We are looking forward to welcoming Bishop Jeff Lee to the Diocese of Milwaukee later this week. Bishop Lee will begin serving as our provisional bishop designee on Thursday, April 1.
We wish you all a blessed Holy Week.
~The staff of the Episcopal Diocese of Milwaukee
Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding;
“Christ is nigh,” it seems to say;
“Cast away the works of darkness
O ye children of the day.”
Dear Friends in Christ,
This above hymn came to mind as I prepared to write this Advent letter and begin to walk my last full liturgical year as your bishop with you. As most of you know, Advent is my favorite season of the Church year because for me it most resembles our life as Christians. We know that God has come among us in the incarnate one, Jesus Christ. We believe that Jesus will come again in glory. And so we live between the first and second coming of Christ in what is already, but not yet.
Advent is a season of urgency. The call to prepare is now. We pray “give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light now” on the first Sunday of Advent. There is no time for waiting. This cannot be put off. For me, this urgency is amplified not only by the current political climate but by the news reports of farm closings in rural Wisconsin, increased numbers of homeless in our cities, and the increasing violence across our nation. I need Jesus to come and rule and reign and restore.
When I was young, a popular song sung by many choirs was this, “let there be peace on earth and let in begin with me.” It expressed for that time the much-quoted adage of our day, “be the change you want the world to see.” Advent invites us to be the kingdom — the reign of Christ — we want in the world. It reminds us of our citizenship and our way of living the citizenship, which we affirm at the beginning of each liturgy when we say, “Blessed be God and Blessed be his kingdom now and forever.”
My prayer as I begin this holy season is, “Lord, let thy kingdom come. Lord, reign in me. May I be a sign of our kingdom for others.” I invite you to join me in this prayer.
Yours in Christ,
The Rt. Rev. Steven Andrew Miller
Bishop
Dear Friends in Christ,
At the end of this week, the calendar page turns from May to June. Nine days later we will celebrate the feast of Pentecost, an ancient harvest festival and, for us as Christians, the day when we celebrate the bestowing and outbreak of the Holy Spirit.
As some of you know, it was a folk Mass written for the feast of Pentecost that was my introduction to the Episcopal Church. I cannot think of the preface for this feast without hearing its setting. The music helps me remember these powerful words, “it is right and a good and joyful thing, always and everywhere to give thanks to you Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth through Jesus Christ our Lord in fulfillment of his true promise, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven lighting upon the disciples to teach them and to lead them into all truth uniting people of many tongues in the confession of one faith and giving to your Church the power to serve you as a royal priesthood and to preach the Gospel to all nations therefore we praise you…” To this day, I am deeply moved by the power of those words and the work of the Holy Spirit it presents.
The Holy Spirit is the spirit of Truth. In this age of spin and cacophony from news outlets and public officials, where truth is seen by some as something personal and relative, I give thanks that God’s truth is bigger than all others. I often think of it ontologically. To apply the method of St. Anselm in his ontological truth of the existence of God, we can conceive a truth greater than all other truths, therefore, such a truth must exist. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit will lead us into all Truth. And so we pray that it may be so.
The Holy Spirit is a spirit of unity — the spirit brings people and things together. I have come to believe that whenever there is a desire to separate based on difference, the Holy Spirit is not present. It is this spirit that guides our ecumenical work and our work in reconciliation. When we engage in this work, we are participating in the work of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is power to serve and proclaim. Jesus sent the Spirit to empower the work we do as the Church, as we preach the Gospel in word and deed to everyone we meet. We are sealed in this Spirit at Baptism and it is strengthened and affirmed in confirmation.
This Spirit of truth, unity, and power is ours through Christ. It is a gift freely given to us. The call to us on this day is to use that gift to the glory of God.
As we prepare for the feast of Pentecost, I ask you to join me in praying daily the words of this ancient hymn:
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire
and lighten with celestial fire;
thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy seven-fold gifts impart.
Thy blessed unction from above
is comfort, life, and fire of love;
enable with perpetual light
the dullness of our blinded sight.
Teach us to know the Father, Son,
and thee, of both, to be but one,
that through the ages all along
this may be our endless song:
Praise to thine eternal merit,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.
Yours in the power of the Spirit,
The Rt. Rev. Steven Andrew Miller
Bishop of Milwaukee