Welcome Bishop Sisk!  Welcome Pentecost!

What an exciting month we’re going to have!  The first Sunday in May we welcomed Bishop Sisk and celebrated both Baptism and Confirmation with him.  2008 is an unusually busy year for bishops and Grace Church – with Bishop Roskam and Bishop Donovan serving Holy Week and Easter, Bishop Sisk’s previously scheduled visitation this month and then sometime in the Fall your new rector will be installed by one of the bishops of our diocese – how wonderfully pastoral and celebratory!

If you remember your catechism studies, the ministry of a bishop is ‘to represent Christ and his Church, particularly as apostle, chief priest, and pastor of a diocese; to guard the faith, unity, and discipline of the whole Church; to proclaim the Word of God; to act in Christ’s name for the reconciliation of the world and the building up of the Church; and to ordain others to continue Christ’s ministry.’  Our bishops have performed and will perform many of these tasks in their visits with us this year.  Taking services while I was away, Bishop Roskam and Bishop Donovan became pastors and priests to the parish (and to me), proclaiming the Word of God and guarding our faith.  Bishop Sisk will accomplish those tasks and build the church through Baptism and Confirmation.  Our bishops carry the unity of the diocese and the broader Church within themselves – when they celebrate services with us we are joined by the entire Church and also joined to it.

Bishops wear and carry symbols of their office – the miter and the crosier.  The crosier is the Bishop’s Staff, a (usually) fancy shepherd’s crook – symbol of their role as Shepherd of the Church and a reminder of Jesus, the Good Shepherd.  (I recently heard Pope Benedict XVI referred to as a ‘German Shepherd’ but that has a different feel, doesn’t it?)  Because bishops are charged with the discipline of the Church, I’ve often wondered if the Bishop ever wanted to use that crook to drag misbehaving priests back into line…

The Miter (pointed hat) that the bishop wears is a symbol of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, descending and remaining over the disciples’ heads like tongues of fire.  Bishop Sisk laid hands on the heads of those to be baptized and confirmed, bestowing on them or confirming in them the Holy Spirit and the Spirit’s power of transformation.

Peace,
Kathy+

MAY-GNL-08.pdf

Contact Our Newsletter Editor
gracenews@optonline.net