As I worked on my address to the convention much later than my usual habit, February 24^th, St. Matthias Day the anniversary of my consecration, was suddenly upon me. I have begun my 14^th year as bishop, and my 43^rd year as deacon and priest. As I said my prayers, I was led to reflect about the sixty-nine years of living that God the Holy Spirit has used to form me.

I am deeply grateful for a loving family rooted in the gospel and faithful members of Trinity Church, Natchez, MS., a church which cared for its children exceedingly well. I have been blessed by the opportunity for a fine education in college and seminary, as well as the privilege of serving in remarkable congregations and this wonderful diocese. I have been strengthened by the Holy Spirit in a good bit of adversity – my mothers Alzheimers disease, my younger brother’s untimely death and a healthy list of mistakes which give me the opportunity to learn and grow. In dealing with issues around the diocese, I have received remarkable support and care. However, there are always those who tell you how wrong, or unloving, or light-headed you are. It helps to keep me rooted in that biblical verse, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" --all of us.

I was particularly reflective about my spiritual formation on Friday, February 14^th when I presided at the funeral of Geoffrey Lewis, the young son of Fr. Ted and Martha Lewis. I was amazed that I knew part of the liturgy by heart, and that I can recite almost verbatim the old liturgy.

According to my notes, I have presided over the years in over 650 funerals. That experience has colored my soul because the burial liturgy of the church is strong and awesome and powerful. I have used its words over and over again, for family, friends, parishioners and total strangers. I can hear them like a symphony.

• "I am the resurrection and the life, saith the Lord; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die."
• I Cor 15: 58 – "Therefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."
• Rom. 8: 38-39 – "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, no things to come, not height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

"On November 28, 1950 Truman received word that the Chinese had plunged into the Korean War, with a quarter million troops in furious assault. Two days later Truman set off a world-wide firestorm by suggesting at a news conference that the United States was prepared to use the atomic bomb in Korea. The man responsible for trying to calm that crisis was the president’s press secretary, Charlie Ross, who was also his long-time friend.

On Tuesday December 5^th, Ross dropped dead of a heart attack, hours before Miss Truman’s concert at Constitution Hall. The president kept the news from her until afterward. The next morning when the President read Hume’s assessments that Miss Truman ‘is flat a good deal of the time,’ he reached for paper and pen.

" ‘Some day I hope to meet you,’ Truman wrote. ‘When that happens you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes, and perhaps a supporter below.’ "

Times of crisis create chronic anxiety, which produces reactivity, which keeps us fixed on symptoms, which robs us of the ability to present well-defined positions, and which keeps us stuck in issues rather than the emotional processes which created the issues in the first place. That can and does happen to us all, President Truman himself being an example, and his reaction to the music critic’s assessment being the fruit of reaction.

Not unlike the rest of us, our Presiding Bishop fell into the same trap recently when he said "I’d like to be able to go somewhere in the world and not have to apologize for being from the United States." The United States is rightly "hated and loathed" around the world for its "reprehensible" rhetoric and blind eye toward poverty and suffering. "Quite apart from the bombs we drop, words are weapons and we have used our language so unwisely, so intemperately, so thoughtlessly that I am not surprised that we are hated and loathed everywhere I go." In the March Episcopalian, the Presiding Bishop recovered the discernment so vital to lead the whole church when he said, "I will not second guess those who unquestionably have better information than is available to me about options for action in response to Iraq. However, I call on President Bush to exhaust all diplomatic and multilateral initiatives as the alternative to waging war. My prayers are with our president and other leaders of our nation and world, that they may seek to forge peace, with the men and women of the armed forces, including our military chaplains, and their families. I pray that compassion and reconciliation and healing may become the realities of our common life, thereby reflecting God’s own passionate desire for the well-being of the world God sent his son to save."

The Presiding Bishop’s initial reaction to the presence of the United States around the world and to the crisis with Iraq, did not empower the church to deal constructively with the great demands of the day. No one wants war, we should encourage our leadership to leave no stone unturned to find a peaceful solution to the Iraqi crisis, but the issues are more complex than simply war or peace. There are future world-wide implications regardless of the path taken. It is appropriate for the Presiding Bishop to charge that we fall short in terms of our immense wealth in dealing with poverty and suffering, but at the same time we should acknowledge what America and its citizens individually have done for the world with a good heart, going all the way back to the Marshall Plan after the Second World War. Our children are buried all over the world in service of freedom. Our failures, whatever they are, need this as a foil to help us see a greater vision. We might even start with our own failures as a church with our immense wealth and power. Bishop Skilton and I want to give thanks for the many ways our country and our church have blessed the world. We want to encourage our people to be honest, thoughtful, discerning and prayerful in search of peace in this time of national crisis, and to do all we can to reach out to the poverty and suffering of the world, starting with this diocese and our congregations. In terms of our own wealth in the Diocese of South Carolina, what if our hearts were touched, and vestries which worry about money should tithe or even give one percent for outreach and mercy with their capital funds as well as their regular funds. Fifty-thousand dollars would make a monumental difference in some of our third world dioceses, but in a multi-million dollar building program, would not even be missed. Most of our congregations have strong outreach, local and foreign, but what if we did more out of our abundance? Wouldn’t we be the first ones blessed?

As we look at our common life together we need a keen awareness of the atmosphere we breathe. We live in a 24- hour news cycle with CNN, CNBC, FOX and others, constantly on the air reporting, interpreting, even inflating and creating news, with all this increasing our sense of perpetual crisis. Then there is the whole domain of e-mail, chat rooms, etc., where fact, rumor, opinion, often ill informed, if not outright untrue, are all rolled into one, frequently in destructive ways. Chronic anxiety must be the fruit of such undisciplined communication. A disconnect with reality is always a possible fruit of such a system. "Crisis, Crisis, Everywhere" is the mark of the day.

Oliver O’Donovan, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology at Oxford University, describes this world in his most recent book, Common Objects of Love:

"Publicity reasserts homogeneous culture, that is to say, one which differentiates neither the matter communicated nor the recipients. Mass man, negatively defined by lack of special calling and spiritual vocation, transmits a confused mix of news, advertising, and entertainment, a popularism that may be seen as a late fruit of the Pentecostal inspiration in Christianity. But that poses the question: what prospect can there be for a Pentecostal discourse that depends on no Holy Spirit and acknowledges no gospel? Is this not another instance of theological hope recast in a secular mold that cannot sustain it? What can stand between this communication and the self-destructive dominion of rumor? The air of unreality surrounding the ‘(Princess) Diana phenomenon’ illustrated the extent to which reality and projection become indistinguishable to a media formed society.

"Publicity is a roaming spotlight, catching people unpredictably in its beam. It does not accrue to projects, planning, virtues of performance, teamwork, durable results, or anything of merit. It is interested only in those moments over which its subjects have little or no control: their spontaneous reactions or their embattled struggles. Publicity is attracted not by achievement, but by pathos."

It is in light of this mood of crisis all around us, that after considerable prayer and discernment with leaders of the church around the Anglican Communion I joined a group of archbishops, bishops, clergy and lay leaders to meet with the new Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. As soon as his appointment became public, we Had been flooded by various descriptions of who he is, who he was, what he thought, what he had written, what he had said. From that we were told what he would do, what he would not do, what he would teach, how he would lead--- an endless list of predictions without ever talking to him. He was gracious enough to receive us in Wales, to let us spend some quality time with himself and his wife Jane, a theologian in her own right, and to listen to us about our concerns for the church and the future. He stated clearly to us that as Archbishop it was his calling to lead the church and uphold its teaching. His private opinions are just that, private opinions. I left the meeting knowing that I had spent time with a godly man, one deeply committed to Christ and the Gospel. He is a fine scholar as well. He deserves and cherishes our support and prayers and should not be measured by media predictions, only by what he actually says as Archbishop, and, like all of the rest of us, by his actions.

As I am writing this address, I am encouraged to hear that N. T. Wright, Canon of Westminster, has been appointed Bishop of Durham, one of the important bishoprics of the Church of England. This bodes well for the Church and the Communion, as N. T. Wright is a fine scholar and author. I had the privilege of hearing him last summer in Oxford and previously at the Anglican Institute in Colorado.

Chronic anxiety is a part of the air we breathe in this church and the diocese as well. Many people are worried that Gospel truth is sometimes compromised. Some are worried about what General Convention will do this summer and want me to say what I will do if . . . . . One person wrote me to say that he had been in a Bible class while visiting in one of our parishes and was distressed to hear the volunteer lay teacher say that Jesus was one of many ways to God. I did tell him that this was a marvelous opportunity to engage the subject with the teacher and for the two of them to talk with the rector, whom I know to be a faithful and experienced teacher. We can’t control the world, but we can take these as occasions as opportunities to grow together in our faith.

However, this experience is only symptomatic of a great struggle going on in both the culture and the church. Our culture believes absolutely that all "truth" is relative and that you can have firm opinions about any subject except religion. People can fight to the death over political theory, but when it comes to religion everything is equal, --- your truth and my truth. You cannot exercise discernment about religious teaching. The cross is no more true than pantheism in this context of relativism.

This was played out most recently in the Living Church in a debate about the Alpha Course. The author of the article, a college chaplain, began with the supposed superiority of Christianity and the uniqueness of Jesus leading to Jesus as the only way to enter into a salvific relationship with God. Then he wrote "These claims are dangerously narrow in an era when the piety of all faiths must be honored. It is important and necessary to criticize organized religions that make salvation their exclusive property…. As the centuries attest and current events make plain, violence and warfare go hand-in-hand with religions of spiritual superiority." This is an amazing and undocumented assumption. What is true, is that violence and warfare go hand-in-hand with sin.

Here is an understanding of the uniqueness of Christ that completely misses the biblical teaching. What is revealed in Jesus is not superiority, but humility, self-emptying and grace, not arrogance or imperialism. Jesus invites us to himself from the cross. It is an invitation which we and all others are free to reject. What the Son offers is participation in the triune life, which can only come from the incarnate Son by the power of the Holy Spirit. By analogy, it is fair to say that I am the only one who can offer a relationship to Edward Salmon. My friends cannot do that for me. That does not make me superior to anyone. So too, the Crucified One reveals a God who mounts the arms of the cross for us all. That is not available anywhere else but in Jesus. Salvation is to share with the whole communion of Saints in the praise and worship of the Father by the mediation of the Son through the love and power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the fullness of God and can alone mediate the incredible gift of salvation. The Church has never believed that only baptized Christians will be saved and that God is limited. We do know that by baptism and repentance we are made children of God by adoption and grace. We do not believe that God cannot work in many religions of the world, he can and does. I am reminded by my Canon Theologian, Dr. Kendall Harmon that the scriptural warrant for this understanding can be found in Romans 2:12-16. "All who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles who have not the law do by nature what the law requires, they are a law to themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or perhaps excuse them on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets of men by Christ Jesus." St. Paul is saying that although all are judged by Christ and saved through Christ, people are only accountable for the light they have. We also know that "Jesus remains the one and only savior. We are not saved by our own religions or our own piety nor by our own spiritual and moral works. We are saved by Jesus Christ, who unites us to the deity who is the Holy Trinity." Fr. Al Kimel wrote that in the Living Church in response to the initial article about the Alpha Course. The Alpha Course is a basic Christianity course. It does not exhaust the subject; it only scratches the surface. A good teacher can fill any areas that the teacher feels are not adequate or complete. An experienced teacher can devise a Beta course for the next level. When I was a parish priest, I did that with the Bethel Series. I have never seen a course which has everything that we all want stated the way we want it said. A good teacher knows how to deal with those problems or writes a new course.

There is a great theological struggle going on in the church. It creates chronic anxiety. "Crises, Crises, Everywhere." Spiritual warfare is a part of discipleship. We were not promised success. In John 16: 1-4, we were promised tribulation: "I have told you all this so that your faith may not be shaken. They will expel you from the synagogues, and indeed the hour is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is doing a holy duty for God. They will do these things because they have never known either the Father or myself. But I have told you all this, so that when the time comes you may remember that I told you." We were also promised a grace that is more than sufficient. "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." Beginning with the temptation in the wilderness, we see our Lord himself in the midst of great crisis and struggle – with the devil, with his family, with Simon Peter, with Judas, with the Pharisees, the list is endless. Mounting the arms of the cross he said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do," and "It is finished," meaning that by surrender of his will to the Father, the work of salvation through self-emptying was completed. If anyone should be overcome by chronic anxiety, Jesus is one. Obedient to the Father; he did the Father’s will. Who He is is clear in all the transactions. He is our model and the source of grace and strength. In him is revealed the face of the Father.

When I took my canonical examinations in Arkansas in 1960 in order to be ordained deacon; Bishop R. R. Brown had a favorite question he asked of every seminarian. If your church burned down, what would be the first thing you would do? The answer he wanted was, "I would take up an offering for mission." I believe he was attempting to teach us that there are no circumstances, however destructive, that give us license to give up our calling as disciples to be faithful. We are not in control; we are sometimes humbled by events, but that does not change our calling to proclaim Christ and him crucified.

In the midst of chronic anxiety, it is our calling to be faithful and to trust God and his providence to empower us to use our gifts to do his will. I have approximately three years left to be with you as Bishop of South Carolina. We do not need to surrender to chronic anxiety or be diverted by it from our vision. I believe that we need to continue steadfastly to build up our congregations for the work of the Gospel – our vision for the last thirteen years. This will give a new episcopate a strong foundation upon which to rest a new long-term vision. In order to prepare for an election, we began a process with the clergy conference last October in Santee to strengthen the relationships, and communication among the clergy. We have a large number of new clergy, some of whom have gone to seminary from this diocese in the last few years, and some who have come from other dioceses. Because of geography, and other factors, many of the clergy do not know each other well except by name. We have the age-old problem of perception and labels --- there are evangelicals, charismatics, traditionalists, anglo-catholics; various labels by which we are known to each other. Some few see their fellow clergy as self-righteous; some few feel as if they are on the margin, hence creating possible ghettos. Of course, simply checking various perceptions would help greatly in building relationships but that requires risk. Some of that began at the clergy conference at Santee, and we were greatly blessed. We plan to continue that process with Archbishop Carey this fall, and possibly some event next Lent. Recently, I talked to a friend in another diocese, which is about to elect a new bishop. He reported to me that they were not talking to each other about such a crucial event publicly; but were talking in small groups, attempting to see that their candidate might be elected. If everything is on the table, there is no reason why like-minded people can’t discuss prayerfully with each other various candidates for the office of bishop. Making open reflection possible will not only bless the diocese as a whole, but also help to build up and strengthen our congregations and bless the diocese with a strong new episcopate as well. Our clergy, of all people, should be willing to take the risk to engage each other.

We have other work to do in the next three years that is a part of the foundation for the future. We implemented a strategy three years ago to build several major congregations to support mission for the present and the future. We have agreed to pay interest on loans totaling approximately 4.5 million dollars for St. Paul’s, Conway; Christ Church, Mt. Pleasant; St. Paul’s, Summerville; and Holy Cross, Sullivan’s Island. These obligations will end in 2006, the year I retire. The combined capital outlay of these four congregations alone is approximately 16 million dollars. Their tithes will enable us to build other congregations, in strategic places around the diocese.

In 2004 we will have one million dollars cash to build St. Timothy’s Church between Bluffton and the Interstate on the 62 acres of land from International Paper Co. St. Timothy’s is committed to build a school in addition to the church. We have requests to support Holy Cross Faith Memorial in Pawley’s Island; St. John’s, Florence; and Resurrection, Surfside in their development and expansion. We have been able to partner with St. Matthew’s, Ft. Motte; Holy Apostles, Barnwell; and St. John’s, Johns Island to make a difference in their building programs. There are exciting expansion programs underway for St. James, James Island; St. Michael’s, Charleston; Grace Church, Charleston; Christ St. Paul’s, Yonge’s Island and Trinity, Edisto. We also have the offer of land on Daniel Island requiring our commitment to build a church on it within a year. The administration of the diocese is pouring every available dollar into the development of our congregations large and small. We work closely with our congregational leadership and the Department of Congregational Development, to help us in using our assets wisely, since often times there is a gap between resources and what we actually need or have requests for.

As we look at building up our congregations for the work of the Gospel, we need to change our attitudes about leadership, particularly vestry leadership. In some congregations, vestry membership is the result of an election process which gives representative power to various groups in the congregation. When that happens, we end up with a vestry not representing the vision for the whole church, but one composed of representatives from various interest groups. We also have vestries interested in the status quo and some focused on survival. In a very few vestries, members are conflicted with the rector or with each other.

Vestry membership is about spiritual leadership in partnership with the rector or vicar. Therefore everyone who seeks this office should ask the question: Am I called for this office? What should be the marks of this calling? Every candidate for confirmation is asked, do you renew your commitment to Jesus Christ? That acknowledgement of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord is basic to Christian discipleship and certainly to Christian leadership. That should manifest itself in regular worship, tithing or moving toward the tithe seriously, personal devotion and prayer, serious Christian living, presence at vestry meetings and vestry retreats, active support for the life and ministry of the parish, and representing the vision for the church to the various groups in the church, not the other way around. It should involve a commitment to maintain good relationships with members of the vestry and the priest of the parish. This had to do with unity in Christ, not uniformity.

My request is that the rectors and vestries of the diocese develop and publish clear requirements for vestry leadership, and teach about this ministry of leadership to members of their congregations. I am requesting that the deans of the deaneries help share this information among various congregations so as to develop the strongest guidelines, and that we have this task completed by October 1st.

We have made significant progress in the diocese in holding each other responsible for our talk and our behavior. However, it continues to be a problem, and one I am absolutely determined to confront when I am made aware of it. Recently, we have found it necessary to remove people from congregations for out of control behavior and destructive talk. Two congregations have suffered profoundly. Gossip and inappropriate anger cannot be tolerated. Gossip is spiritual murder. It is immoral; therefore it is not neutral to receive it. If someone tries to give us gossip about a third party, we must say no thank you. If we make the mistake of receiving it, we must repent. Establishing a spiritually healthy church is a requirement of our discipleship. Professor O’Donovan is correct. The Gospel of Jesus Christ stands opposed to this "self-destructive dominion of rumor."

The construction at Camp St. Christopher should be completed by May. It is going to make a tremendous difference in the life of the Diocese of South Carolina. Let me encourage every delegate present to be a partner in this endeavor and to remind our clergy and vestries to be sure that every congregation has a part in this building for the future namely a pledge. It is a significant way to help build up our congregations for the work of the Gospel. Camp St. Christopher blesses thousands, children and adults, clergy and families. It is a must.

The old plan of 20-25% giving from the congregations to the diocese put a lid on congregational growth. As we move toward my retirement, I would like to see the fulfillment of our 10-10-10 solution. Income in our congregations has grown from 9.6M in 1990 to 25M this year. While the income to our congregations for day-to-day ministry has increased by 15.4 million dollars; their giving to the diocese has risen from $1,658,000 to $1,908,000, an increase of $250,000 over the same period of time. The retention of an additional 10% in our congregations for ministry and outreach at home is one of the reasons for stronger congregations. It has also empowered tremendous foreign mission as well. By 2005 I would like to see all our congregations at the level of the tithe in their own giving, thus modeling for their congregation what they ask of their own people. Tithing is the biblical method of defeating the power of mamon. It gives us the heart of generosity, which is like the heart of God. Money wars for our souls, both as individuals and as congregations. It is more blessed to give, for we become what we do.

In a time characterized by the words "Crisis, Crisis Everywhere," what is God calling us to do?

My answer to that is full steam ahead. As Bishop Brown want to say, "Take up an offering for mission." I don’t believe that circumstances, whatever they are, change the shape of discipleship to which we are called. That does not mean that we are unaware of the dangerous time in which we live both in the church and the world, but that doesn’t change the gospel demands.

Sunday before last the Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 43, 18-25 reminded us that the exiled Israelites in Babylon received a word of promise from God that God would do a new thing in their midst, pardoning their sins and making a way home for them through the wilderness. No matter what the circumstances, God is capable of a new thing. The Holy Spirit is a wild card. God used Cyrus to end the Babylonian captivity. In Jesus Christ, even death could not prevent God from doing a new thing. One day the cosmos will witness a new heaven and a new earth. We can count on that as we seek to be faithful in our ministry.

When I think of the truth that God can and will do new things my mind wanders back to the eucharist just completed in which Bishop West of the Reformed Episcopal Church joined with us at the altar. In his remarks earlier, Bishop West said a number of reasons why the Reformed Episcopal Church came into being but one of the reasons he did NOT give was the issue of race. My dear brothers and sisters we need honestly to face the truth that one of the reasons for the Reformed Episcopal Church in South Carolina is because we would not tackle the issue of race head on. And yet here we are at this 2003 Convention, with Bishop West joining me at the altar for worship, a man who not very many years ago would not have been allowed to serve here. We live in a whole new day.

• People in this culture, especially people in power are often concerned with their image, not reality. They pay consultants thousands of dollars to create images of themselves for public consumption. The world manufactures images to compensate for its emptiness. We need to keep our focus on Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord, regardless of the anxiety of the times, and because of the anxiety and crisis of our times. As Christians, we do not need to create images. We need only to seek to reflect the one upon which we focus, and in which we are rooted – Jesus Christ. The words of the scripture from the eighth chapter of Romans do that powerfully -- "For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, no things to come, not height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

Questions or Comments: Fax or e-mail--Bishop Salmon - (fax) 843/723-7628 or (e-mail) elsalmon@dioceseofsc.org.