Presiding Bishop Michael B. Curry joined the bishops, clergy, and people of the Diocese of Ohio to celebrate their bicentennial anniversary. On Friday, he addressed clergy and senior wardens at a lunch in Trinity Cathedral, Cleveland. Saturday, he preached and presided at a Convention Eucharist. On Sunday, he will meet with youth and young adults before celebrating a Eucharist at the diocese’s new Camp & Retreat Center, Bellwether Farm.
In Saturday’s sermon, Bishop Curry exhorted the Diocese of Ohio
to witness to a way of being Christian that actually looks something like Jesus of Nazareth.
We need, as the prayerbook says, some witnesses to the love of God that we’ve known in Jesus Christ; and we need it badly.
The truth is – forgive me for saying it – the truth is Christianity is getting hijacked. It’s getting hijacked by voices that do not sound like the love of God. It’s getting hijacked by representations that do not look anything like Jesus of Nazareth. Christianity is getting hijacked and held hostage, and we need a counter-narrative. A narrative of Christianity that really does look like Jesus … the Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount.
He used two bumper stickers produced by the Diocese of Ohio to illustrate that witness: God Loves You, No Exceptions; and Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Change the World.
