Bishop Rob's Reflection on the 20th Anniversary of 9/11

September 11, 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of a day that cannot be forgotten in American history. 

That horrible day has become unlike any other day in our shared history. The neat lines that demarcate days on the calendar dissolve, and the meaning of 9/11 now spill into an era that I believe we are still wrestling to understand fully. It was a day of senseless violence committed against citizens in this nation who were simply going about their business and lives, working, running errands, visiting loved ones, growing families, and enjoying the freedom that comes from believing they were safe.

It was also a day of countless acts of courage, compassion, and self-less giving for the sake of others. Hundreds of women and men, first responders, police officers, paramedics, and fire-fighters, threw themselves into harm’s way to save lives — only to have their own lives snuffed out by collapsing towers, falling debris, and then later the inhalation of air filled with toxins.  

For a brief period afterward, we experienced a kind of solidarity that we have not since known. We had the empathy and support from peoples around the globe. It seemed that they felt that the deadly assaults were as assaults on the hopes of all humanity. But clearly that center of compassionate solidarity did not hold for long.

It’s hard not to notice how, since 9/11, our outward concern for our neighbors seems to have eroded. Our respect for institutions that sought to guide us, as flawed as they are, has collapsed in many places. We are less kind, more toxic, more callous toward people whose views or backgrounds differ from us. I wonder if the root of this unkindness is fear, fear that we are vulnerable to other acts of violence, fear of defenselessness, fear of weakness, fear of how being in an authentic relationship with those unlike us might change us.

At the heart of our Christian faith is the cross, the place where God chose to be weak in order to unmask the futility of the violent. On the Cross, Jesus Christ chose, quite literally, to open his sacred heart to the evil of this world so that when he rose from the dead, he would make weak all the powers and principalities of this world, those of empire, and even of religious self-righteousness who seek to condemn the children of God. God chose to be tread upon, freely deciding to set aside any privilege, power, worldly claim to use force so that human kind itself, in Jesus Christ, could instead rise out of the tomb. Once risen, Jesus then breathes peace, not revenge, on those who denied and abandoned him at his most needed hour.

For Christians it’s the Cross of Jesus that is an anchor of hope for turbulent times. The 13th century Franciscan theologian Bonaventure, writing in a time racked by political unrest and religious violence, said that the Cross is the medicine of the world. By that he meant to invite us to look not to the counterfeit and corrosive power of human violence, revenge, and hatred for our purpose and identity in this life, but to the life-giving presence of God, gloriously shown by Christ’s self-offering on the cross, for our strength, hope and inspiration in our dealings with one another — even as we seek justice for the victims of cruelty and brutality.

On this 20th anniversary of that horrible day, a day that has tragically become an era, I believe it is in the humility of Jesus that we will ever have hope of freeing this world from the fears that result in cruelty. With God’s help and God’s graces may we seek to bring healing to this beautiful and hurting world.

Faithfully yours,
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld

In the News: Bishop Rob writes a “My Turn” Opinion Column in Concord Monitor

In the News: Bishop Rob writes a “My Turn” opinion column about New Hampshire education funding and proposed legislation in the Concord Monitor. Read it here.

https://www.concordmonitor.com/Voucher-bill-38781024

National Parochial Report Numbers for NH Inaccurate

The Episcopal News Service recently published a story titled, “2019 parochial reports show continued decline and a ‘dire’ future for The Episcopal Church.” In its assessment, the article describes a steep decline in attendance in the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire.

The Church of New Hampshire has reviewed the report and found it is based on inaccurate numbers embedded in the parochial reports. In reality, Average Sunday Attendance (ASA) in New Hampshire was statistically flat between 2018 and 2019. In fact, ASA numbers modestly increased by 3 persons.

For the past few years — through 2018 — the Diocese of New Hampshire’s ASA totals included chapel services held at two Episcopal-affiliated schools in the state. In 2019, these schools did not submit their parochial report numbers: an oversight resulting in an apparent precipitous drop in ASA.

According to Benge Ambrogi, COO and Canon for Mission Resources, “Without school attendance included, New Hampshire’s ASA in 2018 was 3,020 and 3,023 in 2019, indicating not decline, but growth by 3 people. In the context of decline across the church nationally, attendance levels in the New Hampshire church is positive.” Ambrogi noted that chapel attendance at the two NH schools in question was unchanged between 2018 and 2019. 

The Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld, Bishop of New Hampshire announced that, “Moving forward, we will be more careful about how to integrate chapel attendance at our church-affiliated schools in the parochial report to the wider church. In this way, future reports will consistently reflect a more accurate picture of the church’s reach in New Hampshire."

“As we all know, for many decades now, the Church has employed this metric to try to determine the state of our health and holiness as a community in Christ, even as a greater portion of the US work force must work on Sunday mornings,” added Bishop Hirschfeld. “We have always sought to use the same measurements as the rest of the Church, however, our attention has been on other signs of our resilience, vibrancy, and joy in bearing witness to the Resurrection. Having a positive ASA number by three persons does not obviously make a trend. That said, I hope it is a sign that our three-fold efforts to renew the faithful in their knowledge and love of Jesus, to reconcile the world to God in Christ, and to revive the Church are worth committing to with increased boldness, especially in these demanding times. We will continue to turn our attention to how God is doing a new thing among us.”

Bishop Rob’s “Foolish” Ride - RESCHEDULED

BISHOP ROB'S "FOOLISH" RIDE RESCHEDULED

With weather forecasts Monday calling for rain, heavy at times, and wind gusts up to 40 mph -- late morning through the afternoon -- Bishop Rob's "Foolish" Ride has been rescheduled for Wednesday, April 15, at 1:18 PM.

The Bishop of the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, the Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld, will jump on his unicycle (yes, his unicycle!), don his Bishop’s Mitre — and his coronavirus mask — and complete one circuit around the State House in Concord. 

• Wednesday, April 15, 2020 (NEW DATE)

• At 1:18 PM

• In front of the State House, Concord, NH

The Bishop is doing his “foolish” ride for Jesus to convey three important messages:

• First, it is critical that we continue to flatten the coronavirus curve and keep our neighbors safe by always wearing a mask in public. The next weeks are crucial —  wearing your mask in public will make a big difference fro the health and safety of our neighbors and ourselves.

• Many of our neighbors in NH have been devastated by the medical and economic impact of the coronavirus. It is time to act for our neighbors who are most vulnerable — with compassion, with vision and with focus. The NH Charitable Foundation has created a Community Crisis Action Fund. The Bishop asks that you contribute and help in any way you can. To learn more and donate, visit: nhcf.org/about-us/community-crisis-action-action-fund/.

• 1 Corinthians 1:18 says, “For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” Bishop Rob has chosen this light-hearted, “foolish” unicycle ride to illustrate the power of faith in the resurrection of Jesus and the power in us all to come together to aid and assist each other in a time of urgent need.

The Bishop’s ride will be live streamed on Facebook Live, https://www.facebook.com/NHEpiscopal/ on Wednesday, April 15, 2020, beginning at 1:18 PM — in recognition of 1 Corinthians 1:18.

NH’s Stay at Home Order: A Letter from Bishop Rob

March 27, 2020

Dear Friends in Christ,

We have just heard from Governor Sununu that the State of New Hampshire will be under a Stay at Home order until Monday May 4th.  The purpose of this order is to slow progression of the virus that causes COVID-19.  

Expected Timeline for Worship

The Governor’s Stay at Home Order gives us some guidance about the timeframe of our fast from in-person public worship.  It is now clear that we will not be able to gather as usual for our Holy Week and Easter celebrations.  The earliest we might consider returning to our sanctuaries for worship may be Sunday May 10, which happens to be Good Shepherd Sunday/Mothers’ Day.  Having said this, I need to assert there is no guarantee that it may be deemed prudent or safe for us to return to church on that day, and it may very well be that a call to return may not come to all churches all at once. We will continue to update you as the situation evolves.  In the meantime,  your local church is providing, either by their own production or by referring to the worship services the diocese is making available, on-line worship services of word, prayer and spiritual communion, even as we experience this time of sacramental exile and fasting. 

Essential Services

Clearly, we are all striving to balance the need to provide pastoral and necessary care to households in need of food, clothing, shelter and other needs, while at the same time ensuring that our volunteers and guests are safe.  The physical configurations of these ministries vary from setting to setting. Some have found it impossible to maintain the necessary 6 feet distance between persons. At least one food pantry and a major day care provider have had to close after learning of positive test results for the virus.  Others are endeavoring to remain open as long as it is feasible and deemed safe to do so.  We know these decisions are extremely difficult yet sometimes necessary to make. Please consult with your local health officer and engage your Bishop’s Committees and Vestries.  You have my support and prayers as you make these decisions and my office is eager to be informed and consulted. 

We can take heart that, though we have had to close almost all of our spaces for 12-Step Recovery Programs, those organizations have displayed tremendous adaptability in moving their meetings to on-line formats.  A recent NHPR Exchange discussion revealed that there has actually been a significant expansion in persons being included in meetings.  Though the recovery of many will remain vulnerable, our prayers continue for the ways God continues actively to seek the liberation and life of those experiencing addiction.

Since we took the lead from our neighboring states, I am grateful that as a church, we have already taken many precautions in advance of the New Hampshire order to help safeguard the health of our parishes and the communities they serve.  We are practicing physical distancing, limiting the numbers of our gatherings to no more than 10 as the Governor’s order stipulates.  We are getting very adept at offering a range of worship services via our computers and telephones.  We are also ramping up our lines of communication and connection to those on our parish lists, especially to those who would be most vulnerable to the virus’s effects if they were to venture into public places.  It has been enormously heartening to see how our clergy and lay leaders are demonstrating their love for God’s people in creative ways they hardly imagined before the present crisis.  The signs of the Church’s resilience and vitality are beyond measure, and I cannot thank you, or God, enough.

May God continue to show us signs of love and healing grace, protect those who are keeping us supplied with our necessities, and bless and encourage those who are working so hard to bring health to the afflicted.

Faithfully and Gratefully Yours,

Bishop Rob
The Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld

Pastoral Letter from Bishop Rob Hirschfeld on Life and Worship During the COVID-19 Epidemic

This letter has been updated with most current information 3-27-2020. 

March 24, 2020

Dear Clergy and Pastoral Leaders in the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire,

It is clear now that the congregations in the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire, like many of those throughout the world, will be unable to assemble in person for our usual solemn and joyous celebrations of Holy Week and Easter. Efforts to stem the pandemic of the potentially devastating COVID-19 require each of our households to practice physical distancing, to refrain from gathering in groups of any size and to remain at home.

This is a time like no other in our lifetimes. It is also a time that bears close similarities to others in our spiritual heritage. In ancient times, our Jewish forebears were carried away by a Babylonian king and forced to adapt and practice their customs in a foreign land. These were times of profound community loss and lament, but also times when our forebears were drawn to sustain their bonds of community in new and creative ways. The great laments of the Psalms (interestingly rarely recited in our Sunday cycles of readings) allowed God’s people to “go deep” in their relationship with God and each other, speaking uncomfortable truths, and giving voice to dreams and longings to return.

I believe our present circumstances bear some resemblance to the exiles of our spiritual forebears. We are not able to come together. We cannot share our most sacred sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist. Our quarantines can make us isolated and thus more at risk of despair or engaging in practices, addictions, sins, and violences of word and action that can harm our souls and bodies and those of our cherished ones.

However, being in exile, acknowledging this time, can be a deeply rich and especially healthy way for our community to grow and deepen our relationship with God. We have noticed how we are praying together in ways, and in actual numbers, that seemed impossible even as recently as this last Christmas. Clearly, God’s Spirit, even in the midst of this crisis, is active, alive, engaged, and very present!   

This is a time for us to humbly acknowledge, not to deny, but to receive the truth that is being revealed to us in this time, even in miraculous ways. It is not a time, even in Easter, to celebrate the Eucharist virtually, or remotely, or vicariously, in any way. Such a practice would be a denial and even a way to “bargain” our way out of the drastic and pivotal moment we are in. Holy Communion in the bread and wine requires our physical presence. Thus, to celebrate communion without a physically gathered community violates the meaning of that most holy rite and denies what is actually happening. Yes, it is painfully difficult not to receive the Body and Blood the Christ’s risen body at this time. This is the pain of Exile to which we are now called in order to experience God’s presence in ways we have not yet.

But we still need to eat and come together, even in our separation, to hear how God’s Word "is very near to you; it is in your mouth and in your heart for you to observe.” (Deuteronomy 30:14).  During this exile, I recommend to you the practice of an Agape Meal or Love Feast. Customarily shared on Maundy Thursday in households that cannot make it to a church, this might be something we share together—with physical distance— this Maundy Thursday 2020 and then offered weekly throughout this time, perhaps even after. You will find suggested liturgies for a Maundy Thursday Agape meal, as well as a simple Love Feast liturgy you could do weekly, in the links below.

I will be offering a simple Liturgy of the Word and Prayer service this Sunday, Palm Sunday and Easter at 10:00 am via Zoom. The link to join is here: https://zoom.us/j/971001199. You may share your intercessions and thanksgivings via the “chat” function during the live service. To join by phone (audio only), dial 1-929-205-6099, Webinar ID: 971-001-199.  This service will be recorded and posted on the website (https://www.nhepiscopal.org/worship-liturgy) immediately following the service for viewing at anytime.  You and your congregations can join to read, reflect, and pray together either as a complement to a service you have organized or as your main Sunday service.

During Holy Week, we can lean into the broad offerings of our wider diocesan community and beyond, as well as encourage our people to worship at home. While our clergy and lay leaders are working even more strenuously to maintain connection with those at risk of isolation and to strengthen our church communities, online worship all together can dissolve the boundaries between us and at home worship can draw us closer to God and to our families. Each church community and each individual member can find freedom in simple worship and spiritual practices, as we offer the gifts and resources that we have and also rely on the offerings of others.  I will be offering a simple, short worship opportunity on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil.  The information will be on the website, (https://www.nhepiscopalorg/worship-liturgy) .

Knowing that not everyone has access to online worship, here are some suggestions and resources for Holy Week with options for both household worship and online worship (and we will be launching a liturgical resources page on the website to which more may be added):

Encourage our people to set up sacred spaces at home – here are some ideas. A comprehensive guide to celebrating all three days of the Triduum at home can be found HERE. This offering, from Resurrection Lutheran Church, is given freely for your use and adaptation.

Palm Sunday: In the interest of simplifying, let’s allow Palm Sunday to be Palm Sunday and not read the Passion in the same service. We can focus on the reading of the Triumphal Entry of Jesus Matthew 21:1-21, saving Matthew’s Passion for Good Friday. On their own, households can be encouraged simply to cut pine branches instead of palm fronds and have a procession around their home, offering the Blessing of a Home adapted from the Book of Occasional Services (pages 156-165, stopping at the Peace). For our reflection: How are we welcoming the Messiah into our communities and hearts in this time?

Maundy Thursday: Encourage our households to celebrate a special meal, which could be a Maundy Thursday Agape Meal. VTS has offered this adaptation of the Maundy Thursday agape meal (from page 84 of the Book of Occasional Services) echoing our longing for Eucharist. Washing feet and hands (particularly symbolic in this time) of those in our households as Christ washes and serves us. A prayer for handwashing is HERE. Our friends in the Diocese of Maine are also offering a Love Feast liturgy for use each week during this time HERE. Households can do this on their own or congregations can join to do this together through Zoom. For our reflection: How does our experience of exile help us live into our call to serve the world?

Good Friday: At this time, I am aware that St. Andrew’s, New London and St. Paul’s Concord will offer Good Friday vigils. We will have links to their services, and others (please send them) on our website. An adapted version of the Solemn Collects for Good Friday is HERE. Resources for observing Stations of the Cross at home or online are HERE.  For our reflection: What does the body of Christ, broken for us, mean in this time?

Easter Vigil: I will offer a simple Easter Vigil service online, with the Lighting of the new Paschal Fire, from an outdoor site near my home. Time and details for joining will be available on the website. For churches who may also host a service, adaptations to the Easter Vigil service offered by VTS are HERE. For our reflection: Where are you seeing new life in this time? What is giving life to our congregations?

Easter Morning: Since we will have already welcomed Easter during the vigil, I encourage you to celebrate it joyously and informally on Sunday morning. Encourage folks to take chalk and write your alleluias on your sidewalks (starting a trend: #sidewalkalleluias). Dress up, wear your hats, share a special meal, develop a phone tree to say “Christ is Risen” to each other, and join the wider church in watching Bishop Curry or other large services online.  I will offer a morning 10:00 am service.  Again, the information will be on the website.

In all things, this is a time for tenderness and for simplicity and not for strenuous heroics or over-functioning. It is a time to hear anew the word of God that came to the exiles through the voice of the Prophet Isaiah:

Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that she has served her term, that her penalty is paid, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:1-5)

It is not too early to dream and imagine what our return from this exile will be like. What will the first Sunday be like, a day when we celebrate the Resurrection with an especially robust joy? What will that Sunday of Resurrection and Return be like? How will we give voice to our gratitude and joy on that day? As the exiles were sustained by imagining what their return to Jerusalem would be like, so are we encouraged to dream of our restoration:

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, then we were like those who dream.

Gratefully Yours in Christ,

+Rob

Bishop Rob Issues Pastoral Directive Regarding COVID-19

Dear Friends in Christ:

This is an update to the communication that was sent on February 27, 2020, concerning recommended precautions that our parishes should follow to prevent the spread of the coronavirus known as COVID-19.

Since that letter, it has become clear that our nation has moved to a new phase in addressing this highly transmissible virus. Above all, I am concerned for the health of our worshippers and to alleviate the increasing anxiety around the practice that is held dearest to us — the ongoing means of participating in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ: Holy Communion.

Out of an abundance of caution I have issued the following Pastoral Directive to clergy and lay pastoral leaders throughout the diocese on our behalf:

1. If any church member, including clergy, is feeling ill or shows any symptoms of fever, sneezing, coughing or difficulty breathing, please stay home until you contact your primary care physician. Please reach out to parishioners to let them know that if they cannot attend church, or are uncomfortable attending church, we can provide prayers, meals, and other supports.

2. Beginning immediately, only the consecrated bread of the Eucharist is to be distributed. A small amount of wine will be consecrated, but in solidarity with all who are vulnerable to COVID-19, we will all — clergy and laity alike — abstain from consuming the wine. Pour what is consecrated into a piscina or directly on the ground. 

3. Offer each other the Peace with respectful acknowledgment but with no physical contact. Refrain from handshaking, hugging and other contact. Bowing to each other, friendly waves, and peace signs are all perfectly acceptable substitutes.

4. Any baptismal font that contains standing water is to be drained, thoroughly sanitized, and left empty. 

In addition, I have also urged clergy to refrain from distributing homemade bread for communion, but to use packaged wafers. This practice will help those who distribute communion from handling the bread any more than is necessary during the sharing of the sacrament.

These new protocols, shared with many of our sibling churches throughout the Episcopal Church and other liturgical denominations are temporary and are to remain in place until this current health crisis has passed. Though they can be seen as a bothersome change, I believe these practices can also provide us a way to live in sacred solidarity with those who are now living with restrictions, even quarantine or hospitalization. We are in this together, in this life together, as part of a human family. I would also remind and reassure our worshippers that Communion by one element, by bread alone, allows us to receive the full spiritual benefits of our Lord’s Passion and Resurrection.

Thank you for your attention to these time-limited pastoral changes in our liturgical practice in the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire. I am deeply grateful for the care and concern that you are showing to help mitigate the spread of COVID-19, especially to the most vulnerable among us, the elderly and those with weakened immunities. 

Please feel free to contact my office if you have any questions or concerns.

Faithfully Yours in the Great Physician, Jesus Christ,
The Rt. Rev. A. Robert Hirschfeld
Bishop

Bishop Rob's Epiphany 2020 Letter

Ever since I was a small child, I’ve always lamented the day when the Christmas tree came down and the colored and white lights that glowed off the snow outside were shut off. My earliest years were in the cold and snowy towns of Minnesota, and somehow my soul attached the meaning of Christmas with these lights that shone in that deep darkness with the mystery of Jesus coming to be with us in our complicated world.

As I write this we are moving from the bright, festive lights of Christmas decoration to the more contemplative season of Epiphany, a word which means “revelation” or “manifestation,” or more simply, “showing.” The Magi, having been guided by a great light to pay a visit of respect and adoration to the Son of God in the Baby Jesus, return to their own realms without that light. A friend and poet, Christine Hemp, suggests that the Magi didn’t even have the benefit of the old constellations to guide them home, so radically does the Christ child’s birth change the universe:

Everything was
different: constellations no longer

pointed out the path. We gave up gazing
at the stars for answers. We were haunted
by a fitful flame wavering inside us.

“We asked for signs and followed what we saw,” Christine Hemp

So, the Christmas trees are on the curb or on a brush pile and the lights are slowly being extinguished. And who could blame us, in this time of political uncertainty — and even rumors of yet more war — if we didn’t feel some anxiety, fatigue, disorientation, even exasperation in gazing up at the stars for answers.

But the mystery and wonder are that in each of us light has dawned. We get to pray to the Christ who seeks to dwell within and among us. We get to look to each other in our communities of faith for that hope and courage. The light is no longer merely beyond us out there, but in our hearts. As those sentimental strings of light glowed on the snows, now the light of Christ glows in our prayers, in the words and gestures we exchange with one another, in our acts of kindness, generosity, and concern. These are ways that allow the light of Epiphany to be revealed and manifested. As the great Prologue of the Gospel of John proclaims:

What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:3b-5)

The Rev. Jay Sidebotham, the designer of the “RenewalWorks” program that has enriched so many of our congregations in recent years, has observed how an organization, a congregation, or a community will adopt some of the core characteristics of the heart of its leader. Recently I asked a presidential candidate what is in his heart and what aspects of this soul will help our nation heal and flourish. Of course, I have to ask the same question of myself, as every priest, deacon, or lay leader has a powerful effect on the whole local expression of the Body of Christ. How might you respond? Are you guided by the light of Christ, now drawn so close to us in Jesus?  My prayer for all of our presidential candidates and more importantly for us all as the members of the Church of New Hampshire is that we, like the Magi, search for and pay homage to the light of Christ in our hearts. This is the light that can drive away all that may prevent us from sharing God’s mending love to the world.

So, let the lights come down from our trees and houses. And instead, may the light in our hearts shine forth with unconquerable faith, hope, and love.

Faithfully Yours in Christ’s Light,

+Rob
The Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld

A Christmas Message from Bishop Rob

“For many years our family has had this image of Christmas on our walls. It's a simple painted woodcut that shows three figures, Mary, a donkey, and the child Jesus in a manger. There's nothing different about these characters. We expect to see them this time of year as we observe the holy birth of the Christ child in the humble setting of a stable. But I've always been struck by the word that the artist has chosen to lift up and proclaim...WITH..." Click here to watch Bishop Rob's Christmas message.

Wishes for a blessed and holy Christmas and a happy New Year!

Bishop Rob's Fall 2019 Letter

I am not a politician. For this I thank God daily. Rather, I am a theologian and a pastor. My job, the one I took a vow to perform when I became your bishop, is to guide our conversations about what it means to follow Jesus. Who and what is God calling us to be and do, and how is God equipping us as citizens of God’s Realm in times such as these?

Clearly, we are in a political crisis in our nation. Some of the most basic, indeed founding, statements of what it means to be a citizen are questioned. Do we hold self-evident that all men, all persons, are created equal, endowed with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, that lofty claim extended only to white males, excluding women, peoples who lived for millennia on these shores, and blacks who had been forced into slavery, first arriving in the ironically named Point Comfort, in the colony of Virginia on August 20, 1619. The written noble aspirations of our Founders and the inconsistency of the society they actually formed and benefited from (and by extension many of us, including me) has provided the fuel for our struggles for justice, freedom, and dignity ever since. The term used to define that perennial struggle is “politics.” And everywhere I go, every parish coffee hour I share, I hear the lament of how painfully fraught and hateful, and even violent, our politics are at present.

I believe we are in as much a religious and spiritual crisis as we are a political one. We are facing a stark spiritual choice.  Do we believe in a God whose power is manifest in anger, revenge, retribution, force, control, and violence? In other words, do we believe our God to be no different than the Greco-Roman gods like Zeus (known to the Romans as Jupiter), who required absolute obedience or else destruction would follow? To read Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey is to be introduced to the fickle and emotional insecurity of such gods, who considered human beings almost as children’s dolls. That’s one pattern for “godly” living.

I believe Christianity holds a radically different shape of faithful living. The God who Jesus embodies is proclaimed in a hymn that St. Paul quotes in this letter to the church in Philippi. To share “the mind of Christ” is to pattern one’s life on a God

who, though he was in the form of God,
    did not regard equality with God
    as something to be exploited,
but emptied himself,
    taking the form of a slave,
    being born in human likeness.
And being found in human form,
    he humbled himself
    and became obedient to the point of death—
    even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3-8)

For the ordinary Roman citizen, to hear that God would be willing to die rather than get his own way, or even to protect himself against evil, sounded not only utterly absurd but offensive.  And yet, that’s precisely the God who the early Church proclaimed, preached, and practiced. More than weapons and crusades, or the alluring attraction of its basilicas, cathedrals and chapels, when the church follows the self-emptying way of love, it spreads and grows like a healthy life-bearing vine. Even, perhaps especially, when it is pruned or persecuted.

So, I am called to ask the Church and all who claim to walk in the way of the Cross, who is the Lord that we seek to follow? If it’s Jesus, the one who risked and lost everything so that he, and all humanity, can share the resurrected life right now, then how might that change the way we talk about the great “political” issues of our day? How might taking on the mind of this self-emptying God change the tenor of how we talk about immigration, guns, the health of our planet, and the inequitable state of our public schools?

Yours in the crucified and risen Savior Jesus,

Bishop Rob
The Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld 

Bishop Rob: My Prayer for America

 “America, love it or leave it.” — seen on a church sign in New Hampshire.

 Some six centuries before the birth of Jesus, a prophet burst on the scene in Jerusalem. Jeremiah was disgusted with the state of his nation which he saw was threatened, not so much by outside empires poised to invade and conquer, but by the loss of its soul. Even more repulsive to this lonely and passionate spokesperson for God was how the people of Judah, from its priests to its king, engaged in religious language to defend immorality, injustice, and cruelty. 

 The mistreatment of immigrants, refugees, and strangers, the neglect of orphans and widows, and pledging fidelity to material idols were rampant in Jeremiah’s day. He saw the injustice and brutality of his time as a betrayal of God. He paid dearly to be a prophet in his time, suffering all sorts of humiliation. He went into exile and was likely killed at the hands of his exasperated fellow Judeans who had escaped the catastrophe in Judah by becoming refugees themselves in Egypt.

 Jeremiah loved his country, though its betrayal of the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor caused a burning within him that would not allow him to be silent. Kings, priests, and people all urged him to shut up. They claimed that God would never abandon them or leave them vulnerable to societal and national collapse. And to them he cried:

 Do not trust in these deceptive words: “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.” (Jeremiah 7) as though the temple or national pride will save you from a disaster which is coming. 

 Jeremiah would have had a special word of rebuke to any church that felt its loyalty to our nation was more important that to God’s Realm, and a special word of criticism to the words and chants, “send them back.”

 We have heard, and will no doubt hear more in the coming months leading up to the 2020 elections, of the “Greatness of America.” If the witness of Jeremiah has relevance for us today — and I am convinced it certainly does now —  then we recognize that the greatness of any society lies not in its material gross domestic product, or the performance of its stock markets, or even in the might of its military. Greatness lies in a nation’s soul: that resilient self-understanding that it has been placed here to extend justice, compassion, prosperity, and opportunity for all, and that all humankind, in all of its rich diversity, is made in God’s image.

 A great nation is one that blends its courage with ample humility to admit its imperfections, that its greatness lies in its striving to become more perfect. Racist speech that dehumanizes persons of other races and that perpetuates the empty and cowardly ideology of white supremacy violates and damages the moral core of any nation. Prophets from Amos to Zechariah — and yes, even the prophet Jesus of Nazareth — tell us unequivocally that when a nation loses its soul, that nation risks God’s judgment. And that judgment may be catastrophic. The Bible tells me so.

 Am I saying we need open borders? Am I saying we need to impeach or censor the president for his reckless and hate-filled speech? Please don’t put words in my mouth. What I am saying is that if we believe in a God of justice and peace, the current brutal and callous state of affairs in this nation must be grievous unto us, its burden intolerable. For God’s sake, this is a time for collective confession and repentance. As my colleagues at the Washington National Cathedral so powerfully stated, “the question is less about the president’s sense of decency [than] of ours.”

 Last summer, it may have felt to us good and righteous when scores of us shouted, “Te vemos!” — “We see you!” — to the detained mothers who were separated from their children in a Texas “family residential center” at the southern border. To be honest, I could not imagine that those mothers would still be wondering where their young children are a year later. So now, this summer, I wonder about how God sees us, this torn, angry nation, and its soul that longs to be restored. This is why my prayer these days is not so much “God bless America,” but “May God have mercy on us, and show us anew the paths of justice, peace, and righteousness.”

A.Robert Hirschfeld

Bishop Rob's Summer 2019 Letter: "...Things Which Were Cast Down are Being Raised Up..."

“...let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which have grown old are being made new...”

Someone once told me that faith is simply a way of seeing. Arguably, persons of faith... any faith... are generally those constantly looking for a deeper or more compelling truth — truth that may not be obvious at first glance. The eyes of faith are trained to see the hand of God, the movement of the Spirit, and the face of Jesus in circumstances that may otherwise tell us that what we initially perceive is all there is.

For many years now, we in mainline Christian denominations have been persuaded to see things through a lens of decline — that our Church is dying, crucified on the crosses of our society’s rise in materialism, secularism, political extremism,and growing mistrust, often warranted, in institutions of any kind. We’ve all seen these trends. They can easily lead us to despair.

I also see things that are equally true and heralds of resurrection. Today, for instance, a church in Franklin that has been shuttered for 17 years has now opened its doors for prayer. Mr. Joe Rose of Grace Church, East Concord, took up my invitation to “just go up there and pray with folk and see what happens.” Within a month a small congregation has formed, the local paper showed up with a reporter and photographer, and suddenly, what was cast down seems to be rising.

Living with a strict budget and limited clergy support, St. Stephen’s in Pittsfield is exploring lay worship leadership and sharing the Real Presence of Christ in a new provision I am exploring called “Communion by Extension.”

In another sign of God’s mission of renewal, we are enjoying the benefit of welcoming a number of priests and deacons in their 20s and 30s — young people asking wonderfully disruptive and energizing questions. “Things which have grown old are being made new.” Many churches are actually growing in attendance, maybe not on Sunday morning, but during the week as we adapt to the economic reality that over one third of the our workforce now works on weekends. Despite that, souls still search for signs of new life, holy purpose, Jesus Community. We enjoyed two vibrant and successful events recently: Revival: Reimagined and Spring Renewal. These events look to the eyes of my faith as signs of just that — revival, renewal, even resurrection. As we prepare for our annual Convention in November, you will see bold new initiatives that build on the work the Holy Spirit seems to be already doing. A new school for mission leadership. A network of new clergy to serve as “curates,” to learn from seasoned pastors and multiply area Christian communities. A system of coaching to support newly assigned priests. All these things you will hear about as we seek to strengthen the church as it pursues God’s mission of loving, liberating, and giving life to all God’s people.

If we are truly the Body of Jesus Christ, we will always be giving up ourselves to the death of the cross. It’s what Jesus said would happen. But the eyes of faith always look beyond, to the glory of Resurrection. I pray you see signs of that renewal wherever you are. Look for them. They are there, just as surely as the Risen Jesus is walking with us along the Way. 

Bishop Rob
The Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld 

Bishop Rob Speaks at NHCF: The Weavers Among Us

Bishop Rob delivered an inspiring address at the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation's recent annual meeting. Carrying forward his message of spiritual weaving in our community, he set the tone for a moving and uplifting evening. Please watch, reflect, and share Bishop Rob's words. https://youtu.be/icuCcMfLvv8

Bishop Rob's 2019 Easter Letter: A Community of Weavers

Much has been written about our torn social fabric. So many in our society wake up feeling cut off from any sense of family, community or neighborhood. Belonging is on the wane. Isolation is on the rise. In such a fragmented culture as ours, it is no wonder that there are nearly 50,000 suicides every year in America and over 70,000 deaths to drug addiction, almost double the number of casualties during the whole of the Vietnam War. 

Recently I read a powerfully truthful and hopeful piece by columnist David Brooks who reported on attending a conference called “Weave: The Social Fabric Project.” Its first core idea is “that social isolation is the problem underlying a lot of our other problems. The second core idea is that this problem is being solved by people around the country at the local level who are building community and weaving the social fabric.” 

The Church has benefited society because Jesus calls each of us to a holy weaving. Every time we see a person as a bearer of God’s image, we weave. Every time we pigeonhole someone into the isolating labels of gender, ethnicity, nationality, race, sexual orientation, or even political party, we are rippers. To seek to fulfill our Baptismal Vow to “uphold the dignity of every human being” is to weave. 

This weaving is done in so many of our churches. When we welcome the homeless into our spaces through Family Promise, volunteer to be mentors or tutors at local public schools or for at-risk children, when we simply have lunch at the local soup kitchen, or visit those in prison or in hospice or the homebound, we are weavers. We weave when we faithfully keep vigil with one who struggles to recover from addiction. We weave when we participate in book groups or discussions across differences of opinion. We weave when we pick up the trash by the side of the road or from our river banks and are cautious about our carbon footprint. 

When I say this is holy work, I speak from the depths of our Christian tradition. The theological word that describes the love and adoration that moves among the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity is perichoresis, meaning, an interweaving, a dancing flow, among three distinct identities. More simply, God is a weaver. God’s love is known not in isolation, but in community. As he washes his disciples’ feet, Jesus says, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35) Being created in God’s image means sharing in this eternal identity and mission wherever and among whomever we find ourselves. 

The torn body of Jesus is mended by God in the Resurrection. May it be so with us in the Risen Body of Christ this Easter! 

Bishop Rob
The Rt. Rev. Robert Hirschfeld