Today, the diocese of Texas will elect a bishop coadjutor. Nominees include five canonically resident clergy from the Diocese of Texas and one member of the diocesan staff in the Diocese of Dallas. The Revs. David Alwine, rector of Christ Church, Temple; the Rev. James Stockton, rector of Resurrection, Austin and the Rev. Gary Hill, rector of Christ Church, Nacogdoches, join two members of the diocesan staff–the Rt. Rev. Dena Harrison, bishop suffragan (Austin region) and the Rev. Canon Andrew Doyle, Canon to the Ordinary, as nominees. The Rev. Neal Michell, Canon for Strategic Development in the Diocese of Dallas rounds out the slate.
Nearly 1000 clergy and elected delegates from all the congregations in the diocese will gather at Christ Church Cathedral for the election of the ninth bishop of the diocese. The coadjutor-elect, who will be consecrated in the fall, will serve with Bishop Don Wimberly until Bishop Wimberly’s retirement in 2009.
Our Father in heaven,
Jesus Christ sits at Your right side. We pray that any enemies of Jesus that may be present in the Episcopal diocese of Texas will be put under His feet. Extend His royal power in the Episcopal diocese of Texas today.
We bind unto the voting delegates today the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the Three in One and One in Three.
Bless this diocese today through the strength of Jesus’s birth with His baptism, through the strength of His crucifixion with His burial, through the strength of His resurrection with His ascension, through the strength of His coming again to judge us all.
We cry out for Your strength to pilot the voting delegates, for Your might to uphold them, Your wisdom to guide them, Your eye to look before them, Your ear to hear them, Your word to speak for them, Your hand to guard them, Your way to lie before them, Your shield to protect them, Your host to secure them against the snares of devils, against temptations of vices, against inclinations of nature, against everyone who wishes this diocese ill.
Christ be with them, Christ before them, Christ behind them, Christ in them, Christ beneath them, Christ above them, Christ on their right, Christ on their left, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of them, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of them, Christ in every eye that sees them, Christ in every ear that hears them.
May Your salvation, O LOrd, be ever with them. Amen.
Psalm 110, St. Patrick’s breastplate
