Loading...Protected from a hot, blazing sun under the big, two-peaked white tent, about 200 well-wishers gathered on a sweltering Saturday afternoon at All Saints' Conference Center for one more "Tent Meeting, Episcopal Style" with Bishop Ted Gulick.
The July 7 "tent meeting," as Gulick called a similar service two years ago, was nearly identical in its details to the first one, also held on the lawn in front of the center's main lodge, when the Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori visited. This time, however, Bishop Gulick was the guest of honor and celebrant, presiding over his last Service of Confirmations, Baptism and Eucharist in the diocese.
The gathering began with the worship service, during which Gulick baptized an infant, Ronan Wallace, son of Abigayle and Rob McBaen, members with Christ Church, Bowling Green, and confirmed five persons (Kevin Colbert of St. John's, Murray; Dana Michelle Gilliland of Grace, Hopkinsville; and Trey Kendrick, Christina Tobin and Joelisha Tobin, all of St. George's).
Afterwards, the members of the Bishop Transition Committee presented gifts honoring the 62-year-old bishop's ministry of more than 16 years in the Diocese of Kentucky. These include reference to the legacy gift of a bishop's cabin at All Saints', for which donations are still being accepted. The cabin will be located on a site waiting for its installation and will be used by the incoming bishop and his family when they visit All Saints'.
Two surprise gifts were also presented. The bishop and his wife Barbara were given one gift they could take with them: an etching by Ben Hart, a recent graduate of Murray State University who is discerning a call to the priesthood. The large, three-panel etching, inspired by Hart's faith journey, was described by the bishop as "the perfect gift," one they would display prominently in their newly renovated home in Virginia.
The final gift was a Gulick Lodge sign. Hung over the entrance to the new lodge and dining hall, it testifies to the bishop's unfailing commitment to the development of All Saints' as a first-rate camp and conference center for forming generations of Episcopalians, particularly its younger members.
Before the formal presentation of gifts, however, the bishop received many other gifts in the form of the organizers' careful attention to recreating the worship experience that prompted such joyful memories from the first tent meeting. The altar linens once again were loaned by Grace Church, Paducah; the make-shift baptismal fountain was again flowing with water at the foot of the altar. Spiritual sounds of "Shall We Gather at the River" and other joyful hymns by St. Luke's musicians and choir members again filled the tent.
This gathering, however, also included additional gifts fitting for this occasion. The Sudanese Choir, accompanied by drummers, offered some rousing Dinka hymns, including one whose call in English for us to "Rejoice, Rejoice" was answered by a clapping congregation. Nature also got into the act. The missing origami cranes that had danced from the tent poles in the wind during the first tent meeting were replaced by large butterflies fluttering about the tent ceiling as if in a dance.
In the midst of the celebration, however, was also awareness that this would be the final public gathering with the bishop over which he presided. Recognizing the bishop gets "terribly embarrassed" when praised in public settings, the Rev. Larry Handwerk, his former director of All Saints' who was invited to give the sermon, told those gathered that he "would not want to embarrass my dearest friend" and offer a "litany of his successes, or anecdotes about Ted's episcopate in this wonderful diocese. You can share those moments of your own to your hearts content in the Prayers of the People and the celebration that follows."
Instead, near the end of a sermon focused on the parable of the Good Shepherd, Handwerk recalled Bishop Gulick's recent sermon at the consecration of James "Jay" Magness as the bishop of federal ministries. Quoting from Augustine's sermon at the ordination of another bishop 1600 years ago, Gulick said that "the person who is misnamed 'bishop' [is] he who rejoices in that honor rather than the salvation of God's flock, who in that office seeks his own ends not that of Jesus Christ." However, Gulick added, Magness, his former canon to the ordinary, "will be an authentic holder of this name, so authentic that he will point to and be a sacrament of him who is the shepherd and bishop of our souls, our Lord Jesus Christ."
The same could be said about Bishop Gulick, Handwerk concluded. "From my personal perspective and my experience of thirty plus years of ministering with Ted and for Ted, and from the reflections that I have gleaned from so many of you over these past 17 years, I am impelled to assert that this bishop whom you call "Ted" was not, I repeat, was not misnamed."
Copy of the sermon may be downloaded here.
