Pastoral letter from Mark Lawrence following the SC Supreme Court decision

“I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”  Psalm 16:8

Thursday evening Allison and I returned to Charleston.  We were on vacation with family in California when the South Carolina Supreme Court issued the long awaited ruling.  Obviously, it was not the favorable ruling we were seeking.  Therefore, we returned home as soon as possible.  Frankly, it is a grievous decision for us on so many levels.  Perhaps you, as do I, have to fight despondency as I consider its many ramifications for us as a diocese, and especially for our congregations and clergy. For make no mistake—if this ruling stands how we carry out God’s mission and the ministries he has given us will dramatically change.  You may already have received from previous diocesan communications , the diocesan website or from local news, the gist of the court’s conflicted 77-page opinion. Therefore, I will not rehearse it here.  My purpose is more personal.  

Today, thousands of Christians around the world are holding you, the congregations of the diocese, as well as our clergy and bishop in prayer.  Even more specifically, yesterday Anglicans on this continent were lifting us in constant prayer.  As you may know, we recently voted as a diocese to affiliate with the Anglican Church in North America, and this summer their Provincial Assembly joyfully received us as full members therein. What a comfort it is to know that our Archbishop, the Most Reverend Foley Beach, asked the bishops, clergy and laity of the ACNA to pray and fast yesterday on our behalf.   

Many of those praying and fasting have in the past walked away from their church buildings, buildings they built and maintained, and in some cases, where their families worshiped for centuries. Some left by choice; others after years of litigation. I do not mention the latter, however, as if the legal issues in our case are fully resolved. They most certainly are not, though they are clearly challenging. Rather, I want you to know the sort of Christians who are praying for us; and while holding us in prayer, many are fasting. They have paid a price to follow their Lord. We are part of a provincial body of Anglican Christians and they are walking this hard road with us. Their fellowship at such a time is greatly comforting to me and I hope it is for you.

I also want to tell you what our next steps are. First, this Monday, August 7, the Standing Committee and I will meet with our lead legal counsel, Mr. Alan Runyan. I assure you that our legal team is looking at the various options before us.  Second, this Wednesday I will meet with the deans of the various diocesan deaneries, and that afternoon, Mr. Runyan, Canon Lewis and I will meet with all the clergy of the diocese. Please keep us in your prayers.  Many important decisions are before us and we want to be faithful to our Lord Jesus Christ and walk in step with the Holy Spirit.  

Finally, I am honored to be your bishop, and, God willing, I will remain so as long as you and he will have me.  I have been deeply encouraged by Psalm 16 where David, as psalmist, confesses that he has no good apart from God. The LORD is his chosen portion, his cup and his lot.  Yet in verse 3, he also acknowledges that along with finding comfort in God in the midst of dreadful setbacks he also finds encouragement from the people he serves:  “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”  Serendipitously, as if to illustrate this truth to me, when Allison and I arrived in the Charleston airport late Thursdayafternoon walking to get our luggage we saw two familiar faces— members of St. Michael’s and the diocese—Dr. Alston Kitchens and her husband, Greg.  They greeted us with smiles and hugs, and assurances of their prayers. They embodied many of you; the ones with whom we have cast our lot.  Ten years ago, when I was going through a difficult consent process as your Bishop-Elect I wrote, “I have lashed myself to the mast of Christ and will ride out this storm wherever the ship of faith will take me.”  As you know, it brought me here.  

Someone, clearly pleased with this judicial ruling, recently sent me an email sardonically asking when I was leaving town.  I wrote back, “I’m not leaving town.”  I am lashed to Christ and lashed to you.  We will see in the midst of this present storm where the ship of faith will take us.  Ironically, I do not suspect that means leaving town, regardless of what else may change. This, dear friends, is what I know and want to remind you of—in favorable and unfavorable rulings from human courts, Christ is still Lord, he will come again to judge the living and the dead.  His kingdom will have no end.  

Yours in Christ,

Mark Joseph Lawrence