Bishop Election on Saturday - Rector's Rambling for May 26, 2019

Next Saturday, an important event in the life of the Diocese of Michigan takes place.  Assembling at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, just 1.5 miles up Woodward Avenue, lay representatives of each parish, and the clergy, will cast their votes for the next bishop of the diocese.

Having been a member of the clergy 25 years tomorrow (when I was ordained a transitional deacon), I have never been able to vote for a bishop.  Every diocese I have been affiliated with has either elected a new bishop right after I left, or right before I arrived.  Bishop Gibbs, our current diocesan bishop, was consecrated in 2000, and took office a few weeks before I interviewed here.  Despite our theological differences, I am most grateful that he has been a good pastor to me and to our parish.  In many ways, we have agreed to disagree, because we have been able to agree on the essence of our common life – Jesus Christ is Lord!  He will be greatly missed as he heads into retirement at the end of 2019.

The process to select his successor has been long and arduous, and not without some disagreement about the how the process was done and the choice of final candidates.  But we now stand at the point where ballots will be cast on Saturday, and most likely one of the four candidates will be chosen to replace Bishop Gibbs in February of 2020.

Previous to the year 2000, St. John’s had an antagonistic relationship with the two diocesan bishops before Bishop Gibbs, and entrenched positions and animosity toward each other only caused resentments and fighting.  Since Bishop Gibbs’ and my arrival here in Detroit, we have worked to have a positive relationship with each other as we together proclaim the changeless truth that Jesus Christ is Lord.  We look forward to this relationship continuing with the new diocesan, providing us with the pastoral care appropriate to our traditional Anglican faith and practice.

Your lay representatives are Bruce Burton, Harriett Mottley, and David Schafer, with Brian Campbell and Rod Gillespie as alternates.  Fr. Bedford and I will also be present on Saturday for this momentous occasion.