Thread by @PB_Curry

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry's (@pb_curry) comments to House of Bishops on July 9 #GC80

In a proposed Mind of the House resolution on Saturday, July 9, The Episcopal Church House of Bishops addressed many threats to democracy and deep divisions in the United States, including the rise of Christian nationalism.

The @JenniferBB , bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Indianapolis, asked Presiding Bishop Michael Curry what he wants the agenda of the Episcopal bishops to be.

This is how he responded:

I’m very concerned about a country that I do love, and about us potentially being on the verge of living out the opposite of unselfish, sacrificial love. And I don’t mean that as rhetoric:

I mean that as the only way that we will live together and have life together because the opposite is self-destruction. I say that as a follower of Jesus and as a human being. How can we help this country—and help our people to help this country—to bind up our wounds,

to learn to live democracy, and to truly be a country where there is liberty and justice for all. That’s at stake. I never thought I would think this in my life. As a child of the Civil Rights movement—those who fought for equal rights and justice, and freedom for all,

ever questioned the fact that the democracy itself would hold. We have been forced to ask the question: Is e pluribus unum really possible? Is democracy possible? Is human equality possible?

And I just believe that if we can help our people—and this is not partisan—if we can help our people to find their voice and claim the values and the ideals that most people probably believe,

then maybe we can help find their voice and they can help others, and we can help to heal this land, and help this country join with others and heal God’s creation. That is the calling of the God who called us into being in the first place.

So, yeah, being an extrovert, I probably just thought out loud. And I just believe this house, the people in this room, you are so smart and capable and able, and faithful. And there may be the capacity to find our voice—not a partisan voice, but a follower-of-Jesus voice—

that may help our people and our churches; and then maybe, in turn, the sensible center that is in this country and this world, to find its voice.

I’m sorry for confusing you, but that’s part of what’s going on in me. @JenniferBB, I can’t sit back and watch this country self-destruct, and neither can we. And I was looking for a way to help us find the voice that can help.”

I’m sorry for confusing you, but that’s part of what’s going on in me. @JenniferBB , I can’t sit back and watch this country self-destruct, and neither can we. And I was looking for a way to help us find the voice that can help.