The Episcopal Church is investing a new presiding bishop on Saturday morning November 2, Church Beyond the Walls (CBW) is conducting its usual ministry with some of Providence’s most vulnerable residents that same afternoon, and the Diocese of Rhode Island is inviting everyone to watch a live stream of the first, and show up in person for the second.
The diocese is hosting a watch party at 10:30 a. m. in the Great Hall of St. John’s Cathedral as the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe is invested as the next presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church at a ceremony in the chapel of the Episcopal Church Center in New York City. The “price of admission” for the watch party is one pair of adult socks in a dark color that will be donated to the Church Beyond the Walls ministry.
Rowe, who is currently bishop of the Dioceses of Northwestern Pennsylvania and Western New York, was elected to succeed the Most Rev. Michael Curry on the first ballot at the church’s General Convention in Louisville, Kentucky in late June.
“The presiding bishop-elect is having a smaller investiture than his predecessors to reduce its carbon footprint,” Bishop Nicholas Knisely says. “We thought it was a good idea to make our watch party an opportunity not only to gather and celebrate, but also to serve.”
The service is expected to conclude between 12:30 and 1 p. m., after which those who attended the watch party are invited to partake of the same lunch that will later be served to the Church Beyond the Walls community, which gathers every Saturday to celebrate the Eucharist and share a meal in Burnside Park, half a mile from the cathedral.
After the meal, participants who wish to do so, can help pack up provisions, tables and chairs, and then walk or ride to the park for the CBW gathering, says the Rev. Mary Ann Mello, diocesan administrator.
“We are thrilled because we always love to share our ministry with others and expose more people to what we do,” says the Rev. Linda Forsberg, the Lutheran pastor who serves as Missioner with Church Beyond the Walls (CBW).
CBW, a street church community, is a joint mission of the diocese and the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Many of its members do not have homes, Forsberg says.
CBW gatherings include a Eucharist and a meal. The ethos of the community, Forsberg says, is not only to “see the face of Christ in those we encounter, but to reflect the face of Christ to all those we encounter.”
At the end of the gathering, “we pack everything up and come back to the diocese, but we do have a brief time of sort of processing together,” Forsberg says. “‘Where do you see Christ in the park today? Where did you have a God moment?’ Then we do a closing prayer together. It’s very simple, but I will tell you, I always find it very profound.”