in America, Church of Christ in Thailand, and the United Method- ist Church. Lutheran leaders hailed from Canada, South Africa, Sweden and Nicaragua. In her sermon, Bishop Jessica R.
Crist of the Montana Synod used the familiar story of the sower toss- ing grains on the path, rocky soil, in the thorns and elsewhere with some landing on fertile ground. Like that person in Jesus’ tale, she told those gathered “to keep on sowing.” “We are here today because some- body somewhere sowed a bunch of seeds [of faith]. They didn’t all grow, they didn’t all survive, but some did,” she said. “Look at these people. Look at the congregations and places they come from and the ministries they come from. What a wild and wonder- ful community garden that has grown up from those random seeds. “We are called to be sowers, scat-
terers of seeds. You may think that you are pretty much surrounded by rocky soil. You may have the experience of sowing and sowing and always hav- ing it end up on the rocks. … “What mat- ters is that we sow, Bishop Eaton and the Church Coun- cil, schoolchildren and pastors, profes- sors and mission- aries, bishops and churchwide staff, students and retired folks, lifelong Lutherans and new believers. … “It is sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, in words and actions. It is raising money for world hunger and to eradicate malaria and [for] scholar- ships and for the
poor. It is working for justice for the oppressed. It is telling a friend or a stranger about God’s love. It is listen- ing to another’s pain. It is honoring each and every person as a beloved child of God, created in God’s image, and then acting that way. It is forgiv- ing prodigiously, it’s sharing extrava- gantly, it’s taking risks for the sake of the gospel. And it’s believing in the promise of the harvest. … So, go, sow! Sow! Go!” Eaton was elected Aug. 14 to the six-year post based in Chicago on the fifth ballot at the Churchwide Assembly in Pittsburgh. She received 600 votes and Hanson 287. Prior to becoming bishop of the Northeast- ern Ohio Synod in 2006, Eaton, 58,
Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson (below) is the first to lay his hands on Eaton as she is installed. T. Conrad Selnick, Eaton’s husband and priest of St. Christopher’s by the River Episcopal Church, Gates Mill, Ohio, reads the Gospel (left).
served as pastor of ELCA congrega- tions in Ohio. She earned a master’s of divinity degree from Harvard Divin- ity School in Cambridge, Mass., and a bachelor’s degree in music education from the College of Wooster (Ohio). Retired pastor Clyde McGee and
wife Peggy of Akron, Ohio, joined a busload of members from Eaton’s synod at 5 a.m. to drive to Chicago for the afternoon installation. “It was absolutely worth it,” Peggy McGee said of the journey. “[The service] was done really well. It was all just wonderful.”
Text by Daniel J. Lehmann, Elizabeth Hunter and Julie B. Sevig. Photos by Michael D. Watson
November 2013 9
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