 Let us pray we thank you Lord for the moments in our lives when you gaze Into our eyes and down to the depths of our soul, and you call us to be different You call us to follow you you call us to trust You call us Lord God to a life of service all of us have that call upon our lives for our baptism We pray that today that that call may be strengthened and encouraged and made more hopeful Because we have been together Singing your praises praying and lifting up our voices as one people With one Lord and one mission in this mission field that you've called us to me the meditation of my heart In the words of my mouth be pleasing to you my Lord my rock and my Redeemer amen the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with your spirits I Bring your greetings from the 455 churches throughout the north Texas and central Texas conference We're helping people to love God who are proclaiming you life in Jesus Christ who are serving others especially the poor and doing justice I Know it's already been a long day for all of you here today, especially the preachers and And the laity too you could be doing something else this afternoon Taking care of some last-minute things before your week got started But let me tell you that I am deeply honored and humbled by your presence. And so again, thank you I know that our non-denominational brethren are very concerned because the Methodists are having church on Sunday at four o'clock I'd like to take this time to introduce and acknowledge my new friend The right Reverend George Sumner Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Dallas who is here to represent our Ecumenical relationship, so thank you Bishop for being here today The Reverend Dr. Eric Gronsburg Bishop of the north northern Texas and northern Louisiana Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church in America could not be with us today He had a commitment that conflicted with this, but his presence also here is acknowledged his desire to be here Thank you to the north and central Texas conference committees on Episcopal C4 making this afternoon celebration of Assignment worship service possible. Thank you so much. Would you please stand so we can acknowledge you? Thank you to the worship coordinators acquired directors and especially the combined choirs of first Fort Worth and University Park United Methodist Church for being here and Gracing us in the presence in the music For the choirs and the musicians for leading us in worship. Thank you for offering your gifts for us this afternoon Thank You Reverend Joe Stobal and all the University Park staff and church members for graciously and warmly Hosting us this afternoon I'd like to recognize our two conference lay leaders Mrs. Darlene Alfred and Mrs. Kim Brandon. Would you please stand? These two faithful servants represent the voices and ministry of the laity within our Conferences with much care and excellence I'm indebted to my two assistants to the Episcopal office dr. Clifton Howard from the central Texas conference and Reverend Andy Lewis from the north Texas conference. Would you two please stand? Their orientation and wise counsel and support have been invaluable during my short time here, and I'm grateful for them I'd like to recognize and thank today a Seven district superintendents who extend the office of the bishop and oversee the total ministry of clergy and laity and other Churches in their communities of the district and their missions and witness and service in the world would you all please stand? Reverend Philip Rhodes Beverly Connelly Danny Kenny from the central Texas conference. Please remain standing Reverend Todd Harris Cassie Wade Edlin Cowley and Reverend Deborah Hobbs Mason who could not be with us today These district superintendents. I am grateful for their spiritual discernment for their strategic leadership Their commitment to the church's mission and the working relationship they have with clergy laity and congregations on my behalf Thank you so much for your ministry Dr. Will Codd and Reverend's Laura Franklin Cami Gaston and Dr. Owen Ross strengthened and would you please stand? They strengthen and support the conferences nurture outreach and witness ministries and equip clergy and laity for ministry and mission in the world Thank you for your work Dr. Ron Henderson serves as a North Texas conference officer for diversity equity and inclusion Focusing on racial justice within our conference and in the world. Dr. Henderson. Where are you? Vance Morton and Pamela Hughes and their support staff do an outstanding job executing strategic communications Promoting our image and reputation to a watching world and managing crisis communication. Would you please stand? There they're everywhere and I'll support that Betty Alexander and Joelle's Stannis Law service my two administrative assistants they ensure that all processes are followed all phone calls are followed up on Correspondences attended to and that I keep my calendar of events and meetings in order. Thank you so much Where's Betty and Joelle and where are they? And I thank God For the grace and mercy that God has demonstrated to me throughout the years of life Do God be all their honor and all the glory and all the praise With me this afternoon is Maya. She has already been introduced. And by the way that was the total surprise My spouse and best friend for 45 years and three of the four children Christina Ruben the third and Isaac and my three grandchildren a Maya Malachi Zachariah And we're gonna have Zephaniah Amos Haggai and all the prophets we're gonna have all the problem the the major and the minor prophets as a You can tell where I'm going with this, right? Well, let me say what a service of celebration for the assignment of a bishop is somewhat like a Haley's Comet Haley's Comet is visible to the naked eye from Earth every 75 or 79 years The comet last appeared in 1986 and it'll appear again in mid 2061 Some get to see the comet twice in their life I vaguely remember hearing about Haley's Comet in 1986, but I didn't see it If I'm a hundred years old, I might get to see it in 2061 The Lord willing so say the date now The next celebration of an assignment of a new bishop to this area the Lord willing will be nine years from now sometime in the fall of 2032 Some in the room from the central Texas conference has seen this rare event twice in one year So God have mercy on them I want to share some thoughts with you this afternoon about what it means to me to hold the office as your physical leader It's duties and responsibilities as a privilege and honor and a sacred trust As I read today scripture and prepared this message through the lens of a bishop Assigned to lead and oversee the spiritual and temporal affairs of the United Methodist Church within the boundaries of our two Conferences and particularly to lead the church in its mission and witness and service in the world I was struck by Jesus emphasis on The possessive determiner my my English teacher would be very proud of me because I remember that Feed my lambs care for my sheep Feed my sheep Mine said Jesus a single possessive Determiner like my as in my car my ball my house my friend makes a claim of ownership by declaring who owns Something or someone When Jesus says to Peter feed my lambs care for and feed my sheep He means that he and he alone is the owner and Possessor of all the new and more mature believers in him and by deduction Peter the first Bishop of the church is not He is not the owner of the lambs and the sheep Christ is the owner However Peter's accountable to Christ for his care and nurture of Christ walk When Jesus responds to Peter's three affirmations of love with care for my lambs feed my sheep and care for my sheep He is telling Peter and the new believers the lambs the children, you know lambs and sheep are from the same family system Right. It's like having a calf and a cow a lamb is a young sheep So when Jesus says feed my lambs Tom, but the young people the children I think children are so important our church We don't talk about the new people in faith care for them Make sure that they grow up into the full statured maturity of Jesus Christ and when he says feed my sheep He's talking about the adults who are more mature in the faith as well So possession and ownership of the believers are established and made very clear from by Jesus who the people belong to and not It was a not to Peter in This passage Jesus restores Peter's pastoral authority He invites Peter into a Richard roar in his book hidden things says is a very different sense of who Peter is Peter does not belong to himself anymore. He belongs to Christ and From that point on Peter's life would no longer be about himself and he could not and would not just go on living his life Yes From that point on he was committing to whatever Christ might ask of him without even knowing what it might be imagine that Peter was prepared to make any sacrifice if it would bring others to the truth of the grace of Christ Even if the divine calling put his life at risk and even if it led him to lay down his life for Christ flock like Christ did Christ calls Peter into a more profound law for him so that Peter could lead others into a deeper love for God and Christ because let's face it friends. We can't lead people to places. We haven't gone ourselves in Christ Our lives never point to ourselves But always says Richard roar always Beyond ourselves to the one who chose us Uses us and loves us so that Peter would be Christ usable instrument now to do God's thing The authority to care for Christ church emanates From Peter's professed love for Christ That's where authority to care for Christ church comes from from our love for Christ Because we know that Christ loves the people and because we love Christ. We do not want to harm the things that Christ loves We will care for them because we know they are his his love for and it's like Peter says Do you love me and even if Peter could not he could not generate love within himself to love God So Jesus says do you love me and then he says wait a second Peter God is going to give you a gift So you can do so so our love for Christ is a gift of God It's not something that we generate another on our own. It is a gift that God gives us to love He gives us all we need to be the people that God is calling us to be His love for Christ is a gift that authorizes him to care for Christ lamb and sheep in his commentary in the Gospel of John Thomas Aquinas said feeding the sheep is confirming the believers in Christ so that they do not stray from the faith So that they are helped with their needs protected from harm and brought back to the fold when they stray Jesus had already proved his love for Peter and Peter had already acknowledged him to be God and Jesus had already proved himself to be good to Peter and as a result Peter was ready to say yes, Lord. I love you I trust you. You've been good to me. No matter what Jesus asked of him He was then prepared to search for rescue and bring back God scattered and stray sheep He was ready to feed them with good pastor bind up their injuries and strengthen the weak Friends, I am confident and clear about one thing You belong to Christ You belong to Christ. You love Christ and you live for Christ Like you. I also have a permit a passion and a commitment to Christ Christ forever transform my life and continues to do so as a years go by as I seek to follow him The love of Jesus like you fills me and directs all areas of my life. There's not one single area of my life That is untouched by the love of Christ Operating in me I walk with Christ since I've been 17 and Because I love Christ I vow to do my best to love you who belong to Christ Just the same way that Christ will love me We're going to spend a lot of time together over the next few years not willing and I'm excited about the church's future and Our mission because of our amazing clergy and laity Our message of God's grace and our concerning commitment for personal holiness evangelism service in the world and social justice But I'm also excited about the possibilities for mission and ministry because of our demographic context In one is with Christ and with each other and in our oneness and mission and ministry We are going to make a transformational difference in people's lives and in the world as you've heard me say on several occasions Our combined annual conferences have within it the fastest growing metro area in the US and expansion is still ongoing The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex alone is already home to 7.8 million people but could also go to increase to 11.2 million by 2045 This area alone is now the home for 25 of the 500 fortune companies Trailing only New York and Chicago according to the Kinder Institute for Urban Research at Rice University As the 2020 the United States senses marks that the racial makeup of this area was fifty point two percent white twenty seven point five percent Hispanic or Latino fifteen point four percent African-American point six percent Native American Point one percent Pacific Islander ten percent other races and two point four percent from two or more races Talk about racially ethically and culturally diverse cosmopolitan context for ministry friends. It doesn't get any better than this It really doesn't At the same time there are challenges For example, we have many left behind Families and children and communities and by the grace of God we will engage them so that they know that God sees them God hears their cries God cares for them and draws near to them through ministries of church planting spiritual formation compassion mercy and justice So the mission feels are right for the harvest that should make our heads and our hearts So excited and to sing about where we are heading where God is taking us to I Commit to doing this alongside you as your Episcopal leader. I expect to do great things I Expect to do great things as United Methodist within the boundaries of our annual conference and beyond we will strive to be beatific disciples deeply rooted in God and overflowing God's blessing as Beatific disciples will rely on God Offer God's hope and healing to people in our communities. We'll use our strengths to benefit others We will be desperate to do the will of God and offer God's mercy and forgiveness to each other and the world Our hearts full of God's love and justice will lead us to do the right things for the right reasons Even if it's not easy or popular We will spread the peace of God We have experienced this children of God and practice our faith striving for perfection in God's love so we can offer Christ redeeming love and accept people of all ages nations and races as Christ has accepted us second We're going to engage in minute and meaningful ministries and missions that will help heal help Give hope and make whole our fractured world We will use and leverage our talents and passions for Christ for the sake of others believe in that everyone Everyone has something to offer We will strengthen the bonds of our sacred connection with God with each other and with our neighbors We will care for each other Because we matter to God and we matter to each other We will be an authentic Christian community that collaborates with our sister churches no more isolated churches doing their own little thing We are a network and a connection of churches and we're going to join together to do greater things than we could alone We are we're going to collaborate with our ecumenical partners Because they are the body of Christ and they have a mission and we're going to work with them for the purposes of God's In our communities, we're going to work with Community associates and seek the well-being of the communities where we're planted for in the welfare of the communities where we are Our welfare also resides fourth We're going to listen to me very carefully We're going to engage in sacred dialogue and discernment about issues affecting people's lives That means that we're going to talk about the brunos hiding within our society's walls And some of you didn't get it right Okay, I have grandchildren and They they saw a Disney movie and they called it it's called in canto and in that movie There's a crazy uncle that nobody likes to talk about. I know you don't have any in your families But but Bruno is a character Who's perceived by the family as a black sheep? And he's painted as a villain and they have all these horrible narratives about him. So Bruno hides in the walls of the house He's blamed for the misfortunes of the family and other community He's different and he's not present with a family Instead he hides and disappears within the walls of the home and the moral of Disney's biggest song to date We don't talk about Bruno is That we must move past our preconceived notions and false judgments about others and get to know them as people and so yes We're going to talk about the brunos hiding in the walls of our society This is more necessary today than ever as the world wrestles with racism discrimination mental health intolerance rampant violence and Widening ideological divides We're going to break the vicious cycle of disparaging vilifying and Dehumanizing people with different values and opinions we can be better and we will be better In love and as Christ children of peace we're going to address our social dysfunction and Mediate as ambassadors to resolve conflicts great and small Fifth I will do all I can to encourage To set you free and to even go in front of you I'll stay focused on the church of 2050 and Let you know that the goals ahead of us are doable Even though they will not be easy We will celebrate progress and when you or I or we fail That's okay. We're going to applaud each other for taking the risk for Christ We're going to get up We're going to learn from our failures and we're going to move on for Christ Because that's what Christ would have us to do. I will pray for you daily and I ask that you Pray for me Together let us pray For the faith the grace and the resolve to plant seeds that will one day grow Water seeds already planted lay foundations that will need further development and provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities Jesus's question to Peter is relevant for us today because as disciples Jesus gazes through our eyes and into our souls and Hands over to us his most precious possession His flock his people not just in our churches, but in our communities So I ask you friends Do you love Christ? Do you love Christ? feed Christ lambs Do you love Christ? Care for Christ's sheep Do you love Christ? Feed Christ's sheep together We're going to search for a rescue and bring back God scattered in stray sheep We're going to feed Christ flock with God's word so that faith can be born and nourished Understanding can be deepened and the possibility of transforming the world becomes more apparent We will be a people that proclaim new life in Christ We're going to heal the harm that is done We're going to bind up the injured and strengthen the weak Friends of more time I serve as a bishop Of the united methodist church and hold the sacred trust The more this office both terrifies me and consoles me I understand now the words of st. Augustine of hippo Who in the fourth century offered this reflection upon being called to lead God's people as a new bishop of the diocese of hippo He says what I am for you terrifies me What I am with you consoles me For I am a bishop But with you I am a christian The former is a duty The latter is a grace The former is a danger The latter salvation Some paintings of st. Augustine as well as some stained glass artwork feature him holding his heart putting his hand to his heart A symbol of his profound love for God And a symbol of his profound love for his fellow sisters and brothers It also symbolized God's unfathomable love for us And Christ's command to love one another As we have been loved by him I ask you to hold your hand to your heart And say lord, I know you love me Lord, you know, I love you Help me to love care for And feed your flock This people of God United methodists of the central texas and north texas conferences is our common sacred trust Given to us by Christ the great shepherd of our souls