Sam Seabury, Bishop

Tomorrow the consecration of Samuel Seabury as the first American Bishop of the Episcopal Church. There had been another bishop - of the Anglican Church - in the "new world" preceding him.

Samuel Seabury was born in Groton, Connecticut, was ordained in England and was assigned, as a missionary, to Christ Church, New Brunswick, NJ. He later served as rector for churches in Jamaica (Queens), NY and Westchester County, all before 1766. During the Revolutionary war he served as a chaplain to the British Army.

After the war a meeting of Connecticut clergymen was held to determine if someone would be ready and willing to go to England to seek consecration as a Bishop. From March 1783 to 1784 he was in England in negotiations and deliberating with the Church of England to have the orders conferred. Because, as an American citizen, he refused to swear allegiance to the crown the Church would not budge.

Having tried to work within the system, Seabury turned to the bishops of the Episcopal Church in Scotland and on November 14, 1784 was consecrated by the Bishop and Bishop Coadjutor of Aberdeen and the Bishop of Ross and Caithness.

Returning home in 1785 he became Bishop of Connecticut and with Bishop William White was active in the organization of the Episcopal Church at its General Convention in 1789. It is not surprising that the Episcopal Church in this country has so many parallels with the running of government - nominations and election by vote rather than appointment or privilege.

Let us give thanks for the visionary Bishops of the Episcopal Church in Scotland who took that bold leap of faith and for the witness and work of Samuel Seabury and his contemporaries that set up a structure that allows us to speak, listen and be led by the Spirit of God to accomplish the mission of Christ in this country and elsewhere. Amen and amen.