Bishop Dabney T. Smith’s Address

Annual Convention Address You Are the Light of the World The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith, Fifth Bishop October 17, 2020 52nd Annual Convention

The following is a transcript of Bishop Dabney Smith’s Annual Convention Address at the 52nd Annual Convention of the Diocese of Southwest Florida. For 2020, the diocese met virtually at DaySpring Episcopal Center, with congregations attending via Zoom.

Good Morning. It is joy to be with everyone. Although we are not gathered in the same building, we are gathered in the same Spirit. I begin this year’s address by making several remarks about the reality of this Pandemic year.

First, I want to thank the Diocesan staff for taking such deliberate focus and action in creating such a helpful and continuous reality of diocesan life. Besides the ongoing practical functions of our shared lives, the creativity of meeting together in safe ways has given us a maintained strength. I also need to thank the clergy and lay leaders of all of our congregations for creatively thinking of new ways to provide worship, pastoral care, and future vision casting so as to be the Church in the midst of the Pandemic and planning to live beyond it. I also want to thank and point out the many diocesan leaders who have offered the same creative sparks. I thank all of you for your energy of service in this new way of holding this Convention. In particular, I express my and our gratitude to Canon Anne Vickers for taking the lead in thinking through and putting together the necessary elements for creating a Virtual Convention. Many diocesan staff members and Ms. Judy Stark assisted in creating this work, but Anne was the master builder. Thank you, Anne.

Ordinarily, during the first quarter of the year I begin to think of what would be the most helpful theme to focus on for all of us as we begin to organize for and beyond the Diocesan Convention. This year, however, the Coronavirus emerged and began to organize us in powerful and disruptive ways. Yet we knew that we still had to hold a Diocesan Convention and so in conversations with diocesan staff what finally became compelling was “Love Your Neighbor” and “Seek the Lost.” The “Love Your Neighbor” piece seemed more accessible when loving one’s neighbor became as prudent as the duty of wearing your own facemask for the good of others. The “Seek the Lost” portion of the theme had to do, in my mind, with the sense of feeling so lost and uncertain when the usual foundations seemed to have disappeared.

Most of you already know that I served as Rector for nine years in the Diocese of Northern Indiana. After I left that diocese it held an episcopal election and elected a priest by the name of Edward Little. Before he was ordained bishop, he went on a personal retreat and gathered himself around the following teachings for his Episcopate. He called them the Four Core Values for the Diocese: 1) Have a Passion for the Gospel of Jesus Christ; 2) Have a Heart for the Lost; 3) Have a Willingness to do whatever it takes; 4) Have a Commitment to one another. These Core Values provided a beneficial sense of Mission purpose. I am certain that Bishop Little would say, “You are welcome to use them if you desire.” I bring them up, simply to say, that although my friend Bishop Little was never my bishop – I have never forgotten his Core Values --- especially the second one --- Have a Heart for the Lost.

I said earlier that Seek the Lost had to do with the sense of feeling lost and uncertain. When I was younger and less theologically astute, I thought that the Lost, or those in the condition of being Lost were considered those beyond God’s salvation. They were the unfortunate, with a false or no faith. The word Lost, in my mind, indicated the unsaved. Too bad I didn’t have a better grasp of Holy Scripture. Let’s take the 15th chapter of Luke for an example in which Jesus told a series of parables regarding the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost brother. Jesus continuously taught that there is much rejoicing in the finding of the lost. In fact, the very last verse of the chapter says, “It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” Earlier when the woman finds her lost coin, her joy is described in the Message translation this way, “Count on it – that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

The word for Lost, Zema, originally meant disadvantage and may be considered moral or spiritual loss or damage in the sense of hurt or ruin. Lost is more often used in Scripture to describe the straying believers than those who have no relationship with the Lord. In fact, in the 19th chapter of Luke when Zacchaeus begins to act in a gracious, repentant manner towards his own people, Jesus declares, “Today salvation has come to this house since he also is a son of Abraham – For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the Lost.” Well, Seeking the Lost is important for us to consider because this year has been a time of loss and we have repeatedly experienced the painful loss of each other.

The Zoom platform is great and I am thankful for the technology, but I want to hug our children and grandchildren. It is important for us to be medically safe, while at the same time it is important for us to recognize the profound sense of lostness that we are living into. During the Pandemic, our hearts yearn to sing again, “I once was Lost, but now am found.” So, “Love your neighbor and Seek the Lost” – the actions of Jesus; the mission of the Church.

This sense of Lostness has been intensified by this recent painful Summer of Loss with so many Coronavirus medical deaths and the deaths of violence that have rattled Church and Country. It has been said that this is the year of two pandemics: the deadly Coronavirus pandemic and the deadly systemic racism pandemic. The Episcopal Church has been studying and trying to address the stranglehold of racism for at least two generations. I share some personal illustrations of these efforts on the part of the church. One vivid memory is the day that I was informed that I was a finalist for the office of Bishop of Southwest Florida in 2006. A member of Southwest Florida’s nominating committee, Mrs. Navita Cummings James, was the anti-racism trainer for a group of parish leaders at Trinity Church in New Orleans where I was serving as Rector. Another example is the first time I read a pastoral letter from the House of Bishops to a congregation in Indiana where I was serving as Rector of St. Michael & All Angels. The letter was a teaching on Racism. That was in 1994, the same year I began serving the church at General Convention. Even as recently as this week’s Executive Council of the Episcopal Church’s quarterly meeting, we spent significant time discussing Diversity and Inclusion programs, processes, and possible parochial report questions for data gathering for the whole church.

A current review of General Convention’s resolutions reveals 121 resolutions dating back to 1976 showing a variety of teachings, urgings, and initiatives. These included everything from examining Indian rights, eliminating racism in investing, the opposition to environmental racism, and the study of Mass

Incarceration. The only Canonical requirement in the Canons of the Episcopal Church regarding Racism is that for the ordained, which requires training in the Church’s teaching on Racism. I think the Canon is not sufficiently clear or self-evident. However, because there is a Canonical requirement for the ordained, this diocese, like most dioceses, has offered a number of programs at our conventions so that individuals can keep up their requirements. These workshop offerings have included; the film “Traces of the Trade” discussions, plenary panel meetings, and others.

Late this summer, I reinstituted the diocesan Race and Reconciliation Committee to provide guidance to the diocese on helpful programmatic initiatives for congregational and personal study and to make recommendations to me for the necessary program to fulfill the Canonical requirement for the ordained. Furthermore, I have determined after some extensive conversation with leaders of the active Becoming Beloved Community groups, that the diocese shall use this process, for the time being, as the certifying and accountability groups for the Canonical process for those in the local ordination process and for those who need to renew their certifications. The Diocese will then be better equipped to report to the National Church our work and progress in pursuing racial healing, reconciliation, and justice. Some may inquire, why pursue this so extensively? Pursing this is not just due to the absolute horror of a George Floyd problem in our larger culture.

The Rev. Dr. Tom Thoeni in one of our diocesan workshops called the Baptismal Covenant questions, the Questions of Holy Obligation. This means that we, the baptized are obliged to obey them. He powerfully noted the obligation surrounding racism in the question, “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” We do not always know how the need to strive will be revealed, but we do recognize the obligation to obey.

One-night Mary and I had a small group of bishops over for dinner after a day of conversation and prayer. After dinner we were seated outside on the patio and one of the bishops, an African American, came out with an accusatory voice and confronted me with, “Is that one of your relatives in that photo on the wall?” He had seen a photo of my great, great grandfather, a Confederate soldier and it had upset him. I have had the photo for many, many years and it was placed among photos of other generations of my ancestors. I knew it was historical and generally thought of it simply as a photo of one of my ancestors. My friend did not see photos of other relatives who were Federal soldiers but he saw the Confederate. His distress brought home to me the power of the American Civil War still being waged. After our friends left for the evening, Mary and I continued to discuss it. Ultimately, we moved this family photo to a more discreet place because we learned from the experience that it was not just an image of a family member from the past. The photo had the power to cause pain in the present, and this was to one of our friends.

I have another friend, also a bishop, who has adopted children. Two of these children are African American and my friend and his spouse are white. They adopted their boys at very young ages and now they are young adults. He has informed me that he realizes that they were raised in a white world context. He has told me of his fears for them when they were driving - afraid for what would happen if they were stopped. He has told me of his anxiety when he saw them being followed in stores. He told me of one son that he referred to as “directionally challenged” who one night left his cell phone at home and subsequently got lost. He stopped at a rural bar & grille filled with pickup

trucks displaying Confederate flag bumper stickers in the parking lot and naively went inside to borrow someone’s cell phone so he could call home. Conversations stopped inside upon his entrance as people turned and stared. He borrowed a cell phone and called his mom who raced to the place with her heart pounding to guide him home. Their parental fears are everyday as they fear the uncertainty of innocence being attacked by malignant racism. And these are our friends.

In 2011, at the 43rd Diocesan Convention, our diocesan guest Chaplain and Presenter was the Chair of the Anglican Consultative Council, the Rt. Rev. James Tengatenga, Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Malawi in East Africa. Bishop Tengatenga and I first met in Spain in 2007 in a Conference for Conversation between American and African bishops. This meeting was designed to benefit the relationships that would be nurtured the following year at the Lambeth Conference. James and I were placed into the same small group Bible study. I remember feeling shocked when he said, “I was raised to hate white people.” I remember thinking that I wasn’t raised to hate black people. However, upon further reflection I remember thinking that it wasn’t my family, but my culture, that taught me to be afraid. It is fear that can quickly move into hatred. When I checked out my memory with James and asked for his permission to share this recollection, he filled in the story by sharing that it was not just hatred of white people but that if he saw a white person, he wanted to kill him.

Well years later, Mary I were in London for a meeting I had with the Archbishop of Canterbury. One evening we went to a packed evensong at Westminster Abbey. When it was over, we stood up to leave and suddenly I heard my name being called. It was James Tengatenga who recognized the back of my head. Neither of us knew the other would be there, yet he knew it was me. And it was clear that shock, fear, and uncertainty had been overcome, and Thank God this is my friend. My friends, the Baptismal Covenant has everything to do with the lives of real people.

These personal stories are representative of why it is important for the Church, and that is us, to wrestle with the multitude of issues of race and reconciliation. All are God’s people and we are intended to be friends.

And so, after all of these reflections on a season of loss, the time has come for me to make a statement to this 52nd Convention. Under the instruction of Canon 18, I now call for the election of a Bishop Coadjutor to become my successor as Bishop Diocesan for the Diocese of Southwest Florida. Some things are in order to say. First, please know I did not want to start this process while we are separated by the Coronavirus Pandemic. However, our diocesan canons require that the request for an election take place within a Convention so that the Convention can give assent. That assent then forms the authority to create an Episcopal Election Committee. Secondly, this work to form an Episcopal Election Committee takes a fair amount of time to develop. It requires the work of the Standing Committee and for the elections of the Episcopal Election Committee to take place from within Deanery Convocations. Finally, a process for studying the diocese, screening and selecting candidates, and ultimately electing a bishop coadjutor will take at the least eighteen months.

This year I turn 67 years old. A bishop coadjutor may only serve for a total of three years before succeeding to the role of Bishop Diocesan. Furthermore, the Canons of the Episcopal Church require retirement at the age of 72. Therefore, pandemic or not, I am turning 67 and it is now proper for me to call for an

election for my successor. Accordingly, it is now proper for this Convention to grant its assent and authority for the work leading to an election to commence. The vote for assent will take place once this Convention is called to order following my address and it will fall early on the agenda.

After this Convention, I will call the Deans and the Standing Committee together to meet with me and the Presiding Bishop’s Suffragan Bishop for Pastoral Development. The work to form an Episcopal Election Committee for the Diocese of Southwest Florida shall then begin. Mary and I have not yet determined a retirement date. That will depend on the length of time it takes to call a bishop coadjutor, my health and stamina, and the diocesan budget.

This will not be a time of more loss. Rather, it will be a time of renewal. There will be ample time for more visits and reflections and it is my hope that soon we will not be separated by the Coronavirus.

This diocese has helped shape me and for that I am grateful. I am not leaving yet, but I already want to say thank you. You are a generous People of God and we are friends.