Episcopal ministry is about relationships, about community

by the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo
April 2004

Ann and I have lived in Vermont for three full years now! The time has sped by quickly, in part because Vermont is such a beautiful place to live, but more so because our ministry among you has brought joy to us in ways that we could only dream about three years ago. I know that this is “my column,” not Ann’s, but on this occasion she joins me in saying thank you for these past three years and for the gracious way in which you have welcomed us into this diocese and invited us to live out our baptismal ministries among you.

As I tried to think of what words from scripture best captured my sense of gratitude as I approach the third anniversary of my ordination and consecration as your bishop, I came quickly to the words of Paul in the opening chapter of the letter to the Church at Philippi: “I thank my God every time I remember you, constantly praying with joy in every one of my prayers for all of you, because of your sharing in the gospel from the first day until now.”

The setting, of course is very different. Paul was in prison, and that is far from the reality of my situation. The Christians to whom he was writing were facing opposition for their faith, belief and practice, and while in some sense that may be true for us today, it is not true in the same way and with the same potential consequences (death) as it was for those to whom Paul was writing. No, the times and circumstances are different, yet the sentiment remains the same: colleagues in ministry being supported by one another as they seek to make their way as disciples of the Risen One in the world.

The longer I share in episcopal ministry the more I realize how much it is all about relationships. I’ve always known that about ordained ministry in the church and I’ve tried to practice and live faithfully into a relational model of ministry for the past twenty-plus years. Yet, episcopal ministry has brought into focus the significance of that relational dimension of all ministry in a way that I didn’t fully imagine it would three years ago. Episcopal ministry is not about an individual—it is about a community. It is about a community that sets out together to live as faithfully as it can into the reconciling mission of God in Christ, to “pray the prayer of Christ, to learn the mind of Christ and to do the deeds of Christ.”

I happen to think we have done a pretty good job of that over these last three years. Clearly, I have learned a lot! Together we have begun to live more deeply into that vision of church, that vision of mission and ministry to which you called me—a church that understands itself to be a community of ministers, a church in which the gifts and ministries of all God’s people are recognized, supported, celebrated and affirmed, a church in which the baptismal ministry of every person is faithfully lived and joyfully cherished in the day to day marketplace of our lives and our living, a church where young and old, male and female, straight and gay, and people of all colors, languages and abilities can celebrate our common life and ministry in Christ.

Together we have faced some significant challenges, and no doubt we have more ahead of us. Together we have sought to strengthen the ministries we hold so dear in this diocese and to plan for our future. Together we have fashioned for ourselves a commitment to work in partnership and cooperation and to seek new and exciting models of ministry by which we might more faithfully respond to the opportunities that God is calling us to discover.

As we live into the season of Easter, with all the hope and promise of new life that we celebrate in our liturgies and in our lives, my hope for us as a diocese is that we will remain open to the Holy Spirit moving in and among us, comforting, challenging, and inspiring us to be a church alive with the joy of Easter life and committed to the hard work of reconciliation, justice and peace-making that is the fruit of resurrection and the crying need of the world in which we live.

Thanks for three great years and thanks for your spirit, your commitment, your faith and your ministries that help make this one of the best jobs in the church!

With gratitude,
+Thomas