Sermon in Thanksgiving for the Ministry of The Rt. Rev. Larry Benfield - John 17:6a, 15-23

There are seventeen errors in your order of service tonight, one for each year of Larry’s episcopacy. They range from incorrect rubrics and misguided capitalization to conventions I know he doesn’t care for. These seventeen deliberate errors are an homage to all of the accidental ones he has noticed here over the years as bishop, but was too gracious to point out. For example, for several years running there was a rogue comma that kept appearing in the Ascension Day orders of service, thanks to the magic of copying and pasting from one year to the next. I’m sure he caught it the first time it appeared, but it took me a few years. Once we found it in the office, we thought about making it into an apostrophe, an ascended comma if you will, just to see if he would notice.

For someone with such keen eyes and care for the traditions of the Church, coming across mistakes and deciding whether or not to say something can be tricky. I imagine this is one of the particular challenges of being a bishop. There was a 19th century bishop who handled it much less graciously than Larry has. By all accounts, he was a reactionary autocrat. In 1864, the bishop of Rome, otherwise known as Pope Pius IX, issued what he called the “Syllabus of Errors.” He scoured the other bishop’s sermons and apostolic letters for things he found disagreeable, and then listed them one by one. There were 80 in total. What upset him the most was a new trend he abhorred, namely the Church capitulating to modern ideas and trends. He summed it up in the final error on his list, which read, “The Roman Pontiff can and ought to reconcile himself to, and agree with, progress, liberalism, and civilization, as lately introduced.” This put the other bishops in a difficult position, and they tried to reason with him about his hard line. To make their case for embracing modern ideas, like developments in biblical scholarship, they appealed to tradition to support their positions. In response, the pope famously pounded his fist on the table and said, “I am the tradition!”

Fortunately, Larry has been more generous than Pius IX. But there have been things over the last seventeen years that surely irked him. I bet we could write a syllabus of errors for him, from the Diocese of Arkansas. A whole section would need to be devoted to liturgical practices. At clergy conference each year, Larry announces a new liturgical abomination, something unfortunate he has observed while visiting a congregation. We all sweat a bit, not wanting to be that priest. Abominations include, but are not limited to, using the area under the altar for storage, priests washing their hands over tiny lavabo bowls before the Eucharist, and the use of fake flowers and fake candles in church. The list has grown considerably over Larry’s tenure. And while we’re talking about Larry’s high standards for good liturgy, I’d like to get to the bottom of an urban legend here at Christ Church. We used to have sanctus bells that were rung during the Eucharistic prayer. The story goes that when Larry came here as rector, he hid the bells. I can’t prove it, but we haven’t been able to find them since. Let’s all be sure to ask him about that at dinner.

Of course, there are much more important errors that have weighed more seriously on our bishop over the years. There has been no shortage of conflicts and shortcomings on the part of good and faithful Episcopalians. Bishops have to deal with the thorniest ones, which is often a thankless task behind the scenes. In the congregations he oversees, we have all made errors in our budgets, in our evangelism, and in our efforts to respond well to the challenges in the world around us, as lately introduced. But perhaps our most egregious error, despite our bishop’s best efforts, has been our failure at times to see the risen Christ in one another and in the next person walking through the doors of the church. Larry had every right to pound his fist on the table about that one, but instead he just kept repeating the call to see Jesus, and leading by example.

I have witnessed that example many times. On a personal note, though he didn’t know us, Larry was very welcoming to me and Jason when we were looking for our first jobs out of seminary. We emailed him directly, and we were shocked when he emailed us back personally. That did not match my experience of other bishops. He brought us to Arkansas, and helped us secure positions that would grow into incredibly rich ministries. He mentored us when we had so much to learn. He has continued to be a generous counselor, teacher, and companion in ministry ever since. Jason and I will always be grateful to you, Larry. And I bet everyone here has a story to tell about the difference your ministry has made in their lives.

The readings for tonight’s service are those appointed for the Unity of the Church in the prayer book. This selection honors one of the chief roles of a bishop, which is to “guard the faith, unity and discipline of the Church” (BCP, p. 517). We give thanks tonight for a job well done. The readings also remind us that we remain united with one another across changes in seasons of ministry, including a retirement.

Looking ahead, I imagine that we will continue to make a few mistakes in ministry. But we will also do our best to see the risen Christ among us. I hope that our efforts will live up to the words in John’s Gospel tonight. Jesus prayed to God that “the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them, even as you have loved me.” Making that love known will always be our shared ministry. Larry, we look forward to worshiping with you whenever you’re free to be here at Christ Church. We’ll do our best to meet your high liturgical standards. There might be a few errors in the orders of service, just so you’re prepared. And who knows, maybe by then we will have found the sanctus bells.