Made for Relationship

Beloved in Christ,

This Sunday during an Evensong at St. Mark’s Cathedral, we will formally commission and install our three new archdeacons—Lee Grim, Rena Turnham, and Chip Whitacre—as well as our new diocesan canon, Kelsey Schuster. I will also be formally seated as bishop, a traditional rite we delayed last year. My dear friend the Reverend Lydia Kelsey Bucklin, Canon for Discipleship and Innovation in the Diocese of Northern Michigan, will be with us to preach. 

Christian ministry is never a solo endeavor. As disciples of Jesus, we all share in his priesthood, and our lives and ministries belong to one another in a very real way. In appointing these four individuals to this important work, I am trying to intentionally share important aspects of episcopal ministry. No single bishop is capable of effectively and faithfully doing everything bishops are responsible for. Building a shared and mutual team helps expand our reach in a big diocese, but also models that all of Christian life and ministry must be shared in order to be truly faithful.

I’ve asked Lydia to preach because she understands, communicates, and lives this reality as well as anyone I know in the church. Team ministry has been important in Minnesota over the years, and I am working this year to renew the ways we discern, form, and support team ministries around our diocese. 

None of us can do what we are called to alone, and in fact, to do so is unfaithful. We are made for relationship, shared life, and connection. Who are the key people with whom you share life and ministry closely?

I hope you’ll join us, either at the cathedral or online, as a way of marking our commitment as a diocese to walking more closely with one another as members of the same body, committed to sharing life and ministry together in deep and meaningful ways, for the sake of Christ’s ministry in the world. 

Grace and Peace,

The Right Reverend Craig Loya
X Bishop
Episcopal Church in Minnesota