My Rector will not be leaving the parish to become a Bishop.
The Rector at St. Boniface Church, Siesta Key FL., the Revd Dr. John C.N. Hall was not elected to be the next Bishop of the Episcopal Church Diocese of South East Florida (based in Miami).
( St Boniface is the parish in which I share in ministry as a retiree)
He was one of six nominees.
The successful nominee was Peter Eaton ( see http://www.diosef.org/bishop-search/nominees/the-very-rev-peter-eaton/ )
The process for the election of Bishops in the American Episcopal Church is brutal, and quite possibly ungodly.
Potential nominees are subjected to intensive scrutiny. If they pass muster in the first stages and become actual nominees the scrutiny is intensified.
The actual nominees (and their partners/spouses) have their lives and ministries laid bare (over a period of three to four months) to the face of clerics and lay leaders who, in many cases, are utter strangers.
These "more or less strangers" then vote at what is called a Diocesan Convention, at which the "fate" of the nominees is decided within three, four, five or six hours.
My Rector, John Hall, was not elected today. I can only imagine that he and his wife Jean are exhausted, sad, and maybe a tad depressed.
I ask your daily prayers for them.
Please also pray for the believers at St. Boniface Church, as we respond to the news that John Hall will not be leaving us. We have been living under a cloud of uncertainty for about three months. Now that that uncertainty has been resolved, please pray that we (and John) will grow together, and be blessed with fruitful work in the life and ministry of the gospel of God which we know in Christ Jesus.
( St Boniface is the parish in which I share in ministry as a retiree)
He was one of six nominees.
The successful nominee was Peter Eaton ( see http://www.diosef.org/bishop-search/nominees/the-very-rev-peter-eaton/ )
The process for the election of Bishops in the American Episcopal Church is brutal, and quite possibly ungodly.
Potential nominees are subjected to intensive scrutiny. If they pass muster in the first stages and become actual nominees the scrutiny is intensified.
The actual nominees (and their partners/spouses) have their lives and ministries laid bare (over a period of three to four months) to the face of clerics and lay leaders who, in many cases, are utter strangers.
These "more or less strangers" then vote at what is called a Diocesan Convention, at which the "fate" of the nominees is decided within three, four, five or six hours.
My Rector, John Hall, was not elected today. I can only imagine that he and his wife Jean are exhausted, sad, and maybe a tad depressed.
I ask your daily prayers for them.
Please also pray for the believers at St. Boniface Church, as we respond to the news that John Hall will not be leaving us. We have been living under a cloud of uncertainty for about three months. Now that that uncertainty has been resolved, please pray that we (and John) will grow together, and be blessed with fruitful work in the life and ministry of the gospel of God which we know in Christ Jesus.
Wonderful message and wise words, thank you Michael.
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