Thirteen years with Bishop Paul

Thirteen years with Bishop Paul
By Bill Lewellis

Well-kneaded, God-baked, God-broken, God-made
Thirteen years ago, June 29, 1996, the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul, bishops laid hands on Paul V. Marshall, consecrating him eighth bishop of the 14-county Diocese of Bethlehem.

Many of us who were there remember snippets of the sermon preached by Bishop Catherine Roskam, a former student in Bishop Paul’s homiletics class at Yale. One part, where she recited a poem, Bakerwoman God, seems to me to have been especially prophetic: “Bakerwoman God, I am your living bread … I am your rising bread, well-kneaded … Put me in fire, Bakerwoman God … Break me, Bakerwoman God … Bakerwoman God, remake me.”

Upon returning from a 2005 mission trip to southern Sudan, Bishop Paul told a story about the impetus for the New Hope Campaign which has now raised more than $3.8 million for the people of Kajo Keji and the needy of northeastern Pennsylvania. “At the end of a week in that bomb-torn country, Diana and I baked in a bus for 14 hours in the Ugandan sun. Finally you give up wiping your face. As we became increasingly caked with red dirt and the overcrowded bus grew hotter and hotter, I found myself baking in a creative and holy sense: I knew God wanted my attention. Genesis says humans began our existence as kind of mud pies, and the red dust of the earth baking into my pores helped me have a new beginning of insight: Here were sisters and brothers with almost nothing to their names trying to build a life and a country — how could I go on as usual? In addition to altering how I live personally, I have had to abandon some of my bricks-and-mortar dreams for our own diocese, particularly regarding a conference center, in order to see what God would have us do for others. The question that intrigued me was, Could we dare to have a capital fund drive where we didn’t get the money?”

From my perspective, Bishop Paul's well-kneaded, God-baked, God-broken and God-made ministry among us has been broad and deep: teacher, pastor, preacher, administrator, author, advocate and participant in ministry with people in the developing world, children and youth, the poor and the marginalized, advocate and reconciler with those within the church who consider themselves progressive as well as those who consider themselves traditionalists, interpreter of family systems theory, communicator within and beyond the diocesan community, a leader who consults with colleagues, and a person whose ministry as bishop proceeds from prayer and a contemplative vision of God's kingdom.

Please pray for our bishop, especially on his 13th anniversary among us, not only as he experiences these days the continuing pain of good recovery from surgery but also the questions of the day and the challenges from the gospel passage about loving God and being taken to difficult places (John 21:15-19) proclaimed on the day of his consecration.

World Mission
When Ned Wallace, a semiretired physician from Bethlehem who spent four months a year coordinating a medical education work and service program in Swaziland, decided to make AIDS related activities his main focus there, the bishop named him diocesan medical missioner to that African diocese. In February 2000, the Bishop Paul spent a week in Swaziland while members of the World Mission Committee spent time in northern Uganda with Sudanese refugees. He said he and the others went to Africa to seek a vision for Bethlehem, “to seek the face of Christ among the suffering and those who care for them…in a place where the Holy Spirit can work.”

“I have always known, intellectually,” he said upon returning, “of the disparity between what we Americans take for granted and how most of the world actually lives. Seeing it, however, produced a jumble of thoughts and feelings. I was grateful, embarrassed, a little sick, but mostly convinced that it is not possible for a Christian to see this much suffering and not lower his own standard of living in order to help brothers and sisters. I came back with the determination never again to let myself be gulled by our culture into feeling deprived.”

With proactive encouragement from the bishop, the diocesan World Mission Committee began to focus the attention of the diocesan community on conditions in developing countries. “Our deeper attachment to brothers and sisters in the third World can only mean good things,” he said. “I’d like to see the day when people from our diocese go to Third World countries to do various kinds of ministry.” To date, some 15 missioners from the diocese have traveled to Africa to meet sisters and brothers on their Kajo-Keji homeland and in resettlement camps in northern Uganda. Some have made the journey several times. All have been deeply affected by their visits.

In 2001, the Diocese of Bethlehem formed a companionship relationship with the Diocese of Kajo Keji in the southernmost part of Sudan, along the border of northern Uganda. Bishop Paul joined members of the World Mission Committee and other interested people from the diocese on an advocacy trip to Washington, DC, to meet with key senators and representatives and members of the State Department to make the case for alleviating the suffering of the Sudanese people.

In July 2004, some 157,000 expatriate Sudanese had come back across the southern border of Sudan after a series of terrorist incidents, including rapes and refugee camp lootings, by the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group backed by the government of Sudan. The people had fled to Uganda in the first place after being displaced by the ongoing Sudanese civil war, which had been raging in Africa’s largest nation since independence was granted in 1955. Because of a local drought and other inhospitable conditions, as well as the overwhelming volume of need, the Diocese of Kajo Keji had no food, shelter, clothing, medicines, or agricultural tools to give them.

“We must act now to prevent people in Kajo Keji from starving to death,” Bishop Paul wrote late in July on our diocesan internet lists. By mid September, more than $70,000 was received. Funds were wired to the Diocese of Kajo Keji by way of an account in Kampala, Uganda, the closest large city. Because of conditions in Sudan, the diocese decided to buy food and rent the trucks to haul it from Kampala to the refugee enclaves in Kajo Keji. Within days, trucks loaded with staples were on their way over rutted roads into the Kajo Keji area.

“Even if you don’t see it on the national news, “ Bishop Paul said, “it really happened. This summer we learned again that when followers of Jesus work together, great good comes of it. We best know who we are when we care for others ... The first shipments of food reached Kajo Keji in time to prevent mass starvation, and the funds we provided will continue to feed the refugees for the immediate future.” A correspondent in Sudan wrote: “What the Diocese of Bethlehem has done will enter the history books of Kajo Keji… Their actions have given our people hope that they are not alone...”

In January 2005, Bishop Paul and Mrs. Diana Marshall spent an intensive five days with sisters and brothers of our partnership diocese, addressing 17 gatherings. The bishop preached at least three times daily, observing the local minimum of 45 minutes. On the Feast of the Epiphany, he ordained 34 African deacons and three priests for the war-torn diocese. They visited schools and orphanages adopted and being aided by Diocese of Bethlehem congregations and individuals as well as food distribution centers. They laid foundation stones for the new Theological College building (on the site of the destroyed one) and for the Mothers’ Union Training Center where young women would be taught skills they need to take their places in their local governments and economies.

“In the last five years,” Bishop Paul said in his address to our 2006 Diocesan Convention, “our relatively tiny diocese has given over $800,000 to relief for Africa (to fund scholarships, buy agricultural tools and oxen, adopt schools and stave off starvation in Kajo Keji), for tsunami victims, and for hurricane relief. And that is just the money we know about because it flowed through us to Episcopal Relief and Development. Certainly there has been more. No one can doubt that the love of God lives among us, and I thank you on behalf of the many who have no other way to address you.”

"It is one of the paradoxes of the modern world," ABC News Nightline correspondent Dave Marash has said, "that we can and are made aware of far more serious problems than we can solve. Measuring up to this challenge, finding room in our hearts and our wallets for simultaneous catastrophes … is the challenge of the 21st century."

In 2004, Bishop Paul presented to local and diocesan leadership people a vision and plan to stand with and substantially support the people of Kajo Keji as they meet challenges of their own on their journey from a subsistence to a market economy.

“The Christian church has a limited set of objectives,” Bishop Paul wrote to our diocesan community in 2006. “Our catechism speaks of the church’s mission as the reconciliation of people to God and each other. That includes explicitly telling the gospel of Jesus Christ and caring for those in need in his name and stead. The practical implications of this commitment are spelled out in the Baptismal Covenant (Book of Common Prayer, pp. 304-305). We dare not settle for any lesser commitment in the Church and its leaders. Everything depends on this kind of focus …

“At our Diocesan Convention in October, I will share with you the study the Diocesan Council has authorized as to ways we can make our maximum impact on the plight of the needy in Sudan and Pennsylvania.”

From that study the New Hope Campaign for the people of Kajo Keji and the needy in northeastern Pennsylvania was developed, under the leadership of Bishop Paul and Charlie Barebo, CEO of a lake and pond water quality management firm in Upper Milford Township.

Bishop Paul had previously asked Barebo to help spearhead a capital campaign to develop a diocesan camp and conference center. "A funny thing happened on the way," said Charlie. "I woke up one morning in the Sudan. It was a life-changing event that has deepened my faith and altered my outlook on this world."

Barebo was one of four who immersed themselves in the life of Kajo Keji. They met with local officials and clergy, teachers, representatives of the Mothers' Union and heard them talk about their priorities and dreams.

Within a few months, the Diocese of Bethlehem launched New Hope, "something unique," Bishop Paul said, "a capital campaign for others."

The initial goal had been $3.6 million. As of June 2009, more than $3.8 million had pledged.

"We are responding to the request of the Diocese of Kajo Keji for assistance in building the educational and organizational centers that will allow them to provide for their own future," Bishop Paul said. "Through revolving micro-finance funds, enterprising individuals, largely women, will be able to make a new start in a war-torn country."

Local Mission
The 300 block of Wyandotte Street in South Bethlehem tells a story of life and ministry that flows out of faithful, prophetic and creative obedience to gospel imperatives. The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, at north end of the block, participates in a rich variety of diocesan and neighborhood ministries. For the past ten years they have given away their entire Christmas and Easter offerings, substantially more than $100,000 to local and international ministries that help struggling people.

Diocesan House, in the middle of the block, is the diocesan center for the ministry of the Episcopate, the starting block for Bishop Paul V. Marshall and his staff.

New Bethany Ministries, a large complex of shelters, subsidized housing and meal programs serving people who are poor, homeless or mentally ill, curls around the south corner of the block. Its name recalls the safe place where Jesus was a guest. Its operating budget is more than $2,000 a day.

In 1998, when New Bethany was buried in debt and its staff cut from 16 to 10 after an ambitious expansion of ministries failed, Bishop Paul convened a Blue Ribbon panel of leaders in business, social service, church and philanthropic fields to explore the problems and challenges facing New Bethany. The panel and Bob Wilkins, a retired vice president of Bethlehem Steel who contributed his fulltime professional services at New Bethany, managed to bring the agency back to full health within a few years.

The Episcopal Church USA has awarded New Bethany Ministries and six parishes in the Diocese of Bethlehem the designation of Jubilee Ministry Center, i.e., “committed to a ministry that reaches out to the poor and oppressed, empowering people, willing to advocate for them and daring to share the Gospel and love of God unconditionally.”

Children and Youth
Bishop Paul has been a friend to children and youth. He regularly seeks them out during his visits to parish churches. He hosts an annual themed Bishop’s Day with Kids and a Bishop’s Day with Youth. He preaches, teaches and interacts with children and youth in developmentally appropriate ways at both events and has fun doing it. Bishop Paul has participated in diocesan Christophany and Happening events and has also attended and ministered at the national Episcopal Youth Event.

He is a strong advocate for children and is a member of the Founding Council of Good Schools Pennsylvania, an advocacy organization dedicated to improving public education in Pennsylvania. He spearheaded a joint pastoral letter of Pennsylvania Bishops regarding the inequity of school funding. Over 300 members of the Diocese of Bethlehem joined him for a prayer vigil and day of lobbying in Harrisburg in 2003, encouraging our state legislators to “be a light for children” and to remember children’s needs as they go about making their legislative decisions. He has also been a strong supporter of Safeguarding God’s Children and an advocate of making our churches safe places for all God’s people.

Communication Awareness
Considering only sermons, clergy bible studies, class presentations, presentations in parishes, staff meetings, committee meetings, and meetings with vestries and diocesan community leadership, he presides, preaches, teaches or presents in various venues some 35 times monthly.

Many people beyond the Episcopal Church know him through a monthly column he writes for the secular press. The column, geared toward a broader readership than the monthly column he writes also for Diocesan Life, is carried by newspapers that circulate to some 400,000 homes in northeastern Pennsylvania. He was sought out to write a bi-monthly column for the national newspaper of the Episcopal Church during 2004.

He is at ease with journalists and is not intimidated by the world of electronic communication. His presence, participation and vulnerability has been a key factor in making the interactive internet list of the Diocese of Bethlehem a model of horizontal communication.

“The Episcopal Church uniquely provides an alternative to much on the religious and cultural scene in America,” he has said, “and needs to share its treasures. We have preferred people to come to us and that has to change ... In our culture very few people go looking for churches. Religious denominations that want to stay alive are going to have to rise to the challenge of communication in the world as it is.”

He has written extensively both for scholars and clergy and for the general reader. His scholarly works have been described as “readable” and his popular works as “learned.”

Messages in the Mall -- Looking at Life in 600 Words or Less (Church Publishing, 2008) is a compilation of ten years of selected columns written for the secular ress. This rigorous discipline of writing to strict space requirements was meant from its beginning in 1996 to engage the secular culture and to bring the church's message to it by commenting on the realities of the human condition and on issues of general interest.

The Bishop Is Coming (Church Publishing, 2007) is the first new ceremonial guide for bishops in more than 25 years and the first book of its kind aimed at helping congregations prepare for a bishop’s visit. This short book has a dual purpose and is aimed at two audiences. Through practical instruction and guidance, it equips bishops to minister effectively as the chief pastor in the diocese, while helping clergy and congregations reduce the eternal anxiety around the words, the bishop is coming.

One, Catholic and Apostolic: Samuel Seabury and the Early Episcopal Church (Church Publishing, 2004) explores the complex personalities, motivations, loyalties and prejudices that went into the formation of the Episcopal Church and the creation of its liturgy.

A 90-minute video on Reading the Bible Today, produced during a live presentation in the fall of 2003 in response to General Convention decisions related to homosexuality, was distributed nationally by the Episcopal Media Center.

Same-Sex Unions: Stories and Rites is a collection and analysis of representative rites in use in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada. It begins with a focus on the lives of two deeply committed Christian couples. Also published by Church Publishing, it is an expanded version of Same Sex Unions: An Inquiry, written initially for bishops on their way to General Convention 2003.

Earlier books include: Leaps and Boundaries: The Prayer Book in the 21st Century (Co-edited with Dr. Lesley Northup, Morehouse, 1997), The Voice of a Stranger: On the Lay Origins of Anglican Liturgics (Church Publishing Incorporated, New York 1993) and Anglican Liturgy in America: Prayer Book Parallels (CPI, 1989, 1991, 1996), a three-volume set that compares texts of different versions of The Book of Common Prayer.

He has written a book on preaching, Preaching for the Church Today(CPI, 1991). “I have a rather pragmatic view of preaching” he says. “If it doesn’t help people live, then it’s probably a waste of their time.”

He has also written more than 50 articles and reviews for periodicals. A Note on the Role on North America in the Evolution of Anglicanism (Anglican Theological Review, Fall 2005) is a must read for anyone attempting to navigate the recent waves and winds of the Anglican Communion sea.

Before Bethlehem
Before coming to Bethlehem, Paul Marshall had been a professor at Yale University Divinity School and director of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.

Born 1947 in New York City and raised in Lancaster County (PA), he was ordained a priest in 1978 and earned a doctorate in theology at General Theological Seminary, NYC (1982), where he was a Fellow and Lecturer in Homiletics, Latin and Liturgics, 1979-82. He received certification in Neuro-Linguistic Programming from the NLP Institute (1992).

Having begun his pastoral ministry as a Lutheran, he served in parish ministry for some 20 years in Connecticut, New York, Wisconsin and Minnesota. He served Lutheran congregations in Minnesota and Wisconsin, 1972-77, and as chair of the religion department at Minneapolis Lutheran High School, 1973-75. He received a B.A. degree from Concordia College in Indiana (1969) and an M.Div. degree from Concordia Seminary in Missouri (1973).

After his ordination as an Episcopal priest, he served as priest in charge of English language ministry at Trinity Church, Long Island City, New York, 1979-82, rector at Christ Church, Babylon, New York, 1982-89, professor of Liturgics and Homiletics and chaplain at the George Mercer School of Theology, Garden City, New York, 1982- 89, and part-time vicar in New Haven, CT, 1990-93. He served as assistant professor (1988-93) and associate professor (1993-96) at Yale.

He married Diana S. Hilty in 1969. She is an attorney, a registered nurse and Has served as president of the board of the Community Action Committee of the Lehigh Valley.

“Through many experiences,” he has said, “I have come to believe that God will see the church through, and that I may not always have the details in advance. Because I believe God wants us to trust that history is in safer hands than our own, I am less worried about having to make things come out right. “I believe that discipleship in Jesus Christ pleasantly surprises us with answers to who we are and why we’re here.

I believe that is one of the most exciting things about the Christian gospel for people in our society today. The church is my first love because the power of the gospel is the most real thing I know…

“I don’t believe moral and ethical change can come from or be led by people who are not themselves deeply morally and ethically committed in their own lives. Christianity makes its major contribution here in teaching us how to be people, what it really means to be human beings.”

May God bless Bishop Paul.

[Canon Bill Lewellis has been communication minister for the Diocese of Bethlehem since January 1986.]

Bill Lewellis, Communication Minister/Editor (1986), Canon Theologian (1998)
Diocese of Bethlehem, 333 Wyandotte Street, Bethlehem, PA 18015
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