Frankly the significant experiences for such a recently consecrated bishop as I come so fast and feverishly it is hard to keep up with it all\u201d\u201dbut between my bishop\u2019s journal where I record daily events, and my personal journal reserved for deeper matters of the soul I\u2019ll revisit much of this latter. I\u2019ve met so many possible links that may provide missional relationships for the Diocese of South Carolina that my mind is running along lines of mission, strategy, and theological alignments that I belief will be mutually beneficial to our diocese and parishes and for dioceses in every direction out from South Carolina\u201d\u201dIreland, England, New Zealand, India, North Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, West Africa, East Africa, et al. Some of these bishops bear names you may well recognize and others humble godly servants of God who have faced incredible challenges and have kept the faith in the midst of astonishing hardship. It heartens the soul to walk with them from one venue to another, to worship alongside them, study the scriptures with them, or share a meal in the cafeteria with them.<\/p>\n
This morning was the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. The bishops in convocation robes processed to the Choir while the spouses of the bishops along with various dignitaries\u201d\u201dformer Archbishop Carey to name one\u201d\u201dfilled much of the Cathedral nave. As we came through the Great West Door of the Canterbury Cathedral two by two, Bishop Jack Iker with whom I was paired whispered to me something to the effect\u201d\u201d\u201cYou won\u2019t enter through these doors very often.\u201d\u009d It hardly needed a response from me. I trembled for a moment. Certainly not everything in the service was to my liking\u201d\u201dand some of it more than a little disturbing. But I\u2019ve moved beyond that for now. What lingers is the processing, seeing my wife Allison in the congregation as I processed in, going forward to receive the sacrament for resoluteness of will, and the gospel procession with the Melanesian Brothers and Sisters dressed in tribal garb dancing from the High Altar to the Compass Rose carrying the gold Gospel Book in a coracle or little boat. All I could think of was the joy that came to aboriginal people as the gospel set them free from ancient fears and now carrying the Holy Scripture as if they were carrying Jesus as their Chief and King. That is of course what the gospel did for the early Celts, Picts, Anglo-Saxons and even Vikings on these Isles, and a thousand other tribes, tongues and nations elsewhere. The gospel always needs to be inculturated into every society and every society needs to be evangelized and transformed by gospel\u201d\u201dincluding ours.<\/p>\n