The Right Reverend George Edward Councell
Letters to the Diocese: January to December 2004

Dear Friends in Christ,

I am writing to ask that each congregation and every member of the Diocese of New Jersey make a generous offering of prayer and of financial support for the relief of all those affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Please be faithful in prayer for the victims of this disaster, for the missing, and for family members and loved ones all around the world. Many members of congregations within our Diocese have relatives and friends in that region. They need our compassion and care, along with untold numbers of people who are suffering grief, deprivation and despair.

In addition to our prayers, I urge us all to make a generous financial gift in support of relief efforts. Please direct contributions to

Episcopal Relief and Development
South Asia Relief Fund
P.O. Box 12043
Newark, NJ
07101

Contributions may also be forwarded online (http://www.er-d.org).

In this season of Christmastide, we recall the words of the Bidding Prayer at the Festival of Lessons and Carols:

And because he particularly loves them, let us remember in his name the poor and helpless, the cold, the hungry and the oppressed, the sick and those who mourn, the lonely and unloved, the aged and little children, as well as those who do not know and love the Lord Jesus Christ.

May we offer our prayers, our gifts and our lives, that the love of our Lord Jesus Christ may be made known to all and the light of Christ may shine forth in these dark days. 

Faithfully yours,
The Rt. Rev. George E. Councell

The People of Trinity Cathedral
801 West State Street
Trenton, NJ  08618-5390

Dear Friends in Christ,

I am delighted to announce the very good news that, upon my nomination, at a stated meeting held on December 14, 2004, the Chapter unanimously elected the Reverend Canon Diane Nancekivell Dean of Trinity Cathedral. Below is a copy of the resolution, which had been unanimously adopted by the Vestry at their meeting on December 6, 2004.

Dean Nancekivell has ministered devotedly as Vicar of the Cathedral since November 2000. She is a faithful priest and pastor who has labored tirelessly and sacrificially to restore Trinity Cathedral and help it to become a healthy, diverse community of faith. Her pastoral skills and dedicated leadership have been remarkable blessings to us all.  I am personally very grateful for her friendship and partnership in the ministry of our Diocese.

It is a blessing to have Dean Nancekivell’s strong, loving and wise direction as the Cathedral begins a Search Process in 2005, leading to the call of her successor not later than mid-2006, when Dean Nancekivell plans to retire. By God’s grace, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and with the support of us all, we will work together to prepare for a great next chapter in the history of Trinity Cathedral.

I look forward to seeing many of you on Christmas Eve and at a Celebration on Sunday, January 16, 2005, at 3 p.m., when Dean Nancekivell will be officially seated as Dean.

Know that you continue to be in my daily prayers, with gratitude for all that you are and all that you do in the service of Christ and for the benefit of this community and Diocese.

Faithfully yours,

The Rt. Rev. George E. Councell  
XI Bishop of New Jersey

Whereas the Rev. Canon Diane L. Nancekivell has served as Vicar of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in the Diocese of New Jersey since November 8, 2000;

And whereas she has led Trinity Cathedral Parish with grace, inclusiveness, optimism, patience, and insight through a difficult transition period;

And whereas she had encouraged and supported the development of strong and responsible lay leadership in the parish, and worked with them to create a place of welcome for the people of the Trenton community;

And whereas she has inspired the renewal of Trinity Cathedral Academy;

And whereas she has supported the spiritual development of the people of the parish and the diocese by her preaching, prayerfulness, and spiritual guidance;

And, whereas she is a beloved pastor, counselor, and friend of the people of the parish and the children and faculty in the Academy;

And whereas she has worked with the people of Trinity and of the Diocese to make the Cathedral a true center for the Diocese;

And whereas the Major Chapter of Trinity Cathedral desires to recognize her contribution and her leadership;

We now, therefore, upon nomination by the Rt. Rev. George E. Councell, Bishop, and upon vote of two-thirds of the members of the Major Chapter of Trinity Cathedral present at a regular meeting this day, December 14, 2004,  elect The Rev. Canon Diane L. Nancekivell Dean of Trinity Cathedral.

My dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

I am writing to you in anticipation of the publication of the report of the Lambeth Commission on Communion, scheduled for release on October 18, 2004.

As I mentioned at our Clergy Day last month, it is important for us as pastoral leaders to help our people to understand the purpose of the Commission and the context of this report. The Lambeth Commission on Communion was appointed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in October of 2003 to make recommendations on how to maintain the highest degree of communion possible in circumstances where the ecclesiastical authorities of one province feel unable to maintain the fullness of communion with another part of the Anglican Communion. The report and its recommendations will not address issues of human sexuality, but the circumstances and conditions and means by which Anglican Provinces may maintain communion with one another.

It will be helpful to remember that there are four instruments of Anglican unity:

• the Archbishop of Canterbury
• the Primates' Meeting
• the Anglican Consultative Council, and
• the Lambeth Conference.

The report of the Lambeth Commission on Communion will be discussed by three of these four over the next nine months. The report will first be presented to the Archbishop and the Joint Standing Committee of the Primates' Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council, which meets in London on October 18-21. The Primates' Meeting will consider the report in Newcastle, County Down, in Northern Ireland, February 20-26, 2005. And the Anglican Consultative Council will discuss the report at their meeting in Nottingham, England, June 18-29, 2005. The Lambeth Conference of bishops is not scheduled to meet again until 2008.

I hope it will be clear from this schedule that October 18th marks the beginning of a long process of discussion of the report. This report will initiate new levels of discussion of the nature of communion. It will require discipline and humility and patience and respect for one another as we engage in this process of reception.

I do not know what the report will contain. I do know that I will receive the report with humility and hope, as a gift from representatives of our Anglican Communion that will help us all to listen to members of this worldwide family. I am in full accord with the word from our House of Bishops, who wrote last week at the conclusion of our gathering in Spokane, Washington, 'We are committed to a gracious reception of the report in a spirit of humility and to a willingness to learn how we might best be faithful and responsible partners in the Anglican Communion.'  We will gather in Salt Lake City, January 12-13, 2005, to discuss the report.

On October 18th we can anticipate that our Presiding Bishop and Primate will have a statement on the report. The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church will consider the report at its meeting in November.

I am asking that the clergy and congregations of the Diocese of New Jersey all give consideration to the full report as well as the recommendations of the Lambeth Commission on Communion. We will, no doubt, be hearing quite a lot about the report over the next nine months and beyond. We can participate in our local congregations and convocations as we gather to reflect on the findings and recommendations, with patience, graciousness, and respect. Let us see this report as a gift to strengthen our unity, and not an instrument to threaten or exclude one another.

The report matters because our partners in the Anglican Communion matter to us. As Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, has written,

It [the Anglican Communion] matters because Communion is God's gift to us, and what God has given we should not, dare not spurn. God has given us in this Communion people who are very different from ourselves. They are however his gift to us, as we, hopefully, may be his gift to them. Gifts are means of grace and as such are to be cherished and nourished, not rejected and cast aside.

In my first year as the Bishop of New Jersey, I have tried to be faithful in caring for all the churches, clergy and people of our Diocese. With God''s help, I will continue to honor and to uphold the presence and ministries of gay and lesbian clergy and lay members of this Church. And I will continue to honor and uphold the ministries of those clergy and lay members who differ from me on these matters. All of us are deeply loved by the One whom we all call Lord, who commands us to love one another as he loves us (John 15:12).  In this, and in all our challenges, may we have the grace to honor one another as gifts to be cherished and nourished, for Jesus' sake. 

The Right Reverend George E. Councell
XI Bishop of New Jersey

Dear Friends in Christ,

I am very pleased to announce that I have called the Reverend Lee Powers, Rector of St. Mark and All Saints' Parish, Galloway, New Jersey, to become Canon to the Ordinary in the Diocese of New Jersey, effective July 15, 2004.

As a newcomer to New Jersey, I have prayed and listened for our Lord's leading in the discernment of a priest I could call to assist me in this ministry. I looked for a priest who knows and loves our Lord Jesus Christ and who knows and loves the Episcopal Church in this Diocese. I looked for a pastor and a leader, who will serve as an extension of my pastoral care for the clergy and who will strengthen and encourage lay leadership and congregations of all sizes. I looked for a colleague who has the skills and experience to assist me in the administration of this office. After prayerful deliberation and conversations with my colleagues on staff and with others, I approached Lee Powers. I am honored and delighted that he is willing to serve as my Canon to the Ordinary.

Lee was ordained Deacon and Priest by Bishop Albert Van Duzer in 1981. Except for his time as Rector of St. Mary's, Daytona Beach in Florida (1999-2001), he has spent the last 23 years as a parish priest in this Diocese. Lee began ordained ministry as Vicar of Trinity, Swedesboro. He served interim ministries in Penns Grove, Pitman, and South River, before becoming Rector of St. Peter's, Spotswood, in 1988. He returned to New Jersey in 2001 when he was called to St. Mark and All Saints'. He is a graduate (cum laude, 1973) of the Wharton School of Business and Finance of the University of Pennsylvania and of General Theological Seminary (cum laude, 1981). He and his wife, Nancy, together have four children and five grandchildren.

Lee has a great deal of experience in building up congregations and in caring for clergy. He has led the parishes that he has served in major programmatic expansion and increased participation. He has given help and direction to parishes to develop their financial stewardship and to restore and expand their facilities. Throughout his ministry he has helped to equip and empower lay leaders and to strengthen lay ministries.

In Lee, I have a Canon to the Ordinary who will help me to be a pastor to our clergy. He has a pastor's heart. I am grateful that his gifts of wisdom, care, and competence have been useful to all sorts of clergy. He has been a facilitator in our own diocesan Fresh Start program for new clergy, and a faculty member for eleven CREDO conferences -- a program of the national church for clergy renewal. He is a coach, a mentor, and a gentle, godly, and faithful priest.

As Canon to the Ordinary, Lee will assist me with a number of responsibilities. He will be Chief of Staff here at Diocesan House and oversee a variety of administrative functions. He will serve as a liaison with the Diocesan Council, the Board of Missions, and other diocesan bodies. He will make regular visitations to congregations on Sundays.

One special area of responsibility that I will assign to Lee is the development of a diocesan vision and resources for congregational development, including the development of a mission strategy that will guide the work of the Board of Missions.

You will note that the Canon to the Ordinary is no longer the Deployment Officer. In order to free the Canon to the Ordinary to devote a significant portion of his time and energies to caring for clergy and developing congregations, I have invited Canon Tom Kerr to continue to assist me in the area of deployment. He has agreed to serve our Diocese in a part-time position in the area of deployment, together with Canon Elizabeth Geitz. Together, they will be Diocesan Deployment Officers.

I am blessed to be able to work with such gifted, dedicated, and faithful servants as Lee, Elizabeth, Tom, the other members of this staff, and all of you. It is a wondrous privilege to serve as your Bishop in the Diocese of New Jersey. As always, I ask for your prayers. Together, may we build up Christ's Body, be a blessing to all God's people, and give glory to God's Holy Name.

Faithfully yours,

The Right Reverend George E. Councell
XI Bishop of New Jersey

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Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

I write to ask your assistance in completing a memorial to the victims of the attacks of September 11, 2001, to be installed at Trinity Cathedral in honor of the members of the Diocese of New Jersey who perished that day.

As you know, the tragedy and horror of the events of September 11, 2001, continue to shape our world in ways that we are just beginning to fathom. Throughout the nation, countless individuals were directly touched by the loss and injury of the victims of the attacks. The Diocese of New Jersey was not spared from these events. In the year following September 2001, we sadly came to learn of our own fellow Anglican parishioners who perished.

The Right Reverend David B. Joslin, Assisting Bishop at the time of the attacks, immediately began efforts to commemorate the events of that day by commissioning a votive table as a permanent memorial at Trinity Cathedral. We are nearing the final installation of this memorial but we need your attention and help in ensuring that all members of our diocesan family who died in the attacks are appropriately remembered in this memorial.

To that end, I ask you to undertake the following tasks [NOTE: These deadlines have passed]:

• Please identify all members of your congregation who died as a result of injuries sustained in the attacks on September 11, 2001. While many parishes submitted lists in Fall 2001, we have determined that some lists were incomplete, others had incomplete names (i.e., Mrs. Smith), and several included names of people who were unaffiliated with the parish. Finally, we are unsure if all affected Diocesan parishes submitted names.
• The purpose of the memorial is to commemorate members of the Diocese who were lost. Hence, please only include names of individuals whom you and your congregation would typically consider a parish community member.
• Carefully confirm the complete and correct spelling of the individual's name with a surviving spouse or family member. You might consider sending the deceased's family a letter that seeks confirmation and approval of spelling.
• Please type the names and other information on the attached form and submit it to my office no later than May 31, 2004.
• If you determine that no parishioners from your congregation were killed on September 11, please indicate that on the attached form and submit it by May 31, 2004.

We are committed to completing this task correctly and completely. It would be deeply disturbing to discover that a member of the Diocese had been omitted or had their name spelled incorrectly. Thus, deliberate, careful attention to detail is essential.

If you have any questions concerning my request, please feel free to call me.

Faithfully yours,

The Right Reverend George E. Councell
XI Bishop of New Jersey

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Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (The Book of Common Prayer, page 101)

My name is George and, by the grace of God and the waters of baptism, I am your brother in Christ. What is more amazing, by the grace of God and the action of the Church last October 18th, I am your bishop in the Diocese of New Jersey. It is, therefore, a wondrous privilege, a high honor, and a sheer delight to offer this address at our first Convention together. If it were not Lent, I might offer an alleluia!

Last summer, at the General Convention in Minneapolis, I ran into a distinguished black priest who knows me and knows New Jersey. I have always regarded him as a strong, wise, faithful, but intimidating character. He had heard about the election in New Jersey. He said, 'George, that job is gonna stretch you. But it's gonna stretch you in ways that you are capable of being stretched.' I treasure that benediction in my heart.

Jesus Christ stretched himself out on the cross to embrace the world with God's saving love. In the words of a collect for mission, written by missionary bishop Charles Henry Brent (and found in Daily Morning Prayer), our Lord 'stretched out [his] arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of [his] saving embrace.' The cross was his pattern and his posture of vulnerable love, beginning at his nativity, continuing through his baptism, fasting and temptation; his teaching and his preaching, healing and feeding; his suffering and precious death; his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension. Jesus lived the passionate life and died the passionate death that perfectly expresses God's vulnerable heart, God's longing to embrace us with the divine love. As Kenda Dean of Princeton Theological Seminary has written recently, 'God's willing vulnerability in the self-giving love of the incarnation is a divine posture; it culminates in death on the cross but it is not synonymous with that. Love always involves suffering on behalf of the beloved; desire longs for what lies painfully out of reach.' ('Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church,' in The Christian Century, March 9, 2004)

Today the Church honors a bishop who stretched himself and the Church that he shepherded in tumultuous times. Gregory, Bishop of Rome from 590 to 604, was a man of wealth and privilege who, after beginning a career in public service, renounced everything in order to give himself to the service of the Lord and his Church. He was a leader, an administrator, a pastor, a diplomat, a preacher and an apostle. He is one of only two Popes to be remembered with the designation, 'the Great.' But he called himself 'Servus servorum Dei:' the servant of the servants of God. He taught and lived the outstretched, passionate, cross-shaped life that Jesus lived and taught. He was the model of the Gospel teaching that the truly great are only servants, never lords; that the first are always slaves, never tyrants; that the only true Lord came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10: 43-45)

Gregory could well be the patron saint of this Convention, as our theme is consistent with his life and ministry: 'Engaging the Mission of the Servant Church.' I celebrate that theme with you and thank our keynote speaker, Canon Petero Sabune, for his inspiration today. In advance, I express the appreciation of this Convention to all of the workshop leaders who will offer training and encouragement in mission and outreach tomorrow morning. And I am grateful beyond words for our staff and volunteers who have labored so hard and so long and with such good humor to arrange for this Convention. Find a moment to thank them for all that they do to serve us while we are here seeking to become a Servant Church. I pray that this Convention so encourages, equips, inspires, and, yes, disturbs, challenges, and stretches us that we will return home from this time together more passionately committed to engaging our mission, reaching forth our hands in the name of Jesus to the world that God so passionately loves.

Engaging the Mission. What is our mission? As a matter of first importance, I am looking forward to engaging in mission discernment together with you. I believe that you are eager, as I am, to claim a vision of how it is that our Lord wants our Diocese to serve him in this next chapter in our history. What I have in mind is a process of re-imagining our mission and our Diocese. I am determined, however, that, as we engage in an imaginative, courageous, creative, and faithful discernment of our mission, it be a process that also helps and supports our congregations in their mission discernment. We will need good guidance, a careful design, a healthy, open, faith-filled, prayer-soaked deliberative process that the broadest possible participation. The end product will be ours; not the Bishop's; not the Diocese's; but ours. This will require funding, along with the hard work, patience, and sacrifice of many. But I am persuaded that our God wants us to stretch out and take risks and go places together where we have to depend on his amazing grace. Consider the prayer attributed to Sir Francis Drake: 'Disturb us, O Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves. When our dreams have come true because we dreamed too little. When we arrived safely because we sailed too closely to shore.'

Becoming Friends to the Poor. While we design and implement a discernment process, there is urgent work to be done, and areas of mission and ministry where we need to stretch. First, I believe that it is urgent that we stretch to reach out to the impoverished people of the world, of our nation and in every neighborhood of our Diocese, especially so in the cities and urban areas. Pope Gregory served in a time of plague, pestilence and famine. To minister to hungry people, he opened up the papal granaries. He placed the 'patrimony of Peter' -- lands and endowments -- in the service of the poor. In one of his homilies, Gregory taught that we 'must honor the poor. Consider that those you see experiencing the world's contempt are within themselves friends of God. Share your possessions with them, so that in the end they may deign to share what they have with you. … What you reach out to offer to a person lying prostrate on the ground you are giving to One who is seated in heaven.' (Be Friends of God, an English Version, by John Leinenueber)

The holiest moment of these first months in this new ministry came to me after Evensong at one of our city parishes. The congregation that night was a wonderful cross section of the city: professional people, impoverished people; young people and older people; black and white; homeless and hungry and church members who were there not only to worship, but to serve a hot meal to their neighbors on a cold night. The choir and clergy were led in procession by crucifer and torchbearers. We worshipped in the beauty of holiness and then we all went up to the parish hall for dinner. As the meal was ending, I witnessed the rector give two candles to a man. When the man walked away, the rector explained to me that these were the candles from the processional torches we used at worship that night. The man had asked for them because the abandoned building where he was spending the night had no electricity. Candles that illumined the worship of the sanctuary also lightened the darkness surrounding a homeless man that night.

That is an icon of connecting our worship of Christ with meeting Christ in our neighbor. Our Lord wants us to stretch to bring light and life to our neighbors. 'When the service is over, the serving begins.' I thank God for several signs of our stretching out to serve the poor. We have 60 Deacons in our Diocese whose vocation is to wake up every morning and disturb the Church about the needs of 'the poor, the sick the weak, and the lonely' (BCP, page 543). We have a growing number of churches engaged in Jubilee Ministries. We have before us at this Convention the challenge of designating 0.7% of our budgets for international outreach to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. But being a Servant Church is more than giving charity. Our service is also advocacy and the doing of justice for the poor. William Sloan Coffin once wrote that, 'When I read the Bible, I find that the poor are never the problem. It's always the rich who are a problem to the poor…' ('The Politics of Compassion,' in Just Preaching, edited by André Resner, Jr.) Gregory challenges our Church not to be a problem to the poor, but to become friends of the poor and so become friends of God.

Reaching out to New Populations. Gregory's legacy relates directly to us Anglicans. The early English church historian, the Venerable Bede, referred to Gregory as the 'Apostle to the English.' In 596, Gregory sent Augustine and 40 monks from his own monastery in Rome to Kent, in England. From there, they reached out with the Gospel and evangelized peoples whom they regarded as backward, violent, and savage. The reputation of the Angles and Saxons was so frightening that Augustine and his monks stopped in Gaul and decided it might be better if they just returned home. I love that. They became afraid that what their Bishop was asking them to do was too hard. (Pray that I do not fail to serve you by asking too little of you!) Gregory served them by challenging them. One imagined speech of Gregory to Augustine has him saying the following: 'Our Lord taught us that the easy way is not the way to heaven. … I am asking you and your brothers to carry out…what had begun by God's help, knowing that the greater the labor, the greater the reward of eternal glory.' In other words, 'Don't be afraid. Get up, get out of your comfort zone. Go, and stretch forth your hands in love.'

So, dear brothers and sisters, what about the new populations right here in New Jersey? Are we an apostolic church, reaching out to our new neighbors from Latin America, Africa, and Asia, and other populations whose languages and customs you and I may not understand? The church growth experts have long counseled us that, when your congregation ceases to look like the neighborhood, your church will not survive. Surviving as an ethnic enclave is not Christian mission. We have several Latino and Igbo congregations in the Diocese of New Jersey, led by very able and dedicated priests. But we need more outreach to our newer neighbors. I challenge every congregation whose members hear a language being spoken on the street around their church other than the language being spoken in their church, to reach out to their neighborhood in the name of Jesus and his love.

And new populations are also served through campus ministry, young adult ministry and youth work. Our General Convention in Minneapolis lifted up youth and young adults as the number one priority in our national church program and budget. As an old guy myself, I confess that the language and culture of youth is strange and somewhat unnerving. But we have chaplaincies and congregations adjoining college and university campuses. We have tools and resources available to us in our own Kep Short, our diocesan youth minister. He works very hard, but he is still quite young. He can help you to stretch out arms of love to our young people. Get out of your comfort zone, and don't be afraid.

Stretching for Joy. I believe that our God is always more ready to give us the gift of joy than we are to receive it. Too many church folks and too many churches manifest too little joy. Our Servant Church is rendered weak and unappealing when we are so serious and so slavish that no one can see our delight in making the offerings that we make. The world ought to have good cause to wonder about the Church today just as the world wondered about the Church on the Day of Pentecost. The first point that Peter made in his first sermon that day was to explain that the first Church people were not drunk at 9:00 in the morning (Acts 2:15). I challenge us to seek the grace to manifest more of that lavish, exuberant, uninhibited wonder, love and praise in our life, worship and service and really give the world more to wonder about.

Gregory was known for his strenuous activity, but he was better known for his gift for music and hymnody and the chant style that bears his name. He worked so hard for God and the Church, but his devotional life was so lively, he became known as the 'Doctor of Desire for God.' What a wonderful blend: activism, desire, and joy. Too often, one finds activists who rarely pray and contemplatives who are hardly active. But Gregory got it right: outwardly, he did heavy lifting for the Church and world; inwardly, he lifted up his heart in love for God. Who was it who said, 'God respects me when I work, but he loves me when I sing'? In this very intense and conflicted time in our church, I believe we need to sing a little more and debate a little less. We, the Servant Church, have the reminder (in John 15) that we are Jesus' friends (15:14) and that he wants his joy to be in us so that our joy may be complete (15:11). 'The mark of service is joy and only those who first know that they are loved are free to serve others in the joyful expression of that interior knowledge of first being loved.' (Christian Orthodoxy Revisited, by Bishop Michael Marshall) Let there be joy among us as we worship and serve our Lord, together.

Stretching to Hold on to One Another in Controversy. My friends, we are together in controversy today. We are together in Christ, the passionate one, who stretched out his arms, that everyone might come within the reach of his saving embrace. Everyone. Everyone. Everyone. When we are in agreement. When we are in disagreement. When we love one another. When we can't stand one another. If we want to be enfolded in his saving embrace, we must seek the grace to embrace one another. If we want to abide in him and he in us, then we must beg for the grace to abide with one another. If we want to receive his forgiveness and mercy and be restored to his embrace, then we must forgive one another and be merciful to each other.

Our conflict over the ordination and consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson and the ongoing debate over the development of rites for the blessing of same-sex unions have stretched us, our churches, our diocese, our province and the Anglican Communion. We have heard that our Communion with one another is stretched, strained, impaired, damaged, and/or broken. That these developments are very much present with us in New Jersey is evident in the resolutions that will come before us tomorrow. I am personally grateful that our diocese has not experienced the extremes of strident language and dramatic action that other dioceses and other provinces are experiencing. I have been stretched as a pastoral leader to serve and lead you in this complex moment in the history of Anglicanism and our Episcopal Church as I followed my conscience and what I believe to be the leading of the Holy Spirit when I took part in the Consecration of our brother Gene Robinson. I will continue to stretch, to reach out, to honor and respect and love and learn from my brothers and sisters who are gay and lesbian. I will continue to stretch, to reach out, to honor and respect and love and learn from my brothers and sisters who are angry, disappointed, or confused, and/or who believe that my own position and my actions are in error. Please. Let us wait with patience and hope for the report of the Lambeth Commission next fall. Let us wait with patience and hope for the work of our own House of Bishops on a process for the provision of supplemental episcopal pastoral care of those who are in distress, but who wish to remain in the Episcopal Church. In this, as in all things, I call upon us to remain at the Table of our Lord together. If he stretched out his arms of love on the hard wood of the cross, you and I cannot do less than to stretch out to embrace one another. Every Church is or will be facing these issues and conflicts. This is our way. I believe that God has his hand on this Church and that we are being stretched for greater glory and loving service.

Listening is a profound act of service. I hope that, when we come away from our consideration of these resolutions tomorrow, we will be built up by extraordinary care, lavish respect, and sacrificial love. 'You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; …' (Mark 10:42-43). Let us conduct our debates so as to show ourselves and our world that the Servant Church still serves, even when in disagreement with itself; and especially so as we strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being.

Stretching to Give. The symbol of the Servant Church must surely be the towel. We follow the example of our servant Lord (in John 13:1-15), who washed the feet of the disciples and gave the Church the mandatum novum, the new commandment to love one another. Since mission is always supported by stewardship of all the resources entrusted to our care by God, I wish to say something about funding our mission. The 'mandated' tithe included in the Task Force Report adopted by last year's Convention is, clearly, a stretch for many congregations. Other congregations have also stretched to give over and above the tithe, as suggested by the voluntary guidelines. God bless you for stretching. And may I say to those congregations who, for good reason, have had to reduce their giving, God bless you, too. I want no part of sanctions that exclude or embarrass or discount congregations, based on their financial support of our Diocesan ministries. I regard it as my job to work with diocesan leaders to develop a faithful vision and program, with specific goals and mission initiatives, so that we can all get passionate about what our mission giving can do. I believe that, if we get that vision -- our vision -- right, you will want to give. You not only won't face any penalties for not giving, you won't need any reminders to give. You will want to stretch, for Christ and for the mission that we all share in his Name.

I love our Lord Jesus Christ, I love our Church, and I love being with you in New Jersey. Please accept my profound gratitude for entrusting me with this ministry as your shepherd in our Diocese. Unworthy as I am, I thank God and I thank you for this call. I will do my best to be a good shepherd and to handle the gifts and responsibilities that you handed over to me on St. Luke's Day last year. I ask for your prayers.

At the end of the day, I say to you that God is good. All the time. We know that because of God's heart, revealed to us in the passionate living, dying and rising of our Lord Jesus Christ. Hear now the words of Brian Wren in Hymn 603/604 and let them be our prayer as we engage the mission of the Servant Church.

When Christ was lifted from the earth, his arms stretched out above through every culture, every birth, to draw an answering love.

Still east and west his love extends and always, near and far, he calls and claims us as his friends and loves us as we are.

Where generation, class, or race divide us to our shame, he sees not labels, but a face, a person, and a name.

Thus freely loved, though fully known, may I in Christ be free to welcome and accept his own, as Christ accepted me.

Amen.

The Right Reverend George E. Councell

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Ash Wednesday this year will be marked in America by the release of the film, The Passion of Christ, by Mel Gibson. There has already been a tremendous amount of discussion of this new movie, which depicts the last twelve hours of the life of Jesus. During the production of the film and in publicity announcing its opening in public theaters, Passion already has been greeted with enthusiastic endorsements and strong criticisms. It is projected to become the most watched passion play in history.

At the heart of the controversy surrounding Mr. Gibson's film is the question: Who killed Jesus?

I am writing in advance of the release of the film, so I cannot contribute to the debate about how The Passion of Christ addresses that question. I see some positive opportunities, however, in the fact that this controversy is appearing on the cover of national news magazines and in the popular media throughout the world. For one thing, the discussion affords the Church the opportunity to affirm the work of biblical scholars, theologians, and our partners in interfaith dialogue over the past century. There are many dimensions to the several accounts of the Passion of our Lord, as found in the Gospels. There is a complexity about the history and culture of first century Judaism and Palestine and Roman administration that must inform our approach to those Gospel accounts of Jesus death. And, as always, there are many areas of disagreement. Scholarly research does, however, yield a direct answer to the question of who killed Jesus: the Roman Empire. Crucifixion was a Roman instrument of capital punishment. The empire, in the person of Pontius Pilate, killed Jesus. 'He was crucified under Pontius Pilate.'

Another gift of this very public conversation is the opportunity to reject anti-Semitism. Without making any assertions about a film I have not yet seen, I am deeply disturbed by any suggestion from any source that Jews, then or now, carry a collective responsibility for the death of Jesus. That notion has fueled persecutions, pogroms and countless acts of violence and terror throughout history, for which the Christian Church must repent. We must always be ready to disavow anti-Semitism in any form and remain vigilant in the defense of the dignity of every human being. The story of the Passion of our Lord must never again be used as an instrument of oppression directed against our Lord's people, the Jews, or against any one else. There is no more tragic distortion of the reconciling love of God, revealed in sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, than for that story to be used as the justification for inflicting suffering upon any child of God. It has been done. It can happen here. We must hold one another accountable and declare, 'Never again.'

There are many more graces that can emerge out of this flap. Clergy and lay leaders and congregations looking for Lenten programs can go to the see this film together. We can engage the question, 'Who killed Jesus?' and make use of the fruits of scholarly inquiry and devotional resources as the means of learning and growing in our knowledge of our Lord's Passion and to prepare ourselves for our observance of Holy Week. Each of us has an opportunity to say a word about Jesus whenever this subject comes up with non-churched friends and to invite them to join our communities where we live out our journey with our living Lord together.

I am especially interested in the ways in which this concentration on the Passion of our Lord can be a blessing to a divided and hurting Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. I think we all need a holy Lent right now. I know that I need to deepen my own devotional life by reflecting on the question of who really killed Jesus. I need to examine my own dealings with those with whom I am in disagreement about matters of controversy in our Church and in our diocese. I need to pray and repent and seek again the renewing love of Christ so that I can be reconciled to other members of the Body of Christ. I need to sing as perhaps I have never sung before, 'Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee? 'Twas I, Lord Jesus. I it was denied thee. I crucified thee.'

I have been listening to a recording of a song by the Irish rock band U2, entitled 'When Love Comes to Town.' Echoing the devotional hymnody of Holy Week, the band sings, 'I was there when they crucified my Lord. /I held the scabbard when the soldier drew his sword. /I threw the dice when they pierced his side. /But I've seen love conquer the great divide.'

The great divide. The divides among us seem to me to be pretty great just now. This Lent, let's take advantage of what our tradition offers us: a time for prayer, self-examination, repentance and renewal. Let's all get down on our knees and confess our prejudice and contempt for those who differ from us. Let's all take a time out. Let's all go to the foot of the Cross. This Lent, let us all lay down our swords. Let us lay down our weapons and our exclusions and our fulminations and our impatience with each other.

And, even at the beginning of Lent, let us acknowledge the end of Lent and Holy Week and our life's journey: a love that conquers the great divide. Whatever we do cannot begin to match what's already been done. No matter who killed Jesus, Jesus lives. Love has conquered the great divide. Beloved, let us love one another as Christ loves us.

The Right Reverend George E. Councell

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Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit. Joel 2:28-29.

On Monday, January 19, 2004, our nation and our Church will once again be invited to remember and give thanks for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Civil Rights Leader.

I recently unpacked a book of Dr. King's papers, entitled, I Have a Dream: Writings and Speeches that Changed the World (Glenview, Illinois: Scott, Foresman and Company, 1992). The life and teachings of Martin Luther King, Jr., did change my life. Once, when I was a college student in the late 1960's, I was shopping in a bookstore in Los Angeles. I recall looking up that day and staring at a poster of Dr. King. Beneath his photo was a caption. It read something like this: 'Until a man has found something worth dying for, he has not yet begun to live.' I was astonished, deeply troubled, and humbled. But, within a year, I came to understand that those words were a contemporary statement of Jesus' call: If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. Mark 8:34-35.

When I opened that volume, I turned to Dr. King's 'Letter from a Birmingham Jail.' It was written while Dr. King served a jail sentence for his role in participating in civil rights demonstrations in Birmingham, Alabama, in April of 1963. It was directed to liberal Alabama clergy, who had published an open letter that, among other things, called the civil rights activities, 'unwise and untimely.' The Letter is a profound teaching about Christian discipleship and justice, and every American Christian leader should read it regularly.

Toward the end of the Letter, Dr. King observes, 'So here we are moving toward the end of the twentieth century with a religious community largely adjusted to the status quo, standing as a taillight behind other community agencies rather than a headlight leading men to higher levels of justice.'

I wonder, Is the Church in the Diocese of New Jersey 'a taillight that adjusts to the status quo' rather than a headlight leading people to 'higher levels of justice?' When we promise to 'strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being,' -- as we do each time we renew our own baptismal covenant -- do we disciples of Jesus Christ intend also to be a light to the nations (Isaiah 49:6b); a headlight that leads others to higher levels of justice? Is this not the theme of this season after the Epiphany?

Later, Dr. King contrasts the churches of his Alabaman clergymen and the early church. He writes, 'Wherever the early Christians entered a town the power structure got disturbed and immediately sought to convict them for being 'disturbers of the peace' and 'outside agitators.' But they went on with the conviction that they were 'a colony of heaven,' and had to obey God rather than man. They were small in number but big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be 'astronomically intimidated.''

Again, I have to ask of myself and of our Diocese: are we thinking and acting for justice and for the dignity of all of God's people, such that we disturb and challenge the present arrangements; arrangements that perpetuate the oppression of some to the advantage of others? I am reminded of one of my favorite Collects in our Prayer Books, which seeks God's help, that we 'make no peace with oppression.' We live in a society and in a Church in which the sin of racism is still practiced. As someone has said, 'If you're not outraged, you're just not paying attention.' Do I, do we, make peace with racial oppression?

These days, I think a lot about the questions of a mission and vision, values and goals for our Diocese. We need to dream those dreams, see those visions, and work and pray and fashion those statements together. I am confident that we will accomplish that task in the course of this year of our Lord, 2004. But, here at the beginning, I believe that the legacy of Dr. King offers us an important challenge and a context for that work. King once wrote in these uncompromising words: 'History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but the appalling silence and indifference of the good people. Our generation will have to repent, not only for the words and acts of the children of darkness, but also for the fears and apathy of the children of light.'

So, here we are, at beginning of the beginning of the season after the Epiphany, at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Here we Anglicans worship with liturgies and music that extol the light that has come into the world. That light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it. Shall we overcome our fears and apathy?

May we become children of light here and now. May we strive for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being. May we make no peace with any form of oppression. May we dream dreams and hope hopes and overcome our fears, by the God-intoxicating power of the Holy Spirit. May we change the world, for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

The Right Reverend George E. Councell

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