Bishop's Convention Address

 

Bishop’s 2020 Convention Address

Audio/Visual version here.

“Rejoice in hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.” In the
name of our triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

When we began last year’s Diocesan Convention, as some of you
might recall, I had not yet been consecrated as your bishop. As a
result of this timing, and in accordance with our diocesan canons,
our Chancellor, Steve Sanford, was to be the President of that
Convention. So Chancellor Sanford and I worked up the convention
script – he had his speaking parts in that convention, I had mine –
and, after the motion to adjourn the convention was made and
accepted, I said to no one in particular, “Well, at least next year’s
convention will be normal!”

Apparently, the Holy Spirit’s gift of prophecy had not yet befallen
upon me.

Last April, when COVID-19 was changing the way that many of us
have ever envisioned ministry being done, there was a point when I
thought that had I known what the year 2020 would bring, my
address to you last year would have been very different. In
hindsight, however, I don’t think that my words in 2019 would have
changed all that much. And this is why: God’s mission, and our
participation in God’s mission, is where our true focus lies. Living
into Jesus’ Great Commandment – loving God and loving our
neighbor – that is our focus! Living into Jesus’ Great Commission –
worshipping God, making new Christians, forming new Christians,
and transforming God’s world! – that is our focus! COVID-19 and all
that it entails? That is not our focus! It is part of our current picture!
It is certainly a part of our current picture! But it is not – and I pray
to God that it never will be – our focus.

This is the difference: a Christian congregation who chooses to make
COVID-19 their focus is a congregation that, I maintain, will most
likely not survive this pandemic. Christian congregations who have
become so set in their ways that they cannot possibly imagine doing
anything differently because of this virus – these congregations will
indeed perish! And they will perish because they have no vision.
They have no vision. And the words of Proverbs 29:18 will become
their prophetic reality – because as that passage so rightfully states:
“Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

And it is not overly hard to understand why this will be the case!
The people of congregations such as these are stymied! They are
looking forward towards nothingness! They have not discerned any
new or different ways in which to worship. They have not looked for
different ways to be in relationship with or to communicate with
each other! They have not thought about different ways of offering
Christian education! And they have given absolutely no thought as to
how they can be the transformative agents of God that God has
called them to be! And why? Because they cannot meet in person!
They cannot do things as they have always done them in the past!
And, if they cannot meet in person, and if they can’t do things in
ways that they have always done them, then, well, heavens to Betsy,
what in the world are they going to do?

How does one sing the Lord’s song while being held captive in the
city of Babylon? What answer does one expect to hear when a
person, such as in Psalm 121, looks upon the dangerous mountains,
sets their gaze towards uncertainty, and cries out, “Oh Lord, where
is my help? How can we be your people, God, while living in the
midst of a worldwide pandemic?”

Such a person, such a congregation, can think of no answer. And
maybe it’s because they’re not expecting one. Or perhaps it is the
fear of having to do ministry differently that is keeping them from
hearing what God is trying to say. In any event, and for whatever
reason, such congregations have chosen to put their participation in
God’s mission on hold. On hold! “We’ll be back in your life,” such
congregations seem to be saying, “and God will be back in your life –
when things get better. When it’s safer. When things are normal.
When COVID-19 is gone, and in the immortal words of Arnold
Schwarzenegger, ‘we’ll be back.’”

God’s mission in the world, however, has not been put on hold. God’s
mission, thanks be to God, continues – and it continues through
those who believe in God’s mission and through those who choose
to participate in God’s mission! And blessedly, and with great
thanksgiving, we certainly have seen this happening in the Episcopal
Diocese of South Dakota!

Stories abound concerning the leaders and the people of our
congregations who have chosen to keep God’s mission as their
primary focus. COVID-19, as I said before, is certainly a part of the
picture that these congregations are looking at! The people of such
congregations are not denying COVID-19! They don’t refer to
COVID-19 as something other than the serious virus that it is nor do
they refer to it as something that is inconsequential! Yet at the same
time, COVID-19 is not their primary focus! God’s mission is their
focus! And as a result, what has happened?

What has happened is that our clergy and the people of our
congregations such as these have found ways in which to worship
God and to follow Jesus despite COVID-19. They have found ways to
share fellowship and to stay in relationship with each other despite
COVID-19. They have found ways to form their people and they have
continued to transform their communities!

They have even found ways in which to welcome new members into
their congregations! Get this now…some people who live within the
Standing Rock Mission area and yet who were not a member of any
church? They chose to become a part of a congregation! Ask Fr. Kim
Fonder about his experiences during this past spring! People
decided to become members of some of his congregations before
they had even stepped foot into one of his church buildings! “I want
to join your church!” they said. “What do you mean, you want to join
our church? What are you talking about? You haven’t seen the
insides of our buildings! You haven’t seen our stained glass
windows, you haven’t heard our music! You haven’t had the
uplifting and life changing experience of turning to page 355 in the
Book of Common Prayer! You haven’t even tasted our coffee…”
Just thinking that someone would join a church before stepping into
a church’s building just boggles the stereotypical Episcopalian mind!
And it really shouldn’t! It really shouldn’t. People joined a
congregation because of how God’s mission was being put into
action! These people saw God! These people saw Jesus! They saw
hope and compassion! And most of all? – they saw love. They saw
love in action. 

I’ll offer you another example. The people of the Cheyenne River
Episcopal Mission – a reservation which is the size of Connecticut
and which is now being served by two priests who formerly came
from Connecticut! – the people of the Cheyenne River were rolling
along with the help of Fr. Jim Marrs and Canon Chris Corbin when
COVID-19 hit. And at that point, travel and other gathering
restrictions were put into place. And they, like so many others,
began asking the question, “How are we going to reach our people?”
They couldn’t gather indoors! No priests (or bishop!) were being
allowed to come to them! (I know because I tried! I came as close to
begging as much as a bishop should!) And in addition, unlike other
places in our diocese, internet service is not readily and easily
available. So what did they do?

Ask Deacon Iva Traversie about what they did! To their credit, and
to their belief in God’s mission, they didn’t quit. They didn’t throw
up their hands in the air and walk away. Instead, they went to a local
radio station! And they did Morning Prayer services, on Sunday
mornings, over the radio. And these services, and their prayers, and
their messages of God’s hope, and their sharing the good news of
Jesus Christ – their words reached a number of people far greater
than the number of those who normally would be gathering in their
church buildings.

Now, I want to be clear on this point, because I think it is so
important – Deacon Iva and the leaders of the Cheyenne River
Episcopal Mission made this decision. They were the ones who took
the initiative! They responded to God’s call to act! They didn’t call
me and ask, “Bishop, we have no priest! And because of the
restrictions, no priest can travel to us. What should we do?” They
responded to God’s call. They responded to God’s call to reach out to
God’s people, and they responded faithfully. And I am so proud of
them. I am so very, very proud of them.

I want to offer you a third and final example by asking you this
question – how can a church host a mission trip during a pandemic?
How can one of our congregations tell the story about what God is
up to when there is no one around to hear the story? Ask Mother
Lauren Stanley to tell you about her experiences! Because Rosebud
West Mission faced that particular challenge! – and do you know
what they came up with? Virtual mission trips! People sent funds;
Mother Lauren Stanley put those funds to use; and then, using video,
she provided the missionaries with a show and tell of what God had
done because of what they did and had offered. And she continued
to teach such groups about God’s mission in South Dakota.
So…what do you think the major difference is between
congregations whose focus has remained on God’s mission and
congregations whose focus has remained in the past? Romans 12, I
think, provides us with a very strong clue when St. Paul writes these
words: “Rejoice in hope; be patient in suffering; persevere in
prayer.” Hear those words again: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in
suffering, persevere in prayer.”

How well do St. Paul’s words apply to us and to our participation in
God’s mission at this time? When we read the news every day; when
we look at many of the things that are happening all around us; it
sounds a little silly, or maybe it sounds really foolish, to speak of
hope, much less to rejoice in it! We are also not a culture that is
overly known for its patience. We want instant cures and instant
solutions. And insofar as persevering in prayer is concerned? My
experience has been that some people tend to persevere for only so
long…because when their prayers aren’t being answered to their
liking or on their timetable, they throw up their hands, walk away,
and stop praying altogether.

And yet Paul’s words contain, I believe, some of God’s very best
directions to us during this time: “Rejoice in hope, be patient in
suffering, persevere in prayer.” Allow me, therefore, to share with
you how these ten simple words have been manifested and lived out
on a diocesan level since we last met.

At last year’s convention, you will recall, we identified ourselves
again as being a missionary diocese! We began talking about our
new star quilt initiative. We talked about looking at, and praying
about, and acting upon how the people of our diocese could best
participate in God’s mission. And we identified five different areas,
five different star quilts, to focus upon: our relationships with each
other; our communications with each other; the ways that we are
forming our people in the Christian faith and life; the ways that we
are transforming our diocese to best reflect God’s kingdom; and the
ways in which are advocating for ourselves, telling our stories about
what God is doing where we are!

We then started to do some planning. We started to design some
potential patterns for these five star quilts – and about halfway into
it, along came COVID-19. And as a result, we were left with a choice.
Were we going to live in fear? Or were we going to live in hope?
When our patience is tested, are we going to pass the test? Or will
we fail? Will we persevere in our prayers? – or will we put our
participation in God’s mission on hold and wait until things get
better?

This is how I would choose to best illustrate the situation in which
we found ourselves facing. One evening, a couple of weeks ago, my
wife, Kim, and I were watching a baking competition – and it was
one of those baking competitions in which the contestants are given
a theme or a certain item to bake and a time limit. About halfway
into their time, the host of the show came out with a certain
ingredient and she said to all the contestants, “Surprise! You have a
special challenge! You now have to incorporate a can of pureed
pumpkin into whatever it is that you are baking!”

Now, some of the contestants who were working with chocolate or
with vanilla cream…oh, they were thrilled! One contestant, however
– she was working with lemon curd. And perhaps needless to say,
she was not thrilled by this turn of events. The pumpkin puree
challenge totally disrupted her vision. However, she didn’t quit. She
didn’t give up. She didn’t throw up her hand in despair and walk off
stage. Instead, she chose to live in hope – she chose to be patient –
and I’m assuming that she chose to persevere in prayer, because she
was going to need some!

So – what has happened to us as a diocese as a result of the COVID-
19 challenge? How have we chosen, as a diocese, to respond to God’s
invitation to participate in God’s mission when, halfway into our
year, we learned that we would have to cope with a pandemic?
Well, for starters, we have been spending a good deal of our time
focusing upon our relationships and our communications across our
vast diocese of over 77,000 square miles. Your clergy and I, for
instance, have been meeting weekly using Zoom technology since
March of this year. These meetings of ours, initially, were all about
how to do ministry in light of COVID-19. Because, as you will no
doubt remember, the pandemic hit us during Lent and we were all
trying to figure out how to conduct Holy Week and Easter services.
Now these clergy meetings are not mandatory – and yet the majority
of our active clergy members sign on every week for one hour. And
whereas there are, of course, continued updates and news regarding
our participation in God’s mission despite COVID-19 – we also use
this time to share information about diocesan programs and
processes; we have offered a couple of workshops; we share
resources; we share prayer requests; and we share fellowship. Two
or three of our clergy members log on to these meetings thirty
minutes before they are scheduled to begin, just to see and to talk
with each other! Many have commented and continue to comment
on how good it is to see everyone’s faces and how much they look
forward to this time together. One clergy person even shared with
me a couple of weeks ago that he can remember a time when he only
saw and visited with his fellow clergy members at the annual
diocesan convention.

Here’s an interesting little fact: had we not had to respond to this
challenge – had we not considered how we were going to participate
in God’s mission despite COVID-19? –I don’t know if we would be
having these meetings. I cannot honestly say whether I, or anyone
else, would have come up with the idea of having a weekly clergy
meeting on Zoom! And get this part – our diocesan clergy want these
meetings to continue even when COVID-19 has passed us by! Clergy
people, asking for meetings to continue – another idea that boggles
the Episcopalian mind!

Another program that has been initiated are what are known as
clericus deanery meetings. These are times when I will travel to one
of our seven deanery locations to meet with the clergy. The first
clericus gathering took place last Thursday with the clergy from the
Black Hills – and we used our time together to share information
about the diocese, our congregations and ourselves. We also used
this time to discuss a book that I have asked all of our clergy to read
concerning racism and how to be agents of reconciliation and
healing in our respective communities. Because of COVID-19,
everyone who attended was properly distanced and properly
masked – and those who cannot attend will be given the opportunity
to participate using Zoom technology in places where it is feasible to
do so.

Additionally, we will be trying on a new idea when it comes to
bishop visitations in 2021. After Kim and I enrolled our daughter
into college last August and became true “empty-nesters”, we
purchased an RV. And our plan is to take the RV on visitation trips
whenever possible between April and November. Now, like unto last
year, each reservation in our diocese, and each congregation that is
not in a reservation, will be receiving a visitation. The change is that,
in addition to those visits, I will be spending about a week or so in
each deanery of our diocese – and we will be calling these events
“deanery visitations.” On the Sundays of those weeks, I will be
making official visitations -- but during the week itself, I will be
remaining in the deanery. And what will happen during this time
will be constructed by the clergy of these deaneries and by me. If a
deanery-wide service is wished for, we’ll make it happen. If there
are tribal, political or community leaders whom it would be
beneficial for your congregation to have me visit with, we’ll make it
happen. This is a brand new idea that we are trying on – it will be an
interesting experience using a mobile office – and I look forward to
offering reports about these events as they occur.
Insofar as our communication star quilt is concerned, we have
begun making use of programs which allow us to send out emails to
entire groups in a format that is much more helpful then just
sending a plain email with various attachments. We began using this
program for our Diocesan Council meetings and for our
communications with clergy. Most recently, as I hope that the
majority of you have experienced, we set up a separate list for those
who were interested in knowing about our Diocesan Convention
matters. And one of our plans for this next program year will be to
create a Diocesan-wide E-news for those who wish to receive it.
Although we realize that not every person in our diocese has
reliable internet access, our clergy do. And just as we asked and
relied upon the clergy to share diocesan convention news with their
delegates who do not have good internet access, we will be relying
on our clergy, especially those serving congregations where the
internet service is spotty, to print and post copies of these notices in
their churches and to share what is happening in the wider diocese
in whatever way they are communicating.

The technology that is behind this convention is another way in
which we have been working on our communications with each
other. As a result of having to conduct our convention differently
because of COVID-19, we were able to purchase some
communication equipment that some of our sites are using today!
Our goal, ultimately, is to have one set of such equipment in each
deanery. And I want to thank the St. Mary’s Leadership Board in
particular for their donation of funds towards making this project a
reality.

Because of the COVID-19 virus, this new equipment became more
than just a wish or an idea – it became a necessity – and it has
become a genuine blessing. For many of our events, people have to
travel a number of miles to attend – and we also are very dependent
upon the weather. So having this technology and equipment will
therefore widen our ability to meet and offer diocesan-wide
programs, and especially those regarding Christian formation.
 

Turning now to the Christian formation star quilt, Canon Portia
Corbin has begun putting together a new curriculum ministry group
for our diocese as a whole. One of the purposes of this group will be
to do research into the different kinds of Christian education
program materials that are out there and to categorize them in
terms of the different contexts of our congregations. Leaders of any
congregation, regardless of size, and regardless of how many
children are in their church, will be able to call upon this group or
upon the work of this group for recommendations for Christian
formation materials for children, teenagers, college students and
adults.

Moving forward, Canon Portia, the Rev. Cody Maynus, and the
Thunderhead Episcopal Board will be continuing their focus on
Thunderhead Episcopal Center and its role in the formation star
quilt. And I want to note in particular our appreciation to Fr. Cody
and to Cassie Boettcher for their work in presenting a virtual camp
experience last summer. Although the COVID-19 required us to have
to cancel having a summer camp program on site for campers in
2020, this team persevered and was able to think and to act outside
of the proverbial box!

In addition, Archdeacon Paul Sneve will be offering a new antiracism
course this October in Pierre, as well as a Dakota Learning
Experience in Rapid City. Niobrara Weekends will be continuing as
well as a Safe Church training program which all of our clergy will
be taking. I am also pleased to announce that the process for those
discerning whether God and the Church may be calling them into
ordained ministry has been revised over this past year and has reopened.
We had our very first priesthood/diaconate information
day this past August which was very successful. Two people who
were interested in learning about the priesthood attended, five
people who were interested in learning about the diaconate
attended, and we had eight facilitators. Two other areas that have
been identified as being part of the formation star quilt pattern are
congregational formation for clergy and lay leaders and formation
opportunities for licensed lay ministries.

When it comes to our Transformational Star Quilt, there are eight
different areas that have been identified as being a part of that
quilt’s pattern and they are as follows: racism, suicide, addiction,
care for God’s creation, disaster preparedness, creating a
partnership with the South Dakota Lutheran Synod, interfaith
relationships, and helping congregations create local partnerships in
their respective contexts. Our hope and plan as we move forward in
these areas is to create eight different groups of people who are
interested in these areas of transformational ministry with
representation of at least one person from every one of our
deaneries.

The last quilt that I will touch on is Advocacy – the telling of our
stories. One of the ways that we are beginning to tell our story
better is by revamping the format of our diocesan budget and
categorizing our expenses underneath our respective star quilts.
Just as a congregation’s budget should accurately and transparently
tell the story of how it is participating in God’s mission, a diocesan
budget should do exactly the same thing. And thus I wish to publicly
thank Mitchell Honan, our new Canon for Property and Finances, for
working with me in crafting the format of our new diocesan budget
and for putting the story of what God is up to in South Dakota into a
Microsoft Excel format.

Another part of the pattern of this quilt will be to better tell the
story of how we are participating in God’s mission in our
reservations. All clergy who are serving in our reservations will be
meeting with me and with our diocesan staff three times each year,
and our first gathering will be next month. One of the items on our
agenda will be to begin crafting and publicizing the ministry efforts
of these mission churches. Working with Canon Chris Corbin, we
will begin putting these stories onto the website and including them
in the two reports that we are required to give to the National
Church concerning how we are using the Block Grant of $763,550
that is used to pay the salaries of all our mission clergy.
Now, having said all this – and having looked back on how our
diocese has been participating in God’s mission since our last
convention, and especially so during the past seven months – I
continue to think about that baking show that my wife and I saw. I
remember well the look on the face of the contestant who was
challenged with pumpkin puree while working with lemon curd. I
can relate to that look! And so can all of you. Initially, when we were
faced with the challenge of COVID-19, we were shocked and
stunned. But we reached deep inside of ourselves. We made use of
the faithful resiliency and tenacity that God has given us. We
believed in God, we continued to follow Jesus, and we trusted each
other.

In everything that we have done – in everything that we are
currently doing – and in everything that we are planning together to
do despite the COVID-19 challenge – we are rejoicing in hope. We
are being patient in our suffering. And we are persevering in our
prayers. The fruits that our ministry is growing is testimony to the
truth of St. Paul’s words – and to what can happen when a diocese,
and when congregations, faithfully participate in God’s mission.
And so, my brothers, my sisters, my siblings in Christ – may those
words of St. Paul be our continual mantra until COVID-19 is no
longer a challenge and is no longer a part of our picture. “Rejoice in
hope, be patient in suffering, persevere in prayer.” Stay safe. Remain
faithful. Continue to love your neighbor and don’t forget to love
yourselves. And may you know and always remember – Jesus is still
our Lord; we are still children of God; the Holy Spirit is still calling
us to go forth as God’s missionary people; and most importantly of
all, you are loved. Amen.