When Yehiel Curry was installed as presiding bishop of the ELCA on Saturday, Elizabeth Eaton, the former presiding bishop, led the assembly in welcoming Curry. “Yehiel, bishop in the church of God, we have looked forward to your coming with great joy,” she exclaimed to a diverse, colorfully dressed and enthusiastic assembly at Central Lutheran Church in Minneapolis.

“With all my heart,” Curry began before pausing emotionally. After Eaton went to his side and placed a hand on his arm, he continued. “I thank you for your welcome. I hope to serve among you in Christ’s name. And in the joy of the Spirit, may the peace of God be upon this house and this assembly.”

Throughout the service, a variety of hymns and songs were led by the National Lutheran Choir and musicians from the ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.

Members of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, members of the Church Council and ecumenical, interreligious and global guests participated in the processional.

CeCee Mills, secretary-elect of the ELCA, began the installation with an African tradition, the pouring of libations in honor of “the God that created us and in recognition that we are because of the ancestors who preceded us and in the hope of those who will come,” she said. “This ritual recognizes and shows respect for those who have come before and who have paved the way, and those who are yet to come.”

“Who would’ve thought in that moment that we’d be sitting here today? Look what the Lord has done!”

Eaton, who presided at the service, then led an acknowledgement that the assembly was gathered on the ancestral homelands of the Dakota people.

Curry was introduced to the assembly by representatives of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, where he served as bishop prior to being elected to a six-year term as presiding bishop. “Grounded in mission, he gave us the charge to ‘Go, therefore,’ and invited us to smile, embracing the joy of God’s calling and trusting that our labor in the Lord is not in vain,” said one synod representative.

Kevin Vandiver, pastor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation in Washington, D.C., delivered the sermon, emphasizing that God calls everyone to serve in different and sometimes unlikely ways. “Whether we are clergy or lay, all of us have wrestled with this concept of call,” he said. “The truth is that everybody gets a call. Even Jesus is not exempt.”

For Curry, that call to ministry took shape as he became first mission developer and then pastor of Shekinah Chapel in Riverdale, Ill., and it continues now. “There came a call over the portals of heaven into the earth, round about the South Side of Chicago, at 61st and Woodlawn,” Vandiver said.

“Who would’ve thought that that young boy growing up on the South Side of Chicago would grow also in wisdom and stature and somebody would put their hand on him and say, ‘We want you to be a lay mission developer’?” Vandiver continued. “Who would’ve thought in that moment that we’d be sitting here today? Look what the Lord has done!”

“It is our call too”

Sue Rothmeyer, current secretary of the ELCA, presented Curry for installation. Leaders from various church bodies lay hands on him, a sign of the church’s unity, embodying its prayer for the Holy Spirit to guide and sustain him.

“The office of presiding bishop is now committed to you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” Eaton said to Curry. After a blessing and prayers, she removed from around her neck the pectoral cross, the common symbol of the office of bishop in the ELCA, and presented it to Curry, placing it around his neck.

Curry stood as Eaton presented him to the assembly for a standing ovation. Curry, Eaton and others then offered communion to the assembly.

Following the service, a public reception was held for those hoping to greet Curry. At an evening banquet, Curry introduced his family.

“I’m going to do something that is probably a little different,” Curry said. “I am going to cede most of my time so that you can meet my wife and children.” His wife, LaShonda Hicks-Curry, and their daughters, Shekinah, Ashirah and Shemiah (the last of them a recent graduate of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago), each offered remarks.

“May we leave this place and understand that we’re more connected than we realize.”

Curry also lifted up his mother and recognized his siblings. “I stand on her shoulders, and nine of my 10 siblings are here, so I’m going to ask the rest of my family to stand.”

He then invited various groups from across the church to stand in recognition. “May we leave this place and understand that we’re more connected than we realize,” Curry said.

For those present, the moment may have brought to mind Vandiver’s earlier message: “It is not just the call of Bishop Curry—it is our call too.”

In an uncertain age, when the church is on the precipice of change, Vandiver said, those across the ELCA must stand alongside Curry and “remember that we have something to say, we have something to offer.”

“It is a call that you may have to say yes to every day, even when it seems like all heck is breaking loose. But—ring, ring—there is a call coming from the portals of heaven. It’s for you.”

Watch the service:

John Potter
John Potter
John G. Potter is content editor of Living Lutheran. He lives in St. Paul, Minn.

Read more about:

Religious news & social issues   elca, ELCA bishop, ELCA presiding bishop, Worship