan leader of heresy, knocked off the Puritan's
hat. Thereupon the two sides entered into battle, the Puritans led by a man
brandishing a halberd with a bible attached to it. Now, as important as the
matter was to Anglicans and Puritans alike, and as important as the bible
was to both of them, the argument was not about the bible strapped to the
weapon, nor were the passions stirred. The argument was about control; about
power; about who was in and who was out, about who was right and who was
wrong....and that in matters of little import to the gospel's  matters not
even addressed by them.  It will be no new thing to you, Gene, to encourage
and support all baptized people in their gifts and ministries, nourish them
from the riches of God's grace, pray for them without ceasing, and celebrate
with them the sacraments of our redemption".

Our new bishop will be charged to guard the faith, unity and discipline of
the Church." As one who has worked with him for seventeen years, I can
testify to Gene's  ability to guard the faith and discipline of the Church.
As to it's unity, that is in Gene's case, quite a different matter. Because
of who you are, Gene, you will stand as a symbol of the unity of the church
in a way in which  none of the rest of us can.	Just your very presence in
the episcopate will bring into our fellowship the presence of an entire
group of Christians hitherto unacknowledged in these councils of the church.
Because of your presence the episcopate will be more of a unity, more
representative of the whole Body of Christ, than it ever has been before. As
the consecration of Barbara Harris brought over half of Christendom into
visible unity within  the episcopate, so will yours bring representation of
another group whose gifts have always been accepted while their identity has
been denied.

Your passion for collegiality is well-known, Gene. But it will be up to your
brothers and sisters in Christ - to us - to allow you to "share with your
fellow bishops in the government of the whole Church...sustain your fellow
presbyters and take counsel with them...guide and strengthen the deacons and
all others who minister in the Church."

I spoke earlier of power and control but, in truth,  none of us can control
anything of importance and to think we can may well be the ultimate
idolatry. Years ago Dr. Lamin Sanneh, distinguished Professor of Missions
and World Christianity at Yale Divinity School, reminded the bishops of
Province I that when we attempt to bring the margins into the center we
necessarily push the center to the margins. If Canterbury or New York, for
instance, wishes to help Nigeria or the West Indies  move  toward the
center,  then for everyone to continue to occupy the space available,
Canterbury and New York  must willing to move toward the margin. We who have
been in the center don't like moving to the margin, even to different places
on it, but we must do that if we're going to affirm the marginalized. That
was the thrust of our Lord's ministry and it brought Him a cross. How can it
not do the same to anyone who does as He did ? We don't know the exact time
frame but it's just four verses in Matthew's gospel after Jesus tells Peter
that He will give him the keys of the kingdom of heaven and that whatever
you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" that He says to him "Get behind
me, Satan,! You are a hindrance to me; for you are not on the side of God,
but of men." And that because Jesus had revealed that "he must go to
Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and
scribes...." Welcome to life where Jesus lived it....on the margin!.

There is an oft repeated story, perhaps apocryphal, about the prelates of
the Holy Synod of Russia  sitting around debating the liturgical color of a
saints' day while the October Revolution raged around them. The story is
generally put forward as an example of extreme foolhardiness when, in truth,
it may be a story of great wisdom. The assembled bishops might have been
able to exercise some measure of control over liturgical usage but, by the
time of the revolution, they were totally powerless to control the passions
and aspirations of St. Petersburg's marginalized and dispossessed to whom
they had so long  paid so little attention. Think of that someday, Gene,
when you've been through an endless series of esoteric and seemingly
pointless committee meetings. And remember that if it's control you're
interested in,	that's where you'll most likely find it. Otherwise you're
left to example, inspiration, witness, prayer, love; things which rest
uneasy with control.  

In this time when the culture of violence seems to be all-pervasive, the
disagreement over your election and consecration has been labeled by one of
your detractors as "the defining BATTLE in the WAR for Anglicanism's soul."
-  Well, guess what? IT ISN'T!	-  I am quite sure that since the Holy
Spirit came upon our apostolic forebears in an upper room in Jerusalem, no
"defining" moment in the Christian life has ever taken place in a
by-invitation-only gathering of ecclesiastical nabobs. Not in Concord, not
in Minneapolis, not in Dallas, not in London, not in Rome, not even in
Durham. New Hampshire! Let me share with you what I think are some
"defining" moments in the Christian life.

When an abused woman attends a bible study in a local church and feels
enough love and support there to realize that she is a child of God filled
with worth and value and that God and God's people will give her the
strength and help to stand up for herself and assert her own personhood,
that's a "defining"  moment in the Christian life.

When a young man unsure of his sexual orientation reads The Episcopal Church
Welcomes You" on a sign outside a church and enters that church and finds
out through the love and full acceptance of its members that the church
really means what the sign says, that's a "defining" moment in the Christian
life.

When a slum landlord  kneels next to one of his tenants at the altar rail
and realizes through the witness of word and sacrament offered in his local
parish that he is a sinner and repents of the evil he is doing to his
fellows and determines to treat them fairly and to "respect the dignity of
every human being", that's a "defining" moment in the Christian life.

Now those are, of course, hypothetical, theoretical situations, though not
unlike many in which I and many of you have found ourselves. Let me give you
some real, live "defining" moments in the Christian life....When a young man
hanging in agony from a cross in Palestine turns to a criminal dying next to
him with no time or opportunity for amendment of life and says: "Truly I say
to you. Today you shall be with me in Paradise", that's a "defining" moment
in the Christian life. .....As it is when, within moments of that utterance,
he looks down at His tormentors and says: "Father, forgive then; for they
know not what they do."

And, despite all the pomp and panoply, the press and publicity, that's what
we're about here. We're not about raising up weapons of destruction bound up
with bibles to sanctify them. We're about raising up one of our own - by the
grace of God - to lead us through this world of violence and anger and into
God's coming Reign of acceptance and forgiveness where we shall stand with
those who have brought us and those whom we have brought before the Throne.

For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will
guide them to springs of living water; and GOD WILL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR
FROM THEIR EYES."

.....every tear, every fear, every sneer, every leer, every grimace of pain,
every look of disbelief, every frown of anger or hatred; of disappointment
and desperation which seeks to heal it's own brokenness by breaking
others...AMEN!

C H A R G E			      

I give to two charges, Gene, one of my own understanding and one directly
from our Lord through His Holy Gospel.

MY charge to you is to seek what I consider to be the most elusive of all
Christian virtues...humility. You have been given much in the way of
intelligence, energy, focus, personableness and experience which mitigates
against humility. Do not give in. Do not let your great gifts set you apart
from your brothers and sisters who may not be so gifted. You are no more or
less than a child of God, like everyone else.

JESUS' charge to you and to all of us which I offer to you is for me the
greatest conundrum in the gospel. After 41 years in ordained ministry I
still do not understand our Lord's word's here but I dare to offer them to
you because they have been given to us by Jesus Himself in the Gospel of
Matthew: (10:14-17a, 19&20)

And if anyone  will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the
dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it
shall be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom and
Gomorrah than for that town.....Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst
of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for
they will deliver you up to councils....When they deliver you up, do not be
anxious how you are to speak or  what you are to say; for what you are to
say will be given to you in that hour; for it is not you who speak, but"  -
by the grace of God - "the Spirit of your Father speaking through  you."

AMEN!

-- The Rt. Rev. Douglas E. Theuner is bishop of New Hampshire.