We are the ones we've been waiting for

Yesterday I tried to get some screen captures of Katharine Jefferts Schori's investiture, but for some reason the software didn't work. Click here for a Yahoo News slideshow of the event, and here for a nice writeup of the service via the Episcopal News Service.


At the beginning of the ceremony, Katharine knocked at the west doors of the cathedral, and, once she entered, was formally presented by representatives of the Diocese of Nevada.


Bishop Frank Griswold, the outgoing Presiding Bishop, presented her with the pastoral staff, a symbol of her new role.



Today being the first Sunday of the month, Daughter in Ohio sang with the children's choir in church. Because we just celebrated the Feast of All Saints, one of the hymns was "I Sing a Song of the Saints of God".

You can meet them in school, on the street, in the store,
in church, by the sea, in the house next door;
they are saints of God, whether rich or poor,
and I mean to be one too.

In her sermon, Mother Rebecca spoke about three saints, Absalom Jones, Saint Monica, and Katharine Jefferts Schori. She echoed the words of the hymn--that we are all called to be saints.

"Saint" is, of course, a religiously loaded word, and may be too alien for some here, but maybe I can translate a bit. I have the unshakable sense that we are here--alive, awake, and aware--at this point in history for a reason. Nearly three years ago I wrote:

One of my favorite Paul Simon songs, which I was singing along to on our recent drive to Chicago, is "Born at the Right Time". We really were born at the right time. We all were. We are here at the right time. Howard Dean's candidacy came along at the right time--and we were ready. Someone commented in the blog once, "We are the ones we've been waiting for!"

There are a number of reasons I believe that Katharine Jefferts Schori is here at the right time, but the one I find particularly striking today is that she is a trained oceanographer. She understands and can speak to the importance of humans living in right relationship with the natural world. From the end of her investiture sermon...

Let us join the raucous throngs in creation, the sea creatures and the geological features who leap for joy at the vision of all creation restored, restored to proper relationship, to all creation come home at last. May that scripture be fulfilled in our hearing and in our doing.

I thought about Bishop Katharine's words last night as we were watching An Inconvenient Truth. I also thought about the talk I recently attended by David Korten, author of The Great Turning. Both Gore and Korten stressed not only the urgency of the need to reverse the damage our species is doing to this planet, but also that there is reason for hope. One of the things I remember from An Inconvenient Truth was Gore saying "We have everything we need, except the political will to change things." But more and more it's becoming clear that the change will need to be from the ground up--grassroots action. And more and more, there are signs that people are ready.

During elections, we see some pretty extreme polarizing, but when you ask ordinary people about the issues that matter to them, a different picture emerges that isn't captured by "left versus right" thinking...

Most polls tell us voters want politicians to get on with dealing with the big, difficult, emerging issues of our time, such as global warming, globalization, health care, education, biotechnology, giant corporations out of control, violence around the world, and the future of their children. But our political system is not supplying what people want.

Remember the ad I linked to the other day--the positive message put out by American Family Voices Voters' Alliance?

Don't tell me we can't rise to every challenge tomorrow holds, and demand leaders who give us hope instead of selling us fear. We're Americans. We can do anything. Together. It is time for a new direction in our country. It is time for new leadership that shares our vision for this country.

It's time--it really is. Can't you just feel it?

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