213th Annual Council
The Abundance of God's Love
January 25-26, Reston, Virginia

The Report of the Rt. Rev. Shannon Sherwood Johnston, Bishop Coadjutor of Virginia, at the 213th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia
Hyatt Reston Hotel, January 25, 2008

Good Afternoon.  The Lord be with you. Let us pray.

Almighty and eternal God. So draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills that we may be wolly yours utterly dedicated to you; and then use us we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Bishop Lee and Bishop Jones, honored guest Bishop Matthews, officers and members of Council:

It is wonderfully appropriate that the theme for my first Annual Council as your Bishop Coadjutor is “God’s Abundant Love.”  Personally here, I will add the word “Grace” to our theme because I have experienced God’s abundant love most pointedly in my own life during the past year through the Grace of being made a Bishop in God’s Church. I happily note that tomorrow—January 26—is the exact anniversary date of my election as Coadjutor by your predecessor Council of the Diocese of Virginia. And now, here we are.  I can scarcely imagine that it has been a whole year since that dumbfounding day. How marvelous it is (sentimentalist that I am) that I am able to spend such a meaningful time with you, the Council—the very structure of my new diocesan home.  And before I go any further, Ellen and I want to say thank you for the terrific welcome you have given us in so many places since my consecration.  [Introduction of Mrs. Ellen Johnston]

It is a joy to be with you, and to serve you, and to serve with you.  The Diocese of Virginia is to be the place for the rest of my life’s “active” ministry:  22 more years, that is, as I am able to stand and serve, fulfilling not only the Constitutional provisions of The Episcopal Church but also (I hope) your own hopes and expectations—not to mention such matters as, oh. . . THE GREAT COMMISSION of our Lord!   Since many (if not most) of you here are the ones who called me into my ministry as a bishop in the first place, and since all of you are among those who support and carry out that ministry in this Diocese, I cannot imagine a more fitting scenario than to be here with you now. “Abundance?”  I now have an entirely new appreciation for the phrase “my cup runneth over.”

For these remarks, I have reflected on my own experiences of God’s abundant love from my travels throughout the Diocese of Virginia and as I am coming to know it.  Though I have been your Bishop Coadjutor for only eight months, I have had ample opportunities to experience that abundance first-hand.  Between the schedule for my Sunday visitations and the special events that have required episcopal ministry, I have by this time presided liturgically and sacramentally in every single one of the fifteen regions of the Diocese.  I have also met with or have already scheduled meetings with the Clericus groups from all but two of the Regions (and we are now in the midst of arranging scheduling for those remaining). I have met with several of the Regional councils (and will be scheduling the rest).  I have toured and have been generously hosted in place after place after place.  I have seen and taken part in inspiring (and even improbable) ministries of outreach and witness—from the Shenandoah to the peninsulas, from Northern Virginia to the bluffs of the James.  I have been awed by congregations that began in the 1600s, I have been blown away by new church-starts, and I have been incomparably inspired by our continuing congregations in the aftermath of December, 2006. I have heard my own sermon be given in Korean (every native Alabamian should be so blessed!). I think I did a creditable job of keeping up with Shrine Mont staff on the Frisbee Football field, but then put myself into serious question with a perhaps-all-too-accurate impersonation on-stage with Hoss of Bob Dylan at the Bishop’s Bluegrass Festival. I have been immersed in a diocese that is committed, clear and vibrant in the vision and work of the Gospel, even as dissent , distress and anxiety remain very real—and understandably so.  In all people and places, I have moved among a diocesan family that is just that—a family, including all realities that such a defining word allows.  In eight months,  week after week, I have held strands of God’s abundant love and have seen these strands become interwoven and show as a single thing—a complex, detailed and colorful beauty—the ecclesial version of a priceless Oriental rug.

In all of that I have seen God’s abundance indeed.  Not out of “largest” or “oldest” or “best-est” or “most-est,” but because of the very palpability of God’s love—love given to you, love you give to one another, and love you give to a hurting and wanting world (and, I should add, love given to Ellen and me so very graciously).  The abundance in the Diocese of Virginia is “to” us, “with” us and “from” us.  May it always be so!

That abundance is surely unquestionable, present in so many ways—spiritually, monetarily, in mission (at home and far abroad), as vision, energy, commitment, generosity.  Even so, it is this very abundance across our diocese that, ironically, shows me that all too often our places are thinking and playing “small.”  Now hear me about this: the well known columnist William Raspberry who’s retired now is from Okolona Mississippi, only 20 miles from where I was in Tupelo. He addressed our Annual Council in Mississippi and he used this image of the church playing small playing basketball in the ACC. He says that the church--by its nature and by what is given to it--is like a power forward, but that all to often the churches want to be the pretty point guard. It wants to take the pretty jump shots when instead we should be using who we are, doing what we do best by being where the power forward is, making a difference on the inside and being able to clear the space to do that. And not doing that is what he means by saying we’re playing small.

So, by this, I do NOT refer to anything having to do with simple numbers.  From my own experience as a priest with a very small congregation, I know full well that the small places can, in fact, do some of the “biggest” things—that is, the work that truly makes a difference.  I’ve seen this in truly remarkable examples here in Virginia.  Other than this, remember that even our smallest places that seem “unable” to mount much effort on their own are an integral part of one of the very largest dioceses in The Episcopal Church, and are therefore connected to what our Church is doing everywhere.  All it takes is to hold that reality close to heart—and then do something about it.  And I know first-hand from our larger congregations that they stand willing and able to include you in that. But all of this is just as true for the larger congregations—even the very largest.

You have already heard Bishop Lee speak about the tremendous challenge we face as a diocese with respect to the very small average-percentage giving rate from our churches to support the work of the diocesan ministry, programs, missions and administration. I raise this as one blatant example of “thinking and playing small” as a Church. But, of course, there are other examples and it is for each place to consider how smallness of vision or action may be showing up where you are in your congregation’s life.  Whoever we are—wherever we are—we can always discover those ways in which we are underachieving and, with the abundance of God’s love to us, with us and from us—being empowered by our commitment to the eyes and heart of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—we will show a needy world and, yes, even a worried worldwide Communion that the Diocese of Virginia puts to right the notion that there is any smallness in Christian vision, heart, mission, breadth, or faithfulness—not in any way, not in any congregation, not in any hands.

One of the most empowering and humbling examples of the abundance of God’s love in Virginia that I have known is the generosity, patience and kindness that Ellen and I have received from you as we have sought to settle-in, settle-down and find ourselves in such a breathtaking new ministry and life. There is no counting the ways we’ve been touched and blessed. Even to offer our most heartfelt thanks, as we do here, does not begin to reflect the depth of our gratitude. 

I believe that I am learning the ways, insights and vision of the ministry of a bishop.  Even so, I know that although one is “made” a bishop upon consecration, the ministry of episcopacy is something that is formed over time and experience.  I am so deeply grateful to Bishop Lee, Bishop Jones and to the diocesan staff for the ongoing gift of that formation.  I could not have dreamed anything better.

And speaking of not being able to dream anything better, I would like to introduce my new executive secretary, Cathy Gowen. [Introduction of Ms. Cathy Gowen]

As for this ongoing formation, it is no less from the Diocese, in each an every place, that my ministry as bishop is formed and takes root.  Along the way there have been some glitches and some instances of falling rather short of the mark (I am struggling with mastering the art of efficient and timely communication, for example).  But in everything, whether in what you have appreciated in me or out of ways in which I may have disappointed you, you have offered me nothing but the abundance of your understanding and your continuing support.  You have proven to be God’s love to me and I will, in God’s abundant grace, do all I can to be that for you. Thank you.