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Day Six (Sunday, June 18, 2006)
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by Canon Britt Olson
It was exhilarating, electrifying, exciting! The
news that the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
had been selected as the next Presiding Bishop of
the Episcopal Church ignited what had been a
fairly tame and quiet Convention. For many of us
it was the work of the Holy Spirit setting the
church on fire with a passion for mission,
ministry and hope for the future. This election
offers a vision for the dream of God in which all
people are respected and valued. Under the
leadership of our next Presiding Bishop the
Episcopal Church will be challenged to take our
baptismal promises very seriously, particularly as
they impact the needy in our world.
This election also impacts me personally. It is
rare for me to cry, but at the announcement I put
my head down on the table and began to sob and
shake. For months I had been saying that no matter
how unlikely Bishop Katharine’s election may have
seemed, the Holy Spirit works in the life of this
woman in the most unexpected and transformative
ways.
The first time I heard of Katharine was when I was
accepted as a student at the Church Divinity
School of the Pacific. As a first-year student I
had been assigned a senior mentor, another woman
from my diocese, Oregon. At that time there were
five powerful women from Oregon at the Seminary,
all of whom have been role models to me. But
Katharine was the one who reached out to me. She
took her responsibility as a senior mentor as she
takes all of her duties, very seriously. Before my
arrival she wrote to me offering her help and
prayers and giving me some idea what to expect.
Over the years I have saved the many cards and
notes she has sent me. There are cards welcoming
me into shared ministry with her as priests in the
Diocese of Oregon. There is a card celebrating my
call as Rector of St. Paul’s, Sparks. There are
many thank you cards for any gift or occasion when
I was able to share my gifts with her. There are
annual cards from her when she served as my Bishop
in Nevada celebrating my birthday, and each of my
ordination anniversaries. And there is a card she
delivered in person as she attended my
installation service as Canon for Evangelism and
Congregational Development in the Diocese of El
Camino Real.
I cannot imagine or think about my ministry in the
Episcopal Church without being grateful for this
amazing person, priest and bishop. She is first
and foremost a pastor. Her loving, listening,
thoughtful presence along with her willingness to
provide support, resources and clear council have
benefited anyone who has ever consulted with her.
She possesses a deep well of kindness and
compassion as well as genuine respect for all
people. She is magnanimous. This gracious outlook
has enabled her to develop relationships with
everyone and will bring together persons who might
otherwise have been estranged.
She is a mature and disciplined leader. She is
firmly planted in reality while allowing the dream
of God and the vision of God’s reign to soar. The
Episcopal Church will be safe in her hands, but it
will not be staid, stagnant or risk-free. She is
the pilot to guide us into our destination in
Christ but we are not going to be passive
passengers. Her passion for the ministry of each
Christian in the world will demand a rigorous,
mature and heartfelt response from each of us. She
will hold us to high standards for the sake of
God’s Kingdom.
This is not business as usual. This is a
hope-filled vision for the 21st Century
and a journey into a more engaged and
outward-focused practice of our faith in the
living Christ through the power of the Holy
Spirit. Hang on and fasten your seatbelts. It’s
going to be a wild and exciting ride!
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