Pittsburgh bishop to visit Somerset

From the Somerset PA paper-

Pittsburgh Bishop Robert H. Johnson of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh will visit Somerset this weekend to preach and preside at the reception of new members into the Episcopal Church.

The service will take place at 9 a.m. Sunday at St. Francis-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, 2081 Husband Road.

Members of several Somerset-area churches might recognize Johnson, not by name, but as a character in a widely read series of novels. He is the inspiration for the bishop depicted in the collections known as “The Mitford Years” and “The Father Tim Novels,” both written by Johnson’s long-time friend, author Jan Karon.

The books center on the life of an Episcopal priest and the mountain community he serves. Karon set her tales in the fictional village of Mitford, N.C. Before coming out of retirement to serve the Pittsburgh diocese, Johnson was bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina.

This will be Johnson’s second trip to Somerset this year. On May 9, he and his wife, Julie, were present at the Episcopal Church Womens United Thank Offering Ingathering and annual meeting, which the women of St. Francis-in-the-Fields hosted.

St. Francis is one of 28 parishes of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

http://www.dailyamerican.com/articles/2009/08/28/news/local/news744.txt

SERMON PREACHED BY THE RIGHT REVEREND ROBERT THOMPSON

The Bishop of Jamaica was at Calvary Church Pittsburgh for The Feast of St. Michael's and preached the following sermon. He speaks eloquently about the Anglican Covenant and the responsibility we all bear towards one another in the communion.

Let me say something about the proposed Anglican Covenant as a way of "affirming the bonds of affection." There was large support at Lambeth for the idea of a Covenant and this awaits further fine tuning from the design group. A covenant is not a contract and therefore any suggestion of a covenant becoming some kind of legal instrument, enforceable by the threat of exclusion from the Communion, if one does not conform, must be resisted. This was the general feeling at Lambeth. Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks suggested a way in which we could think of Covenant in non-legalistic terms. In a greatly appreciated address at one of our plenary sessions he said in part:

"In a contract, two or more individuals, each pursuing their own interest, come together to make an exchange for mutual benefit A covenant is something different. In a covenant, two or more individuals, each respecting the dignity and integrity of the other, come together in a bond of love and trust, to share their interests, sometimes even to share their lives, by pledging their faithfulness to one another, to do together what neither can achieve alone. A contract is a transaction. A covenant is a relationship. Or to put it slightly differently: a contract is about interests. A covenant is about identity. It is about you and me coming together to form an 'us'. That is why contracts benefit, but covenants transform" (Sacks).

http://www.calvarypgh.org/sermons/rt092808evening.html