BISHOP MARIANN’S WRITINGS
You Are Not an Imposter
I wonder if you have heard of the phrase “Imposter Syndrome.” An imposter is a person who pretends that they are someone they are not, often with the intent to deceive others for harmful purposes. Think of all the email scams sent by people who claim to be a close friend or family member in need of emergency assistance. But not all such pretenses are for ill-gain.
Finding Ourselves in the Wilderness
Among the biblical images that speak to our life experiences, surely wilderness is particularly helpful now. I am grateful for Lent this year, the season patterned after the forty days Jesus spent being tested in the wilderness and the forty years the people wandered in the wilderness.
Tending to Our Hearts
Since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.
In the name of God, Amen. I’ve spent time this week looking up and reading biblical passages that speak directly to the human heart. Our hearts, in biblical understanding, are what hold all that is true about us in our innermost being—our souls, our spirits, our true and deeper selves—as contrasted with some the outward things about us with which we mostly define ourselves and the part of us that we present to others.
Love is Contagious
We typically associate the word “contagious” with negative things, mostly diseases—germs or viruses that spread from one person to another by direct or indirect contact. In that context, contagions are unnerving, and, at times, frightening because we can’t see them. Yet they affect us nonetheless, and until we understand how a given germ or virus is spread, we are seemingly helpless to stop it.
Drawing from the Wells that Sustain Us
However one feels about the changes in the federal government, the impact on many in our congregations and the communities we serve has been dramatic. Lives and livelihoods are being upended. I give thanks for the pastoral care our clergy and lay leaders are providing in this time, and I commit diocesan resources to support you in any way we can.
A Friend in the Storm
Good morning, dear friends of St. George’s. What a gift it is to gather in Christian community with you, this place where we find strength and encouragement, where we receive assurance that God is among us, even when we may not always feel it. Here we can bring our whole selves before God, with no need to pretend, to act smarter or better than we are. At the same time, here we receive grace to be our true self, cherished for who we are and empowered to live such that the love of God, revealed fully in Jesus, is expressed through us, imperfect vessels though we are.
Why Church Matters
Where do we turn in times of change and great uncertainty for refuge, wisdom and strength? May I gently suggest that this is a good time to show up in church. Don’t be surprised when others show up, too, searching for, in the words of Anne Lamott, “what we have found in the world, which is to say a path and a little light to see by.” How might we share with others what we ourselves need?
Bishop Mariann’s Diocesan Convention Address 2025
And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:20 Again, let me say that it is good to be with you. It is an honor and great responsibility to address you each year at our diocesan-wide gathering of leaders, and I welcome those joining us via...
Diocesan Convention 2025: A Decisive Moment
With near unanimous votes, the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, gathered in its annual convention on January 25, 2025, passed three resolutions that expressed our collective will to continue the work of repentance and repair for harms within the Body of Christ caused by the sins of racism. The night before, we gathered for a service of story-telling and prayer, in what was, for me, one of the most moving worship experiences of my tenure as your bishop.
A Decisive Moment for Jesus and for Us
It is so good to be with you, friends of St. Dunstan’s. I hope you know how grateful I am for the love and care you showered upon my mother, Ann, in her last years of life. When we were struggling to find a place for her to live where she would receive adequate care, I chose Brighton Gardens Friendship Heights in large measure because of their relationship with you, and that my mother regularly could attend an Episcopal Church. You welcomed her so warmly, and Patty and Sue’s monthly visits to Brighton Gardens were also a highlight for her.
