Good morning, Saints.
The Rev. Mollie Williams, a retired priest with roots in our diocese, reminded me of something earlier this week. I had posted about having completed the New York City Marathon—a challenge I took on because I knew 2025 was going to be the “year of hard things”. Meaning, I as bishop and as child of God, would be taking on all kinds of new challenges that would teach me new skills and stretch me as I led our Diocese—growing our ministries to and with young people, beginning a diocesan capital campaign, exploring possible reunification with the Diocese of Northern Indiana. The marathon would be a hard thing of a different kind. And it was hard. And when the sun had set and I still had miles to go I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. You see, I was moving slowly and the sun had set, the cheering crowds thinned, and the aid stations with water and Gatorade were being taken down. Even running with Bishop Kristin White and a couple of new friends we made along the way, I wasn’t always sure which way to go, but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other. Right foot, left foot, right foot.
Mollie had remembered my experience of being holed up in a stairwell at Trinity Church in New York City—just a few blocks away from the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Like many who survived or were affected by the attacks that day, I wasn’t sure if there was going to be a future. But I remember God’s presence feeling especially close. Mollie remembered that I had also run that day. From the parish house of Trinity Church Wall Street as the north tower began to collapse, holding the hand of someone I had just met, I found my way to the Staten Island Ferry, by running with my eyes mostly closed, putting one foot in front of the other until we reached safety.
This is a lesson, I keep learning over and over again: In moments of uncertainty, it can be the simplest, most essential of acts, like daring to walk forward, that can get us through.
Saints, when we gathered in this very place a year ago for the 187th Convention of the Diocese of Indianapolis there were many things I had hoped we would learn about how God was calling us to move forward as a diocese. We had two days of engaging amazing people and workshops about our buildings and mission; about racial justice and healing; about the ongoing discernment toward reunification; and so much more. But at the end of it, all I wanted us to remember—not even remember so much as claim as core to our identity—that we are beloved of God. “I am a beloved Child of God and there is a future for my church.”
I must confess to you that after packing up and saying goodbye to all who had worked so hard to make our gathering wonderful, I had a pit in my stomach that something was off. Just days after our national election there was a collective tentativeness and, anxiety, about what the future would bring. But in that moment, I want so much for you to know that your belovedness in God and that the church was going to be okay is what mattered most. But perhaps the rallying cry should not have been about the future of our church but the future of our world. In the days and weeks after convention, I spoke with many of you and was reminded of something that I know but didn’t lift up—that the body of Christ—all of us who make up this beautiful, faithful, sacrificial, loving community of saints—exists not for the sake of the church, but for the sake of the world. And what I surmised dear ones, is that this time last year you were most concerned not only about the future of the church. You were concerned about the future of our world.
As we prepare to enter the 10th year of our episcopacy—this relationship of bishop and people of God in this diocese—I thank God for you. I thank God for what you continue to teach me about being a faithful Christian. And it continues to be the great privilege of my life to be your bishop and chief pastor particularly in this moment in history.
This is not an easy time and I want to speak clearly about how we make our way through. Many of us, GenX and older, have known an unprecedented period of stability and predictability and that has come to an end. It may be that what we have learned over the past few years about navigating life when the world is in crisis will be our new normal. As our country—and many nations—loses its grip on democracy, elevates White Christian nationalism and enshrines xenophobic policies and practices into civic and cultural life; and as the safety nets for the working poor, the elderly, the uninsured, the unhoused, and other vulnerable populations is shredded, and as protections for same sex marriage are threatened, we are called to remain clear about who we are and what we are called to do as followers of Jesus .
Theologian Regina Walton reminds us that in seasons of crisis, catastrophe, and disruption, the Christian community has always found ways to form small communities of practice, witness, and resistance to move forward all the while relying on the outrageous promises of God. The outrageous promises of God to make a way out of no way; to be with us in the present and to lead us into the future; to make all things new; and in Jesus Christ conquering death assures us that resurrection and new life always has the final word.
As we gather for this,188th Convention of the Diocese of Indianapolis, we may not know what the future will bring. But we are here. And we do have some clarity about where we are going as a diocese. And I want to invite us to do the things that have and will continue to strengthen the body of Christ that we may serve the world in Christ’s name.
In this time where there is so much swirling I want to assure you that there is nothing new we need to invent to rise to the challenges before us. Like simply putting one foot in front of the other, over and over again, I’m calling us back to the essentials.
In the College for Congregational Development we learn that churches of every size practice the same rhythm of gathering God’s people so that they can be transformed and sent back out to help transform the world. And there are reliable ways—sources of transformation— that God changes our lives—by prayer and worship, study and learning, life in community and action.
Prayer and worship are essential and reliable sources of transformation. Gathering weekly for Holy Eucharist or Morning Prayer; praying some version of the Daily Office at home, or with others online, or practicing contemplative prayer. Gathering together for worship that is rooted in the Anglican tradition that speaks to all the ages and stages of life is essential. With Jolene Johnston in place, we will be engaging creative ways to worship, sing and pray through our Centering Children in Worship initiative. We will continue to nurture the lives of our youth in the ways they worship at Waycross, on mission trips—and most importantly—in their home congregations.
I’ve been encouraged by the increasing numbers of people who join us for worship Sunday after Sunday. Anecdotal evidence and my review of parish registers show steady increase in attendance across our diocese. I’ve confirmed or received over 100 people so far this year and I know there has been an increase in adults seeking baptism. Even in these difficult days, God is renewing us.
Study and Learning is an essential and reliable source of transformation. Lectionary study groups, Education for Ministry, Preaching Among Friends, the College for Congregational Development, and our new diocesan youth confirmation curriculum are some of the ways that we deepen our formation and discipleship. We have partnered with the School of Faith and Ministry in the Diocese of Northern Indiana to form deacons and lay leaders and opportunities to study contemporary issues like White Christian Nationalism will be offered in the new year. And there are countless other offerings taking place in congregations across our diocese all helping to make us stronger in our evangelism and our witness.
Putting our faith into action is a reliable source of transformation and it matters more than ever. Our work of advocacy, service to those in need, and showing up for each other saves lives. From the student clothing ministry hosted by St. Paul’s, Columbus, to the 180 people fed by Grace Muncie on Sunday afternoons, to the extraordinary outreach ministries of Trinity Indianapolis, to the bees nurtured and food grown at St. Christopher’s Carmel and St. Peter’s Lebanon, we are tending to those in need. In 2024 our collective ministries benefited nearly 18,000 people in our diocese. And that may be an undercount.
Finally, Life in Community is an essential and reliable source of transformation. Every meal we share, small groups, pilgrimages to see our siblings in Brasilia, or to encounter our history on racial justice pilgrimages to Alabama or living in community like Faith at the Crossroads—this is where we are renewed by simply being with one another.
Make no mistake, God will be with us whether we tend to these essentials or not. But when we gather for worship—whether we are 15 in number or 150; when we rally to accompany someone to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement hearing; when we find the wherewithal to feed the increasing numbers of food insecure in our communities; when we create safe spaces for our vulnerable children and elders; when we do these things that Christians have done for millennia—in season and out of season—we are putting one foot in front of the other in the sure and certain hope that God is with us and ahead of us. And we will be changed, and our world will better for it.
I want to close by updating you on two key initiatives that will take a different shape in 2026: our continued collaboration with the Diocese of Northern Indiana and raising funds for a deepened commitment to ministry with and to young people in our Diocese.
Since March 2023, the Diocesan Reunification Discernment Team made up of members from the Diocese of Northern Indiana and the Diocese of Indianapolis has worked with leaders across our state to put forth models and a timeline for possible reunification. The team has spent countless hours in prayer, study, research, and listening sessions. Each of our congregations has faithfully engaged the question of whether we are called in this time to once again be the Diocese of Indiana. This has been a process of extraordinarily faithful discernment.
The decision to call not for reunification but for a period of robust collaboration is an act of extraordinarily faithful discernment. I’m indebted to the members of the Discernment team, Bishop Doug Sparks and his staff, our own diocesan staff and all of you who have participated in this journey. If the time for reunification isn’t now, then now is the perfect time to practice the sources of transformation as our dioceses continue to get to know one another. More than hoping and praying that this is so, our leadership bodies will soon take up the work of planning for ways that our two dioceses can continue to worship and pray together, study and learn together, show up in action and service with each other and learn what our life in community might be like. In God’s time, there will be an opportunity to take up the question of reunification once again. And we will know the time is right because having listened to one another and the Holy Spirit and created bonds of affection and ministry both of our dioceses will be ready for a wholehearted “yes”.
Lastly, in 2024, the Executive Council endorsed a diocesan feasibility study to test our capacity for a capital campaign to support ministry to youth, young adults, campus ministry and Waycross Camp and Conference Center. I’m pleased to tell you that our feasibility study found that there is great enthusiasm for moving forward and we hope to launch the campaign about a year from now. You’ll be hearing much more about this in the new year but understand that this campaign to support these ministries of our diocese is about the future of the world as it is the future of our church. What greater gift can we give the future than a generation of young people who know they are beloved of God and are equipped to transform the world into God’s dream for it.
I want you to know that Bishop Cate Waynick believed in this effort and when I returned to my office the weekend after she died, I found on my desk the very first gift to this campaign from her and Larry with a note from Bishop Cate dated October 28. She wrote in part, “I’m so grateful that our diocese continues to emphasize ministries with youth and young adults, and in education and formation. Every parish holds dear memories for me—along with the campus ministries and, of course, Waycross. I look forward to the next stages of progress…With affection, Cate.”
I read it as a love note to us, the diocese she loved so much. It will take some time for us to come to terms with her sudden death. Her commitment to this diocese was deep and unwavering. We stand on her shoulders and the shoulders of so many of the saints who labored long and now rest with God. Our commitment to them in Christ’s name is to keep moving forward. Holding hands, arm in arm. One step at a time. Right foot. Left foot, Right foot. Beloved and fearless, into God’s full future. Amen.
