Greetings From the Cumberland Plateau

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Editor's Note: Bishop Sumner has asked the Rt. Rev. Michael Smith, the Rt. Rev. Paul Lambert and the Rt. Rev. James Stanton to contribute to the Bishops' Blog. 

It has been almost three years since Sally and I left for our retirement home near The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee and it has taken about that long to “live” into our retirement. It seems we are slowly finding our way from the hustle and bustle of corporate lives, mine in church ministry and hers in the university community. It really is nice not to have a schedule seven days a week!

So, not being too creative for my first try at “blogging” I thought I’d share some of what I have been doing these past three years. Having been in active ministry for 42 years it would come as no surprise to some of you that I continue to serve the church. Presently I am serving on behalf of Bishop John Bauerschmidt in the Diocese of Tennessee in a small rural congregation down the mountain in Cowan, TN. St. Agnes is a community of 35+ souls on an average Sunday (we had 53 last Sunday!) and who just celebrated 125 years of ministry. I preach and celebrate twice a month and care pastorally for our flock when needed. It has been a gift to have an altar at which to celebrate. 

In addition to St. Agnes I am assisting the Bishop of Atlanta by visiting congregations throughout Northern and Middle Georgia. (Sally and I have been to small towns in Georgia even native Georgians have not heard of before!) Each one is unique for sure but the things they have in common among the members of these small congregations is their faithfulness in worship and their commitment to their community of faith. We’ve been to West Point, Columbus, Trion Springs, Dalton (The Carpet Capital of the World!), Fort Valley (Home of the Bluebird School Bus Company) historic Washington, and Gainesville to name but a few.

In addition to this ministry I also serve in the capacity of a Designated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight (DEPO) in the Diocese of Georgia at the request of Bishop Scott Benhase. St. John’s is in the heart of Savannah, GA and we are blessed to visit at least twice per year. Some of you may know that St. John’s Church served as General Sherman’s headquarters during his occupation of Savannah. (That’s a story for another time!) The parish is unique in that it still uses the 1928 Book of Common Prayer and 1940 Hymnal with permission from the Bishop. It’s quite an experience!

The ministry that I have been blessed with gives me life and an appreciation for the Church catholic in ways I had not experienced. It seems like I really am a “Bishop for the whole Church” and like the Apostolic brothers in the past I am sent into the world to proclaim the Good News of Christ to all the world. It’s liberating in many ways and for this I am extremely grateful. Grateful to God for calling me into this ministry, grateful to the folks in Dallas who set me apart as a Bishop, and grateful to the Bishops of Tennessee, Atlanta, and Georgia for granting me the opportunity to serve them and our beloved Church.

Oh, one last thing. Because we serve in the Diocese of Atlanta and the Diocese of Georgia we are able to see our three daughters and their families on a regular basis! Being here affords us the opportunity to watch our six grandchildren grow and mature! Our youngest daughter Megan, and husband Matt, delivered a baby boy in August, and named him Paul! We love retirement!

May the light of God’s countenance shine upon you always! 

Bishop Paul E. Lambert

Monteagle, TN

 

 

Posted by The Rt. Rev. Paul Lambert with

Out of Egypt: Communion Partners in Cairo

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Out of Egypt: Communion Partners in Cairo

“Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matthew 2:15). This prophetic quote is inscribed on a small monument in the compound of the Anglican Cathedral of All Saints in Cairo, Egypt. The Cathedral was the site of the recent Global South Anglican Conference to which Bishop Stephen Andrews of the Anglican Church of Canada and I (Bishop Michael Smith of the Episcopal Church U.S.A.) were invited as Communion Partner observers.

Egyptian Christians are rightly proud of the fact that the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph sought refuge in their country during the persecution of King Herod as recorded in the second chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Legend has it that the Virgin Mary appeared to the Coptic Pope Theophilus of Alexandria in the fourth century and shared the details of the Holy Family’s sojourn, including the places where they sought refuge. These sites are Christian shrines and places of pilgrimage to this day and Coptic icons portraying the Holy Family with pyramids in the background are popular images of devotion. The invitation to meet with fellow Anglicans from the Global South in this ancient and holy land was truly a privilege.

The Global South provinces are those Anglican churches in the “third world” or developing countries. Now comprising a substantial majority of Anglicans worldwide, they began meeting triennially in 1994 for prayer, fellowship, and discussion of common issues faced in their contexts related to evangelism, poverty, colonialism, and the negative impact heterodox theology or “false teaching” has on their mission and ministry. This was their seventh meeting and the Communique′ or “7th Trumpet” from the Conference can be found http://www.globalsouthanglican.org/blog/comments/the_seventh_trumpet_communique.

Weighing heavily was the grief caused by the reality that the fabric of the Anglican Communion has been torn by unilateral actions of several “first world” provinces of the Global North, including our own Episcopal Church, and the subsequent reactions of a number of churches of the Global South. This was most dramatically evidenced in the boycott of the 2008 Lambeth Conference by 230 bishops, representing twenty-six percent of the dioceses of the Anglican Communion. Unfortunately, the same action is predicted for the upcoming Lambeth Conference of 2020. Some say that the vision of a global communion of interdependent churches has given way to the reality of a federation of independent churches.

Not only that, the failure of the Instruments of Communion to bring about reconciliation through the proposed Anglican Covenant due to opposition from the extreme Left, who found it too restrictive, and the extreme Right, who perceived it as too permissive, is another frustration. In response, the Global South has surprised the world by unveiling what can be considered the “Anglican Covenant 2.0” in their document A Proposal on the Global South Fellowship of Anglican Churches Structure can be found at http://www.globalsouthanglican.org/images/uploads/GSA_Covenantal_Structure_%28adopted_on_11_Oct_2019%29.pdf.

In the works for three years, the proposed structure for a more disciplined, intentional, doctrinal fellowship of churches within the larger Anglican Communion has been approved by the Global South Conference and sent to their provinces for adoption. It appears that the growing churches of the Global South have had enough of being dominated by the declining churches of the Global North in the councils of the Anglican Communion. This action raises many questions, but it and potential reactions to it may ultimately be a game changer in the Anglican world. I sensed I was witnessing history in the making in Cairo.

+mgs

The Rt. Rev. Michael G. Smith

Assistant Bishop of Dallas

 

Posted by The Rt. Rev. Michael Smith with

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Complete the Race (II Timothy 4:17)

At the end of our vacation we find ourselves in Chicago for its Marathon weekend (the fastest, I have read this morning, perhaps because it is cool and relatively level). Marathons offer many good things. You can see world-class athletes from places like Ethiopia and Kenya. There is a feel of fiesta with signs by family members, getups by some for-fun runners, and food for sale.

But as I looked out my hotel window at 7:30 a.m., I watched the race of competitors who have lost legs or their use. Wheeling vehicles by arm for 26 miles means serious fitness and determination.

Those competitors were to me, this morning, a symbol of the Church too. For each is wounded. The larger family cheers them on. Each by grace has risen up to run the race. Ahead is the goal, the prize, the welcome home. We find the companionship of Jesus the Lord, there, and along the route too.

Amen.

GRS

 

   

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