All Weekly Messages

Throughout the week, the bishops and archbishops will be studying the First Letter of Peter. The letter was chosen with care and intention.

The Instruments of Unity are means of building community, understanding, and relationships across the Communion and around the world. The members of the Anglican Communion are held together by the grace of God and by a desire to be together and to do Christ’s mission together.

I am writing to you from Baltimore, Maryland, where the 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church is now underway. Along with me are the lay and clergy deputies elected by our own Diocesan Convention to serve. General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church and has been since 1789 when the Constitution of this Church was drafted and adopted in Philadelphia at Christ Church. The Reverend William White, Rector of Christ Church at the time, is considered the “architect” of The Episcopal Church.

I can’t help sensing that this struggle to find a common good—a place of agreement among us all, is largely the result of individualism run amok.

Today’s decision institutionalizes inequality because women with access to resources will be able to exercise their moral judgment in ways that women without the same resources will not.

This is a pivotal day for our nation, and I acknowledge the pain, fear, and hurt that so many feel right now. As a church, we stand with those who will feel the effects of this decision—and in the weeks, months, and years to come.  

Juneteenth invites us to recognize and acknowledge that though the institution of slavery was formally ended with the Emancipation Proclamation in January of 1863, the effects of slavery continue in the legacy of racial injustice and inequity that continue to mar our common life as a nation.

In the end, the doctrine of the Trinity is all about relationships—how God relates to God’s self, to the world God has made. How God relates to us and we to God.

In many ways and places, The Episcopal Church has made huge strides in breaking through the discriminatory barriers that inhibited LGBTQIA+ persons from realizing the fullness of their personhood and ministries as children of God. Nonetheless, there remains work to do. Our church, nation, and world still require much education, awareness, and sensitivity about the LGBTQIA+ community and its people.

Dear People and Friends of the Diocese of New Jersey, Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil; for you are with

This shooting was the product of active forces at work in this nation right now who are fueling racist-driven hatred and violence. These forces are actively recruiting and indoctrinating persons, especially young white men into their nefarious purposes.

Sadly, in our society, despite all we have learned, mental illness is still too often not treated with the same sensitivity and regard as physical illness. It is also often stigmatized. The solution to this is education, awareness and honesty—honesty with one another and honesty with ourselves.

We have received the gift of faith in Jesus Christ as Lord. By the grace of God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to continue to live our lives in him, rooted and built up in Christ, strengthened in the faith as we were taught it. As faithful people, our lives are also to overflow with thankfulness. This Eastertide, we all have much for which our thankfulness should be overflowing.

We have been living in fear these past years, many behind locked doors. We have been halted, hindered, even paralyzed, unable to carry out the “normal” aspects of daily living. We have buried loves ones, missed important milestones—births, baptisms, birthdays, weddings, funerals, graduations, and on and on. But now, even though we are not free of COVID19, something has changed. Light, resurrection light, has burst upon us and we see with new and deeper appreciation the things that give us life and above all, the Christ who gives us life.