Message from Bishop Chilton Knudsen
Diocesan Convention is so many
things: It is a joyful family reunion. How good it is to see so many of us gathered in one
room from all over the diocese. And how rich that gathering was for me, as I now know so
many more of you (but do keep using those nametags which help me everywhere I go!), and I
have a much fuller appreciation for the ministries which are rooted in our congregations.
Trying in every way that I can to avoid sugariness (which belongs to our maple trees) or
mushiness (which belongs to our mud season), I still need to say that I love you all and
that we have much to be proud of in our diocese.
Diocesan Convention is a snapshot of the Body of Christ, the Church in all her complexity,
her unfinishedness and her beauty. The Body of Christ, Paul reminds us, is a Body with
many members, all distinct in their roles and all interdependent in their functioning.
However much we may differ, no member of the Body can say to any other member, "I
have no need of you" (pray over Romans 12:4-10, I Corinthians 12:12-27, Ephesians 4:
11-16). How deeply we are bound together as one house, built on one foundation, Christ
Jesus our Savior.
Diocesan Convention is also a parliamentary body, which deliberates, resolves, votes and
commits itself to a number of initiatives and responsibilities for the year to come. This
convention was filled with a sense of peace, and for that I thank you all. But don’t
let us go away from convention with a sigh of relief, thinking that we have done our work
and now can hibernate until the next last minute pre-convention scramble. It’s my
belief that a diocese at peace is a diocese most fully poised for action and adventure.
The lovely term for peace, SHALOM, as used by our Jewish forebears, is filled with
implications of activity, creativity, collaboration and fruitfulness.
As a parliamentary body, we have committed ourselves to some glorious and challenging
tasks. We have committed ourselves to a deficit budget for 2000. I am persuaded that this
is a responsible decision. We believe in ourselves, and in our good stewardship of our
blessings. We accepted a deficit budget as an act of faith in one another. We also
committed ourselves to examining, over a three-year period of study and discussion, how we
all share in supporting our household budget. We promised to boldly consider the complex
issue of clergy compensation. We vowed to continue the dialogue on human sexuality,
dialogues we have only just begun, so as to seek the broadest possible consensus in this
delicate area of our common life.
Now, it remains for us to step up to the challenges we have set for ourselves. We are
called to dialogue, to collaboration and to holy purposefulness. We need each and every
voice, each and every insight, each and every shoulder to carry this work to completion.
By the time you read this, I will have sent to the clergy in charge of each congregation a
HELP WANTED notice. Ask your priest to post it for your review. Pray over it, and ask that
the Spirit lead you as you consider what your participation might be. And then, join with
us as we build this house: The house founded on Christ, who is God’s reconciling love
incarnate, whose Spirit is blowing through our open windows and filling our lungs with the
wind of life.
My love to you all in Christ, +CHILTON