Sermon, Consecration and Ordination of
The Rev. Canon Melissa SkeltonVancouver, BC, Canada
March 1. 2014
St. David's Day
To the Metropolitan and the Primate, to my fellow bishops, to the clergy here, all visitors, and all the baptized, I bring you greetings the Diocese of Olympia.
I want to thank you the Diocese of New Westminster, on behalf of all of us who crossed the border and journeyed to be with you today, a border I pray we will continue to make more and more porous in our common life, surely what we have gathered here today to do will go a long way in that endeavor. I have relished our growing relationship, as have the people of the Diocese of Olympia, and this day only strengthens that.
I want to take one liberty today, and thank my good friend and colleague, before all of you, Bishop Michael Ingham, for the many ways he has nurtured this relationship between us.
WE come here today, after journeys of all sorts, this communal one we have all been on that culminates in this celebration, one filled with speculation, frustration, preparation, anticipation, there are so many adjectives you could add.
WE, individually, come representing as many journeys as there are human beings in this space, and all those paths, lead us here, to this moment.
And what is it we come to do today? We all gather today, in this place, to make a bishop. To name a bishop. Melissa is your name, but you might just as well be renamed, because Bishop is about to become your first name, and if you are not careful, a lot of your identity. My wife and I were at a church recently where the young people gave me a present, and then said, we have a present for Mrs. Bishop too.
It has been a journey for our two dioceses, which today we might say is ones loss and another's gain. But leaving it there would surely be to miss the point, for the number one allegiance we share in this room, that which is above any country, or parish, or diocese, or church, one that has no borders, is Jesus Christ, and in that we are bound together, and in that, today, we all win.
Much of what today entails might be seen through a very sterile word, but nonetheless, for the moment I will use it, technical.
We will do a host of things, say some ancient and hallowed prayers, and follow a pattern which has been followed for centuries, keeping alive the lineage of our faith, the continuity of our journey, the soul of our common Body. Technical, yet beautiful. Ancient, yet new.
For such an event, the one task I have, is to preach the Gospel, to Proclaim the Word, to bring the sermon, to rattle on, to say something that might illuminate that act, of making a bishop.
As I thought about what I might add to all of this today, in this proclamation of the Gospel, one of my favorite cartoons came to mind, of an ancient, wise, robed man with a cane walking down a sidewalk which comes to a fork, and he stands there with a quizzical look, haltingly, wondering which way do I go? each fork has a sign, one sign reads, "The Meaning of Life" and the other reads, "Wine and Cheese." That can really be a difficult choice. I thought of that cartoon as I thought of my task, because the sermon for such a day, could go a lot of different directions. I mean..
I could tell you how truly fabulous Melissa Skelton is. Much of which you have read, that she was a star at Proctor and Gamble, and then was "Vice President of Everything" at Tom's of Maine.
That she, in a great stroke of irony, and now poetic justice, oversaw the School for Bishops for us in the US. I could tell you that no one I have ever worked with has more energy, can multitask more efficiently, and basically make you tired just by watching her, than Melissa. That she has gotten more accomplished by 9 am. most days, then I can in a whole day, but many of you in this room already know that. And for those of you who don't know it, you are about to find it out.
I could share with her, in front of all of you, the most important bits of bishop wisdom I have received such as, "never pass porcelain" and you do need to heed that one, or what my Presiding Bishop told me, "if anyone brings you anything, just kiss it, bless it, and it will go away."
I could regale you with the history of the episcopacy in the world and in the church, but I suspect that will only help some of you catch up on your sleep. And after all what is Wikipedia for anyway?
All of that to say, in all honesty, this sermon was not an easy one to settle on. It did not just write itself. This is a big day, days like this are often uncontainable, larger than explanation, or translation, or explication, of any kind. There are a lot of firsts, first woman here, first US citizen, and of course, Melissa, it is for you, simply the first, the only, new, and unknown. And for every one of you who accept her this day, who call her to this office of bishop, who name her bishop today, just the same.
I think this liturgy, like so many of them really, is a liminal moment, it marks a hinge, a transition. Here you have the transition from, might we say, falling in love, and the hard work of love. From the euphoric, giddy anticipation of the new, to the reality of life day to day.
It might not be the best metaphor. I am not saying that Melissa is getting married to you today, or vice versa, although there is a ring, and other gifts, and she did say to me last night at the rehearsal, "finally, I got a man to give me a ring!" She has a great sense of humor too, please, please, for God's sake, keep that.
I want you in New Westminster to know, what anyone and everyone in Olympia already knows, Melissa is far wiser than me, she always has been and always will be. But, I do believe no one can know what it is to be in this office until you are in it. My one bit of learning, after 7 years in this office Melissa now comes to, has been a profound realization that there are really two kinds of bishops when you boil it all down, those that like being bishops, and those that want to grow the church and to share Jesus Christ.
Only recently did I find that Augustine, our ancient Church Father, in the earliest days of Christianity, mused the same, so this has been an issue for a while.
In a sermon he asked a question, Who is the bishop who is called bishop, named bishop but is not one at heart? He answered his own question, "The person misnamed bishop, is he who rejoices in that honor, rather than the salvation of God's flock, who in that office seeks his own ends, not those of Jesus Christ."
I have not been the same since hearing that for the first time,, and I am challenged by it daily. Because the one in the office cannot, and will never be able, to judge which one they are, only those they serve.
When Jesus talked about salt and light, he spoke of things which the people knew, cherished, earthy things, universally understood, they are things which infuse, pervade, become wholly a part of.
Both, salt and light, give of themselves completely. We know you cannot truly unsalt anything, once in, it is in. You cannot retrieve light, once shed, it is free, spent, gone. IN a sense salt and light sacrifice themselves in order to be what they are, to live out their ultimate purpose.
I can tell you that Melissa has said, and said again, to anyone who would listen, and more than that has tried to live this out in the ministry she has, and in the discipleship she teaches, that we, Anglicans, have everything we need in our identity, we just have to own it, learn it, rediscover it, make it "Sing" as she says, and as St. David, the saint of the day, would teach us, do the little things of life, the fundamental things needed, in a lively way, in a way that says to the world we are in love, we have fallen in love with Jesus Christ, fallen in love with this God of ours.
But, it cannot stop there, you FALL in love, but then you have to BE in love, you have to be committed to the hard work of love and this is something Melissa has taught me, and those around me, so well, and lives, ....it is the relationship, the ongoing, hard work of love which happens in the day to day, that ultimately transforms who we are, what we do, .......how we live, and move, and have our being in this world. When we live each day in the hard work of love we become salt, and light to the world
Today, in just a few moments, we will make a bishop, name a bishop, and a new relationship will begin, and whether you are here with me today to let Melissa go to this new life, or you are here today with all the anticipation of the new, either way, we will all be changed. Our world will be different than it was when we walked into this place. that is the very nature of our sacramental life.
And it is then, after all of this, that the relationship begins. When the excitement and pageantry of today is a memory and the living begins. I actually had a colleague bishop joke at my consecration, "Greg, this is it, you get all dressed up for your momma, and then it is all down hill from here."
I guess it could be, if falling in love was the only thing, if the euphoric newness is supposed to be sustained always. Having lived in the days after I have found, as I said earlier, there are bishops that love being bishops, and their are bishops that want to grow the church and share the Good New of Jesus Christ. It really is a decision, for me a daily one.
People of New Westminster, in Melissa, one thing I can tell you, and the people of St. Paul's, Seattle and the Diocese of Olympia would stand and resoundingly back me up on this, in Melissa, you have found the latter. She will never let you down in that.
Now, don't get me wrong she is a great admirer of beauty, she can surely adore the bling. You can watch her eyes light up as she is given these great clothes and the ring, and all that comes with this office, but that will not be the reason for her being, and this is what I am even more convinced of, if Jesus came to her and said, Melissa, lay all of that down, leave it behind, that is not the stuff I need, and follow me, there are few people I am absolutely sure would do so, but she is one.
She knows the difference in falling in love, and the hard work of love.
This sermon could have gone a lot of different directions, some of you may argue that it did, but here is my point, it doesn't matter.
Because, we came here today to make a bishop. We will very soon do that, and we will walk from this place, and celebrate, her taking her new Cathedra, and then we will share some wine and cheese, and then we will go the most important direction, out, into tomorrow, into our shared future, where the relationship begins, where the whole reason for what we did here, today, is.
Melissa, as hard as this is to do, it is time for me to say to you, I love you, I will miss you, thank you, and I could never thank you enough. As difficult as it is to see you go, I know it is absolutely right.
Melissa, come out here please, and don't look up here, but instead look out there.
Melissa, when you put that video together, that is still up on the website, the one that got you into all of this, you were asked how you see the episcopate in New Westminster, and you started by quoting Archbishop Michael Ramsey and what he said about the priesthood, one that Carries the people on his or her heart before God You said the Episcopate anywhere has the foundation of Prayer. I want to remind you of that today, in front of God and everybody, as you gaze out, upon, those who will share this journey with you, who will carry the load with you, who will live and share the hard work of love with you in the days and years ahead. Hang on to that. Look at them, and in turn, people, look at her.
We come today to make a bishop. We do this not just for her, but for us, the Church. She does not own the office, but she will inhabit it.
I am here, before you, to testify to the people of this diocese, on behalf of the people in mine, people who have lived and watched, and known, this person, named Melissa, soon to be named bishop, and to assure you that this name fits, when she is named bishop, she shall not be misnamed. I have never been so sure of anything, or anyone.
WE have come to make a bishop, and the name shall be hers, but the office, the reality of what this day sets in motion, is yours and ours, together. WE have come to make a bishop, but also to make a people, to continue our tribe, to renew our souls, to commit to the hard work of love.
Melissa, you are looking at those for which this work will be done, you with them, they with you. May this new relationship be rich, and beautiful, and true, and may it be a sign to the world, salt and light, a living testimony to Jesus Christ, our Rock and our Salvation.
And the people say.....
Image: Bishop Greg helps the newly ordained Bishop Melissa Skelton vest. PHOTO: Wayne Chose
Click to download a PDF OF THIS SERMON