Articles

Our Diocesan Convention is being held this weekend, October 25 and 26. By the time you read this, it may be in the past, but I thought I would write a bit about conventions in any case. The history of conventions, gatherings of clergy, bishops and lay people to debate issues relevant to the life of the church, begins after the American Revolution. The Episcopal Church in the United States needed to find a way to govern itself after having its ties with the Anglican Church broken by the Revolutionary War. Efforts at organization began in Maryland in 1780 with small gatherings of people that led to the formal establishment of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Maryland.

In the Rule for the Order of the Holy Cross, James Huntington wrote: “Holiness is the brightness of divine love, and love is never idle; it must accomplish great things.” Commitment to active ministry rooted in the spiritual life was the guiding principle for the founder of the first permanent Episcopal monastic community for men in the United States.

We’re heading into fall which means, among other things, our stewardship campaign is approaching. This year, some serious discussions will be needed. Lorraine Wilson, our excellent treasurer, has done some analysis of the parish finances. I’ll begin with the good news and thanks! Most of our parishioners complete their pledges every year. This makes for a good budgeting process, and it helps us know what we can expect in income.

Robert Grosseteste, one of the outstanding English bishops of the thirteenth century, rose to preeminence in the Church from humble beginnings in Suffolk. He distinguished himself as a scholar in all branches of study — law, languages, sciences and theology. He was appointed Master of the Oxford School, and first teacher of theology to the Franciscans, when they established a house in Oxford.

I serve on the North American board of the Community of the Cross of Nails, an international group committed to reconciliation. It was founded after Nazi German bombers largely destroyed the city center of Coventry, leading Provost Richard Howard to call for forgiveness instead of anger. This led eventually to a reconciliation between English and German people after the war. The resulting CCN is an important ministry and a significant one for Christians. It’s particularly critical in our current age with its division and polarization. Recently, the Rev. John Witcombe, Dean of Coventry’s Cathedral in England and head of CCN’s worldwide ministry, visited Ukraine. He went to be a witness to the realities on the ground there, and to see how the Gospel is relevant to a very violent situation.

Born March 3, 1819, in New York City, Alexander Crummell struggled against racism all his life. As a young man, he was driven out of an academy in New Hampshire, dismissed as a candidate for Holy Orders in New York, and rejected for admittance to General Seminary. Ordained in 1844 as a priest in the Diocese of Massachusetts, he left for England after being excluded from participation in diocesan convention.

Recently I preached on Herod’s killing of John the Baptist, an act of political violence that remains with us 2,000 years later. That same Sunday we were reminded that political violence continues to be an issue here with the attempted assassination of Donald Trump and the murder of at least one person attending the rally. The implications of this act continue to resonate through our society as I write this.

Jonathan Myrick Daniels was born in Keene, New Hampshire, in 1939. He was shot and killed by an unemployed highway worker in Haynesville, Alabama, August 20, 1965. From high school to graduate school at Harvard, Jonathan wrestled with the meaning of life and death and vocation. Attracted to medicine, the ordained ministry, law and writing, he found himself close to a loss of faith when his search was resolved by a profound conversion on Easter Day 1962. Jonathan then entered the Episcopal Theological School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

We have a new bishop. The Rev. Phil Labelle was elected on May 18th on the fourth ballot. It wasn’t a particularly close election. Of the four candidates, he led from the first ballot. It was mainly a matter of the two people with the fewest votes removing themselves from the race. Once that happened after the third ballot, it was over…