October 1997

AIDS Healing Service

God’s Call Challenges Us to More

by Warren W. Buckingham III

The day after Frank Griswold was elected our next Presiding Bishop, the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition held a healing service in Philadelphia, just as it has at the last four General Conventions of our Church. Each of the candidates for Presiding Bishop had agreed ahead of time to participate in the service, and to lead it if they had been elected. Even Herbert Thompson, Bishop of Southern Ohio, who was not a candidate of the nominating committee, agreed to be there.

It turned out that three of the five bishops who had hoped to lead our Church actually came to the service. Frank, whom we now pray for every Sunday, was there. And it was his first liturgical act after his election. Schimpfky was there, an also-ran, but a good man nonetheless. And Herb Thompson, to the surprise of many.

After a hymn and prayers and consecration of the oil for anointing, the bishops in attendance processed to separate healing stations. Each was assisted by clergy and laypersons in this greatest gift of our Church in the midst of the AIDS pandemic. There were many emotional moments as young men came forward seeking to be delivered from the deadly pestilence, and grief stricken mothers and fathers sought relief from the scourge that had come into their tents when a daughter or son succumbed to AIDS. But nothing could have prepared any of us in attendance for the conclusion of the healing.

After all at his station had been anointed, Bishop Thompson — whom many had sought to use as a blunt instrument to divide the church — proceeded to the station where our Presiding Bishop-elect was ministering to those who sought God’s healing and uplifting grace. He waited quietly at the end of the line, and when it came his turn he knelt before Frank Griswold to receive the gift of anointing and laying on of hands. In that moment an electrified silence swept the sanctuary and many of us began to have hope for healing of some of the divisions in our church. We have torn ourselves asunder in recent years over issues around race and gender and sexual orientation, to name just a few. But the Holy Spirit, the living and active word of God, descended on those men and on that moment. And in that moment, we were one holy, catholic and apostolic church!

Sometimes she wants to make absolutely sure that we don’t miss the message, so the Holy Spirit whapped us another time. After Herbert stood and the two adversaries of just hours before embraced, our Presiding Bishop-elect knelt before Bishop Thompson and sought his blessing and anointing, which were freely given. This, brothers and sisters in Christ, is what it looks like when we approach the throne of grace with boldness and receive mercy and grace to help in time of need.

I tell you this story — which isn’t yet over — for a number of important reasons. For those of you who don’t know it, our Episcopal Church has led faith communities in our own country and all around the world in modeling a Christ-like response to AIDS. From the smallest mission to the Office of the Presiding Bishop, we have embraced the lepers of our time. For those we have embraced, AIDS has been transformed. And in the process, AIDS has transformed our church.

By now you have in your minds an image of high and mighty people — princes of the Church — giving and receiving the gifts of the Spirit. But this is a Church that professes, and sometimes even practices, the priesthood of all believers. So let me end by telling you who else was at that healing station laying hands on Herb and Frank. One was Pam Chinnis, the President of the House of Deputies, and an example for all Christians — lay and ordained, male or female — of servant ministry. But for those of us living with AIDS and struggling in the trenches with this terror, the two who were last must be considered first. Standing on either side of Bishop Griswold as he anointed so many, including Bishop Thompson, were Jesse and Bill. Jesse is an African American layman and the President of the National Episcopal AIDS Coalition. And he is living with AIDS. Bill is a priest of the Church. And he too is living with AIDS. They, like that healing service itself, represent the grace-filled gift — and I use the word carefully and intentionally — that AIDS has been to our beloved Church.

But let me assure you that this story is not about AIDS. And it’s not about Herb and Frank, or Pam and Jesse and Bill.

It’s about the call of God and the promise of God to every one of us in every one of our relationships. Our God, through Christ, calls us to radical obedience; to be slaves to all. We are to kneel before our adversaries (as those bishops did) and invite them to be instruments of our healing and our forgiveness. Imagine how they — and we — are transformed when that happens!

But I believe that God ultimately calls us to something different and greater by calling us to be slaves to all. We are to be slaves to the world’s aching need for justice, for compassion, and for peace. And what happens when we enslave ourselves to these great, Godly, causes? As God’s beloved, we may approach the throne of grace with boldness and be assured that we will be protected from whatever pestilence stalks us.

And so may it be for each of us! Amen.