Bishop Coadjutor Ordination

Follow the Link to get the latest Ordination Information.

Friday, November 22, 2008, 10:30 a.m., at St. Martin's Episcopal Church, Houston

Set the Date: Ordination Date Given

Dear All,

The Presiding Bishop's office has let us know that, pending the consents of bishops and standing committees, I will be ordained on November 22, 2008.

The service is to be held at St. Martin's, Houston.

Please mark your calendars and join us for what promises to be a great day in the life of the diocese and church.

Muchísimas Gracias

Thank you for sharing your vision and your dreams of who we can be together. Thank you for the election as the next bishop of Texas. I am humbled by the work of the council and by the invitation to be a part of your lives, your families, your churches.

I am grateful to JoAnne…for her love and faithfulness to this diocese and our call to ministry. I am grateful for Caisa and Zoe, two wonderful girls, and their support and our life together.

I am grateful to Bishops Wimberly, High and Harrison for their support, guidance, and mentoring…and for their love. Each has cared for all of us, and in particular they have cared for JoAnne, and the kids, and for me.

Each nominee has given us a portion of our vision for the future reminding us of the role of bishop in pastoral care, congregational development, church growth, relationships, the future, and diversity. Thank you for your witness to us and your call to us.

I am reminded of Bishop Quin’s words to his first council, "To do my work well, it is necessary that you catch a vision which has come to me, of a Diocesan spirit -- a Diocesan family -- all one in Christ -- one in aim, ambition, endeavor -- one in rejoicing for the other's good. We can go ahead, we will go ahead, you and I together."

Thank you, and blessings to you all.

Muchísimas gracias. Gracias por compartir su visión y sus sueños a lo que podremos ser juntos. Gracias por la elección como el siguiente obispo de Tejas. Estoy muy humillado. Estoy humillado por su invitación para ser una parte de sus vidas, sus familias, y sus communidades de fe.


Cada uno de los candidatos ha sido esencial en tener una visión común para el futuro. Ustedes nos han recordado que el ministerio del obispo es pastoral, requiere relaciones con cada persona en la comunidad, y que necesitamos tener una visión del futuro con diversidad. Gracias.


Soy recordado de las palabras de Obispo Quin, “Para hacer mi trabajo bien, es necesario que ustedes perciban una visión que llegue a mí, de un espíritu del Diocesano - una familia del Diocesano - todos uno en Cristo - uno en la meta, la ambición, el empeño - uno en alegría para el bien del otro. Podemos seguir adelante, seguiremos adelante, ustedes y yo juntos”.

Gracias, y Dios los Bendiga.

Dream Dreams

On Pentecost Sunday Peter quoted the following passage from Joel: "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

This is actually a quote from Joel 2.28.

Joel was a prophet who exercised his gifts in the midst of the Temple at Jerusalem, using Temple liturgical forms in his writing, and maybe even transmitting his messages through the Temple priesthood.

He more than likely witnessed a locust plague and from that image offered a vision of God's hope and blessings.

What we hear in these words from our sacred text is that Joel and Peter are reminding us that the Holy Spirit is a gift to all people, not just the chosen. In fact the gift of vision is a sign of the age of Jesus.

This week JoAnne and I have busied ourselves. We have continued with our routine of life with the kids. Today is water day, a lot like bedlam at Camp Allen. The kids will soon be home with us for the summer.

I have been working through the normal load at the office. We are taking some time, but life is continuing.

I imagine that life is continuing for each of you. The reality is that it is all too easy to believe that things will continue just as they have. Tomorrow will be the same as today and the same as yesterday.

Yet the Christian message...the message of Jesus...is the hope of transformation. That you and I can prophesy, dream dreams, and have visions. This is available to us every day. We can not only see and proclaim a vision of hope, new life, and excitement for our future...but we can make that future real.

Jesus is telling us that this "making real," this Kingdom of God, is at hand, and we can see it and make it real in our day.

I have had the gift given to me of traveling with you these past five years, being in your churches, attending your conferences. I am looking forward to a long life together in shared ministry. I am looking forward to sharing your prophesies, seeing your visions, dreaming your dreams. I am looking forward to seeing and serving you as you make the Kingdom of God real for the people of Texas and of this world.

I am hopeful that Saturday you and I will take our first steps into this new life and ministry together...that our election moment not simply be another election moment...that it be the first step in making real our shared vision of God's hope for the church.

"I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams."

Myanmar. What a question

About halfway through the Walk About in Houston a fellow clergyman of the diocese asked a question: What would you do about Myanmar? How would you help us deal with tragedies like this?

Wow!

I paused, and those good folks in the room knew the question got to my heart. I was emotionally and spiritually moved by the question. I had one of those flashes, an instant, after I heard the question, when I was so very humbled. Here we were at Episcopal High School. Here we were in one of the wealthiest cities in the country. Here we were having a discussion about who would lead our church (which is VERY important). And there, across the globe was a terrific, a terror filled, tragedy.

I found the words to say that thank God they allowed the first aircraft with aid and supplies to land that morning.

Then I realized this why I am offering myself to lead this great diocese.

When I was sixteen my friends, Tommy, Blakely, Mike, Chan and I headed out to Addicks Dam. It was a clear night. We sat around on the top of the dam looking at the stars in the sky. It was one of those great moments of clarity, spiritual clarity with your friends. We were talking about what we were going to do when we grew up. I remember that I wanted to be a part of a church that changed the world.

I want to be a part of a church that changes the world.

I believe the people of the Diocese of Texas can change the world, and that we will in turn be changed - transformed by Jesus himself whom we discover in our global brothers and sisters.

We are raising money today for Myanmar. But we have to give of ourselves too. Can you imagine a diocese that decides to focus and change the world. That through the work of World Mission, our foundations, missionary funding, and mission trips we focus on a region of our Communion and change the world.

We do this not by saying, "Here we are the great Diocese of Texas. Let us help you!" No, we engage in a listening process, we seek to make them independent not dependant. We engage and help them to have and to live a better life, not our life, but the life they want.

We already have people in our diocese leading the way into these discussions. We need to capitalize on their experience and their dreams of changing the world. We need to learn from them and insure that we are not a diocese maintaining good relationships but a missionary diocese being transformed by our relationships.