An Easter Message from Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley

As we continue in Holy Week on this Maundy Thursday, Bishop Ruth Woodliff-Stanley shares an Easter message with the diocese in the video above. 

In the video she references a Chrism Eucharist held Tuesday at Grace Church Cathedral and attended by many clergy of the diocese who came to renew their ordination vows and fellowship with one another during this sacred week. 

In this message, Bishop Ruth references the Old Testament reading for the Tuesday in Holy Week, which is the following:

Isaiah 49:1-7
Listen to me, O coastlands,
pay attention, you peoples from far away!
The Lord called me before I was born,
while I was in my mother's womb he named me.
He made my mouth like a sharp sword,
in the shadow of his hand he hid me;
he made me a polished arrow,
in his quiver he hid me away.
And he said to me, "You are my servant,
Israel, in whom I will be glorified."
But I said, "I have labored in vain,
I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity;
yet surely my cause is with the Lord,
and my reward with my God."
And now the Lord says,
who formed me in the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him,
and that Israel might be gathered to him,
for I am honored in the sight of the Lord,
and my God has become my strength--
he says,
"It is too light a thing that you should be my servant
to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the survivors of Israel;
I will give you as a light to the nations,
that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thus says the Lord,
the Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One,
to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations,
the slave of rulers,
"Kings shall see and stand up,
princes, and they shall prostrate themselves,
because of the Lord, who is faithful,
the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen you."

​In her video, she also references speaking last week to members of the South Carolina state legislature in opposition to specific bills currently being considered by either the state House and/or Senate. Learn more, and view one video of her testimony, on our News Blog at this link.

---

A transcript of the video message above is as follows:

Greetings, Episcopalians of South Carolina. On Tuesday, it was my joy to reaffirm my own vows alongside the strong, wise, loving clergy of our diocese, and to bless the oils we will use during the coming year for baptism and for the healing of the sick.

On Tuesday, we heard from the prophet Isaiah about the return of Israel after the exile. In the passage, we heard the servant wonder, “Have I labored in vain? Has all of my work been for naught?” Yahweh, through the prophet, responds: “It is too small a thing that I return you to your homeland or your own people alone. I have set you as a light unto the nations.” This passage made me reflect on our own moment.

After a decade of schism and painful division, as we come into a new season, it's only natural for us to ask, “Have we labored in vain? What is our purpose for a new season?” A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to hear Bryan Stevenson speak to the House of Bishops. He is the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative and the founder of the Legacy Museum in Montgomery, Alabama.

He spoke to us about our call as Christians to bring truth and reconciliation, truth and healing, truth and justice. Last week, it was my honor to represent you at our state legislature, where I tried to offer a voice of truth and reconciliation, and truth and justice, for many in our state who find their voices diminished, for our trans siblings, and for those who are crying out for race justice in school systems. (learn more at this link)

I would urge you, as we continue to walk this Holy Week and begin the Holy Triduum to consider the call of God to us. A call, yes, to our own beloved Episcopalians, but a call far grander than perhaps we have imagined. It is too small a thing, God said to Israel, that I would return you only for your own people.

I believe God issues the same beautiful, grand call to us to be a voice not only for ourselves alone, but for all of those in this state, in this country, and in this world, who long for a voice of solidarity where truth and the redemptive love of Jesus Christ are held together by disciples who are faithful to walk the way of the cross in the hope of the resurrection.

I wish you a blessed Triduum and a joyous Eastertide. It is my deep honor to walk alongside you. I love you, and I thank you for your courageous and faithful witness in a world that is starving for the Gospel of Jesus.