The Rev. Scott Benhase was elected on Saturday at the annual convention of the Diocese of Georgia to serve as its next Bishop. The election, with six candidates, took two ballots.
Assuming a majority of consents in the next 120 days, Benhase’s consecration will be held in January.
In the run-up to the election, Benhase was asked to reflect on what helps frame his stance on current matters pertaining to The Episcopal Church’s place within the Anglican Communion. He responded, in part,
Like everyone else, we Episcopalians are along for this ride. But we can bring something important to the public square as our culture endures this sea change. And this is where my personal practice of faith guides me. We can live into our common future by being more Elizabethan, that is by helping one another develop a capacity to attend to one another’s differences with a spirit of love (that’s the Anglican Via Media, that Queen Elizabeth helped create). This may be the most important call God is giving us as a Church right now: to stand between the virulent fundamentalists (no matter their religious stripe) and the cultured despisers of religion by witnessing to the reconciling love of Jesus.
I have no illusions about how challenging this is. It will mean that we will have to take seriously what it means to be people grounded in the Gospel. Such a call will have less to do with just trying to be nicer to strangers or more understanding of those who disagree with us. Rather, such a call from God will ask us to wade deep into troubled waters with both friend and stranger.