Bishop’s Address – 222nd Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina

 “The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh and wither it goest: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.”  John 3:8 (Jesus speaking to Nicodemus.)

       

A young rabbi once asked an older rabbi, “What do you have to do to make God smile?”  The wise elder replied, “Just tell Him the plans you have made!”  Indeed. Who could have envisioned all that has transpired in the Diocese of South Carolina since our Annual Convention on March 10, 2012 at the Cathedral of St. Luke and St. Paul?   Frankly, since last summer’s General Convention of The Episcopal Church there has hardly been a week in which the landscape has not changed in significant and dramatic ways. This week was no exception. On Thursday afternoon I was served a summons to appear in Federal Court as the defendant in a civil suit brought against me by the Rt. Reverend Charles von Rosenberg. You are most likely aware The Episcopal Church has agreed to the state court’s injunction not to use the name of our diocese. Yet now in a self-contradictory move, Bishop von Rosenberg, the Provisional Bishop of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina has used our name, the name of our diocese in bringing a lawsuit against me. I will leave it to our legal counsel to respond to these matters further. It is, however, an opportunity for us to remember that this legal road will take us down many twisting turns. There will be many ups and downs before it is concluded and at times it may test our resolve. We need to remain steadfast in our faith, firm in our conviction and resolute of will as God gives us strength. None of it however should dissuade us from our calling as disciples of Jesus Christ to live in confidence of the good news of his death and resurrection, to continuously put our fingers in the nail prints in his palms; our hands in his side – Do not doubt but believe – to remember his glorious ascension to the right hand of God the Father exalted over all principalities and powers that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father – remembering  his promise to come again in Glory at the close of the age. None of it should detract us from being obedient to Christ’s Great Commission – to Go and make disciples. So undeterred we press on.