The 213th Annual Council - Diocese of Virginia

Proceedings
remaining. I have met with several of the regional councils, and will be scheduling the
rest. I have toured and have been generously hosted in place after place after place. I
have seen and taken part in inspiring, and even improbable, ministries of outreach and
witness—from the Shenandoah to the peninsulas, from Northern Virginia to the bluffs of
the James. I have been awed by congregations that began in the 1600s, I have been blown
away by new church-starts and I have been incomparably inspired by our continuing
congregations in the aftermath of December 2006. I have heard my own sermon be given
in Korean (every native Alabamian should be so blessed). I think I did a creditable job of
keeping up with Shrine Mont staff on the Frisbee-football field, but then put myself into
serious question with a perhaps-all-too-accurate impersonation of Bob Dylan on-stage
with Hoss at the Bishop’s Bluegrass Festival. I have been immersed in a diocese that
is committed, clear and vibrant in the vision and work of the Gospel, even as dissent,
distress and anxiety remain very real—and understandably so. In all people and places,
I have moved among a diocesan family that is just that—a family, including all realities
that such a defining word allows. In eight months, week after week, I have held strands
of God’s abundant love and have seen these strands become interwoven and show as a
single thing—a complex, detailed and colorful beauty—the ecclesial version of a priceless
Oriental rug.
In all of that I have seen God’s abundance indeed. Not out of largest or oldest or “bestest”
or “most-est,” but because of the very palpability of God’s love—love given to you,
love you give to one another and love you give to a hurting and wanting world (and, I
should add, love given to Ellen and me so very graciously). The abundance in the Diocese
of Virginia is to us, with us and from us. May it always be so!
That abundance is surely unquestionable, present in so many ways—spiritually,
monetarily, in mission at home and far abroad, as vision, energy, commitment, generosity.
Even so, it is this very abundance across our Diocese that, ironically, shows me that
all too often our places are thinking and playing “small.” Now hear me about this:
the well known columnist William Raspberry, who’s retired now, is from Okolona,
Mississippi, only 20 miles from where I was in Tupelo. He addressed our Annual Council
in Mississippi and he used this image of the church playing “small” basketball in the
ACC. He says that the church—by its nature and by what is given to it—is like a power
forward, but that all to often the churches want to be the pretty point guard. It wants to
take the pretty jump shots when instead we should be using who we are, doing what
we do best by being where the power forward is, making a difference on the inside and
being able to clear the space to do that. And not doing that is what he means by saying
we’re playing small.
So, by this, I do not refer to anything having to do with simple numbers. From my own
experience as a priest with a very small congregation, I know full well that the small
places can, in fact, do some of the biggest things—that is, the work that truly makes a
difference. I’ve seen this in truly remarkable examples here in Virginia. Other than this,
remember that even our smallest places that seem unable to mount much effort on their
own are an integral part of one of the very largest dioceses in the Episcopal Church, and
are therefore connected to what our Church is doing everywhere. All it takes is to hold
that reality close to heart—and then do something about it. And I know first-hand from
our larger congregations that they stand willing and able to include you in that. But all of
this is just as true for the larger congregations—even the very largest.
You have already heard Bishop Lee speak about the tremendous challenge we face as a
diocese with respect to the very small average-percentage giving rate from our churches
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The Diocese of Virginia t Journal of the the 213 th Annual Council