Bishop Hughes shares her excitement over the events this Friday and Saturday celebrating our diocese’s 150th anniversary, reflecting on our past and looking forward to our future. (Time: 5:00.)
Video Transcript
This is Bishop Hughes in the Diocese of Newark, and it is an exciting week to be in our diocese. One of the big capstone events of our sesquicentennial year is happening this weekend. On Friday and Saturday, we’ll gather for a concert on Friday night, and then Saturday we gather for worship. And those two things are just wonderful in and of themselves, seeing musicians from around the diocese offer their music, really talented people offer their music for all of us, and then also getting to worship. When a large group of us gathers to worship, it’s always really wonderful. But truly, what makes this the most exciting is who is joining us. And as people from the diocese know, the Presiding Bishop will be with us on Friday. So Presiding Bishop Sean Rowe will be with us on Friday for all of those events, and then the former Presiding Bishop, Bishop Michael Curry, will be with us on Saturday for worship, and he’ll preach. And having the two of them here is such a wonderful thing, and so highly unusual for us, for anybody really, to have both of them coming in at the same time. And I’m really aware that their presence, in many ways, is an affirmation of the 150 years of ministry that has happened in this place. Over 150 years of people serving God and serving God’s people and serving God’s Church in northern New Jersey. That is not fly-by-night, that really and truly is sustained devotion and sustained faithfulness.
As we’ve spent time looking back at our past, one of the things I remember, have such a good memory of someone on the committee, the 150th committee that did all the planning for this. One of the priests, Andy Olivo, had just celebrated their 100th anniversary at their church, and said, one of the things that they did was say, as we plan all this, let’s remember that the years behind us are behind us. We see them in the rear view mirror as we keep moving forward. Such a great metaphor for how we have approached all of this. We see our past in the rear view mirror, and we are so grateful. We’re grateful for a place where progressive Christianity has been here for generations. Generations of people have really and truly been taught and lived out of faith that sees God everywhere and in everything. That God doesn’t just exist in the midst of our worship service, that God is out in the world, and that’s where we’re serving.
Also a diocese, when we look at that rear view mirror, a diocese that has been firmly committed to a social justice gospel. That the way that we see the Jesus of the Gospels speaking with the disciples and sending them out, we think that Jesus is speaking to us as disciples and sending us out in the world. I would go so far to say that in this diocese, we feel propelled to go into the world and serve God’s people. And while one of the things that we think is important is justice, that kind of the right ordering of things, what we’re really trying to do is to bring God’s goodness and God’s love and God’s mercy everywhere that we go.
I love our mission statement, because I think it speaks to who we’ve been in the past and who we are right now, and what we aspire to be. It sounds like us. That’s what I say most often about it. It sounds like us. “Join us in following Jesus with bold acts of justice, peace and love.” That is our whole calling – to follow Jesus, and when you follow Jesus, it is going to drive you into acting boldly for the goodness of somebody else. That’s what Justice looks like, is working for the good of somebody else. It’s going to lead you into bold actions that will lead to peace, that we will be the peacemakers. And that we in all things are offering God’s love.
So I am excited for our continued celebration. If you’re nearby – if you’re in the diocese I certainly hope you’re coming – but if you’re nearby and want to join us, we would love to see you. A hundred-fifty years, that really and truly is something to celebrate, and so is our future. I am excited to see where God is going to lead us, especially at this time, with that kind of boldness for justice, peace and love for God’s people, everywhere.
