The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The Rev. Pamela P. Snare, Sermon for Ordination of Bishop, January 27, 2007, Christ Church Nashville

SERMON FOR THE ORDINATION of THE REVEREND JOHN CRAWFORD BAUERSCHMIDT as ELEVENTH BISHOP of the DIOCESE OF TENNESSEE, SATURDAY, JANUARY 27, 2007
The Reverend Pamela P. Snare
Isaiah 42:1-9, Hebrews 5:1-10, John 20:19-23

Dear people and clergy of the diocese of Tennessee; bishops; visiting clergy; family and friends of John, Caroline, William, Henry, and little Caroline; people and clergy of the diocese of Louisiana and of Christ Church, Covington; I bring you greetings: Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is an exciting day; not only I believe, for the diocese of Tennessee, but for the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. God, through you people of Tennessee, has chosen a new chief pastor for his household: John Crawford Bauerschmidt.

Every episcopal ordination is an act of God for the renewal of his church. It holds the promise of new life; it opens the door to a new future. “See, the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare; before they spring forth, I tell you of them.”

A couple or so weeks ago, I spoke by telephone with one of you dear people of Tennessee, who said something like this to me: “John has gotten himself into a can of worms with us. But I guess the whole church is a can of worms right now.”

I cannot speak for the diocese of Tennessee, for I do not know you well enough to do so, but I must agree that the whole church is a can of worms right now.

However, I must tell you that every parish and every diocese with which I have been acquainted in my twenty-three years of ordained ministry has had its own can, or cans, of worms. There is simply no parish and no diocese which is worm-free. Some worms may be easier to digest than others, or more familiar and therefore less repugnant, but they are still worms. Indeed, I am certain that the news media have kept all of you abreast of our manifold worm-infestations in southeastern Louisiana, which those of us who live there fondly refer to as “Hurricane Land.” So take heart, you people of Tennessee. You are no different from the rest of us!

I would remind us, however, that “worm” is a biblical concept. Most often it is used as an agent of decay and destruction, or as a metaphor for hell. But it is also used as a metaphor for humility, emptiness, poverty of spirit – a felt sense of being reduced, stripped, to the lowest level of existence – as in Psalm 22: “I am a worm and no man, scorned by all and despised by the people.” These are words which have been understood as the prayer of Jesus himself as he hung on the cross.

Now listen to this: Knowing that you have worms, that you are a worm, is the first step toward new life. It is saving knowledge. And the Lord, true to his promise – “the former things have come to pass, and new things I now declare” – has sent you a leader who is willing to be among you in your wormy state.

I want to propose to you a gospel truth. We are closest to God when we are stripped of the illusion that we can solve our own problems; that we can will our own success, health, well-being; that we are in control of our lives, our future, our destiny. We are closest to God when we are aware of our own poverty, helplessness, vulnerability, dependence, frailty – our need for divine assistance.

“In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.”

What else are Jesus’ prayers and supplications, loud cries and tears, but acknowledgements of his own poverty; of his need for assistance from outside of himself; of his sharing with us the weakness of our human condition – our helplessness, vulnerability, dependence and frailty?

I said at the beginning of this sermon that every episcopal ordination is an act of God for the renewal of his church. It is that because it reminds us of our identity as the Body of Christ, our reason-for-being, our mission. “As the Father has sent me, even so I send you…Receive the Holy Spirit.” Our reason-for-being is not for ourselves, our own comfort, our maintenance of our structures, our institution. Our reason-for-being is to be sent into the world as agents of the reconciliation God has accomplished for us in Jesus Christ: “If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.” If the church accomplishes her mission, she puts herself out of business.

Michael Casey, a monk of a Cistercian abbey in Australia, observes in a book of recently published essays: “The Church can only have one attitude toward the world and that is the attitude of evangelization. The Church exists for-the-world; its very definition includes that it is sent into the world, as Christ himself was thus sent. If the world outside the Church did not exist, then the church in its present form would disappear. The Church exists only in function of the task of evangelization.” (1)

It is traditional at ordinations for the preacher to address the ordinand personally. But not yet, John. First, I would address personally you people and clergy of the diocese of Tennessee.

John Crawford Bauerschmidt is the envoy of Jesus Christ to you, to build you up, to form and equip you as Christ formed and equipped those first disciples, and to send you out in Tennessee as missionaries of the gospel of Jesus Christ, as agents of his reconciliation. He represents Christ in your midst. You are to honor him and respect him as you would Christ. This does not mean that his judgment will always be unerring; that he will not make mistakes, however unintentionally; or that you will always agree with what he says and what he does and what he decides. But he is the pastor that God has sent you, and you are to trust him and to support him even when he fails, even when you disagree with him. You are to bear with him in his weaknesses as Christ bears with us in ours, forgiving him as you have been forgiven. This is the heart of the gospel way of life. You will most effectively preach the gospel of Jesus Christ by who you are, and how you relate to your new bishop, and to each other, and to the world than by your words. Always keep in mind, as missionaries of the gospel, the reported instructions of St. Francis of Assisi to his friars as he sent them out into the highways and by-ways of Italy: “Go forth and preach the gospel. And if you must, use words.”

(1) Michael Casey, “Strangers to Worldly Ways: RB4,20” in An Unexciting Life: Reflections on Benedictine Spirituality, St. Bede’s Publications, Petersham, Massachusetts, 2005, pp. 157-158.

John, my friend, my colleague, my brother in Christ: you will shortly be made a chief pastor in the household of God. You are to honor and respect the clergy and people entrusted to you as you would Christ. You are to love them in their weaknesses as well as their strengths, bearing with them with the patience of Christ; tailoring your care for them according to the individuality and particularities of each. Always be mindful of the account you will one day give to the Chief Pastor, the Good Shepherd, for the souls who have been committed to your care.

You will be faced with problems that seem intractable from within this diocese and without. There will be times when you are bereft of solutions and you will acutely experience your own poverty, your own helplessness. You will suffer because not everything you do will be popular. If you rightly divide the word of God’s truth, you will cause some to rejoice and others to take offense. There will be times when your prayers and supplications will be loud cries and tears.

Always keep close, in your heart and in your mind our Lord’s own poverty and appeal for divine assistance. Although I know this will be difficult for you, and although your strengths are manifold, strive to make your own these words of St. Paul: “I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me…for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

The Lord has called you to this office. He never forsakes those who make their boast of his mercy.

“Now, to him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you without blemish before the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only wise God be power and dominion and honor and glory from this time forth and forevermore.”

(1) “Strangers to Worldly Ways” RB4, 20, “in An Unexciting Life: Reflections on Benedictine Spirituality, by Michael Casey, St.Bede’s Publications, Petersham, Mass., 2005, pp157-158.

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