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Dear St. Christopher’s Family,
In just a few weeks we'll be celebrating a new chapter in our life as a church. On September 6, bishops from around the country will gather very near to us at Incarnation, just down the highway, to lay hands on and thus consecrate our friend and colleague Rob Price+ to be the next bishop of Dallas.
As Episcopalians, it's good for us to reflect periodically on what exactly a bishop is. Our name comes from the ancient word for bishop, episkopos, which, in Greek, means overseer. But there are a lot of superlatives caught up in that, and we usually describe him (or more recently her, in some cases) with the title Chief. A bishop is the Chief Pastor of his diocese: for all of our pastors in our various congregations, this one chief is our own pastor. He is who I can rely on in the way you hopefully rely on me when a spiritual need arises. He is the Chief Administrator: he sets our priorities and gives us direction how best to carry out our mission as individual churches so that we can be seen to work as one. He is the Chief Liturgist: he makes sure our Prayer is truly Common, that we all pray in a similar way throughout our diocese.
As a parish, we have two clear opportunities to participate in this. First, if you hurry, because space will go fast, you can attend the consecration using the link below. Second, we are partnering with three of our neighboring churches of about the same size to offer a gift not just for Rob, but for the office of the bishop. We will be contributing to a new mitre (the funny, pointy hat) and a stole that he will use in his most formal events. These are signs of his office, and emblems of his participation with the Apostles and their successors in the High Priesthood of Jesus Christ himself, that will become part of the patrimony of the diocese. You can donate toward this using the link below. For reference, our portion of this comes to $625. Please join Connie and me in making this gift.
But above all, we must remember that his whole job is to support us as a church, and it is our energy and enthusiam in following not Rob, but Jesus, that makes us special.
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