ACA: Diocese of the West

Webmaster’s Note: This was delivered on the occasion of the Consecration of The Rev. Daren K. Williams and institution, investure, induction and enthronement of Bishop Williams as the fourth Bishop Ordinary of the Diocese of the West.

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+In the Name.

“When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?” (St. John 21:15).

E are here a day after the Church celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ to the temple, and the Purification of Our Lady, to be about a presentation and purification of sorts of Daren Keith Williams.

Christ Jesus has called this priest to the episcopal order of ministry, and the Church in this diocese (a part of the Anglican Church in America, a part of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a part of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church) has confirmed Christ’s call to Father Williams by electing him and then receiving the consents of our Communion for his ordination and consecration.

Father Williams is thus being presented to God by and before this portion of the Body of Christ; and within this liturgy as the Holy Spirit makes him a bishop and successor to the Apostles, we will pray that he will be purified from being anything less than the apostle we look for and need him to be.

We know from the Gospels that Jesus had a special relationship with Simon Peter, and that He had chosen him as the leader of the Apostolic band. Most of us believe (I would think) that the successors of Peter have a special role in leadership and authority for the Church of Christ, and clearly that role is a subject for continual study, reflection, and discernment in our time and situation.

But as we center our thoughts and prayers on the consecration of a bishop, I would have you think about St. Peter and St. Paul of whom we heard respectively in the Gospel and in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

I ask that you think of “where” Peter was in his spirituality in his encounter with the Risen Lord, and of “what” St. Paul shows us as central elements of apostolic life and ministry.
The dialog about love we heard in this liturgy’s Gospel passage (with our Lord’s threefold questioning of Peter “Do you love me?”) is properly understood when we understand the Greek language of the New Testament.

C.S. Lewis in his book The Four Loves wrote about the different but related types of love that mark Christian living. But in the New Testament, two of them have predominance — those of brotherly love (phileos) and the love of God for us and our love of God in return (agapeos). Sexual love and its expression (eros) are not mentioned in the New Testament.

When Jesus first asked Peter, “…do you love me more than these?” he was first asking if Peter loved Him more than he loved the other apostles, and/or did he think the other apostles loved Him (Jesus) more than Peter did?

Our Lord used the verb agapas (love of God, godly love). Peter responded, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you,” and the Greek verb is philo. In other words, “Lord, I have brotherly love for you.” Hearing this, Jesus said to Peter, “Feed my lambs.”

Jesus then asked Peter the same question a second time — “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Again, agapas (love of God, godly love). Peter again responds the same way as his first response. “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.” —philo (brotherly love).

Jesus commands Peter, “Tend my sheep.”

With our Lord’s third question to Peter, there is change in verbs. Jesus asks Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” He uses the verb phileis. In other words, Jesus was saying, “Peter, you have brotherly love for me, right?” Peter responds, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you —philo (brotherly love). In other words, “Lord, you know that is all I have and where I am, and, yes, and it is the way I love you” brotherly love. Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.”

Daren, my soon- to- be brother bishop, my brother bishops, and all here this afternoon, this should be of great comfort to us. Jesus takes us as we are (where we are and what we are) and says, “Feed my sheep, Feed my lambs, Tend my sheep.” It’s all we can do and should do as we pray for our knowledge and love of God to grow. So often, we frustrate ourselves (and many times frustrate others) by trying to be where and what we’re not. It’s a waste of energy, and it will wear us down.

We know that Peter grew in his knowledge and love of the Lord after receiving the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room on the eighth day after the Resurrection, and at Pentecost. He became something new, a powerful man for Jesus. His Pentecost sermon caused the conversion of 3000 souls, but he never stopped being Peter. Daren, you will find that the Lord will increase the gifts you bring to the episcopate more and more, but never forget that He (not you) is the finisher and perfecter of your life and ministry. Pray for the wisdom to know what you can and cannot do, and be honest and humble about that before the clergy and people you shepherd, teach, guide, and protect. And be certain to spend much time alone with the Lord before His Presence in the Blessed Sacrament.

As you grow in the Lord in this life until He comes again with great power and glory, or when you move from the church militant to the church expectant, there are apostolic things you must do, and St. Paul tells us of such things in what we heard from the Book of Acts this afternoon.

He speaks of three things for apostolic ministry. He speaks of “how I did not shrink from declaring anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house … of repentance to God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:20-21). He repeats himself, “… for I did shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). And then he gathers this in his statement, “Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with the blood of his own Son” (Acts 20:28).

In Williamsport, Pennsylvania where our friendship began, you did not shrink from declaring what needed to be declared, and from doing what needed to be done to honor and defend the whole counsel of God. You exercised courage and were willing to sacrifice comfort and security. Your primary concern was for your people, not for yourself. You know that the Gospel message’s foundation declared first by John the Baptist and then by Jesus in the very words of His ministry was and is repentance. You know that repentance (metanoia in the Greek — meaning an about face, a 180 degree turn away from the world, the flesh, and the devil towards Jesus and His Kingdom) is the necessary ingredient for abiding faith to be alive and fruitful. Your clergy and people will depend upon you to be a faithful shepherd, and such a shepherd speaks and lives the truth in love. He calls his clergy and people to repentance. He calls them to greater faith. He calls them (to use the old Army recruitment slogan) “to be all you can be” in Christ and for Christ.

Your primary pastoral vocation is to be the shepherd to and for the shepherds under your charge and authority — publicly (in preaching and teaching) and from house to house (clergy home to clergy home) as St. Paul did. The Church requires (especially in these times) for the bishop to teach with confidence, clarity, and conviction. That is a gift your people deserve to receive from you. There is no greater gift for a priest or deacon than a bishop who cares, knows, and gives himself to the priest or deacon, to his wife, and to their children. The clergy can face much and do much when they know that their relationship with their father-in-God is real and secure.

Daren, you are blessed with a wonderful and spiritually mature wife. Here name is Joy, and she is ajoy to you and will be a joy for this Diocese. Our wives are our chief supporters and critics, and they (as my wife recently reminded me) watch our backs.

I know that the clergy of this Diocese are very happy about you being their bishop. Let us pray that their happiness abides. It shall when they get to know you as the spiritual father you are, and for the gracious gentlemen you are as well. We all thank the good Lord for you.

I conclude with asking you, my brother in Christ, to prayerfully echo the words of St. Paul in the weeks, months, and years ahead (and I preach to myself) — “But I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may accomplish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

+ In the Name....

The Rt. Rev. Dr. David L. Moyer, SSC
Bishop of the Armed Forces
Episcopal Visitor to England
Asst. Bishop — The Diocese of The Murray (Australia)
Last edited 8 February 2007 at 2131 PT.

Thursday, May 15, 2008 01:11 PT.

CONSECRATION SERMON — FEBRUARY 3, 2007