Friends,

One of the things that has surprised me the most in my ministry thus far is how much I have grown to truly appreciate the institution of the Episcopal Church. And I want to be clear, by institution, I mean all of the bureaucracy, paperwork, committee structures, finances, conventions with too many speakers and resolutions, strategic plans, and stewardship campaigns and all of the other stuff that people often do not like about Church. Jesus didn’t talk about these things, and as an overly naive and idealistic seminarian, I thought I could go through ministry without having to sully my spirit with the slippery slope of the sin that is fundraising, trying to increase budgets and building an endowment.