Affirmations of a Dissenter
by Bishop Joseph Sprague
The following is a transcript of a speech given by Methodist Bishop Joseph Sprague on January 28, 2002 at Iliff School of Theology in Denver, Colorado.
Introduction: He has 27 years as a pastor and 7 years as an ecumenical officer. He combines academics, preaching, and social justice causes. He serves as a Bishop and in many other capacities. He is currently the president for the North Central Jurisdiction College of Bishops and chair of the board of the North Central Jurisdiction Korean Mission Council. He also serves on the Jurisdiction Commission on Religion and Race and works on the Council of Bishop’s Initiative on Children and Poverty. He is a graduate of Ashland College and received a masters degree from Methodist Theological School in Ohio and was recognized in 1995 as Outstanding Alumni.
Grace to you and peace from the one who has created and is creating, from Jesus Christ our liberating Savior, and from the ever stirring life-giving power of the Holy Spirit. I am delighted to be here with you. It is a very distinct privilege to be in this place. I hold this school and many of its graduates with whom I’ve had the privilege of working in the highest esteem and to be here with my colleague. We are in a covenant group together. Each of us now knows more about the other then we are allowed to tell. It is a delight to be here, to see faces that have long been a part of the panoply that surrounds me. I see some with whom I have fought a few battles. We even won one or two. Not many, Sally, but we won one or two. But, nevertheless, it is good to be here.
“Affirmations of a Dissenter” is a title (a theme) that’s been running around in my mind for about a decade. If I were to write a piece longer than Sunday’s sermon or the weekly column for the parish or conference newspaper, it would I decided somewhere back there be entitled, “Affirmations of a Dissenter.” Last summer during a portion of renewal leave, passion finally caught up with the intent, and eight chapters were drafted along with a prologue and an epilogue. “Affirmations of a Dissenter” will be published in the next year. That being the case, when invited to come and be with you I began to cogitate. I began to think about which chapter would be most appropriate. My first thought was to talk about the issue of Biblical authority which in my mind is the most divisive issue within United Methodism today. And then I thought well perhaps the chapter on the seamless garment dealing with how a number of the justice issues are woven together, how you cannot take one from the other, that perhaps that would be the chapter I would read given the fact that it carries in part a statement of why I oppose the present military operation in Afghanistan. But then as I received your brochure, noted the theme, “Passionate Christianity in a Multi-faith World,” and looked at the titles of the other presentations it seemed to me that the more appropriate road to take was to share that chapter on Christology which in my mind is the second most divisive issue in the church today.