Homily: 2005 Ministry Fair Days

by the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo
November 2005

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love" (John 15:9-10).

We gather for these Ministry Fair Days around the theme of Connection. This is one of the five themes from our Diocesan Strategic Plan for Growth and Ministry, adopted at Diocesan Convention last year. In that context, connection is about increasing contact between the Bishop and Diocesan Ministry Support Team and the congregations of our diocese. It is also about connecting with one another through the establishment of a comprehensive strategy for the stewardship of our human, financial and physical resources. In other words, it is about embracing the interdependence of our shared life in Christ as a diocese.

Theologically speaking, it is about living more deeply into the mystery of communion, our abiding with Christ and one another with love at the center. It is about being in community with one another and with God in the pattern of the Holy Trinity—a circle of companionship, each with our unique place and yet intimately bound to one another in a koinonia of love and interdependence.
Connection, in the context of these Ministry Fair Days and our preparation for Diocesan Convention, is about being linked together for mission—God's reconciling mission in the world. Jesus knew that, in order for the disciples to engage the mission to which he had called them, they needed to be connected—connected to God and to each other. The image of abiding in Christ from the John Gospel is about being connectedÑcultivated for growth—for bearing fruit through the nourishment of Christ's enduring love. "Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me" (John 15:4).

Connecting to one another, working together for the sake of God's reconciling mission in the world, is the mission of the Church. We gather to pray, to worship, to study, to learn, to connect, to break bread and share the cup, all in order that we might be strengthened and equipped for mission—not our mission, but God's mission. "For we do not proclaim ourselves; we proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus' sake" (2 Cor. 4:5).

That engagement in God's reconciling mission can occur as close as our own families and churches, or as far away as Central America, Africa, or the Middle East. It comes about in simple, quiet acts of human forgiveness and in more global manifestations, such as our pursuit of the United Nations Millennium Goals and the 0.7% giving challenge that is before us in one of the resolutions at our Diocesan Convention.

That engagement in God's reconciling mission calls us to address the need for healing, peace, justice and restoration in the communities where we live right here in Vermont, in flood ravaged places like Mississippi and Louisiana, in the halls of government, and in every corner of the world where poverty, famine, disease, warfare and environmental abuse tears at the very fabric of God's creation and our common life as the human family.

One powerful reminder of this for me is the report I heard at the recent House of Bishops meeting about the Episcopal Church in El Salvador—a financially poor church to begin with—designating the full plate and pledge offering for the month of September, from every church, to Episcopal Relief and Development for use in the Gulf Coast dioceses most affected by Hurricane Katrina. The sad irony of course, is that only a few weeks later the effects of Hurricane Stan brought tremendous destruction and loss of life to El Salvador and other portions of Central America. The offering at our Diocesan Convention Eucharist will be sent for relief efforts in Central America through the discretionary fund of the Right Reverend Martin Barahona, Primate of Central America.

To be connected for the sake of mission is to empty ourselves—our ego, our pride, our jealousy, our greed, our selfishnessÑfor the sake of the other and for the sake of the reconciliation of all people and all creation. Alone, of course, this is an impossible mission, but we are not alone! "Therefore," as Paul reminds us, "since it is by God's mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not loose heart" (2 Cor. 4:1).

The mission is God's. We are invited into that mission in baptism. Baptismal living is the manifestation and incarnation of that mission. It is a powerful witness that we bear before the world—this abiding with God and one another in love. And, Jesus said, "I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete" (John 15:11).

Indeed, may our abiding with God and one another in love and in mission bring us joy.

+Thomas