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

A prayer offered by Bishop Laura, inspired by the words of Bishop Loya

Gracious and loving God. Hold us, our prayers, and our conversations this night and always. We come together tonight to lament, grieve, and pray. We hold each other in our heartbreak. We give voice to our anger. Help us also this night and in the journey forward to get on with the business of turning the world upside down. Help us to get on with the business of resisting with love, of disrupting with hope, of agitating with joy because we know that love has already won. Help to be about our work, our work to show up, every day, in every place, using all we are to show the world its victory, until your love is fully and gloriously done, on earth as it is in heaven. We do that work in your name, we do that work together, and we do that work in love.

Amen

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A Francisican Blessing from The Paulist Center

MAY GOD BLESS YOU with discomfort,
at easy answers, half-truths,
and superficial relationships
so that you may live
deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
at injustice, oppression,
and exploitation of people,
so that you may work for
justice, freedom and peace.

May God bless you with tears,
to shed for those who suffer pain,
rejection, hunger, and war,
so that you may reach out your hand
to comfort them and
to turn their pain to joy.

And may God bless you
with enough foolishness
to believe that you can
make a difference in the world,
so that you can do
what others claim cannot be done,
to bring justice and kindness
to all our children and the poor.

Amen

On Saturday, January 10, 2026, we celebrated a meaningful Ordination to the Priesthood at Christ Church Cathedral, Hartford. The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens sermon from that day is below.

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There we were…. a small group of earnest clergy and lay leaders trying to learn how to be Education for Ministry mentors. EfM is an excellent four-year program which typically meets weekly in a parish and is designed to support lay leaders in their formation, deepening commitments to the Bible, Church History, and all sorts of other important topics, all the while building an amazing and life-giving community of support, fellowship, and prayer. God’s kingdom! 

The mentor training was a 3-day retreat in Western Massachusetts. On this particular day, we were learning how to bring stories and metaphors alive in our communities- in this particular assignment, we were doing role play! We were given the Gospel story in Luke 15 with the woman frantically searching for her 10 lost silver coins…. hum…7 of us in the group…. how was this going to work? 

So, …. one became the woman, one became the coins, one became the broom, one became a sofa under which the coins might be, and two became the friends and neighbors with whom she would rejoice once the coins were found. I was the last to be assigned a role…so what would I be? After some thought, we decided I would be the lamp which the woman would use to search for the lost coins. 

The woman took me by the arm and led me frantically around the house. Laying me on the ground, I brought light to the darkness under the sofa, I brought light to the crevasses in the sofa. I brought light to the shadowy corners of the house…peering behind doors. I, as the lamp, was bending, arching, and straining to shine the light in places that would otherwise go unnoticed and unseen. I shined the light on the well-seen spaces as well…what were we missing? What was there that we were not seeing? Under the woman’s care the lamp sought to bring light to all.  

When the friends and neighbors came to rejoice, I was put aside…but not to rest, only to stay in one place to lighten the room for the festivities that emerged. The lamp was there to bring light to the party, to illuminate the rejoicing, the singing, and the joy. 

That was some 25 years ago, and I still hold onto the blessing of being the lamp that day. Being the lamp, the absolute gift of being the one who could bring the light to the darkness, to shine a light into the margins, and to illuminate joy. 

Today’s psalm proclaims God has prepared a lamp for his Anointed. A lamp that will shine God’s light into the world. So, today, as we witness to and affirm Allison, Diane, George, and Maggie’s call to serve the Lord as priests in God’s church, I think perhaps we are also here to celebrate their yes to be lamps that shine Christ’s light into the world. All of us by virtue of our baptism are called to be lamps of God’s light. And there is a particular shape to the type of lamp called priest. 

Allsion, Diane, George, and Maggie, you are called to a priest in God’s Church. As a priest you are to bring God’s light to the rooms you are in and the rooms into which you are invited. Know always that people there need and are perhaps longing for God’s light. People filled with anxiety, fear, or loneliness. People filled with wonder and curiosity. People looking for the path that might help them make sense of the present and the journey ahead. The room might be a classroom, a prison cell, a social justice gathering, a hospital room, or a parish hall. Know also you will find yourself in rooms you never imagined. Bring God’s light. Go into the margins. Go to the public square. Go to gatherings of joy and celebration. Go to gatherings where people are weeping and grieving. Everywhere you go, bring the light, shine the light of Christ, proclaiming the holy hope that is always present and possible, because God calls us God’s own children and loves us unconditionally and unrelentingly.  

Each one of you is acutely aware of the world into which you are being called to bring God’s light. The challenges ahead of the church and all of you are very real and very large. Just this past week we witnessed to events in Venezuela and Minnesota which break our hearts and bring us to our knees in prayer. There is unsubtle violence at work in the world which is deeply dangerous and it is swirling all around us. Be the lamp. Be the lamp of God. Strive to bring God’s light to the world in all that you say and all that you do.  

The opportunities for lamps in the service of the Lord are endless. The light is found in the priest’s ministry of word and sacrament, holding out the reminder and promise that the Gospel is true. “God’s light does not just bring light to dark places, it has the power to transform the darkness, to take what is broken and make something new. Empowered by the Spirit, we can be emboldened to proclaim that truth even in the face of forces wanting to drain the world of that truth. We are called to show the world a vision for the future that is about mercy and love, grace and hope, and speaking Jesus’ truth, even to power. “  (Lee Ann Tozlmann)

You may be called to be the lamp that illuminates the room of faithful parishioners prayerfully discerning how they will witness to the light….exploring the variety of options that they might choose – speaking out against gun violence, finding ways to walk with and support immigrants and refugees as they navigate daily assaults on their dignity and worth as human beings, trying on non-violent ways to offer leadership which is expansive, which genuinely cares for people, and helps build healthy community.   

Or you may be the lamp that illuminates a gathering of young people trying to figure out what is community in this post-COVID world that seems so upside down, and how can they be community, and what if anything does God have to do with that? Or you may be the lamp that illuminates the Bible study that awakens those gathered to new ways of being followers of Jesus Christ.  

            There will be days when you cannot find the light. Always remember, it is not gone. You still have it. Christ is always abiding with you. Some days, you can’t seem to access the truth of the Lord’s love. This past week, I was on retreat with some of my bishop siblings. Our practice each morning as we gathered for prayer was for each of us to light a votive candle when we arrived. The candle lighter sat on the altar. The last to arrive the first day, my panic set in…I have never really known how to use one of those lighters…opting always for matches or a shared flame. After several failed attempts, I appealed for help. Help arrived, and the word community was spoken into the space.  

You are not alone. Jesus is always with you. You already have community right here in this room and you will discover and grow ever more in community, as you live into the vows you make today.  “You have scripture and worship, gifts from God to help us to keep putting the narrative and promise of the gospel and of the sacramental presence of Christ, in our hearts and minds, to counter the narratives of fear and violence that surround us and can keep us from accessing the light. Seek to nourish your ability to access the light, even in anxious and fraught times (Notes from conversation with Lee Ann Tozlmann and Virginia Army).”

At the Easter Vigil, the Exultant proclaims…”the Light of Christ, “ proclaiming the pivotal moment for the world.  The light of Christ. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is the light of the world. He is the incarnation of hope and the possibilities of new life. His resurrection transforms the world, showering it with compassion and love. With words of forgiveness he offers new life, with words of peace he offers a new path forward, with words of love he shows us how to be in the world. The Light of Christ is about Love. The light you bring into the world as lamps, as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, is about love. Love that builds up, love that supports and nurtures, love that builds community, love that challenges and invites us forward into a new world. George, Maggie, Allison, and Diane, God has called you to be a particular priest shared lamp for his anointed. You are ready.  Thank you for saying yes.  

AMEN!