The Bishop’s Address to the 165th Convention of the
Episcopal Diocese of Florida

The Right Reverend Samuel Johnson Howard
Eighth Bishop of the Diocese of Florida

January 26, 2008
Welcome, Reflection and Thanks

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

It is a joy to be with you this morning at the 165th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida. As you know, our diocese is actually 180 years old, dating from the time when it comprised the entire state of Florida.

It has been a rich and eventful 180 years; and I have no doubt that today will be rich and eventful as well. I’m still basking in the glow of last night’s glorious service and warm fellowship. It was an auspicious beginning for the work of this convention.

This convention is my fifth as your Bishop. That’s quite a milestone, especially considering everything that our diocese and the greater church faced at the time of my institution! Marie and I were living out of suitcases in a borrowed apartment when I first addressed you as your Bishop. And we could scarcely find our way across the St. Johns River, let alone navigate the entire diocese.

… I vividly remember that first convention. Looking out at the assembled delegates, I wondered where our Lord would lead us. And I did some fervent praying, I don’t mind telling you!

At that convention, when we were still new to each other, I challenged you to remember that Christianity is a verb – that being a Christian is not just something you ARE, it’s something you DO. I asked you to be God’s hands in the world — not just in church but at home, at work, with each other and with your neighbors, wherever that took you.

Five conventions later, it brings me great joy to say that you are answering that call magnificently– sometimes in ways that I would never have dared to contemplate!

Now, Marie and I are entrenched homeowners with a broken garage door opener. But if I could get my car in and out of the garage, it could probably drive to every parish in this diocese on its own, without me at the wheel. And as I look around this beautiful youth pavilion, I don’t see the faces of strangers, I see the faces of friends and family. I see Christians who have chosen to undertake a ministry of reconciliation; I see brothers and sisters who have worked together in the missionary field and given unstintingly of their time, talent and treasure. I see leaders who have risen bravely to every challenge. And I see the faces of those who have fed my body and my soul with equal generosity – although fortunately, my soul doesn’t have to work out in order to stay in the same size pants!

So many of those I’ve come to know are precious to me because of their goodness, their common sense and their sincere desire to walk with the Lord. Some of you have been especially generous. My dear wife, Marie, continues to be my partner in life and a source of support and love that never wavers. I don’t know what I did to deserve such beauty and grace, but I am ever-thankful! My assisting bishop, Charles Keyser, has shouldered an enormous load of pastoral work and visitations, and his wisdom is a resource for me, and for others, every single day. …And it would be fair to say that so many of the wonderful reports about ministry which this convention will hear are largely due to Gay Silver, our canon to the ordinary. She has been an important part of my ministry, and she cheerfully and with great competence takes on more work wherever she sees a need.

The wonderful and award-winning editor of The Diocesan, Virginia Baker, is also part of the glue that holds our diocese together. Her efforts make the paper something we all look forward to – and we will have even more to look forward to this year, since it will be coming out ten times this year, rather than just six – part of our commitment to even better communications within our diocesan family. Other important players in that effort are Jack Tull and his communications committee, who have done great work with our Web site. In this digital age, an appealing and up-to-date Web presence is crucial, and they have done yeoman’s work to make it so!

And I would be remiss not to mention all of those at Diocesan House, Vicki Haskew, my executive assistant; Melinda Showalter, our comptroller; Darby Edwards, Canon Silver’s assistant; and Margo Latham who assists Melinda in her financial work – not to mention all of the wonderful volunteers who assist us in so many ways.

And I have to take a moment to thank Joe Chamberlain for his leadership here and to thank him and Sharon and all of the staff here at Camp Weed and the Cerveny Conference Center for their warm and wonderful hospitality. While I’m at it, I want to tell you about some creative stewardship on Joe’s part! Thanks to Joe’s hard work, Camp Weed and the Cerveny Conference Center are the beneficiaries of a deal with Glenmoor and Vicar’s Landing—two of our marvelous Episcopal Church-related institutions for retired and older folks– to be a retreat for their residents in the event of a hurricane. If they are forced to evacuate any time in the next 20 years, they’ll come to Camp Weed for the duration. And they’ll pay our going rate for room and board. ……….Oh, and in the meantime, they have paid $200,000 for the privilege — which Joe is using to upgrade all of our rooms at the camp to what I jokingly call “at least Hampton Inn standards!”

There are many others, and I see their faces here this morning. But I don’t just see faces. I also see hands, outstretched to lift up and embrace, to serve, to teach, to build, and – yes – to sign a check or pass a collection plate. … So MANY of you have rolled up your sleeves, opened your hands and hearts, and made our journey together an inspiring and uplifting one. That humbles me. It makes me more honored and grateful than ever to be your Bishop. And it fills me with joy.

Hope and Joy

As we gather this year to talk and pray and vote about the renewal and mission of our diocese, we still face challenges, and we still have work to do. But we have come a long way together and accomplished much. And that is cause for celebration. So let us face our challenges and undertake our work today, and in the coming year, with joy.

And let’s also face the future with hope, counting on the One who never fails us. The theme of this year’s convention is a perfect reminder of how we got to this day, and how we will continue to make manifest the love of our Lord Jesus Christ: By putting our trust in God, and our hope in his hands.

Hope is a word that picks up flavors like butter in a refrigerator. There are subtle differences in its uses. But they are ALL forward-looking. Hope implies expectation…. In the vernacular of earlier centuries, a woman whose engagement fell through was said to be suffering from “disappointed hopes.” …Because, of course, society held nothing much for a woman at that time if she didn’t get married! Now, of course – married or not — a woman can go on to become a senior warden, a priest, or even to become the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church!

Hope implies ….desire for good. When we wish for something, we say we hope it will happen. And hope believes in the future. Something hoped for is not quite within our reach, but we anticipate it, yearn for it, and dare to believe it will come in the days or years ahead.

Like faith, hope gets us through when rational thought would leave us in the dust. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we remembered this week, said that, at moments we “must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Without hope, life would be insupportable, and difficulty would be unbearable. My favorite Jewish theologian and writer, Abraham Heschel, once upon a time, said that “to lose hope is one of the greatest sins, because it implies that God is no longer in charge.” And remember, the inscription over the door to Hell in Dante’s Divine Comedy read “Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.”

So hope is important to us in our spiritual life. But the catch is this: if we fix our hopes on earthly things, they will inevitably be disappointed. People fail or give up. Things break. Buildings crumble. Circumstances change. In an impermanent and ever-shifting world, the only sure place to put our lives and our work is in the hands of God, the wellspring of hope and the source that never fails.

The hymn from which we have taken our theme this year says it so eloquently:

All my hope on God is founded;
he doth still my trust renew,
me through change and chance he guideth,
only good and only true.
God unknown,
he alone
calls my heart to be his own.

Pride of man and earthly glory,
sword and crown betray his trust;
what with care and toil he buildeth,
tower and temple fall to dust.
But God’s power,
hour by hour,
is my temple and my tower.

Who but God could have gotten us through the changes and chances of these last few years, my friends? Who but God could have brought us to this day, when all around us we see the blossoming of our hopes and the fruits of the spirit? And who but God can guide and direct us as we look to the future?

The text of this hymn puts our priorities squarely in place. But the tune also carries its own tale of hope. German theologian Joachim Neander [yo-ACH-eem nay-AHN-der], who wrote most of the text, also wrote a tune for it. But Hymn #665 is not set to Neander’s original melody. Instead, it utilizes a tune called “Michael,” written by English composer Herbert Howells.

The youngest of eight children, Howells manifested musical talent early in life. He rapidly gained recognition and opportunity, studying first at Gloucester Cathedral and then at the Royal College of Music. He became friends with Ralph (Rafe) Vaughan Williams and studied with other luminaries like C.V. Stanford and Hubert Parry. But just when he seemed to have established himself – he was, in fact, serving as assistant organist at Salisbury Cathedral, one of the great lights of the Anglican church — he was stricken with Graves’ Disease, or hyperthyroidism. He was 23 years old. His resting pulse was 130. He couldn’t walk and talk at the same time, much less play the organ. And he was told that he had just six months to live.

Under a death sentence and hoping for a miracle, Howells agreed to an experimental treatment. He became the first person in Britain to be treated with radium for Graves’ disease and found his miracle. Howells went on to marry, have a family and enjoy a successful career as a musician and teacher.

His struggles were not over, however. He was humiliated by the critical response to a pair of piano concertos he wrote in 1925, and largely stopped composing for about 10 years afterward. Then, in 1935, his beloved nine-year-old son, Michael, died from polio.

Howells was devastated. He had always struggled to find faith, and that struggle was intensified by Michael’s death. At one point, he wrote in his journal: “I don’t believe there’s anything.” At least for that brief time, in his pain, he stopped believing in God. But God believed in him. And God continued to work through him. …… Because Michael’s death proved to be the catalyst Howells needed to compose again. But something was different. Instead of orchestral compositions, he began pouring out music for the English church — the music for which he is best-known today. And that includes the beautiful hymn tune for All My Hope on God is Founded, named for his son in heaven, Michael.

There’s not a person in this room who hasn’t doubted. There’s not a person in this room who hasn’t suffered bereavement, or disappointment, or frustration. There’s not a person in this room who hasn’t felt abandoned in a sea of uncertainty. The good news for us as Christians is that — even when we can’t discern why, even when we try to slam the door and give up — God is working in our lives and using us to further his purpose. That is why our hopes are safe with him.

The fact that we are here today as a healthy and thriving diocese, giving thanks for our blessings and preparing for the work of the year to come… is not due to me, or to you. It is because we chose to follow our Savior and we founded our hopes on God. And God did not let us down.

That’s not a surprise. But it STILL fills my heart with joy. And I ask you to join with me, joyfully, in considering the harvest we have reaped. And to join with me, joyfully, in considering the seeds we will plant and nurture in the year to come by founding our hopes on God and putting our hearts and hands together.

Harvest & Planting for the Future

Since our first convention together, we have found a renewed focus on our young people and set out with fresh zeal to be God’s hands in the world. We have worshiped and built and prayed and loved; we have brought souls to Christ, we have ministered to the prisoner, clothed the naked, fed the hungry and expanded our reach in ways that we might not even have imagined.

We have lost some things, but we have gained much more. And I can’t help thinking about a very Scriptural-sounding piece of gardening wisdom: FROM EVERY CUT SPRINGS NEW GROWTH!

New Priests

Our diocesan family continues to grow and flourish. My visits in parishes and missions around the diocese reveal visitors deciding to stay, and dozens of people each month – adolescents and adults – offering themselves for confirmation: Individuals, couples, and families of all ages, from every economic, ethnic and educational background imaginable, finding a spiritual home with us, here in the Episcopal Diocese of Florida.

Last month, on December 9, I had the privilege of ordaining five new priests – the Reverends Deborah Jackson, Mike Sowards, Kimberly Still, Nancy Suellau and Ronnie Willerer. Ordinations are always special, but this one was particularly meaningful. This was the first group of candidates to come through entirely on my watch. It was also the first ordination since I’ve been Bishop when we were able to place each of the ordinands in our own diocese! That is a cause for celebration!

Today, one of these priests is a chaplain at Florida State University, one is assistant rector at St. Peter’s in Fernandina, and three of them are in Jacksonville; one as Rector of St. Catherine’s, one as a Canon at the Cathedral, and one as assistant rector at All Saints. It is always a thrill to see men and women answer the call and be ordained into the great tradition of our church and our diocese. But that thrill is magnified by the knowledge that these workers for Christ — who were raised up and nurtured in our midst — will continue to be a part of our diocesan life.

Katrina Outreach

But we don’t just look inward for opportunities to do God’s work. In fact, one of the most inspiring chapters in our diocesan history has been written over the last several years as we worked with and for an Episcopal parish devastated by Hurricane Katrina. Teams of workers from our diocese devoted countless hours to helping the congregation of St. Patrick’s Church in Long Beach, Mississippi to rebuild their church and continue their mission and ministry. …….Anyone who traveled to Long Beach can tell you that the devastation to St. Patrick’s physical plant was heartbreaking. Katrina’s wind and water left nothing but a concrete slab.

But that bare foundation was sufficient for St. Patrick’s rector, David Knight, and his congregation to get started again. And their determination and beautiful spirit touched every one of the hundreds of North Florida residents who made the trek over to lend their hands and hearts to rebuilding. In fact, it touched us so much that our people and parishes opened their checkbooks and tightened their belts in order to provide St. Patrick’s with a check for $423,000 toward a new sanctuary – with still more to be donated today. The motion that led to this generous gift came on the floor of convention 2006, and it was one of the proudest moments of my tenure as Bishop. I am told that no other diocese in the nation has contributed as much time, talent and treasure to Katrina relief efforts as ours.

New Parish

While we were helping to rebuild a church on the Gulf Coast with bricks and mortar, we were also working to shore up and rebuild broken churches in our own diocese with new leadership, patience, loving kindness, and hope. At the same time, we were carefully nurturing existing congregations and expanding their reach. We will see the results of that labor at this convention. But thereby hangs a tale…Before I go any farther, I have to tell a story on myself. It’s a little embarrassing, but it’s also a great reminder that God’s agenda is not always our own!

By the time that I went out to St. Patrick’s in Long Beach last fall to give them our check, I felt so close to them… we ALL felt so close to them…they were like family. And on that visit with our newfound brothers and sisters, I said to them… “YOU are our St. Patrick’s!” And I promised them that there would never be another St. Patrick’s in our diocese so long as I was Bishop.

But I spoke too soon… Because it wasn’t too many months later that Mother Patricia Turk from St. John’s Chapel in St. Johns County came to me to share the news that the mission’s leadership wanted it to become St. Patrick’s Church! Needless to say, I had egg on my face, and I had to make some quick phone calls. But the whole thing ended happily, because our Mississippi family was overjoyed by the prospect of a namesake in Florida, just as they were honored by the sacrifices we made to help them rebuild.

So………. today, we will welcome the first new parish to our diocese in four years. And St. John’s Chapel will henceforth be known as St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church!

One of the great challenges lying before us to identify the need for more church plants and prayerfully and with great care nurture and grow still more churches in our tradition and to the glory of God. I predict more…and soo

Rural Outreach

Another shoot that has taken root and is now providing shade and comfort to a whole region is our first rural clinic in Interlachen. Several years ago, I challenged our diocese to reach out to the poorest and most vulnerable in our rural areas. Mother Diane Reeves and her congregants and neighbors have met that challenge magnificently through their Fourth Friday for Life. After beginning more or less as a health clinic and food pantry, they are now providing not only health screenings and eye exams and flu shots and food; but clothing, drug counseling and advice on legal issues, medicare, social services and jobs; prescription assistance and help with tax returns, and even signing people up to get GEDs! And maybe the best part of the story is – many of the volunteers who assist with this joyful service project don’t even go to Diane’s church!

The incredible success of this ministry in one of our poorest counties has a distinct “loaves and fishes” subtext. St. Andrews set out in faith, but with little bread, to provide for the needs of a community hungering for its services. And as they began handing it out, more and more became available! They are now feeding 900-1,000 people a month and providing all of the services I’ve just mentioned. And they’re doing it all on about $3,000 a month!

I was present on a Fourth Friday at St. Andrews to pray with them and to consecrate and bless the program. There is an attitude of liveliness and expectation there – it’s like attending a festival.

This inspiring mission has become so successful that now, organizations are calling Mother Reeves to ask if they, too, can participate. To date she’s got St. Vincent’s health van, the Putnam County Health Department, Legal Aid, Worksource, the Putnam County Schoolboard, First Coast Technical Institute, Dignity U Wear, Lutheran Social Services, the Lions Club, the Florida Department of Children and Families, and a host of other folks involved. As if that isn’t enough, the Suwanee Elder Council feeds seniors at the church, they host Weight Watchers and AA, and they’ve recently started handing out books, pre-K flashcards and educational materials provided by Lutheran Social Services.

Today, I renew my challenge to ALL of you in rural parishes and missions. I challenge you to seize the same vision which has captivated St. Andrews Interlachen. There is great need in our diocese, not just for spiritual help but for food, for education and job help, for referral services and health screenings and all those other pieces that Mother Diane and her flock have put together. Today, I am asking you to prayerfully consider how you can emulate this powerful mission, and I am pledging my support. I will be right there to help you find the resources, raise the money and get it off the ground. But only you can make it happen.

Prison Ministry

If the needs of our rural population are great, so are the needs of the 30,000-plus individuals within the borders of our diocese who are in state and federal penitentiaries. Christ himself commanded us to “visit the prisoner,” and we have one of the largest and best prison ministries of any Episcopal diocese, indeed of any church, in the United States. We have a large and active Kairos community, and we have dedicated priests, deacons and lay chaplains whose lives revolve around ministry to the prisoners in our midst. My assisting bishop, Charles Kaiser, has also been active in this ministry, making visits and performing confirmations in prison, as have I. This is something we can all be proud of, and we’re doing it with such zeal and positive results that a recent article in the Church of England newspaper held our diocese up as an example for others to follow.

There are 30,000 people behind bars in our diocese, a number virtually equal to the number of Episcopalians in our diocese, and we are heeding Christ’s call to minister to them.

The work being done by our prison chaplains is, quite simply, saving lives and bringing souls to Jesus every day. Ben Clance from the Cathedral is a volunteer lay chaplain at Florida State prison; the worst of the worst. And he recently told me about a day in his ministry there. Just one day. At 1:30 in the afternoon, he was baptizing a young man on death row. Minutes later, he was sent to the psychiatric ward, to see if he could help a man on suicide watch who had completely lost it and was rolling naked on the floor. This prisoner was not a Christian. In fact, he was a white supremacist, covered with tattoos of swastikas and thunderbolts.

By his gospel words that day, and by gospel ministry to this man for the next year and a half, Ben helped him to know and accept Christ. The prisoner repented of his racism and past misdeeds. Eventually, he was eventually moved back into the midst of the general population. And today, he’s in a low-security facility. When Ben told me this story, he saved the punchline of the story for last. And when he told me, chills ran up and down my spine. Because that man’s name – the man redeemed from hate and utter despair – the one lifted from the floor of the psychiatric ward to new life is Jesus (Hay-soos); or as you and I would say, Jesus.

Brothers and sisters, this is only one story among many. Studies have proven that faith-based programs in prisons lead to improved inmate behavior and lower recidivism. And our experience shows that lives are being changed and God’s work is being done every day through this important effort. These troubled souls are learning that when they place their hopes on drugs or money, or being the baddest on the block, they lose. But when they place their hope on God instead, wondrous things can happen.

Youth Ministry

Over the past several years, I have asked you to join me in another endeavor that speaks to our hopes for the future: devoting even greater attention to the development of young people – both our own and those in the communities we serve. This emphasis has also borne great fruit. This new building, and the programs for youth here at Camp Weed—including Happening, our summer camps, and other youth events–stand as a testament to that. But even more importantly, we see evidence that our young people are growing and thriving in Christian love.

The spiritual growth we are fostering in young people cannot be overestimated. Paul van Brunt shared a wonderful illustration of that with me recently. At a Middle School weekend, the basis for the activities was the text: “Fear not; for I have redeemed you!” During one part of the weekend, the middle schoolers did an activity on Matthew 10:30 – about how God knows even the number of hairs on your head. When they returned to their cabins for bed that night, counselors had placed a black plastic comb on each bed, with the Bible verse on it to remind them how much God loved them. A few months later when Paul was visiting a parish, one of the young ladies who had participated that weekend came up to him and showed him that she was still carrying her comb. She said that she looked at it all the time – when she was getting ready to take a test, or when she felt nervous – to remind her not to be afraid.

Another inspirational story is about a young girl, a camper at one of the youth camp sessions last summer. This young woman had never been baptized, but she was so moved by the talk on sacraments given by Mike Sowards — our chaplain at FSU, who was the chaplain at that session of summer camp — that she insisted on being baptized. She demanded that Paul get her parents’ permission so that she could be baptized in summer camp. They did, and she was.

How wonderful to hear of a young person so hungry for God that she couldn’t wait to get closer!

I don’t know about you, but that makes me want to spread the Good News to our youth even more!

Another aspect of our youth ministry is an effort that’s carried over from our work in prisons. For the last two years, one of our camp sessions here at Camp Weed has been Camp St. Elizabeth, a camp exclusively reserved for children who have a parent behind bars. As a group, these children are the most alienated and underserved many of us have ever seen. And there’s a certain challenge to taking them on for a week!

Sometimes things get off to rocky start. But in the end, the magic of this place, and the love and testimony of the staff and volunteers, takes hold. And I don’t think one of those children leaves without wishing the session was longer. I want to congratulate Rev. Sandy Tull, who chairs the commission on prisons and organizes Camp St. Elizabeth. If you haven’t had a chance to do so, I encourage you to visit our diocesan Web page and take a look at some of the letters and diary entries from these special campers. They will make you glad!

There’s much more, of course…. Episcopal Children’s Services continues to be the premier provider of early literacy training throughout North Florida. The pre-school program at St. Catherine’s Jacksonville recently received a five-star rating from the National Association of PreSchools and Kindergartens, a rare recognition for excellence. All of the Episcopal schools and pre-schools of this diocese, in fact, are five-star institutions of learning. All of the Episcopal schools and pre-schools of this diocese deserve our support. And, could it be that the time is right to plant even more Episcopal schools and pre-schools in our diocese?

A couple of years ago, we committed to increase our ministry among college students. And I am proud to report that we now have excellent, involved and full-time residential chaplains at both Florida State University and the University of Florida — an important mark of our commitment to ministry with the young.

Another commitment I’d like us to make for the future is to increase clergy presence with our youngsters at camps and events. This includes a renewed commitment on my part to be present with them as often as I can, and I urge you to help me complement the fine work Paul van Brunt does with our young people. Our children need the spiritual direction of the clergy, and the clergy need the inspiration of their life and vitality.

Along those lines, wouldn’t it be great if somehow in the next year or so we could recruit the right clergy person, and then support a full-time priest for youth programs and camp in our diocese. This would truly take our youth ministry to the next level. Many of us – maybe most of us – don’t really know the best way to communicate with this generation. I don’t own an Ipod and wouldn’t know what to do with it if I did. And I couldn’t tell you what channel is MTV, or how to text message on a cellphone. All of this leads me to say that I want us to commit ourselves to find the right way to get the gospel message of love of God and love of neighbor to our kids…and I ask you to join me in that commitment. Our church has so much to offer to our youth—and you and I need to give sacrificially to make it happen!

Diocesan Center for Christian Living

We’ve planted great seeds in the field of education, and they will continue to produce wonderful things in the future. But education and evangelism are not just for kids. Christian living and learning is a lifelong process, and – Ipod or not – we all need to be shaken up and exposed to new thoughts on a regular basis. That’s why we have just started our new Diocesan Center for Christian Living. This new center has everything the old Anglican Institute had. But it also offers courses for all of us, in scripture and theology and ecclesiology and spirituality, along with day-to-things like filling out annual reports, developing a better prayer life and other offerings that run the gamut of issues affecting every Christian

I taught the first course – Living, Worshiping and Praying as an Episcopalian – back in September. And we had great talks about what it means to be an Anglican. You remember those favorite courses in school, where you’d read a book or an assignment and you couldn’t wait to go back to class and discuss it? Well, we enjoyed that same passion, only we weren’t talking about Moby Dick or Western Civ. We were talking about our Christian life, the roots of our faith, and what that means to all of us. It was exhilarating! ……And next fall, on September 13, I will be celebrating an instructed Eucharist for the entire diocese – anyone who would like to come – in Mandy’s Chapel here at Camp Weed.

Stewardship

The harvest I’ve just discussed has far-reaching consequences. Who knows what great and wondrous things will be accomplished through our new clergy, our service and sacrifice for St. Patrick’s in Long Beach and the work of our new St. Patrick’s in St. John’s County? I can surmise, but I don’t know. What I do know is that all of those consequences will have come about through God’s work in this diocese – and of our work to be good stewards of the blessings he has so richly provided.

As we enter this new year, I encourage you to be more serious about that stewardship. Let’s think more about Christian giving, get serious about building up resources in the Episcopal Foundation, and just generally build up our resources to fund the continued growth of our ministries, large and small.

When Frank Juhan was Bishop, he would travel around the diocese on visitations and for meetings, just like I do. And his good friend, Jesse Ball DuPont, would often travel with him. One of the needs he saw – (especially during WWII and the years afterward) – was the need for excellent clergy leadership. He made that a real focus of his episcopate. As the result of his efforts, a whole generation of young men (all men at that time) were called by God and selected by Bishop Juhan. Mrs. DuPont would pull out her checkbook to assist in paying for their education. Several of those priests—still affectionateoly known as Juhan Boys–are still important figures in our diocese. Harry Douglas, Barnum McCarty, and Charles Keyser among others.

My friends, I want our Diocesan Foundation to be our new Mrs. DuPont. When God calls a person to his service in ordained ministry, we should be able to get him or her through the process and educated without inordinate debt. We should be able to ensure that their families have adequate health insurance. And we should be able to assist our clergy professionally and vocationally – with continuing education and career development to enable their continued growth as clergy, all with the resources of our Diocesan Foundation.

I said earlier how thrilling it was to know that the five clergy ordained in December were able to stay within our diocese. But even so, those priests could only be placed in parishes that could afford them—large, multi-clergy staff parishes. How wonderful it would be if we could place some of our future priests in parishes that can’t afford them. In small churches where they can get incredible training with some of our best priests, and where they could be a resource for communities that desperately need what they have to offer. What if we could send an assistant to Diane Reeves in Interlachen next year? Or to Dave Kidd at St. Bartholomew’s in High Springs? Or to Mal Jopling in Monticello? Or what about an assistant to study under Father Donald Woodrum in Lake City? These churches may not be able to afford a second priest, but they have so much to offer. And we need to support them as they help train a new generation of clergy for work in our small congregations which are the back bone of our diocese.

It is a dream of mine — a hope that I have placed in God’s hands — to be able to grow our parishes and our priests in this way. Only our call to be good and generous stewards of all that God has given us can make it so.

The Millenium Development Goals are also close to my heart. These goals are gospel-focused, and our diocese is committed to them. At the same time, however, there is much work to be done. Poverty and the lack of a good education are enormous issues around the world and here in North Florida. It takes money and commitment to address them in a meaningful way. There is much we want to do, and much that our Lord will ask of us. And a great deal of it requires creative, energetic and devoted stewardship.

Strategic Planning

As we move forward, it is imperative that we work to understand God’s will for us as a diocese and the ways in which we should use the magnificent gifts with which he has blessed us. Toward that end, beginning within days after this Convention, we will commence a Strategic Planning Initiative. We’re going to start it by having a series of “listening sessions” across the diocese to hear directly from clergy and laity about their hopes, dreams and aspirations for the future. God speaks to us through those hopes and dreams, however large or small, and we need to pay attention. So these sessions will run the gamut from parish life to parking lots. We’ll talk about where there aren’t enough churches, and where there are too many. We’ll talk about clergy, clinics, and our youth. We’ll talk about schools, outreach, education and where, when and how we are called to serve. All of that will be fodder for discussion. Members of the Strategic Planning Committee and I will be present for each of these sessions.

I have appointed Dixon Bridgers, Vice Chair of our diocesan council, to head this listening and strategic planning process. When our listening sessions are completed, Dixon and his committee will take the results of those sessions and distill them into a coherent picture of what our diocese ought to look like in five years and in ten years. And then we’re all going to talk and plan and plot together about how to get there.

When the day comes that my crozier is handed on to the ninth Bishop of Florida, I’d like to know that I’m also handing him or her a diocese that has gone far beyond “business as usual” and well into bold and even uncharted territory in order to do God’s will: A healthy diocese, a strong and growing diocese, filled with happy Episcopalians who know the joy of worship and of service, of loving the Lord with all that they have and all that they are and of loving their neighbors as themselves.

Conclusion

Dear brothers and sisters, as I said before, we have some challenges before us. Increasing our resources, growing our clergy, planning for the future of our diocesan family and expanding the ministries I’ve discussed — all of these things will require action, energy and focus. But I say again: this is joyful work. It is important to God and to our communities. And nothing is more satisfying than making a difference.

All of us — whether we live in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tallahassee or St. Augustine, or one of the smaller towns in our diocese — are aware of the deterioration of the social fabric, and especially aware of the violent crime that continues to make headlines and devastate lives. I have seen and heard many recommendations for addressing the problem, but most of them concentrate on police, prosecutors and prisons. As a priest AND a former prosecutor, I know that those answers only address the symptoms of crime. The roots of the problem grow in hearts and minds that are raised with violence, poverty, lack of education and fractured families and neighborhoods. And the ONLY way things will change is for those of us whose gardens are sunnier, and who have been fed and watered by the love of Christ, to reach out and extend that love to our neighbors trying to grow in rocky soil. IN SHORT, THE VERY THINGS WE ARE DOING AS A DIOCESAN FAMILY, AND THE VERY THINGS OUR LORD HAS COMMANDED US TO DO.

We are committed as Christians to transform the world around us. And my commitment to you is that our church and our diocese will remain at the forefront of the search for ways to better the lives of the communities in which we live.

As we move forward into this new year, let us continue our work and our worship with joy and hope. Let us not forget that even when God’s purpose is not clear to us, it is clear to him. Let us also make our mission and ministry a light that shines beyond the next person, beyond the next pew, and beyond the next parish, to illumine all within the borders of our diocese — and from there, the rest of the world. And let us remember to place our future and our hopes solidly where they belong, on the rock that never fails. For indeed, all our hope on God is founded.

And now, dear sisters and brothers, let us go forth – with joy– to love and serve the Lord!