John Neil Alexander - Bishop of Atlanta
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Spring 2007
Perhaps God is calling you
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
When I was a child, a regular feature of Sunday school was the annual emphasis on world mission. It was always cast against the backdrop of the great commission of Jesus to "go into all the world, preach the Gospel, baptize and teach." (Matthew 28:19)
We heard stories of the church's mission throughout the world, usually in faraway places. Sometimes a missionary would visit to tell the stories of our sisters and brothers in Christ around the world and the work that they did in those places that were extensions of our parish church. The mission churches we saw in the pictures were not the magnificent stone or brick churches that surrounded us, but more often than not sort of open-air shelters that provided relief only from the sweltering sun.
In addition to the money that our parish had in the budget for overseas mission, the emphasis on mission gave us another opportunity to get into the act. The children's classes collected pennies. The junior high youth sold Krispy Kremes. The senior highs had car washes and hired themselves out for yard work. The adults gathered for the annual missionary banquet.
All of these were special events to raise additional funds for world mission. They were also a chance for all of us - young and old alike - to share in the mission work of the church in far away places. Looking back it seems like such minor-league stuff, but its formative impact upon me was significant.
In our time, the balance of global mission has shifted significantly. We don't send missionaries and establish mission work in foreign lands like we did a generation or more ago. In most of the world there are now well-established local churches with indigenous leadership.
These strong local churches are more able to give powerful witness to the Gospel of Jesus because of their sensitivities to local customs and culture. They are adept, at least more so than we are, at navigating political and economic realities in their widely diverse locales.
Today, we speak more properly in terms of mission partnerships that are not one way - us to them - but very much mutual relationships in which we intentionally share in doing the work of Christ together. The deeper we move into such partnerships, the clearer it becomes that we receive as much or more than we give.
In this issue of Pathways, you will catch a glimpse into some of the work that the Diocese of Atlanta is presently doing in partnership with our sisters and brothers in Christ around the world. You will discover yet again that our diocese, like our beloved Episcopal Church, is engaged in the gospel-centered work "of reconciling all things to God in Jesus Christ."
In Central and South America, and in Africa, we are in dynamic partnerships with fellow Anglicans, and those partnerships are making a difference in their context and in ours. Through our support of the Millennium Development Goals and the worldwide reach of Episcopal Relief and Development, God is multiplying our meager efforts and working wonders.
I know I speak for many in our diocese when I say that global mission partnerships change lives. I have experienced it first hand. Many in our diocese have had similar experiences.
I hope that as you read the pages that follow you will thank God for the work that is already underway and pray faithfully about what God might well be calling you to do.
Perhaps it will be organizing a mission event in your parish. Perhaps it will be to stretch your financial commitment to missions in a new way. Perhaps it will be to lay down the life you have here and become a global mission partner in another part of God's world. Others in our diocese have done it. Perhaps God is calling you.
Blessings!
+ J. Neil Alexander
Bishop of Atlanta
Winter 2006
Out of the hearts of faithful people
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
When I was first ordained more than 25 years ago, a person in the parish I was serving at the time asked me a question, telling me upfront that a "both-and" answer would not do. This was the question "Is it more important that I tell my family I love them or is it better to show them how much I love them?" Trying to get out of the bind the person put me in, I responded with a question of my own, "Why is it necessary to decide between two things that are both very important?" "Because," the person responded, "I've always been told that actions speak louder than words, but I not so sure about that anymore."
We continued to discuss the matter, and I suspect I wasn't much help. But time and again over the years I have thought about that conversation. I really do believe both are important. I have discovered, however, that my parishioner's question is much more profound than I realized at the time. I believe we often get caught in the bind of doing vs. telling, even when we are sure that both are important.
I believe the church struggles with this, too. Sometimes we frame the question in terms of "outreach" or "inreach." How many times have I heard people say, "We're spending too much of our time doing outreach work and not enough time in Bible study, prayer, and discipleship training." The other is just a frequently heard, "This church doesn't do anything outside of itself. All we do is worship, have fellowship and take care of one another. There must be more to discipleship that looking after ourselves."
We get caught in the same bind when we set evangelism (telling the good news of Jesus) over against gospel-center ministries of social justice (showing the world by our actions the just and proper use of all that God has given us). I've known churches that were totally devoted to one of these to the near exclusion of the other. I used to admire their focus; now I am more inclined to believe they may have missed the point. Words without actions are empty. Actions without words are hollow.
This issue of Pathways coincides with the beginning of our centennial year. From the beginning I asked our centennial committee to shape our celebration around two things: worship and outreach, not one or the other, but quite intentionally on both. The impulse to do one or the other is always very attractive; faithfulness requires that we do both. You will read about outreach and our service to God's poor and those in need. This is no accident. Remember the words of the General Thanksgiving? That we may serve you not only with our lips but in our lives, giving up ourselves to your service and walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days.
I hope you will experience that tension in positive ways as you read this issue about outreach in our diocese and around the world. It is about ministry by, with, and for persons of all ages. It is a small glimpse into the wide-ranging, far-reaching ministries we hold in common. And the good news is that it grows out of the hearts of faithful people who are passionate about telling the good news of Jesus in word and deed.
Blessings!
+ J. Neil Alexander
Bishop of Atlanta
Fall 2006
Children, youth are church of today
During my childhood, I grew up in two distinctly different churches. My experience in one of those churches was such that still today I have to remind myself that I am endlessly loved by God. It was a church that was based on fear. God was represented as a stern madman who was always looking for excuses to punish me. Sunday school classes were about keeping us from burning in hell. A Sunday school teacher once burned me with a hot matchstick. The "lesson" was to remind me that if I was not a good little boy I would be inflicted with that kind of pain all over my body for eternity.
Fortunately, that was not the sum total of my childhood experience in the church. Because of my lifelong love for music, I discovered a church that was not only musically and liturgically rich, it also had a wonderful program for its children and youth. It was a church based on the love of God experienced in the fellowship of those who love Jesus.
I remember the first day of Sunday school. We made the characters of the parable of the Good Samaritan out of modeling clay and, once we finished the figures, we used them like puppets and acted out the story as Jesus told it. I discovered that even Samaritans can be good and that God can use anyone, anytime, to accomplish the divine will. The story that had been framed as a parable of the good and the bad was now a parable of the love of God for all.
I prefer not to think about what my life might look like today if I had not found my way to the second of these churches. I hope that somehow, someway, I would have found another route from a faith based on fear to a faith based upon the love of God in Jesus Christ. The good news for me is that a passionate, loving, healthy, whole, community of sinners saved by grace opened their arms and their doors and invited me in to discover what they had discovered. I shall be forever grateful.
Several years ago I helped provide leadership to a national conference on the ministry of children entitled "Will Our Faith Have Children?" It was quite intentionally a play on the title of John Westerhoff's classic, "Will Our Children Have Faith?" Those of us who gathered there prayed, studied and stewed over children's ministries. We learned a great deal. Two things, however, stick in my mind still today.
First, we don't do ministries for children or to children, but we do ministry with children.
The second thing I learned was rather startling at first. One of the speakers began her address by saying, "We really must stop welcoming our children to the church. The language of welcome assumes one is not a part of the family, that you're from outside the circle being welcomed in. The children are already a part of the family. We need to treat them that way. We welcome strangers, not our children!
This issue of Pathways focuses on our ministry with members of the family, with our children. I have often heard it said that we need to get more children and youth in the church because they are the church of tomorrow. Not so! Read the pages that follow. The children and youth are the church today
... now ... with us!
A little child shall lead them. I am ready to go!
Blessings!
+ John Neil Alexander
Bishop of Atlanta
A letter mailed to the people of the Diocese of Atlanta -- July 2006
A higher calling
To all the faithful in Christ Jesus in the Diocese of Atlanta:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
I write with a strong sense of joy and filled with a renewed commitment to the wonderful and faithful people and parishes of the Diocese of Atlanta. I have renewed strength for the work of the Gospel that we do together. There is much work to be done, and I invite you to join me!
The Gospel of Jesus always extends to us a higher calling and I am confident that we will respond to that call by going forward together with faithful and bold new initiatives that will embody the particular witness that The Episcopal Church brings to the world.
Here is my vision of our life together in the coming years. Let us join hearts and hands and:
- Strengthen and grow our ministries with children and youth in our parishes, in our diocesan programs, and in our camp and conference center programs;
- Renew our commitment to lifelong Christian formation for every baptized person through new initiatives in adult education and through new programs for lay leadership and development
- Broaden our support (in both direct support and advocacy) for ministries to the poor and disenfranchised in middle and north Georgia;
- Commit fresh energy to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) through the work of Episcopal Relief and Development and through our diocesan mission partnerships around the world, especially with our companions in Central Tanganyika, Ecuador Centrale, and Rio de Janeiro;
- Recommit ourselves, for the sake of all these ministries, to growing the church in our diocese by planting new parishes through our Alleluia Fund for Mission and strengthening our established parishes with new initiatives in congregational development training and support.
Nearly every Sunday I am privileged to welcome new members into our church, and I regularly hear from our new folks that this is the church they have been looking for. I have no doubt that if we continue to open our hearts and open our doors that the people will come. It's already happening in so many places across the diocese. Radical hospitality grows churches!
In the coming months, you will find more about these initiatives, as well as constantly refreshed information about our life together on our diocesan website at www.episcopalatlanta.org. I hope you will visit often, and while you are there, sign up for our weekly e-newsletter, Connecting, which is a great way to keep in touch about the wonderful variety of mission and ministry that goes on in and around our diocese everyday.
This is God's church and we are privileged to be the agents of God's reconciling love by feeding those who are hungry in body, soul, and spirit. Holding before the world the rich food of God's grace is the purest form of joy and delight. In a world often ready to give up, proclaiming in word and deed the life-transforming message of the resurrection of Jesus makes a world of difference.
The Diocese of Atlanta - all its parishes and people, its schools, agencies, programs, and partnerships - is making a difference in the lives of so many. I ask for your prayers, for your hearts, and for your hands in the gospel mission we share.
To God alone be the glory!
Faithfully,
The Rt. Rev. J. Neil Alexander
Bishop of Atlanta
Written for Pathways, quarterly journal of the Diocese of Atlanta
Summer 2006
Going with God to a deeper place
Alleluia! Christ Is Risen!
I write these words during the Great Fifty Days of Easter. By the time you read them, it will after Pentecost, the 50th day of Easter that celebrates the power of the Holy Spirit as God's gift to the church. Before the Risen Christ ascended into heaven, he promised that the church would receive the Holy Spirit, God's first gift to those who believe. What a joy and delight it is to live in the power of the Spirit of the Risen Christ!
Living in the Spirit is a lifelong journey that begins in the waters of Holy Baptism and goes on forever. It is at once a journey into the life of God, a pilgrimage of faith and service, and an exploration of our interior life. When we journey with the Spirit we discover that God is always calling us more deeply into the divine life. God desires communion with us, invites us into companionship, bids us to trust the divine compassion ever more intimately. God also calls us out to love and to serve, to feed and to nourish, to be witnesses to the good news of Jesus to the ends of the earth.
In the 12th chapter of Mark's Gospel, Jesus summarizes the two principal parts of the law of God. "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater that these." I believe that is an invitation to go with God to a deeper place. Loving God with heart, soul, mind and strength is not for the weak-kneed and timid. It is demanding, stretching, relentless, and uncomfortable at times. It demands our best efforts. We stumble and fall. But a saint is just a sinner who fell down and got up!
If genuine and holy love for neighbor begins in our love for the precious one God has made each one of us to be, then are we not invited on an interior journey to discover what it is that God delights in so relentlessly in each and every one of us? We are all sinners, of course. But even that is a gift of God so that we can enjoy the grace-filled magnitude of God's delight in us. The most difficult thing about being a disciple of Jesus might well be coming to grips with the fact that God is really that good!
I hope you that will be enriched by the stories and the articles in this issue of Pathways. In each one there is an invitation to explore the interior life, to discover afresh the power of Christ's risen spirit at work in you. This is not an issue to flip through, catch the headlines, and toss. This is an issue to savor, to ponder, to pore over slowly, thoughtfully, and prayerfully.
I am grateful to God every day that I am on this journey with you.
Blessings!
+ John Neil Alexander
2006
An Easter Message
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the central tenet of the Christian faith. Without it, not much else makes sense.
When I read the New Testament and many of the other documents of the ancient church, I am always impressed by how central the Resurrection of Jesus was to their life together. When you examine the stories carefully, you begin to see clearly that these nascent faith communities were trying to figure out the implications of this incredible reality. It is clear that they figured out rather quickly that their world had changed. The not-always-easy task before them was to re-order their lives in joyful response to what God had done in raising Jesus from the dead. The way life used to be had radically changed, and they knew it.
In my own life, I have discovered that the Resurrection of Jesus is God's ultimate act of liberation. I inhabit a world that is defined by human limitations. As a mortal, there are limitations I experience physically, spiritually, and in many other ways. When I admit it, I even discover there are some limits to my imagination. However, the proclamation of the Resurrection reminds me that God has blown to smithereens the limitations of my humanity and has provided a whole new way of looking at the world, of looking at myself, and for embracing the resurrection's power for the living of these days. Within our human frameworks of experience, dead people stay dead. In the new framework given to us by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, the dead shall rise and live forever.
The proclamation of the Resurrection of Jesus reminds us that in Christ we are unbound. The chains of our human limitations no longer hold us. We still can't leap tall buildings in a single bound, but we can live with a new freedom - a lighter, more transparent, more graceful manner because we know that in the Resurrection of Jesus we shall also rise with him and that nothing in all creation can ultimately bind us and take away what God has given.
Rejoice with me in these Great Fifty Days of unbridled rejoicing!
Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
The Lord is Risen indeed! Alleluia!
+ John Neil Alexander
Written for Pathways, quarterly journal of the Diocese of Atlanta
Spring 2006
Along the pathway of the Redeemer
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
I am excited about our new diocesan publication Pathways. I hope that as we roll out the first batch of issues in 2006 that you will find it informative and inspiring. I am grateful to our diocesan communications commission, Tom Smith, chair, to Nan Ross, our editor, and to all of those who have had a hand in launching this new communications tool in support of the mission and ministry in the Diocese of Atlanta.
Pathways. It's hard to imagine a title that is more descriptive of the life we live together in the faith of Jesus. Think back for a moment. It was a new pathway that Abraham and Sarah took in response to the call of God upon their lives. God blessed them on their way and gave them prosperity, divine companionship, a new place to call home, and descendants as numerous as the stars in heaven.
Pathways. Remember stuttering Moses? Born of an alien mother in the power-laden precincts of Pharaoh's court? It was Moses to whom God turned to lead his people along a new pathway that would take them from the oppression and bondage of a foreign ruler back home where they would be free. Along that pathway they found themselves caught between the sea on one side and Pharaoh's mighty army. With Moses taking his orders from God he led the people dry-shod along a pathway that took them right through the waters to a place of safety and liberty.
Pathways. Remember Matthew counting his daily receipts in the tax office? Or Peter, Andrew, James, and John mending their nets and preparing for another day of fishing? Jesus comes along and without much fanfare or explanation says, "Follow me." And without any forethought or planning, the disciples do just that. The invitation was compelling to say the least. Matthew and Peter and the other disciples could not have dreamed of the pathways that Jesus would lead them down. I suspect if they knew what was in store for them they probably would have made excuses and followed their old ways.
Pathways. Jesus knew any number of pathways. Together with his disciples he made his way from town to town and village to village proclaiming the news of that coming kingdom that would be embodied in his own death and resurrection. Along these pathways they would come to him - the sick, the lame, the deaf, the leper, the outcast, the notorious sinner, the hypocrites, and all the rest. He welcomed them all. If Jesus ever turned anyone away when they came to him we don't have any record of it. He would heal them, exorcise their demons, teach and admonish them, but in every case he welcomed them.
Pathways. Stretching like a shadow across the whole story is the long, arduous pathway to Jerusalem and all that awaited Jesus there. Then there was the donkey path on that spring morning when all that one could hear was the crowds shouting "hosanna! blessed is the One who comes!"
Pathways. It was Friday, before the beginning of the Sabbath. This pathway was particularly slow and painful. Dragging a cross along the way; blood dripping from the brow that had been punctured by the thorns of a "crown;" haltering; faltering. This pathway was different from all others. It's ending had a certain clarity about it. The destination was not in question.
Pathways. Mary, and Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary (and perhaps a few others whose names we don't know, but I'll bet on Mary) followed a narrow pathway in the first light of a Sunday morning. They were going to finish the preparation of a dead body so that the memories of the last few days could finally begin to fade. Along that pathway they met a gardener, or was it an angel, or was it Jesus? And they beat a pathway to the place where the disciples were hiding with some rather extraordinary news, "Christ is Risen!"
Pathways. And so for Mary Magdalene, for incredulous Peter, doubting Thomas, young John, and all the rest; for Paul and Barnabas, for Augustine of Hippo and Augustine of Canterbury, for Martin Luther, Thomas Cranmer, Richard Hooker, Suzanna Wesley, Samuel Seabury, Judson Child, Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, and you and me, we discover that we are living alongside that pathway that runs between resurrection and eternity.
Pathways. In the ancient church they used to speak of living the Christian life "along the pathway of the Redeemer." I believe that is as true now as it was then. I am deeply honored to share the pathway with you, my sisters and brothers in Christ. Along this way God will show us signs and wonders. God will put in our pathways all sorts of folks - unimaginably rich and varied - and all we have to do is welcome them into our lives and praise God for the companions that have been given to us along the way.
Blessings! I look forward to seeing you soon along the pathway of the Redeemer.
+ John Neil Alexander
Written for an interim diocesan newsletter
November 2005
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
Some wouldn't think so, of course. Some say the church has lost its influence these days. I believe they are correct if what they mean by influence is power: the sort of power that the church has wielded in centuries past, power that was not always used for good, power that can hardly be understood as a reflection of the goodness of God. We see it in our families. We see it in our parishes. We see it in our work-places. We see it in our nation. We see it in the discourse of the world's politics, between peoples of many faiths, and in the chasms that separate cultures. Power. It's often confused with authority. It sometimes tries to masquerade as influence.
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
I think so because these days demand a new kind of discipleship, a more persuasive witness to the Resurrection of Jesus, a more profound commitment by those of us who claim the faith that is in us, received as a precious gift of God. Although it has never been easy to be a Christian disciple, there have been times when what it meant to be a disciple was a bit more clear.
We assumed, by and large, that the way things were the way they were supposed to be. We believed, at least most of us, that if we lived good lives, treated others with respect, and darkened the door of a church with some regularity, then we were doing what we were supposed to be doing. I grew up believing that the values by which my life was ordered were founded upon the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. While I still want to believe that's true, in the meantime I have actually read the Bible and discovered that not everything I learned to value as good and true squares exactly with what's in that holy book, especially in the teachings of Jesus.
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
I think so because God is visibly at work among us. If you ever doubt for a moment that God is at work in our mission and ministry, let me invite you to simply sit back and think about it for a moment. Here are a few examples that come to my mind: I think about the Journey to Adulthood pilgrimage from one of our parishes. A young teen wrote me a letter from England to tell me how the trip has changed his life - traveling in community with other Episcopalians, praying together each day, getting to know more about the life and witness of the church through the ages.
I think about Sandra and Martin McCann and Margaret Griffin, faithful servants of God offering themselves as mission personnel in Tanzania, giving up more lucrative professions and easier lives here for the sake of the work God has called them to do there. I think about our clergy who reached deep in their own pockets to build a guest house for the seminary in Central Tanganyika in support of their pastoral colleagues.
I think about all of the people of this diocese who have given of their plenty in support of the work of Episcopal Relief and Development, especially in response to the hurricanes along the Gulf Coast. I think of our clergy who rolled up their sleeves and spent time on site after Hurricane Katrina hit Southern Mississippi. They cooked and fed, cleaned and sorted, comforted and inspired. I think about the clergy spouses who are planning another week of relief work on the Gulf Coast later this month.
I think about the day for the arts sponsored by Emmaus House and Holy Comforter. I think about Covenant House. I think about the feeding programs at many of our parishes. I think about the support programs of the Chattahoochee Valley Episcopal Ministry. I think about the Appleton after-school programs in Macon. I think of a facility full of children and youth at Camp Mikell. I think about Kids4Peace. I think about our college students who make their way to the Holy Eucharist each week during the academic year and who buck the trends that say that young adults don't care about the church. And I have only just begun. I suspect you can think of things I may not even know about.
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
When one studies just a little church history, one begins to see that in those times when the church was powerful (according to the way the world understands and rewards power), our witness was often compromised, and we got servanthood and discipleship confused with privilege. And some of the best times in the history of the church have been those times when on the surface of things (by the world's standards) the church had lost its influence and had to find a new well from which to draw its strength for mission. Depending on the support of the power structures of the world has gotten us into trouble over and over. We have always been the most effective witnesses to the power of God when we have been called upon to push against the flow of the prevailing currents.
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
Saint Paul did not always fare well as an apostle. In spite of his successes (and there were many), he was beaten, stoned, and set adrift at sea. He encountered danger in the city and in the wilderness. He had sleepless nights worrying about his churches. He was tormented in ways so vivid he was convinced it was Satan. There were times when he wanted to give up. But Saint Paul heard the word of the Lord: My grace is sufficient for you, for the power is made perfect in weakness. (2 Cor. 12:9).
It is a wonderful time to be the church!
Power made perfect in weakness. That is the sort of power the church needs. It is servant power. It is disciple power. It is God's power working in and through us to transform us from the church that we are into the church God calls us to be - a servant church: making disciples and making a difference!
It is a wonderful time to be the church - because God's grace is sufficient.
To God be the glory!
Written for an interim diocesan newsletter
September 2005
Finding a new home
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
When I was in Tanzania this summer, I took a box of small wooden crosses made by our own folks in the woodworking shop at Emmaus House. Each morning I would stuff a few of them in my pockets and I would give them as gifts to some of the people I encountered. I had a finite number of crosses and I was privileged to meet a seemingly infinite number of people, so I decided I would not get too organized about to whom and when I would give the crosses. I thought the best thing would simply let the Spirit move me.One day I was visiting a refugee camp in northwestern Tanzania, near the border with war-torn Burundi. In all there were more than 140,000 refugees in the area. It was a life-changing sight to see thousands of people who had fled their homeland for safety. The spaces were crowded. Supplies and food were in short supply even with some international aid.
As we were walking down a dirt lane, we passed a small mud building with a grass roof. Nailed to a tree nearby was a weathered sign indicating that the little building was an Anglican church. I asked about the church, and when I explained that I was an Anglican bishop and that I was traveling with a group of Episcopalians from the United States, a couple of children took off on a footrace to see which one could find their priest first.
A few minutes later, the priest appeared and with him came many members of the community. He welcomed me with a warm embrace and invited me to come inside out of the sun so that we could get to know one another. We sat for a few moments on a little bench in the church while an ever-increasing number of curiosity seekers gathered around to watch. He spoke only a little English, and I confess that my Burundian-French is not everything it might be.
The priest is not a missionary. He is a refugee just like everyone else. He told me where he was from and about the difficult adventure that brought him, his family, and many of his people to the camps. As painful as it was to hear his story, I could not help but think of what a good thing it must be for that priest to be there in the midst of those people. These folks are a long way from home. They wonder constantly if the trucks will bring enough food and water to keep them alive. They all long to be at home, but most of them know they may never seen home again. Illness, starvation, lack of adequate medical care, war, political strife, and natural disaster -- one or all of these things stand between them and home.
And yet, in the midst of it all, there was this priest. He wanted to go home, too. But day after day, week after week, toward an end which no one can see, he would speak to them of Jesus, lead their prayers, and stand at the little wooden table in the little mud church. Broken for you is my body. Shed for you is my blood. That was all he had to say. That was all he needed to say. For you.
When we finished our conversation, I reached in my pocket. There was one small cross left from that day’s stash. I put it around his neck and we both began to cry. We fell into each other’s arms. “You are Christ to me today,” he said. “No,” I replied, “you are Christ to me today!” And we both started laughing through our tears. Neither of us was going to win that argument!
That night as I was going to sleep, my mind could not get this encounter off my mind. That priest and I were about as different as different gets. “Home” for each of us is half way around the globe and several galaxies apart. The barriers between us are enormous: language, economics, politics, culture, and so much more. And yet, in almost no time, in a place that was strange to each of us, we found a new home. We found each other. It was for a moment or two as though we had known each other for a lifetime, or more. We had heard the same Word. We had been washed with the same water. We had tasted the same bread and sipped the same wine. And the little wooden cross that passed between us might as well have been solid gold.
To God be the glory!
+ John Neil Alexander
June 2005
Traveling and a great opportunity
Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!
I am writing this from Westminster the day after the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Nottingham. Tomorrow [June 24] I leave for Tanzania, where I will be visiting the Diocese of Central Tanganyika, where my friend Mdimi Mhogolo is the bishop. By the time you read this, however, I suspect I will be back in Atlanta and tending to my regular duties.
The meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council was an interesting gathering of representatives from across the Communion. We were welcomed warmly. It was wonderful to see so many good friends from so many places around the globe. It was a great picture of the rich diversity of the Anglican Communion.
Representatives from both the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada were there to make presentations at the request at the Primates' meeting. I have to say that was a little awkward. attending the meeting of one group to respond to questions put forth by another group in light of the Windsor Report, which itself was the product of yet another group. But such is the nature of our church at the international level.
What is clear is that the conversations in which we are presently engaged are a long way from over. We have some genuine disagreement among us about important issues, but there is also a great deal of love and affection that runs very deep, and for a clear majority there is a desire to move forward in mission and ministry in the Name of Jesus and not let the current issues around sexuality divide us, even for a season.
My trip to Tanzania is very much about the fact that the mission and ministry of our common life, in partnership with our sisters and brothers in other parts of the Anglican Communion, moves on and in many places is building momentum. While I am in the diocese there, I will be preaching at their seminary's graduation and, with Bishop Mdimi, I will be ordaining Sandra McCann to the priesthood and sharing in the ordinations of the new priests there. I'll be visiting schools and hospitals and making connections with the priests and people of the diocese there so that we can deepen our friendship to support the work of the Gospel both in their land and in ours.
Doug Hahn, the Rector of St. Thomas’ Church, Columbus, will be traveling with me. Sandra and Martin McCann are longtime members of that parish, and the wonderful family of St. Thomas’ has led the efforts in our diocese to support them as official mission personnel of the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Atlanta.
I look forward to offering you a more detailed story of my visit to Tanzania when I return. I am excited about our growing relationship with the Church in Tanzania. I look forward to being partners in ministry with them. What is clear to me is that the Lord of the Church is prospering our mission and ministry in ways we can hardly imagine. Your participation -- in prayer, participation and resources -- makes these ministries possible, and for that, and for you, I give grateful thanks to God every day!
To God alone be the glory!
+ John Neil Alexander
