March 4, 2007
By Mary Frances Schjonberg

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the 600 people who attended Holy Eucharist March 4 at St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Portland, Oregon, that transformation begins when we are willing to be sheltered under God's wings.

Jefferts Schori evoked the image of Jesus longing to gather Jerusalem under his wings from the morning's Gospel (Luke 13:31-35) and the image from the Epistle reading (Philippians 3:17-4:1) of "the body of our humiliation" being transformed into Christ's glory.

"Jesus laments over a community's unwillingness or inability to serve the needs of all God's people, an unwillingness to see all human beings as worthy of healing and welcome," she said.

Jefferts Schori said that Jesus "puts his hearers on notice that if they cannot or will not gather under the hen's wings, they are going to find the henhouse empty."

The complete text of her sermon is available at http://www.episcopalchurch.org/3577_83069_ENG_HTM.htm.

The parish, in the Hollywood neighborhood of Portland, hosted Jefferts Schori, members of the Episcopal Church's Executive Council and Church Center staff members. The congregation overflowed from the nave into two other rooms where participants viewed the service via closed-circuit television. In the congregation were former Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning and wife, Patti, and retired Oregon Bishop Robert Ladehoff.

St. Michael's rector, the Rev. John S. Scannell, who underwent triple-bypass surgery on February 28, watched the service via a webcast from his room at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital and Medical Center in Portland. The service participants cheered and waved when they were invited to greet Scannell during the announcements. A member of the parish was later sent from the service to bring him Holy Communion.

Also during the announcements, Senior Warden Michael Sagun presented Jefferts Schori with two gifts. The first was "our continuing commitment to advocacy for peace and justice in this world."

The second was a check from the members of the parish for $27,124 to Episcopal Relief and Development (ERD) in support of achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). It represented the parish's "initial commitment" as a ONE Episcopalian congregation, Sagun said. Jefferts Schori invited ERD president Rob Radtke to the sanctuary to accept the check.

Leslie Sackett, the congregation's associate for children and families, and some young members of the parish, presented Jefferts Schori with a necklace they had made of eight beads representing the eight MDGs. The children were wearing their own necklaces.

"It's hard to know what to get a bishop but we thought jewelry is always nice," Sackett said.

She told Jefferts Schori that the blue beads of her necklace represented the waters of baptism – and the Pacific Ocean.

Then the children and all the members of the congregation extended their hands to bless Jefferts Schori.

Episcopal News Service
The Rev. Mary Frances Schjonberg is national correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.