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Presiding bishop reflects on changing role of clergy
By Neva Rae Fox
2002-217
9/19/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Episcopal Church's chief pastor, Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, used the occasion of the September 12 Hobart Lecture at the Diocese of New York's Synod House to explore the challenges facing clergy--especially in light of the terrorist attacks of September 11 last year.
'Looking back a year ago, I think we were all overwhelmed by the numbers of people who just poured in the moment the doors were opened, they just needed to be there,' he recalled in the meeting. 'Part of what was happening was, corporately, we were being stripped--taken to that place of profound vulnerability and nakedness.' He said that he didn't think 'people really expected to find answers in the churches and places of worship. But what was being revealed to people was their capacity for God, possibly in an unnamed way, but nonetheless there it was.'
Griswold said that he wanted 'to explore, not so much your delivering of pastoral care, but rather some of the elements that go into creating pastors, so that they can then respond gracefully to the demands that are made upon them in regard to pastoral ministry.'
He cautioned the clergy against taking the easy road, or becoming complacent in ministry. 'It is all too easy for us to become technicians of the sacred,' he warned. 'When we become technicians of the sacred we lose a living relationship to the sacraments.'
Open to expectation
The presiding bishop invited the clergy always to 'enter into liturgy on the tip-toe of expectation' because 'you never know how God is going to take these stereotypical elements or even some of the ceremonial complexities and turn them around in ways that indeed manifest Christic presence, but not in ways you're accustomed to.'
Griswold emphasized the role of prayer in the lives of clergy. 'The quality of our own prayer is so integral to our pastoring. It is something that we can so easily set aside in favor of the various external needs that present themselves. We can be very sort of Ignatian and apostolic and talk about finding God in all things--which is, of course, true. But, I really do think we have to, as Thomas Merton once said, 'waste time conscientiously with God.' That's a wonderful way of describing prayer because so often people think of prayer as another thing to achieve or to do--and particularly in our society.'
Quoting a Benedictine monk who once observed, 'Prayer is an opening to love on every level of our being,' Griswold said that 'our prayer is not an achievement, it is a stance of availability before the mystery of God. Prayer transforms our consciousness,' working in us over time.
He concluded, 'There are times when we are profoundly free, and there are other times when we are profoundly bound. Playing with this double dynamic in terms of our own lives can help us to be discerning as we move through active ministry.'
Griswold seated on international cathedra
In an Eucharist which preceded the lecture, Griswold was seated on the International Cathedra of the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine by Bishop Mark Sisk, a tradition started in 1989 to honor primates and religious leaders.
After the ceremony, Griswold said that 'while the presiding bishop properly belongs to the whole church, the fact that our corporate offices are in New York and that I live here makes it a particular joy that I have been seated on the international cathedra... It gives me a deep sense of being part of this vibrant and diverse community of faith.'
The lecture series is named for Bishop John Henry Hobart, the third bishop of New York (1816 to 1830), remembered for his dedication, especially in pastoral ministry. During his episcopacy, Hobart increased the number of clergy in the diocese and established missions and churches into the far reaches of New York State. His commitment to education is evident as he was one of the founders of General Theological Seminary and was the reviver of Geneva College, now Hobart College.
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