[Episcopal News Service, by the Revd Mary Frances Schjonberg] At the start of his All Saints Sunday installation Eucharist in Washington National Cathedral, Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry declared his bona fides to the church.

After knocking on the west doors in the traditional manner at noon as the sun broke through the clouds and being admitted to the cathedral by the Very Revd Gary Hall, the cathedral’s dean, and Diocese of Washington Bishop Mariann Budde, Curry was asked to “tell us who you are.”

“I am Michael Bruce Curry, a child of God, baptized in St. Simon of Cyrene Church, Maywood, Illinois, on May 3, 1953, and since that time I have sought to be a faithful disciple of Jesus Christ,” he replied.

“Michael, Bishop in the Church of God, we have anticipated your arrival with great joy,” 26th Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told him.

“In the Name of Christ, we greet you,” she added, and the greeting was echoed by the more than 2,500 people in attendance.

Curry, the former bishop of North Carolina, promised to be a “faithful shepherd and pastor” and, when asked by Jefferts Schori if they would support Curry in his ministry, those attending roared in reply, “We will.”

With that and all the liturgical celebration that followed, The Episcopal Church made history as it welcomed its first person of colour as presiding bishop and primate.

“God has not given up on God’s world,” Curry told the congregation and the thousands of people watching the service’s live webcast. “And God is not finished with The Episcopal Church yet. God has work for us to do.”

Curry had officially become the 27th presiding bishop and The Episcopal Church’s chief pastor and primate at midnight. During the three-hour service, he was seated in the cathedral (Washington National Cathedral has been the presiding bishop’s seat since 1941). Jefferts Schori then gave him the primatial staff that she had carried for the past nine years and then warmly embraced him as the congregation loudly applauded and shouted its approval.

Music for the service ranged from Anglican chant to drumming and singing by the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians of Maryland, who led the 155 bishops of The Episcopal Church into the service. The Cedarville Band also played before the Gospel was read in Lakota by the Revd Brandon Mauai, a deacon from North Dakota and member of the Executive Council. Jamey Graves and Sandra Montes soloed on Wade in the Water after participants had renewed their baptismal covenant and Curry, Jefferts Schori and others asperged the congregation. By the time they reached the altar, the congregation was on its feet singing along.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry and 26th Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori exchange a playful laugh as they prepare to asperge the congregation assembled in Washington National Cathedral for Curry's installation service. Photo: Danielle Thomas / Washington National Cathedral

The St. Thomas Gospel Choir from the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas in Philadelphia had the congregation clapping and swaying. And when the Cathedral Choir of Men and Girls sang an arrangement of The Battle Hymn of the Republic as the offertory anthem, congregation members stood and joined in the final chorus, many of them with tears in their eyes.

Special prayers were said during the service by representatives of the Anglican Communion, ecumenical and interreligious communities, including the Most Revd Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada; Mohamed Elsanousi, Islamic Society of North America; Rabbi Steve Gutow, Jewish Council for Public Affairs; and the Revd Elizabeth Miller, president of the Provincial Elders’ Conference of the Moravian Church.

After Anita Parrott George, another Executive Council member, read the Old Testament reading (Isaiah 11:1-9) in English, Fernanda Sarahi read the New Testament selection (Revelation 21:1-6a) in Spanish. And at the beginning of the Great Thanksgiving, Curry said the sursum corda (lift up your hearts) in Spanish.

Curry’s approximately 37-minute animated sermon drew applause, laughter and shouts of approval from the congregation. He swept his arms wide over the crowd at times, raised his hands and shouted, lowered his voice and brought his hands close together at other times to make his points.

The Most Revd Michael Curry delivers his first sermon after being installed as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg / Episcopal News Service

The presiding bishop continued his call for the church and its members to join the Jesus Movement, tracing the evidence of the movement through biblical and societal history. “What was true in the first century and true in the 19th century is equally and more profound in this new 21st century,” he said.

Jesus himself continued a movement begun by John the Baptist and took it to a new level, Curry said. “John was part of the movement born out of prophets like Amos and Isaiah and Jeremiah. And prophetic movement was rooted in Moses, who went up to the mountaintop,” he said. “Jesus crystalized and catalysed the movement that was serving God’s mission in this world. God has a passionate dream for this world.”

The dream involves change, the presiding bishop said. “The Way of Jesus will always turn our worlds and the world upside down, which is really turning it right side up!”

“At home and in the church, do unto others as you would have them do to you. That will turn things upside down,” Curry said. “In the boardrooms of the corporate world, in the classrooms of the academic world, in the factories, on the streets, in the halls of legislatures and councils of government, in the courts of the land, in the councils of the nations, wherever human beings are, do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”

Curry returned again and again in his sermon to evangelism and reconciliation, especially racial reconciliation, calling it “some of the most difficult work possible.”

“But don’t worry,” he said. “We can do it. The Holy Spirit has done this work before in the Episcopal Church. And it can be done again for a new day.”

He called for an evangelism that is “genuine and authentic to us as Episcopalians, not a way that imitates or judges anyone else” and that is “about helping others find their way to a relationship with God without our trying to control the outcome.” Such evangelism, he said, ought to involve both sharing the faith that is in us and listening to and learning from others’ experiences.
Curry said that racial reconciliation is “just the beginning for the hard and holy work of real reconciliation that realizes justice across all the borders and boundaries that divide the human family of God.”

The presiding bishop acknowledged that such work is “difficult work, but we can do it. It’s about listening and sharing. It’s about God.”

And, Curry said, “in this work of reconciliation we can join hands with others.”

“It is as the Jesus Movement, following Jesus’ way, that we join hands with brothers and sisters of different Christian communities, with brothers and sisters of other faith and religious traditions, and with brothers and sisters who may be atheist or agnostic or just on a journey, but who long for a better world where children do not starve and where there is, as the old spiritual says, ‘plenty good room for all of God’s children,’” Curry said.

At the beginning of his sermon, the new presiding bishop took a few moments for “personal privilege.” He first told the church that he looks forward to working with the Revd Gay Clark Jennings in her role as president of the House of Deputies, saying, “We’ve been working with each other a bit over the summer and I look forward to working together with her in the years to come.”

He then thanked Richard Schori, Jefferts Schori’s husband, and then turned to the 26th presiding bishop herself. “In a time when there is often debate and genuine consternation as to whether or not courageous, effective leadership is even possible, we can say to the world that we have had a leader and her name is Katharine Jefferts Schori,” Curry said to applause and a standing ovation from the congregation.

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry greets friends and supporters outside Washington National Cathedral after his installation as the 27th Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg / Episcopal News Service

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