It is again a distinct pleasure and privilege to stand before the Annual Council of the Diocese of Southern Virginia as your bishop and to gaze upon the faces of friends – new friends and old friends – who are actively engaged in the work of Christ in the world. It warms my heart to see you and to be with you and to watch us work together for the sake of the Kingdom.
And it’s no small thing that we’ve been coming together like this for 125 years now – it’s the 125th anniversary of the Council of the Diocese today. In the year 1892 when all this started, Grover Cleveland replaced Benjamin Harrison as president. It was the year that Thomas Edison patented the telegraph, Arthur Conan Doyle published Sherlock Holmes, the Dalton gang was killed in a bank robbery in Kansas and, interestingly enough, Ellis Island first opened its doors to receive European immigrants. This last one in particular ought to give us pause.