Jesus tells his followers plainly that they, too, will know tribulation, literally "grinding." Peace in the world has not characterized His ministry, nor will it characterize theirs. The "world" is in rebellion from the will and Word and works of God, so those who attempt to do things God¹s way will always have tribulation ­ conflict ­ in the world and with the world.

We, as modern Western Christians often confuse the peace that God offers with the easy peace that humankind desires: a peace which accommodates, compromises and "gets along," a peace where there is no conflict with one another, with the world as it is, or with Satan and his deceits. The peace on offer to Christians, however, is peace in Jesus, not peace in the world. The New Testament¹s consistent argument is that conflict is the lot of the disciple, and that such peace as we will know in this life can only be had in ­ and through ­ Jesus. In the church there is peace when there is submission to Jesus, both for the individual and for the Body. In the world and in the face of sin there will never be peace. The 20th century hymn, "They cast their nets in Galilee," has the message right: "The Peace of God it is no peace, but strife closed in the sod. Yet brothers pray for just one thing, the marvelous Peace of God."

Our special guests in this 139th Annual Convention are the Most Revd. Henry Luke Orombi, the Primate of Uganda, Bishop of Kampala and Chancellor of Uganda Christian University, the Rt. Revd. John Muhanguzi, the Bishop of North Ankole, and the Revd. Canon Dr. Alison Barfoot, Archbishop¹s Assistant for International Relationships. We are delighted to welcome them among us. They come from a church younger than our diocese, a church nevertheless of more than 8 million Anglicans, a church of martyrs and witnesses, a church which has known great suffering for its stand with Jesus (a stand often against kings and cultures), a church which has known the peace of Jesus ­ just as our church has when it has been faithful to the will and Word and work of Jesus.

There will be conflict in this convention. That is because we have a fundamental disagreement about what the will and Word and work of Jesus are in relationship to certain behaviors which the Christian Church and the Anglican Communion have always described as sin, described as an aspect of the fall and of the disordered nature of human passions since the fall. We will have conflict here because we have different ideas about what the mind of Christ is, so not agreed in Him we will not have peace. This is profoundly sad, but it is where we are.

I have frequently stated to you my belief that we are in the early stages of a profound reformation of the Church in the West. The Episcopal Church and mainline Protestantism have been in precipitous decline for four decades. Something is wrong. Our debates will, in some ways, attempt to diagnose what that "something" is. My word to you as your bishop is that the root of what is unfolding here is much deeper than the level at which much of our debate will undoubtedly take place. In the world there is no peace. In the Church there is peace when the Church is agreed about the mind of Christ. We are not agreed about the mind of Christ, so there will be conflict among us. What is more, the conflict will actually be unresolvable until we are agreed in Christ. In light of this, how we do what we do will be monumentally important. Ad hominum attacks, demonization, motive-attribution, distortions, untruths: None of these belong here. Can we strive to be Christ-like, even if we admit that we are not presently together Christ-minded? The good news is that facing into the conflict, the tribulation, Jesus has overcome the world. In Him so can we, but only in Him.

CONFLICT IN CONVENTION AND COMMON LIFE

We have some difficult decisions to make in this 139th annual convention. The most vexing question going into this convention is the consideration as to whether to alter Article I, Section 1 of the Constitution. Our Special Convention of September 2003 spoke clearly to reject certain actions of the 74th General Convention. The only way in which these local decisions can have force is to adopt the changes to Article I on second reading. I encourage you to adopt the amendment.

No one here present can deny the timeliness of this second reading, though some will vigorously oppose this alteration to the Constitution. Events of the last weeks should have removed all doubt about the necessity of the alteration as proposed. The Windsor Report, published on October 18th, St. Luke¹s Day, makes it abundantly clear that the issues of the blessing of same sex unions and of the ordination and consecration of individuals living in same-sex partnerships ­ matters addressed in our 2003 Special Convention ­ are outside the limits of Anglican diversity. Our 2003 Special Convention held that the Episcopal Church violated its own Constitution in these matters (precisely by exceeding historic Faith and Order). Thus the 138th Annual Convention began the process of amending our own local Constitution in order to make it clear that we cannot and will not put into effect locally any practice or teaching that would separate us from our Communion globally, or from the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. In the Windsor Report, we now have the judgment of our worldwide Communion that the Episcopal Church has erred, just as we have held. As to these matters, the ³African Lambeth² (the 1st African Anglican Bishops Conference) from which I have just returned has further spoken to reiterate the Windsor Report¹s findings and our rectitude in following through on the course set last fall. Jesus¹ peace is not the world¹s peace. My role in the January Special Meeting of the House of Bishops, together with all the Network Bishops ­ and a wider group of bishops who voted ³no² ­ will be to do everything in my (and our) power to bring the whole of the Episcopal Church to accept and act on the Windsor Report findings. Whether the House of Bishops will so act we cannot say, but we can act.

The Constitutional amendment to Article III should be far less contentious, actually putting us into conformity with majority practice in the Episcopal Church, and restoring the vote to missionaries, military chaplains, and educators ordained in, or with long records of service to, this diocese; those with canonical residence in this diocese, yet presently serving away from this diocese. The change would affect missionaries like John Park and Matt Walter, educators like Stephen Noll and Arnie Klukas, and military chaplains like Andy Tibus and Ira Houck III. I pray this convention will approve this Constitutional change in second reading.

An unusual number of resolutions is proposed for this convention. Each will be dealt with democratically and according to our rules of order. Whether we adopt, defeat, or postpone decisions on the matters addressed, let us do what we do with respect and charity. Were you to ask my Godly counsel as bishop as to which resolutions are best brought to a vote in our conventions I would say that those resolutions which actually decide something in our life ­ like changes to Constitution or Canons, adoption of a budget or program, or entering into a missionary partnership ­ are to be preferred over those expressing an opinion and having no other consequence.

Conflict ­ tribulation ("grinding", if you will) ­ is very much a part of present Church life. Please hear what I am about to say very carefully. I say it humbly, but as your bishop, and as the chief shepherd of souls in this place. Scandalously, the rectors, wardens and vestries of two parishes ­ Calvary Church, East Liberty, and St. Stephen¹s Church, Wilkinsburg ­ continue their civil suit against both of your bishops and sixteen other diocesan leaders, both clergy and lay. In light of the clear conclusions of the Windsor Report, in light of what can scarcely be considered good stewardship of Church resources in either time or treasure by any reckoning, and in light of the consistent New Testament witness against going to court ­ both dominical (Mt. 5:25-26) and Pauline (I Cor. 6:1-8) ­ I call upon them now to cease and desist in the Name of God. I say solemnly to this convention that in this particular course of action - if Scripture is the ultimate rule and standard and whatever the leadership's purported errors may be - these brothers and sisters are very far from what I understand to be the unambiguously expressed mind of Christ. Return, dear friends, return.

The conflicts in the Episcopal Church have had other local manifestations. Some congregations ­ having clarified where they stand on the intersection of timeless Biblical Truth and on ailing Western culture ­ are actually prospering at the moment, churches like St. Philip¹s, Moon Township, and St. Francis, Somerset. Other churches have suffered significant distress and loss. Three churches have closed or are closing: Epiphany, Avalon; Trinity, Connellsville; and Resurrection, Cranberry. None of these closings appears directly due to the troubles, but the Leadership Team has a hunch that external stress on an already fragile life may have played into these decisions to disband. It is certain that our development office is a temporary casualty of the troubles, as is any near-term construction of a Leadership Retreat House at Lake Donegal. What we can give thanks for is something like seven million dollars in realized and planned gifts between 1997 and 2004 through the work of the Development Office and the Pittsburgh Episcopal Foundation. The Pittsburgh Episcopal Foundation will continue to work in a modest way, and I have appointed Mr. David Black as its non-stipendiary President. My firm conviction is that the day will come again when the development office effort begun by Chips Koehler, moved forward by Charlotte Cummings, and stewarded since 2001 by Larry Deihle will be renewed.

MANY BLESSINGS

The vision of one church of miraculous expectation and missionary grace is still God¹s vision and our vision for the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. Our five major goal areas remain unchanged: build congregations, make disciples, establish partnerships, gather resources and recruit youth. Despite the difficulties of the season we are in, there are still manifold blessings to recount. I want to turn from the conflict and its consequences to do some "blessing counting." There are many blessings indeed.

I would first call your attention to my Pre-Convention Report (pp.D1-D5). There is much described there for us to celebrate, not least of which is our numerical growth ­ small, but growth nonetheless ­ as reported in the latest annual Parochial Reports (2003). Trinity School has a new dean and internationally renowned scholar. The Racism Commission has made significant progress and an anti-racism training program is about to be put in place by our resolution here together. New congregations outnumber closing ones. A low-impact development of our Common Life Property will begin in the spring, God and our Trustees willing.

Building on the pre-convention report ­ and moving well beyond it ­ there are five aspects of our present and future life on which I should like to spend the remainder of this address.

OUR HUMAN RESOURCES

I have often said that no bishop has a more able, more sacrificial, more courageous group of clergy, lay leaders and ordinary church people than do I. I say it here again. No bishop has a more able, more sacrificial, more courageous group of clergy, lay leaders and ordinary church people than do I. The present tribulations have fallen hard upon the leaders of our congregations, especially on our clergy and their spouses. I honor you. The present tribulation has tried the resourcefulness of our lay leaders and tested their families. I honor you. The present tribulation has sifted our rank and file and their relationships. I honor you.

The present tribulation has deepened and reshaped our Leadership Team. Mary Hays I honor you. Henry Scriven I honor you. Nancy Norton I honor you. It has been a similar passage for our entire Diocesan Staff, both difficult and defining. They are an extraordinary group. I honor you, too. No diocese has better.

At this time I want to follow through on one matter about which I gave notice of in my Pre-Convention Report. In order that it might be clear that Nancy Norton, as a lay professional, alongside three ordained leaders, shares full status with the others of us ­ and to recognize her extraordinary devotion to our gospel enterprise ­ I hereby name her Canon for Administration and Finance, assigning her a seat in Trinity Cathedral and creating her Pittsburgh¹s first lay canon. This is a recognition well deserved.

Our human resources ­ our clergy and our laity ­ are the greatest treasure we have, after Jesus Christ. "Gathering Resources" and "Making Disciples" were two of the five goals set for our work together. We have done both in this area of our common life.

OUR MISSIONARY PARTNERSHIPS

"Establishing Partnerships" was another of the five goals set for our work together. Indeed, we said that in the first decade of the 21st Century we wanted to be able to describe at least 20,000 partnerships established. Last year the theme of our 138th Annual Convention was "Celebrating Partnerships." At that time we recognized that the establishing of partnerships was among our most successful enterprises. We have partnered between parishes, partnered with mission organizations and NGO¹s (non-governmental organizations), partnered ecumenically, and partnered internationally.

At this convention we, as a diocese, conclude one five-year partnership and formally enter into another. In November of 1999 ­ at the 134th Annual Convention ­ we adopted a three-way, five-year partnership with the Province of Rwanda, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, and World Vision. We actually engaged in nation-building. We were responsible, in some significant measure, for turning World Vision¹s attention to Rwanda. There were significant challenges, but when I saw the Archbishop of Rwanda last week he told me that among the very most significant of our accomplishments was the enduring legacy which World Vision now is in and for Rwanda. You will recall that our exploratory partnership trip in January of 1999 was within weeks of the final pacification of the Northwest (Shyira Diocese) after the genocide and civil war that had commenced in 1994. As a diocese we were also directly responsible for the re-staffing of Shyira Hospital with the sending out of Dr. Caleb and Dr. Louise King and their four young children.

Another continuing legacy.

Finally our campaign to sponsor at least 1000 Rwandan children through World Vision reached more than 700 children at different times, with nearly 700 of those sponsorships still continuing. We became World Vision¹s single largest sponsorship group and the investment we have made in the children of Rwanda changed us and, above all, has, is, and will change Rwanda ­ into the foreseeable future. Resolution 3 gives thanks to God and formally closes this partnership chapter.

Our next diocesan-wide partnership will be among the early orders of business in this convention. I will be asking Sherman White, chair of our Uganda Committee, to address the possibilities envisioned, after he moves Resolution 1. I will also ask the University¹s Chancellor, Archbishop Orombi, to offer initial words to the convention at that time.

NEW CHURCHES AND CHURCH-PLANTING

Two years ago our 137th Annual Convention focused on church-planting. Seventeen of our parishes made preliminary commitments to serious consideration of a church-plant within the next five years. Joyfully we can report that three of our smaller congregations have actually entered into church-planting work. Grace Church, Mt. Washington began Grace Church, Edgeworth, during these last two and one-half years and in September moved into a permanent church facility at Shields Chapel, Edgeworth.

During this past year St. Francis, Somerset became the sponsoring parish for Living Stones, Latrobe, as well as the parent to a remnant congregation at New Baltimore, refugees from the Bedford Church in the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. Imagine it: one pastoral-size congregation which sees 150 people on a Sunday now involved in two simultaneous church-plants! We could not have dreamed of it! Most recently, Atonement Church, Carnegie, which sees 50 people on a Sunday, came into a sponsorship relationship with a store-front start-up congregation at Robinson Town Centre. All I can say is, ³Larger parishes please note what your smaller sisters and joyfully doing and join them. Smaller parishes keep going: you are leading the way! Praise God!

During his 40-year episcopate Bishop Courtland Whitehead saw the founding of 107 congregations. It was the greatest period of Pittsburgh Diocese¹s growth. 16 of those parishes are still a part of our diocesan life. May our goals of building congregations and making disciples ­ for which there is statistically no more successful (Biblical word, ³fruitful²) device than the planting of new churches ­ flourish in our time, too. Missionary bishop, missionary diocese: reaching the souls of this region for Jesus Christ and transforming it and them with His love.

St. David¹s ­ a larger church ­ has agreed to sponsor "Garden Gate," a new church at Oakdale, building a worshipping community through ministry to children. Garden Gate's "tribulation" was not of the church conflict variety but rather of the natural disaster variety: plans for the first Sunday worship were literally washed away in the horrendous floods our region experienced on and after Friday, September 17th. Shown on the cover of November¹s Trinity were senior lay leaders of Christ Church, Greensburg, doing what Christians do: pitching in clean-up efforts enabled by Garden Gate at the house of an 86-year-old resident of Oakdale. Garden Gate has gotten started through flood recovery as well as in ministry to children. Who would have imagined.

REACHING YOUNG PEOPLE ­ REACHING THE WORLD

Garden Gate brings us to our convention theme, or at least one aspect of it: the work among our youngest disciples and potential disciples. Hot Dogma takes us to the other end of the "young people spectrum" and to our multi-cell-based church-plant among "twenty-somethings."

Three Nails is a church-plant sponsored by Rock the World Youth Mission Alliance. Three entrepreneurs among the Three Nails congregation have launched a Christian hot dog shop, juice bar and internet café in the old bookstore space of Trinity Cathedral. Think about Hot Dogma and you begin to understand the particular goal focus of this 139th Annual Convention: "reaching young people" always turns out to be ³reaching the world." Three Nails is a new way of being parish and a new way of evangelization, but three cheers for Three Nails! Three Nails has cells at Grove City/Slippery Rock, Ambridge, North Side, East End, Bloomfield, Wilkinsburg and three cells in the South Side: the notion of a geographical parish in the old sense has completely disappeared within the Three Nails experiment.

Many of our parishes ­ particularly our larger ones ­ are engaged in college and young adult ministries, but the old churches of our college towns or near-college towns are also doing their part. Our Young Priests Initiative is another significant work among this population. For churches near colleges, reaching the world in mission is always just next door. There is much more for us to do in this area.

Sheldon Calvary Camp reaches hundreds of young people each summer ­ and has done so for two generations. It is recognized as among the best church camps in the nation and has long served as a ³glue² for our diocese. Urban summer camps, like that run by Seeds of Hope, Bloomfield, and Vacation Bible Schools reach hundreds of other children across our diocese, serving in many situations as outreach and evangelization to youth who have never previously been in an Episcopal Church.

These efforts are the "tip" of that "iceberg" which is the monumental effort mounted by parishes across the diocese and known as "Church School" or "Sunday School" or by some more contemporary name, and in confirmation programs for our youth. Of course, there are youth groups, youth workers, and youth ministries from one end of the diocese to the other. Special notice is also to be given to our Happening Movement ­ celebrating 25 years among us ­ the source of most of our young vocations both to ordination and to missionary work. This next summer a Happening team, composed mostly of teenagers, will carry the movement to the Diocese of Peru. Young Robert Park, son of missionaries John and Susan Park (and participant in last spring's "Pittsburgh-Happening"), will be rector of "Peru-
Happening ". Is it unclear to anyone here why our theme makes such sense? ­ "Reaching Young People ­ Reaching the World."

All through this convention "mission minutes" will give a wonderful flavor of the youth ministry, which is, by God's grace and the people¹s deep commitment, ours in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. But there is much more to do. One of our decade objectives is a youth worker in every parish. I challenge our Diocesan Council ­ in the year ahead ­ to figure out how we could make substantial progress on this aspect of our diocesan vision for "recruiting youth."

UNCHANGING MISSION AND UNFAILING PROMISE

In the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, in verse 8, the about to ascend Lord says to his followers, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth." Jesus' words are words to us as well: "In the power of the Holy Spirit you are to witness to me locally, regionally, nationally and globally." We have embraced this commission: it is evident all through this address, this convention, and this diocese.

Many of you are aware of your bishop¹s work at each of these levels. The truth is that together we are involved at each of these levels. If the Shoemaker vision of a Pittsburgh "as famous for God as for steel" is being realized, it is being realized because all of us together have accepted Jesus' commission, becoming ever more submitted to His will, His Word and His Work.

Just last Saturday Archbishop Henry, Bishop John, Canon Alison and I made a pilgrimage to Abeokuta, Nigeria, the birthplace of Nigerian Christianity. The Rev¹d Harry Thompson arrived there on January 4th, 1843. One hundred and sixty-one years later 246 primates, archbishops and bishops ­ attending the 1st African Anglican Bishops Conference ­ filled the streets of the city and its modern cathedral. It is hard to believe that that first missionary ­ or the king who received him ­ could have ever imagined such an event as the one in which we participated, or that Nigeria would claim between 17 and 18 million Anglicans today, or that Africa would account for most of the world's worshipping Anglicans. At the beginning they could never have imagined it.

On April 17, 1754, the first celebration of the Holy Eucharist took place as what is now Pittsburgh. Father Denys Barron, a catholic missionary, had come to minister at the newly established Fort Duquesne, in what was then called New France. On April 17, 2004, exactly 250 years to the day after that wilderness communion, the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh held a great festival service of commemoration. I was present with other members of our region¹s ecumenical leadership to share with our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters in their momentous anniversary observance.

In just over three years it will be the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh that will be observing a 250th anniversary: the 250th anniversary of the first worship according to the Book of Common Prayer in what is now our see city. It was in November, 1758, that the British took Fort Duquesne from the French, renaming the site Fort Pitt. Thus it was that on November 27, 1758, the Rev. Charles Beatty led worship from the Book of Common Prayer. A garrison congregation developed, which would become Trinity Church, which would become Trinity Cathedral. A major celebration will need to be planned. Additionally, I hope a civic coalition can be put together that might enable the exterior fabric of the cathedral to be restored and cleaned and lighted to be a visible sign of twenty-five decades of Anglican witness in our region and diocese.

At the beginning they could scarcely have imagined how our story and our reach would have developed. My final word is this: The greatest way to mark 250 years will be neither in celebration nor in fabric restoration, but in committing again to the transforming gospel of Jesus Christ, to the good news of salvation meant for every man, woman, and child in every city, community and solitary homestead, and not only here, but in region, nation and world. It is to this gospel and this challenge that everyone here assembled ­ both clergy and lay ­ is called to labor and to lead.

Thank you and thank God for the continuing privilege of serving you as your bishop.

END