Amid the pageantry and rousing hymns of a
centuries-old liturgy to consecrate a new bishop, hundreds of Utah
Episcopalians learned something Saturday about their new, slightly built
shepherd: Bishop Scott Hayashi’s avatar — the figure he chooses to represent him — is a sumo wrestler.
“That tells you all kinds of things about
your new bishop,” mused the Rev. Jeffrey D. Lee, the bishop of Chicago
whom Hayashi served as a canon the past five years.
Lee preached the sermon to the 700
Episcopalians, 25 visiting bishops and leaders of other Salt Lake City
faiths who gathered at The Grand America Hotel.
But he also primed those
in Hayashi’s flock for what to expect of the church’s 11th bishop.
“You’ve elected a bishop whose sense of
humor will delight you. You will discover that this playfulness enfolds a
heart of very serious purpose,” Lee said.
“His sheer competence will amaze you and an
apparently endless supply of energy will dazzle you,” said Lee. “He will
pray with you at the drop of the hat.
“He will stand with you before the vast
mystery of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus and in his
presence, he [Hayashi] will not hesitate to step aside so that God may
be glorified — not the bishop, not the church, not you and me, but God.”
During the two-hour service, Hayashi, 56,
promised the Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, presiding bishop of the
Episcopal Church, that he would nourish the faith of the baptized, guard
the unity of the church and show compassion to the poor and strangers.
Bishops from throughout the country, as well
as from Mexico and Myanmar, laid their hands on Hayashi’s head as he
kneeled before Schori to be consecrated.
Immediately afterward, Hayashi, who wore a
simple white alb, was given bishop’s vestments as gifts from people of
the Utah Episcopal Diocese.
He was soon clothed in a cream-and-gold
chasuble, or robe, and a mitre, which is the bishop’s crown.
Retiring Bishop Carolyn Tanner Irish placed a
pectoral cross around Hayashi’s neck and Lee presented Hayashi with a
bishop’s ring and a Book of Common Prayer.
Irish gave Hayashi the
crozier, which is a staff symbolizing a bishop’s role as shepherd.
Among the representatives of other Utah
churches attending were apostle M. Russell Ballard of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Monsignor Joseph Mayo and
Monsignor Terrence Fitzgerald of the Catholic Church.
SIC: UN/INT'L