Clergy Conference
May 19, 2026
Heritage Hotel, Southbury
Acts 8:26-40
John 4:1-30
I don’t need to tell you we gather in the midst of a world in crisis. We gather in a time when many are weary, anxious, angry, and divided. We gather in a political moment bereft of moral grounding. The public square has become a place of blame and rage rather than discernment, peddling spectacle rather than wisdom, trading in wanton cruelty rather than mercy.
The temptation for the Church in such a moment is either to retreat into silence, or to surrender itself to the same spirit of rage that rules the world around us. As we learned yesterday, if we are not careful, we can over-contextualize until there is no difference between the world and the Church, or we can under-contextualize, with fingers in our ears and our heads stuck deep in the rapidly shifting sand.
But Jesus calls us to stay on the road.
We are proclaimers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the Gospel does not allow us to either retreat or to surrender.
The story from Acts of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch is one of my favorites. I wrote my senior exegetical paper on this pericope.
He is known in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as Bakos. He is also known as Simeon Bachos, Djan Darada, or Qinaqis.
This icon of Bakos [now on the screen] was written by the Rev. Charlotte Gibson, a priest in the Church of England and used with permission.
On his way, Bakos is met by Philip, sent by God for a yet unknown purpose. Philip sees Bakos reading scripture and asks if he understands what he is reading. “How can I,” Bakos responds, “unless someone helps me?”
It is not lost on me that this encounter occurs on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, as Bakos makes his way to Sudan. This story breaks open on a road that, today, is a road of war, and violence, of starvation, murder, and global indifference.
How can I understand unless someone helps me?
That is the question many of our people are asking of you, of the Church.
As they read the headlines and listen to the soundbites their hearts are desperate for someone to help them understand what they are reading and hearing. They want to know, “Who will guide us?” And, if we retreat or surrender, others will do the guiding for us.
We are not called to be chaplains to ideology or political parties. We are servants of Jesus Christ. In this moment we must act, and speak, preach, and teach as though Jesus Christ is the most important thing in our lives.
Some will ask that we speak more loudly.
Others will expect that we remain quiet.
Some will accuse the Church of retreat and surrender.
Others will accuse the Church of meddling where the Church doesn’t belong.
The question is not whether the Church will be criticized. The prophets were criticized. The apostles were criticized. Jesus’ critics nailed him to the cross. So, avoiding criticism can’t be our goal. Our only goal must be remaining faithful to our call, to the Gospel, and to the truth that is Jesus. So, we must tell the truth even when truth is scary, even costly.
When lying is normalized, truth-telling becomes pastoral care.
When cruelty becomes public entertainment, practicing mercy becomes resistance.
When human beings are reduced to labels and made to be feared, blamed, and persecuted, proclaiming the God-given dignity of every human being becomes a prophetic act.
We must refuse to practice in contempt. We cannot preach reconciliation while delighting in hatred, even if only in the silence of our hearts. We cannot, in good faith, invite people to this table, to share in the Body and Blood of Christ while teaching them to have contempt one another.
Finally, we must continue to remain close to the suffering in this world. Philip approached Bakos on the road. Jesus sought out the poor, the sick, the possessed, and the dispossessed. This is the work you are all about. We know that you are often exhausted, then surprised by Joy, then frustrated by the institution, then grateful for faithful colleagues in ministry. Sometimes, all on the same day; sometimes, all at once.
Bishop Laura and I know you are doing everything you can think of, and you long to be doing more. I want you to know how grateful your Bishops are for each one of you. For the myriad and faithful ways you are living into your calling. We hear your longing, we delight in your successes, and we share your questions.
Inspired by Blair’s presentation yesterday, I want to pause for a brief word from our sponsor.
I want us to take three minutes, just three minutes, to sit in silence, and I want you to bask in God’s gratitude for you.
Close your eyes, if that is comfortable.
Hear God whisper in your ear:
“You are my beloved, in you I am well pleased.”
“You are my beloved, in you I am well pleased.”
“You are my beloved, in you I am well pleased.”
Bakos, the Ethiopian eunuch, sees a body of water and asks Philip, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?”
Can you hear the longing in Bakos’ question? A longing to belong to God, to be set free to serve God as his heart aches to do?
I know you have your own versions of Bakos’ question:
“What is to prevent me from hope?”
“What is to prevent me from courage?”
“What is to prevent me from grace?”
“What is to prevent me from dignity?”
“What is to prevent me from mercy?”
“What is to prevent me from living out the ministry to which I am called?”
“What is to prevent me from fully embodying the child of God that God made me to be?”
Nothing. Not one thing.
I pray that you, on your journey, find a colleague as faithful as Philip who will hear your longing, grab you by the hand, and jump into the raging waters with you. I know Bishop Laura and I pray to be such colleagues to you.
Just as Philip and Bakos met each other on that road from Jerusalem to Gaza, and Gaza to Sudan, may God bring you a Philip to your Bakos, and a Bakos to your Philip. And, together on the broken wilderness roads of the world we travel today, may we know the truth that nothing need prevent us from knowing and proclaiming, in word and deed, the Good News of Jesus Christ to a world who wonders, “How can I know if no one will guide me?”
And waits for our response.
AMEN.
© 2026 The Right Reverend Jeffrey W. Mello
