Thoughts on Welcoming and the Episcopal Church Today

Three short articles for you to read if interested, small excerpts from the articles follow each...

Forward Movement: News & Inspiration

In the last few days, I celebrated my ninth anniversary of serving at Forward Movement. These occasions are natural times to reflect on time that has passed. I'm proud of what Forward Movement has done, and I'm grateful for all the leaders who served before me to lay a solid foundation. Everything we do though is only possible because of the remarkable staff. I am profoundly grateful for gifted and passionate colleagues in ministry.

Lately I've been thinking about our beloved Episcopal Church. In the last nine years, I've spent much of my time traveling across the church visiting congregations, dioceses, and various gatherings. I thought on this occasion I might share some thoughts based on what I've seen and heard.

Renewal Works: Monday Matters

Back in the day, I did a fair amount of traveling for RenewalWorks, often meeting in churches in towns I’d never visited before. I loved the adventure, the exploration, the learning. With the help of Google, I’d find my way, but I was always glad to see signs that confirmed I was on the right track. The signs read: The Episcopal Church welcomes you. I could spot them a mile away. I’m grateful for them. Good branding. As far as it goes.

In recent days, I’ve had occasion to think about what it means to be welcoming. Our church is putting together a parish profile. I’m reminded that every profile I ever read describes the church as welcoming. My experience of church visits can suggest otherwise. The folks who craft those profiles are usually folks at the core of those communities, folks who feel the welcome, which is wonderful. I contrast that with the young woman I met on the steps of a church in a big city. She looked up at the imposing façade and asked: Am I allowed to go in there?

Episcopal Church Executive Council: opening remarks from the Presiding Bishop

As you well know, the entire world in varying degrees is faced with a global pandemic of the COVID-19 virus. And in each country, there may be sections that are more affected at one time, others less so. That's certainly true for those of us in the United States. And it's true, I know from listening to Bishop Allen from Honduras, and in other countries as well. And I would just remind you to keep the world in prayer and our medical caregivers and our researchers and our leaders that they will be wise and just and loving in their leadership. And to pray for each other.

These are tough times psychologically; I'm not a psychologist, but we're all a little frazzled and probably a little bit claustrophobic at this point. We've been restricted from the normal human interaction that we would have, which feeds us in a lot of ways that you don't think about until you don't have it. The truth is we are each other's biggest headaches and the truth is we need each other. And being separated like this is just tough on all of us.

And so just remember to encourage everybody to be gentle with each other, to be kind and maybe a little extra kind even. Because everybody's a little bit on edge and everybody's tired and everybody's weary and for good or ill, we've only just begun. This is not even, to borrow from Churchill, this isn't even the beginning of the end or the end of the beginning. We're in this for a while.