From the Bishop's Desk

In June 2024, the Eastern Synod will be electing a new bishop. As we engage in this time of discernment, Bishop Pryse offers some reflections on where and how the bishop’s ministry is exercised.

It’s not uncommon for the bishop to become an object lesson for the Sunday morning children’s message. In a laudable effort to introduce the visitor at the front of the church who wears a big cape and carries a big stick, the bishop gets trotted out for a visit with the kids. And invariably, the pastor asks, “Who knows what a bishop does?”  

One Sunday morning an all-too-clever pre-teen shouted out, “They move diagonally!” We all laughed, but there was more than a little truth contained in that youngster’s answer!

The bishop is always moving, sometimes diagonally, sometime forward and sometime backward; always moving between different expressions of the church. One Sunday in a rural congregation in Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia and the next to an urban ministry in the heart of downtown Toronto.  Then off to a meeting of the National Church Council or a solidarity visit in support of one of our Global Mission Companions. The bishop is always moving back and forth between the church’s most local and widest expressions. And in that movement, the bishop can become a means of connection that strengthens the bonds that unite us as fellow members of the body of Christ.

All human beings and human institutions are vulnerable to the dangers of parochialism. We are all tempted to value only our own very particular perspectives, experiences, and aspirations. As someone whose ministry engages a wide variety of local and wider expressions of church, the bishop can help broaden perspectives and make connections that can enhance the functioning of the whole body.

When the bishop sits at meetings of the National Church Council or the Conference of Bishops, they must carry their synod’s congregations and rostered leaders with them. Likewise, when the bishop engages with congregations and rostered leaders at the most local level, they must always carry with them the experiences, perspectives, and aspirations of our wider church partners.

St. Paul, writes, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many.”

No single expression of the church can live in isolation. Bishops are called to help make connections and broaden perspectives.  They move diagonally. They must listen carefully, reflect prayerfully, and share generously. And in that sharing our experience of discipleship can be made richer and the health of the whole body made stronger.

In June 2024, the Eastern Synod will be electing a new bishop. As we engage in this time of discernment, Bishop Pryse offers some reflections on where and how the bishop’s ministry is exercised.

Our synod’s constitutional documents tell us that the bishop is called to “provide pastoral leadership and counsel to ordained and diaconal ministers, congregations, synodically recognized ministries and areas of this synod.”  Eastern Synod Bylaws Part VII, Section 1. In my experience, the primary locus of that work is the table, the Lord’s table, the meeting table, and the dining table.

The Lord’s Table

The bishop exercises a full Word and Sacrament ministry, presiding at the altar and proclaiming God’s Word in congregations and regional gatherings of our synod. Congregational visits have been the beating heart of what has sustained me during my term of service in this office. The discipline of regularly preparing and delivering sermons at services across the territory of the synod is a spiritually grounding exercise that provides a frame within which the day-to-day work of the bishop is held and supported. Presiding at the table reminds me of the church’s calling to provide good food to hungry people, to help fill whatever part of them feels most empty.

The Meeting Table

The bishop convenes gatherings of people around a myriad of meeting tables. Meetings of the Synod Council, Officers and staff. Meetings of the Synod Assembly. Congregational Council meetings and meetings of pastors and deacons. The bishop participates in the meetings of the National Church Council and the Conference of Bishops. The bishop will be called upon to sit at the table of other committees and working groups, some ecumenical, national or international. They will sometimes engage with government officials and secular media. They will be called upon to arbitrate conflicts, resolve disputes and administer discipline. They are called upon to be wise counsellors and prudent mediators, always honouring their promises to uphold and abide by the constitutions and enactments of our church.

The Dining Table

The bishop is privileged to share food and drink with God’s people in their churches, homes, and communities.  At these tables we can establish friendly and mutually supportive relationships with leaders, both lay and ordained, across the territory of the synod. The bishop needs to be genuinely curious about other peoples’ lives, their communities, experiences, and perspectives.  This table offers a steady diet of ham, scalloped potatoes, baked beans, chili, Solomon Gundy, and the widest possible variety of noodle and rice-based casseroles. (Jellied salads are purely discretionary!) More importantly, it offers a steady diet of understanding, mutual support and care. It is an honour to sit at the synod’s dining room tables.

Always eat what is set before you. Always be thankful! And always remember to keep your fork!

Bishop Pryse issued the following pastoral letter in late September 2023.

I am writing today to provide formal notice that the Eastern Synod will be electing new officers – Bishop, Vice-Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer – at it’s June 2024 Synod Assembly. I will have ample opportunity in the coming months to offer further reflections on my own decision to not seek an additional term, but think it is important for you to know about the processes that have been put in place to ensure a prayerful and informed leadership transition for our synod in 2024.

In March 2022, Vice Chairperson Laurie Knott, Secretary Wendell Caron Grahlman, Treasurer Keith Myra and I informed the Eastern Synod Council of our respective decisions to not seek additional terms of service in 2024.  I then asked the Synod Council to 1. consider enabling a nomination process to identify potential candidates for election as Vice Chairperson and Bishop; and 2. to begin a process to identify their nominees for election as Secretary and Treasurer as soon as possible. The Synod Council agreed to both requests.

The procedures for electing the officers of the Eastern Synod are specified in Eastern Synod Bylaw Part V, Sections 12 e. and f. https://easternsynod.org/resource/eastern-synod-bylaws-2018/ The Secretary and Treasurer of the Eastern Synod are elected by the convention upon nomination by the Synod Council. The Bishop and Vice Chairperson are elected by the convention via an ecclesiastical ballot where delegates may vote for any eligible candidate until such time as a specified majority of votes have been cast for a particular candidate.

The Eastern Synod Council has now identified its nominees to serve as Secretary and Treasurer and each is currently being trained and integrated into the administrative processes of the synod. This will help to ensure a smooth transition following their presumed elections in 2024. These individuals will be introduced to you in mid-November of this year.

Likewise, in mid-November you will be introduced to the nomination process that the Synod Council has put in place to assist in the election of our next Bishop and Vice-Chairperson. This process will not change the constitutionally mandated balloting processes whereby these positions are filled. We will still have open ecclesiastical balloting at the convention. The election will, however, be preceded by a nomination process whereby the synod is invited to identify and engage with potential candidates in the months leading up to the convention.

Leadership transitions can be challenging. I understand that. I also know that they hold rich potential for unlocking and liberating new gifts, opportunities, hopes and dreams. I think our Synod Council has taken steps that will help us to maximize that potential and look forward to communicating with you further in the coming months!

This article represents a portion of Bishop Pryse’s remarks at Assembly 2023 as Anglicans and Lutherans considered a joint resolution on Peace and Justice in Palestine and Israel. https://elcic.app.box.com/s/pn24luwv6aqx4lwfh0hbw8yv08wxv3e6/file/1214779289584

My first visit to Israel/Palestine took place in late 1986. I was a participant in a study tour specifically designed for Christian pastors. The tour was heavily subsidized by the State of Israel in the expectation that we would eventually serve as hosts to subsequent pilgrimage groups from our respective church bodies. Our pilgrimage was part of a state sponsored business model that continues today.

We arrived on the eve of the first Sunday of Advent and prayed together the next morning in the Old City of Jerusalem. My spine tingled as we chanted the text of the appointed psalm for the day, Psalm 122. “I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord! Our feet are standing within your gates, O Jerusalem. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper who love you. Peace be within your walls and security within your towers.”

On that study tour, we did, indeed, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, but we did so in the context of very specific narrative lens of current events and political realities as articulated by our tour guide. I didn’t question that narrative because I didn’t know any different narratives. On that visit we did not encounter even a single Palestinian Christian. We visited a lot of churches and saw a lot of stones. But the itinerary did not include even a single opportunity to encounter the ‘living stones” who are our siblings in Christ Jesus.

In time, my perspective changed. I took the time to study the history of the region. In 2009 the ELCIC established a partner church relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land. Bishop Munib Younan visited our church on several occasions, and we began to learn about the lived experience of our Palestinian siblings in Christ. Then, in 2014, the Eastern Synod established a global mission companion relationship with the ELCJHL.

During my term of service as Bishop of the Eastern Synod, I have had the opportunity to participate in and host many visits to Israel/Palestine. I have established many friendships and experienced the work that the ELCJHL, the Lutheran World Federation, partner churches and many other organizations, both secular and religious, are doing to advance a lasting peace with justice in Israel/Palestine.  I am still praying for the peace of Jerusalem but am doing so through a much wider narrative lens than was the case for me on the first Sunday of Advent in 1986.

When asked in 2009 what the ELCIC could do to support peace in the Holy Land, Bishop Younan replied, “You have to speak the truth. I did not come here so that you would become pro-Palestinian. It’s not my aim that you would become pro-Israeli. We want you to be pro-truth, pro-justice, pro-reconciliation.”

That is the intent and focus of the resolution that is before us today. This is an opportunity for our churches to act together in ways that are pro-truth, pro-justice and pro-reconciliation. I urge you to support it. 

This past week I presided at services of leave-taking for two of our synod’s congregations. It was deeply moving for me to be present for these very poignant and profound moments in the life of these faith communities.

In 2022 our synod staff made some projections on what we thought our ministry footprint might look like in 2028. We anticipate that as many as one third of our synod’s 170 congregation will either merge with another congregation or close within the next five years.

Recent congregational mergers in Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and Sudbury have proven to be lifegiving and have reset our ministry profile in very good ways. Shared ministry partnerships in a variety of settings have likewise served to strengthen and support the life of many congregations. But sometimes those options either can’t or won’t happen. Sometimes congregations need to bring their ministries to a gracious and faith inspired conclusion.

Circumstances change. Contexts change. And that means that we will change; our ministries will change, even if it means acknowledging the conclusion of a particular ministry. And there should be no shame in this. For heaven’s sake! Aren’t we in the dying and rising business? Why should we be so averse to experiencing such necessary transitions in our institutional life together?

The two congregations whose ministries ended this past week did not fail. They discerned that the best and most faithful course of action was to end their lives and thereby provide legacy gifts that will seed and support new expressions of ministry in the future. And in doing so, they were mirroring the actions of previous expressions of church that had birthed them decades previously.

Each of those congregation had been launched with the support of denominational gifts and subsidies provided by preceding generations who had “paid it forward.” And now, they were doing the very same thing. “Paying it forward” to other expressions of church and the generations of believers who will follow us; ensuring that they will benefit from the same measure of generosity which has served and supported our ministries in this present day.

In John 12 Jesus tells us, “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” In this way, the seeds that have been sown throughout these congregation’s histories will continue to grow and bear fruit. Blessings that have been bestowed will continue to ripple forth and bring new blessings in the life of our world.

Nobody wants to see a particular ministry end. But sometimes ending is the most responsible course of action. And if it’s done well, it can lead to new beginnings and new life. Death can lead to resurrection. For such is the promise of the Gospel!

This morning I read an article reporting that several Agatha Christie novels have recently been edited to remove potentially offensive language, including insults and references to ethnicity. Similar edits have recently been done to works by authors Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming and Mark Twain. It got me wondering what might happen should such similar efforts be directed toward  our sacred scriptures. It would certainly make for a much quicker read!

This spring I have hosted three retreats for rostered and lay leaders where we have delved deeply into the scriptures under the gifted direction of Rev. Dr. Matthew Anderson, a biblical scholar and pastor of our church who serves as the Director of Camino Nova Scotia and lecturer at St. Francis Xavier University. Our theme title was “A Midnight Guide to the Bible: examining the scriptures through murder, sex, money, mistakes, #MeToo, and real estate!”  It was not your typical bible study!

In case you’ve not yet noticed, there’s quite a lot of nasty stuff in the bible; stuff that typically doesn’t show up in our neatly bundled three-year lectionary of readings.  Our default mode of dealing with such passages, when they do show up, is to quietly ignore them or to engage in forms of theological gymnastics that seek to defend, justify, or explain away actions which some of us can no longer equate with Godly behaviour. We need to do better than that.

A few years ago, I read an article wherein the author was exploring the question of violence in the Bible. The author referred to a piece written by Jewish philosopher Martin Buber where he reflects on Samuel chapter fifteen, where Samuel tells Saul that God has commanded him to wipe out the Amalekites – to kill every “man, woman and child, infant, ox, camel and donkey.” To be clear, God is commanding a genocide; plain and simple.

Buber’s response is a simple one. He writes, “Samuel must have misunderstood God. I cannot hear the word of God in these verses.” There is no attempt to justify, explain or defend. Samuel must have got it wrong because this is not God that Buber had come to know and experience in his life of faith.

So how do I reconcile the apparent contradiction between the God we encounter in different parts of the Bible? In short, I guess I don’t! I no longer feel compelled to try to reconcile these different and contradictory images of God and of the faith responses of those who would claim to be God’s people. I don’t disregard them. In fact, I accept them and try to learn from them. I accept them as being honest and faithful expressions of a religious tradition that is always moving, always in motion, and always in apparent possession of new truths and new understandings that can be quite different from those of our forebears.

“The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.’ This immortal first line to L. P. Hartley’s THE GO-BETWEEN suggests a helpful posture by which to approach the scriptures, particularly those portions that are most distressing and disturbing.

We can’t change or edit the scriptures. That would be both unfaithful and intellectually dishonest. We can, however, explore them, honestly, critically, and reflectively, not from a posture of arrogance and judgement, but rather of one of deep humility that seeks understanding. We don’t take the Bible literally, but we do take it seriously trusting that even the nasty bits have something to teach us!