Dear Friends in Christ,
The recent House of Bishops meeting focused on the theological education and formation of presbyters, though what we discussed applies to lay people, deacons, and bishops. It was an excellent meeting, both in content and tone, because all of us were both teachers and learners.
Each day a different member of a seminary faculty would join a table of bishops. At first I thought this was weird, and I groused about the continual change, but I was wrong (yet again). It was remarkable to hear all but one of the faculty members say that many incoming students are either ill-prepared for graduate-level studies, or explicitly opposed to receiving feedback or direction. In turn, bishops spoke about the need for curricula to prepare graduates to serve today’s church, versus who we were two decades ago. These are big generalizations, of course, but it gives you a perspective.
An outcome of the conversations was a common understanding that we’re in this together, and of course, the “we” includes you, and every person in our congregations, living and dead. The ongoing work is to recover our theological imagination, to relish the joy God gives us when we foster among us a love for theology, which literally means “discourse about God,” and to refrain from reducing theology to self-identifying descriptors such as “I’m orthodox” or “I’m prophetic.” Professor Scott McDougall (now on the PB’s staff) writes, “Like the word ‘beautiful’ the words ‘orthodox’ or ‘prophetic’ should never apply to oneself but leave to others to assign to them. Those who claim to be either prophetic or orthodox, rather than allowing prophecy or orthodoxy to blaze forth unmistakably from their words and actions, are almost always neither one nor the other” (see p. 114ff in his essay in Wisdom, Knowledge and Faith: New Essays on the Future of Theology and the Episcopal Church, Seabury Books, 2026).
You hear me say–more often than you’d like–a big task for us in Maine is to ask, “Who are we? Why are we here? What are we doing about it?” For me, these are theological questions about God, ourselves, and how to be church. How we engage in and answer these questions points to the birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ongoing presence of Jesus Christ. What I see in you and our congregations are people who gladly accept this call, and who therefore, move mountains. Alleluia! Christ is Risen.
I look forward to seeing you at Schoodic!
Faithfully in Christ,
