L. Murdock Smith
Born: December 1, 1948
Married to Linda Vera Van Tassel; three children
Ordained to Priesthood in 1983
BA Swarthmore College; M Div the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest; MS, University of Tennessee; STM General Theological Seminary; PhD, University of Tennessee.
Canonical Status: North Carolina
Current Position: Rector, St. Martin’s, Charlotte, NC
Previous Clergy Positions: Rector, Parish of St. James Church, Keene, NH; Interim Rector, Trinity Episcopal Church, Gatlinburg, TN; Asst to the Rector, Church of the Ascension, Knoxville, TN; Rector, St. Alban’s Church, Chattanooga, TN; Asst to the Rector, St Mary Episcopal Church, High Point, NC.
Question: Why do you want to become a bishop? What special gifts would you bring to this Diocese? What are the pluses and minuses of being a bishop in the Episcopal Church?
Answer: For me, this is about a call to episcopal ministry in the Diocese of Southern Virginia rather than an open-ended call to be a bishop in any diocese. Many experienced priests have the skills to be a bishop, but a critical issue is whether there is connection between perceived ministries of priest and diocese. I believe that I would serve Southern Virginia and The Episcopal Church well as bishop because of what I would bring to the ministry.
Both joy and seriousness are characteristics of my ministry. Joy of life in Christ and joy of life mean that I love what I do. I like being with the people of God; I rejoice in worshipping with my sisters and brothers in Christ; I delight in being a part of formation in Christ; I am touched by being present with others in those great events of life and living; and I am free to laugh with others and at myself. Seriousness is expressed by taking to heart our responsibility to share the love of God with others; asking those difficult questions that come out of such as Micah 6:8 and Matthew 24; and putting myself in those sometimes uncomfortable places where I can listen for God's words through others who are a part of the greater Christian community.
By the Spirit, by study and training, by experience, and by temperament and personality there are several gifts that are lived out in my ministry. I am skilled in administration and see that good organization is necessary to undergird good ministry. It means that there is good stewardship of resources, and structures that frees parish, parishioner, and priest (and, by extension, bishop and diocese) to do ministry.
My ministry has evolved into one that is about the empowerment of others so that they might grow in their ministry. I possess the skills and gifts to work well with others. This means that I listen, discern, process, and respond in order to help you mature in the faith. Sometimes this is in a crisis setting and sometimes in an ongoing formation setting. This listening is not just with individuals but also is applicable within groups and gatherings, and is expressed with an ability to hear with a heart and mind of faith that produces a sense of where God might be calling. I have a lively sense of humor and, though I take the faith journey seriously, it is hard sometimes to take what we do and say seriously all the time. Humor finds expression in my preaching, within teaching, and in conversation.
I am a unifier, a community builder, and a restorer of the breach. This aspect of ministry is not done with perfect success for all, rather with a gift to see with a vision of we not me. My ministry finds its greatest and best expression through discovering those ways to be together and working together in Christ. This is true in parishes and also is true with dioceses. Twice I have led parishes divided or damaged to become new and stronger communities. If you are not prepared to work together to further grow a diocese that is defined by the collective rather than the congregational (we are so much stronger and healthier when we are together), then I am not the priest for you.
To be a bishop in The Episcopal Church today means one must be prepared to step into a time of rapid change. There has been and always been conflict within the church, after all it is a human institution. The challenge and the excitement is being prepared to look our current disagreements straight on, look to what we have received, honor others who hold different views, work hard to hear the Spirit, show a patience for process, know that God's Truth is revealed in many ways, and seek that middle ground that is at the heart and soul of Anglicanism. These matters are true whether looking into the diocese or outside of the diocese. The greatest minus for episcopal ministry is the loss of connection that is found in parish ministry, and being a part of a broader ministry within a city or town.
Question: What are you passionate about in you ministry, your personal life, and in the world around you?
Answer: Inclusion is not a political statement but a theological one. The church exists to serve all the people of God and this arises from Gospel hospitality. There is to be no judgmentalism at the narthex door but only words of welcome. As a child of God's Creation, we bring gifts and wonder. As a child of the Fall, we bring brokenness that is sometimes of our own doing and sometimes from others. The House of God is where we can experience the love of God through others. St. Martin's, Charlotte, is a place of welcome because we work hard to make it that way. Someone has said that we "have one of everything" and I believe that this is how all our congregations should be – reflections of all persons within our communities.
Part of our current struggles arises from a failure to teach, to educate, and to form the people of God as what it means to be a mature adult Anglican Christian. If we do not teach our children then they will not have the foundation upon which to develop an adult faith. If we do not instruct and form adults then the great gifts of the Anglican way will not be passed along. Learning is a critical dimension of ministry at my parish. All are expected (though, of course, not all do) to be engaged in learning.
I delight in networking, bringing people together, for ministry. There is so much more to be done when we work together. This finds expression not only within the parish where I serve, but also in the broader community. It was at my instigation that a coalition of several Charlotte parishes came together to work with a Mississippi parish destroyed by Katrina. This has grown into both adult and youth mission trips. Most of the rectors of the principal parishes in Charlotte now work together in ministry, because we see that we are so much more when we are together. This same sense of collective in ministry is part of our developing ministry with the Diocese of Botswana. The agreement (of which I was the principal author) speaks repeatedly of how both North Carolina and Botswana can serve one another. These were not idle statements but ones with purpose and intent.
Mission, outreach, justice, mercy, and reconciliation are all threads of the same cloth. To see someone homeless or hungry; to listen to a teen whose disconnect from education traps him; to recognize repeating patterns of behavior and response that continue from our past; and all the other questions that we have trouble me. To remain silent is to assent. This means that I must have the courage to risk to help effect change. So I become involved in H.E.L.P. and work with other pastors from African-American, Latino, and Anglo congregations. We want the same things. I was elected by City Council to serve on the Community Relations Committee to make the waters of justice flow.
I am passionate about The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. For all the faults and foibles, both are filled with a richness and depth upon which we can build a stronger Christian community. I love our breadth of churchmanship and theology, our willingness to ask the difficult questions, and the willingness to talk and to listen. I rejoice in being able to stand at the altar at St. Paul's in Molepolole, Botswana, not knowing Setswana but understanding what was happening within the heart of the worship.
On a personal level, I rejoice in my family, a wife without whose support I could not do ministry, and three adult children who continue to leave standing in awe of who they are and what they do. I value the extended family connections and make the time to keep friendships far and near growing. I am a passionate fixer in repairing, painting, and creating around our home, giving me pleasure in the concrete and the finished. I love good fiction, a great story, a good meal shared with friends, a good laugh, a great hug, and the little things of life. All in all, I am passionate about enjoying life.
Question: Please share 2 or 3 critical moments from your spiritual journey that helped you become the priest you are today.
Answer: Since I am a work in progress, many events have and continue to shape my spiritual journey. My decision to become an Associate of the Order of the Holy Cross in 1982 has shaped my prayer life. Living in different countries as a child has shaped my spiritual journey. One event leads to another whether these events are great or small, and I try to integrate them all. The following are but two of benchmarks along my pilgrim’s way back to God.
February 1988 was the starting point of a journey of discovery. It would take time to unfold but the product was dramatically new. It was at that time that I began to address events that had taken place many years before. The particulars are not important in this context. The “rules of living” that I had laid out for myself no longer worked. Because of the weight of these matters now returning to awareness, life had become overwhelming, and I needed to be in a place of safety and with people who would help me through the journey of healing. Though a priest of the church, the institution failed to provide what was needed. These events lead me to a discovery of what church is – the people of God. The members of the parish where I had been on staff stepped forward to care for my family while I was in hospital, and reached out to me through letters and cards.
Walls began to come down so that freedom in God could be set loose. It was a discovery of gifts and the different ways to use them. It was an opportunity to pursue additional education and training. With an expectation that I would be involved in teaching and clinical work, I did not expect to be in parish ministry again. By a sequence of events, I returned by going to St. James in Keene, New Hampshire as long-term interim rector, helping to rebuild a parish not best served by its leadership. After almost five years in New England, I returned to the Diocese of North Carolina and to St. Martin’s in Charlotte. Here, too, were leadership issues to be addressed. One event is not separated from another but this almost ten year span transformed how I saw the church, what skills I had to address leadership and community dynamics, and how I would serve out my ministry.
A second transformative experience came out of the catastrophes of Katrina. Recognizing that so much still needed to be done to alleviate just a small bit of that devastation, while hearing how exhausted people were becoming in hearing about the needs, I knew that something needed to happen. Realizing that my own parish could not sustain an extended effort, I contacted the rectors of two other parishes and suggested a coalition. Out of this has developed an ongoing and viable ministry that has multiple parishes involved with both adult and youth mission trips to Mississippi. From working together, our Mississippi partner benefits while our own youth and adult are transformed.
The critical nature of this for me was that cooperative ministry had been more of a theoretical understanding than a practical one. Rather quickly it became apparent how positive this was for all of us, most especially here. What a novel idea of Episcopal parishes working together in shared goals for ministry.
Question: Describe how you have displayed respect for the dignity and worth of every human being.
Answer: This type of respect is a learned behavior rather than an innate human one. We often fear and react against those persons who are different. I was blessed to be brought up and learn in environments that honored other persons. First, I learned this from my parents and was taught to show respect for and to all persons regardless of station of life or outward appearance. Second, I was educated in ways that were not doctrinaire but sought the fundamentals of God's truth within all. Truly, we are carefully taught and it is vital that this teaching be one of Jesus' welcome.
Where I presently serve works hard to not only display this respect but to live this respect. We are and long have been involved in ministries that reach out to do those acts of mercy for those in need. We are involved in many and diverse ministries and members are expected to be active in mission and outreach. We have begun to address those acts of justice. My involvement with H.E.L.P. (Help Empower Local People – an IAF affiliate), first as a member of the Clergy Caucus and now as a member of the Strategy Team, is part of a commitment to be a worker in helping our community be a better place for all its citizens. This is also exemplified by my involvement with Charlotte's Community Relations Committee.
Hospitality, inclusion, and diversity are often heard as code language for particular perspectives or agendas. St. Martin's is diverse and we do have almost one of everything. We are inclusive because you would hear again and again that all of God's children are welcome. God's salvation and God's love does not have qualifiers about who is welcome. We operate with a principle of belong and come to believe, for we cannot show Christ to those who are not here. This is not about words but about experience. This is not just a matter about the character of the parish, but also that the staff are invited to minister because of the skills that they bring.
We are an intentional parish (we are downtown so people travel to come to St. Martin's) with a great wealth of people. We cover the spread when it comes to economic resources, age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, political affiliation, and churchmanship. What we share is a commitment to be together in our differences. In the midst of the consequences of General Convention 2003, we had members who covered the field but we lost few. What I preached, wrote, and taught was that we are not expected to be of one mind, that we are not required to be of one mind, but that we are asked to listen, to respect, and to be patient. We are stronger now than then. In the subsequent years with the Windsor Process, General Convention 2006, and the current questions, this parish has continued to keep its eye on the prize which is to serve God in Christ through ministry.
My work in the Diocese of North Carolina (on the Commission on Ministry, on Diocesan Council, in Clericus, and now with Companion Diocese Committee) all reflect this commitment to honor others. Sometimes this means bringing the difficult questions forward, and sometimes it means being willing to try to answer those difficult questions. My academic and clinical studies and training have been about finding those ways to lift up my brothers and sisters in Christ.
Again, I would go back to a fundamental issue that, even in the midst of all our human errors, chaos, and mess, we are the products of God's Creation and Adam's Fall. We are the coming together of the perfection of God and the imperfection of our pride, and what an opportunity that is to explore those ways back to God. Start with a joy of life and a love of humankind, and then it is hard not to honor the dignity and worth of every human being.
Question: Please describe how you have responded personally, and in you ministry to decisions made at the 74th and 75th General Conventions?
Answer: The decisions made first in GC2003 were not abstractions for me and were connected back to my long-term interim ministry in the Diocese of New Hampshire. I had worked with Gene Robinson and respected him as a priest. It did not surprise me that he was elected to be their next bishop, for he was respected and loved there. Honoring the decision of a particular diocese about who would lead them was important.
During my studies and training in Family Therapy, my understanding of humankind and human sexuality had changed with increased knowledge of the intricacy and complexity of this dimension of our lives. I found that I needed to learn more in order to further comprehend a theology of human sexuality. Science and theology are not in conflict though there is continuing need for reconciliation of language and understanding. In and of itself, neither gender, sex, nor sexual orientation are contrary to nature or theology but are consistent with God’s Creation. The struggle is what we do with these matters, how we live into our sexuality and our human relations. That struggle is not about being gay or straight, but whether our actions are damaging to self or to others. The struggle is about finding a theology that finds consistency with evolving science, and with Scripture, reason, and tradition. We avoid this work at our peril.
Perhaps my greatest struggle with the decisions and actions arising from these two General Conventions has been the polarization, the invective, and hostility that has been going back and forth from the opposing poles. Whenever names or phrases are used in broad-brush characterizations, then there is little hope for discussion. I find it appalling that fundamentals of unity such as the integrity of a diocese, respect for Sacramental unity, and being open to the Spirit are tossed aside. The call to share the love of God, worship God, and equip the saints is lost. This caused and causes me great pain.
The benefit to me personally has been a focusing on what I believe to be central to a call as a priest and as a rector. I focus on building up the community; sharing the love of God; rejoicing with the saints; and laboring in that delightful vineyard of the Lord.
General Convention 2003 was addressed at St. Martin's directly by my saying, teaching, and preaching that we will not all agree, and that we are not expected to be of one mind. Our differences were affirmed as good things because we can grow more as we struggle with these differences. Our commitment to one another was to engage a process that would keep communication open, and that no precipitous decisions or actions would be made. Unity and not uniformity was the recurring phrase. We held meetings in which we talked and we listened, interest faded, and the meetings stopped. There were many individual conversations. We stayed together. General Convention 2006 approved B033 and, when community makes such a decision, then it is to be followed. We are not free to do as we choose.
The reality is that open communication has been and is encouraged here. If you have a question, then ask. If you do not agree then say so and let’s talk. We do not have any more parking lot meetings after Vestry meetings because we talk about what we need to talk about. A healthy parish is one where there is this openness and acceptance. This parish is not an exemplar of perfection but we do work at progress. This is how we remained in process and have continued to do good ministry here at St. Martin’s. This would be no different if I were to serve as your bishop.
Question: As a bishop, how would you respond to the controversies of the church today?
Answer: In a moment I will touch on some specifics, but this question is ultimately about how I would handle divergent views and disagreements. That is a process question and it is important to answer. The controversies of today will become the history of tomorrow, and new controversies will arise.
Whether language of family systems, community building, or being together in Christ is used, the goal is the same. That goal is the recognition that we desperately need one another in order to survive and to grow spiritually. I am incomplete without you because my identity and existence as a Christian is intimately tied with yours. Even our Lord, who was complete in himself, would take others with him when he went off to pray. When we learn to work together then those petty jealousies and that annoying competitiveness begins to fade away. We begin to have fun together, laugh together, pray together, and be transformed by the sacramental presence of the Incarnate One.
If we are to minister together then it would be with the understanding that it is a we proposition. This means that, starting with the clergy, we would work to create within and through the Diocese of Southern Virginia a unity and clarity of purpose. The Diocese has been through a crisis of leadership, the work of restoration and reconciliation has begun but it is not finished. It is about discovering how God has gifted the Diocese of Southern Virginia and its congregations for the ministries to which it and they are called. Then it is about getting about the work of ministry. There is no time or place for grandstanding, lone-rangering, or isolationism.
This starts with the getting to know the clergy, lay leaders, and congregations through conversation and visitation. We take the time to pray, to reflect, and to listen. We worship together for that audience of One. Then comes the excitement of living into what God’s has called us to do. Participation by all will be expected.
There are those who believe that The Episcopal Church has lost its way. I do not subscribe to that view. Rather I believe that we have sometimes rushed ahead without looking to seeing if anyone was following. The Windsor Report offered a process to help Anglicans through our differences. If it is honored and followed then it can probably present good results. If someone believes that they cannot be a member of The Episcopal Church then let us help them find another home. There are no easy paths through this which is why we must ground our actions in prayer and patience, remembering our traditions and polity.
We have lost sight (for many reasons beyond the present controversies, too) of marriage and what it means to have a relationship blessed by the church. There is rare a priest who would not gladly stop signing a license, and just bless the couple. The church has taken a reactive attitude to an issue that is central to life and family. There is need to lay claim to a theology of marriage, reflective of our traditions and changing society. Let us manage the change rather than the church be tossed about by the culture. It is time that we stop talking around the matter and do our theological work. If we do our work, which I am not convinced that we have, then we can find understandings that work B033 asks that we refrain, that we be patient, out of respect for those who do not agree. I believe that to be a very Anglican response.
I am prepared to be patient, to do the work necessary, and to recognize the absolute necessity that The Episcopal Church stop its patterns of disconnected decision-making. What happens in America has an effect on Africa. The reverse is true. We must stop the polemics and demonizing, and we must listen with respect to one another and to God.