And the nominees are....

The Standing Committee of the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande is pleased to announce five nominees for the 9th Bishop of the Diocese.

In alphabetical order the nominees are:

The Reverend Ellis Tucker Bowerfind, Rector
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Alexandria, Virginia

The Reverend James R. Harlan, Rector
Church of the Ascension, Denver, Colorado

The Reverend Jedediah D. Holdorph II, Rector
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Medford, Oregon

The Reverend John S. Nieman, Rector
Holy Trinity Parish, Clemson, South Carolina

The Reverend Dr. Michael Louis Vono, Rector
St. Paul’s Within the Walls, Rome, Italy

I have glanced quickly at their shorter bios and will be offline for a while. I invite anyone who knows these gentlemen or knows of them to share any information that may be helpful to the discernment process. As one canonically resident in the Diocese of California, I may not vote in the episcopal election here but our collective future will be shaped by it.

May we listen to the Spirit and be guided to a good and godly bishop.

--the BB

Advent thoughts – Thursday of Advent 2

It is vital that we know ourselves to be beloved. Without that basic affirmation we cannot fully grow and develop as whole and healthy persons. Because each human being is unique we are each entitled to a sense of being special.

It is also important to realize that just because we are beloved does not mean that others are not also beloved. Just because we are special does not mean that others are not also special.

For someone else to be unique, precious, and beloved is not to lessen my status in those categories. There is enough, especially of divine love, to go around.

Amos proclaims this with ferocity to God’s chosen people of Israel:

Are you not like the Ethiopians to me, O people of Israel? says the Lord.
 Did I not bring Israel up from the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor and the Arameans from Kir? (Amos 9:7)

What a shock to hear that God has acted redemptively toward others!

How sobering.

What a readjustment of worldview.

God rescues and leads people outside of the covenant we know.

God saves in ways beyond the ones we know.

God loves them too.

Just when we were so very busy making sure only our kind, the right kind, the God-approved kind could get in the doors, too. Damn! (Don’t you hate when God messes with our schemes?)

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you lock people out of the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 23:13a)

You would think Jesus would be even more careful than we about membership requirements.

Evidently he is not.

Our anxiety rises when things are not done as we expect or intend. Out of our anxiety we become defensive. In our defensiveness we often become angry.

Refrain from anger, leave rage alone;
do not fret yourself; it leads only to evil. (Psalm 37:9)

What about those evildoers, the wicked who do not live as God wants them to?

Do not fret yourself because of evildoers;
do not be jealous of those who do wrong. (Psalm 37:1)

But, Lord, what about those queers taking over the Church? Those schismatics rending Christ’s body? Those [fill in the blank according to your own definition of evildoer]?

Do not fret yourself over the one who prospers,
the one who succeeds in evil schemes. (Psalm 37:8)

But, but… [sputter]

Take delight in the LORD,
and he shall give you your heart's desire.

Be still before the LORD
and wait patiently for him. (Psalm 37:4, 7)

And thus we find ourselves in Advent: the still time, the waiting time.
--the BB