Editor's note: You can watch a video of Bishop Gohl's address here, or embedded at the bottom of this post. Hear these words of Paul in the Letter to the Ephesians: I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all. -Ephesians 4:1-5 I wish to continue the practice I began last year by amplifying my report with four brief words: a word of gratitude, a word of struggle, a word of challenge, and a word of hope.
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by Pastor Lauren MuratoreThe final day of assembly was short but full. Our half day together began with another workshop from Brian McLaren followed by a plethora of workshop opportunities in break out rooms, and then, of course, we closed with gorgeous worship led by synod staff and the Lutheran Youth Organization Music Team (who totally rocked it out, by the way!). With so much going on in just one day I felt a little stuck about what to write, so I asked our bishop what he thought the one most important theme had been. He took less than a second to reply: "Sent to be the body of Christ alive in the world."
by Pastor Lauren MuratoreIf yesterday’s theme was Baptism, today's has been Truth-Telling. There was a refreshing level of transparency in all of the presentations today, which was its own offering of sorts. A gift given to the whole assembly and to the whole church: "Here"s the truth. The way things really are. We trust you with it."
by Pastor Lauren MuratoreEvery year about this time the church in Delaware and Maryland gathers for Synod Assembly. It’s an annual rhythm. Every year we begin with worship. It’s an annual ritual. There are things the church does that feel familiar to us — maybe even business-as-usual — a gathering-in like breathing. But worship at the beginning of this Synod Assembly set a different tone — not for business-as-usual but for renewal. Given the theme of Baptism, the Right Rev. Chilton Knudsen, Assistant Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland and our preacher today, spoke of cleansing water. Water that revives. Water that sustains. Water that quite literally births new life.
Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here. "While salvation is a free gift of God, discipleship costs everything." – Bishop Bill Gohl
Our final assembly day was filled with business before our closing worship. Some highlights include:
The Rev. Bernard Barber (All Saints, Baltimore) sent us off with a powerful word at our closing service, reminding us to remember whose hands we are in. "Two loaves of fish and bread in my hands are a couple of fish sandwiches...in God’s hands, they feed thousands." Thanks be to God for our gathering this week! Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here. What a beautiful day in Ocean City, Maryland!
Dr. Cheryl Pero introduced us to the 38 Theses from the Conference of International Black Lutherans. The first is that "cultural diversity is a gift of God, that there are a plurality of cultural ways of being Lutheran, and this diversity/plurality enhances rather than compromises the unity all Lutherans have in Jesus Christ." When one person in the community is broken, the entire community is broken. Pastor Stuart Luce, our Leadership Development Director, is called to be the "light, salt, and yeast in the area of leadership in our synod." Find the videos he's been creating over the past year on our website. Candy Maxwell, our synod’s new Lay Leadership Development Director, shared her BHAG (big, hairy, audacious goal): that the church is a place for individuals to receive the master class on leadership and is the place of raising up effective Christian leaders not only for the church, but for families, workplaces, and communities. We adopted a Resolution on Ecological Justice that encourages congregations to practice energy conservation, educate our communities, and equip individuals to advocate for ecological justice issues, and designate an annual Ecological Justice Sunday. Let's make the earth great again! We adopted the 2018 Faith Spending Plan with one friendly amendment, to change the designation from Gettysburg Seminary to United Lutheran Seminary. Pastor Russell Fink reflected upon his 65 years of ordained ministry, reminding us that "we are here to live." Pastor Bettye Wolinski, our new Assistant to the Bishop for the Eastern Cluster, taught us a new way to look at the Lord's Prayer, through the eyes of several 13-year-old young women in her congregation. Pastor Albert Starr brought us greetings from the ELCA Churchwide Organization. "We must make sure that every culture, race, and ethnicity has access and opportunity to be a part of the life of this church ... thank you for your commitment to support this whole church." We elected several people to synod council and other leadership roles in our synod. Thank you to everyone who is willing to serve in this capacity! And we have some news - Synod Assembly is moving! Following a resolution at last year's Assembly to consider new locations, the Synod Assembly Relocation Task Force looked at several different venues, and eventually settled on the Delta Hotels Baltimore Hunt Valley. Look for more information about the 2018 Assembly in the next few months. The closing of Second English Lutheran Church in West Baltimore and the sale of their building sent appreciable gifts to many active ministries including $650,000 to our synod to be dispersed among the Forward in Faith Capital Campaign, our synod's Campus Ministries, and Augsburg Lutheran Church in Baltimore. Thanks be to God. After the business of the day, we gathered at St. Luke Roman Catholic Church for a service commemorating the 500th anniversary of the reformation. It was a beautiful service led by Bishop Gohl and Bishop Malooly (of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington) and assisted by clergy members of both traditions. It was especially meaningful to repent of our sins together and recite our common creed. Finally, a group of youth and young adults gathered for a time of evening prayer on the beach led by Pastors Mark and Christine Parker and Pastor Tim Jahn. Our synod is blessed by their commitment to making sure young people are lifted up as leaders. Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Emma Wagner has your daily digest here. Christ is Risen! He is risen, indeed!
Synod Assembly 2017 is finally here! As I made my three-hour journey here this week, I reflected on the many, many times I've made the drive. Starting from the time I was born in 1990, my family would make the drive from Baltimore to the beach for a week every summer. Eventually, I began to think of Ocean City as a place of faith formation when the town hosted RoadTrip, our synod's high school youth event, and then our Synod Assembly. I began to think of this town as not just a beach town, but as a holy place where deep relationships are formed and members of the Delaware-Maryland Synod gather at least twice every year to continue our work together. We began the assembly in worship. We were greeted with a powerful vignette sermon by Pastor Judy Cobb, interim Assistant to the Bishop, and were treated to wonderful music led by Jeremy Grenhart. Some highlights from today's business sessions:
See you tomorrow! Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Pastor Lauren Muratore has your daily digest here. The 2016 Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly is in the books, and there’s plenty to celebrate about the work we did together as church over the past three days in Ocean City. In addition to actions chronicled in previous posts, here are some highlights from the assembly:
On the final day of the assembly we worshipped together. This service included the rite of ordination for Bernard Anthony Barber and Matthew Beers, as well as the reception of the Rev. Christopher Otten to the roster. Bishop Wolfgang Herz-Lane brought the word for the assembly, reminding us that “the very breath of God enters our lives everyday, bringing new beginnings where we may only see endings.” That’s the kind of Spirit-filled wisdom we’ve come to expect from our bishop over the past six years. His is the prophetic, forward-looking, and mission-minded voice the Spirit has given us for a season of moving forward in faith. In that same Spirit, with thanksgiving for Bishop Herz-Lane’s ministry and that of the synod staff, the assembly called (elected) the Rev. Bill Gohl to be our bishop in the six years ahead. The closeness of the vote belied a perfectly Lutheran moment - one of those “both-and” sort of things. After yesterday’s vote, deep appreciation was expressed for two faithful servants; one who has been called to shepherd the synod and one who will take up that calling. There was fervent acclamation for Bishop-elect Gohl, as well as a standing ovation for Bishop Herz-Lane and his staff. And now it’s another day in the church and in the world. Just a normal Sunday. But like Bishop Herz-Lane preached, “the very breath of God enters our lives everyday, bringing new beginnings.” We here in the Delaware-Maryland Synod are ready for whatever God is up to next, as we gratefully, humbly, joyfully move forward in faith. Look! I am doing a new thing. Now it springs up. Do you see it? |Isaiah 43:19 ------------------ Note: Due to the election process, the assembly was left with unfinished business. This includes the African Descent Lutheran Lives Matter memorial, as well as four resolutions: Bridging the Racial Divide and Encouraging Racial Reconciliation in the Delaware-Maryland Synod; U.S. Aid to the State of Israel as a Tool For Peace; a resolution to support of the unification of Gettysburg and Philadelphia seminaries; and a resolution to move synod assembly to a new location. Synod Council will take these up, in accordance with the constitution. Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? Social Media team member Pastor Lauren Muratore has your daily digest here “And [Jesus] began to teach by the sea…”
| Mark 4:1, as quoted by Bishop Skrenes during a time of spiritual preparation I’m grateful that our Synod Assembly has met in Ocean City for the past few years, mainly because I love everything about beach towns - the smells (fried dough and salt), sounds (too-loud, too-happy conversations and wind), excellent food (read: permission to eat whatever you want!), freedom to dress juuuust a little more casually (and go without shoes as deemed necessary). This year, despite the consistent fog over the water, I’m particularly grateful that our assembly is meeting “by the sea.” Well, within eyeshot of the bay, actually, which flows out to the Atlantic Ocean. There is nothing like standing at the edge of a body of water that does not end to remind us of our place in the world. Small. Fragile. A little broken, like the sea glass and shells that have become the sand between our toes. And it is this same water that completely hems us in. Rocks us by invisible rhythms. Asks us to consider an entire world beyond the one we’ve always known. Calls us forward. Out. This water – it’s invitation and dare. The Rev. David Daubert, our keynote speaker for day two of the 2016 Delaware-Maryland Synod assembly, posited that, as a church, we are standing not at the edge of the ocean, but on the margins of culture. A church no longer in the center of society. Small. Fragile. A little broken. Rather than a thing to be mourned, this is, perhaps, the theologically proper location for the church. Christ is always found in the margins and with the marginal, after all. And it is only from the outside of Christendom – no longer afraid of losing status or influence - that we can speak with the prophetic voice the Spirit is daring us to use. And all of us have been invited to speak up. We heard that prophetic voice in worship, where Maya Camille' and Colleen Carpenter-Gonia - two incredible young adult women, one Black and one White, neither one ordained, consecrated, or commissioned - brought the word to the assembly. Fire, they said. Spirit, they said. Die and rise again, church, they said. Amen. We heard the prophetic good news proclaimed in and through the lives of eight candidates for Bishop, who ran ragged as they answered our questions, allayed our fears, and challenged us to imagine a church beyond the one we’ve always known. Amen. We heard the prophetic then-and-now witness of the saints during our time of remembrance, as the names of those who have died were lifted up alongside the names of those who continue to serve this church. This church. This new thing God is doing. Amen. This morning we’ll hear from the final two candidates for the office of Bishop in the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the ELCA, and then we’ll vote. In the Spirit, we’ll call a bishop to encourage, challenge, and lead us for the next six years. This is, in many ways, momentous. It is, simultaneously, only one small part of one expression of one church. One element of how we operate as people of God. Paradox, friends. Sand and sea. Invitation and dare. Not just for the one we elect, but for all of us. Lord, listen to your children praying. Wondering what happened today at the Delaware-Maryland Synod Assembly? |
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