The Rev. Canon Eugene Sutton rises out of his chair in mid-sentence and strides confidently around the room to demonstrate the medieval Christian technique of walking a “prayer labyrinth.”
“You just walk a path,” he says in his office at the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland on University Parkway. “People are so out of balance. It’s all go, go, go. The labyrinth helps you slow down, go to the center and linger there.”
The prayer labyrinth hints at what’s to come in the episcopacy of Bishop Sutton. He’s moved the Tuesday noonday prayer session from the basement into the cathedral, and he’s inviting the general public.
“You don’t even have to believe in God,” he says. “Come and pray with us.”
Since taking over as the first African-American Episcopalian Bishop of Maryland, Sutton has embarked on his own pilgrimage into a labyrinth of religious and social issues affecting the Diocese and the Episcopal Church on a global scale.
Contemplative prayer, spirituality and reconciliation will shape his agenda and support his leadership style of being “gentle but strong.”
“His excitement is going to become contagious,” says the Rev. Scott Bellows of St. David’s Church, who served on the selection committee.
Black Episcopalians are energized, especially after Sutton was elected on the first ballot for only the second time in the history of the diocese.
“I felt a sense of pride,” says the Rev. Dion Thompson of Holy Covenant Church. “Black [people] making our way slowly to that level.”
On Sutton’s recent visit to Thompson’s parish, he commented on the Gospel music, which reminded him of his Baptist roots.
“This is like old home week,” Sutton said.“I’m being saved again.”
Thompson felt a connection.
Working together
Encompassing 10 counties, 116 parishes and 50,000 worshippers, the Episcopal diocese in Maryland provides Bishop Sutton with a vast range of perspectives.
“The diocese is so diverse — from urban to rural, from the mountains to the Bay — it gives me the voice of a wide cross-section of people,” he says.
In the coming weeks, he’ll launch Town Hall lectures around the state to discuss the role of the church in today’s society.
“The issues affecting Baltimore City are the same ones affecting Baltimore County, Garrett County, Harford County, Howard County and the rest,” he says. “The disparities between rich and poor, lack of health care and affordable housing, [the problems of] crime, traffic, ecological degradation and worry about schools and education are everywhere.”
Sutton promises to challenge the image of church leaders as being concerned only for people’s souls and with running parishes.
“This is one bishop who is going to recover the message of Jesus as it impacts all of these issues,” he says. “I’m not just a spiritual leader for Episcopalians.”
Sutton recently testified against the death penalty before lawmakers in Annapolis with bishops from both the Catholic and the United Methodist churches. He has planned conversations with those church leaders.
“I very much look forward to working with him to see how the Episcopal and Catholic churches can work more closely on issues of common concern — most especially — in fighting the poverty and crime that is destroying our city and its residents,” says Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of the Roman Catholic Church.
Sutton says he will seek alliances with those who share his vision of a bishop as civic leader.
“It’s a hard job,” he says. “You have to be a little crazy —like Jesus, Gandhi and Desmond Tutu.”
‘Quiet strength’
Eugene Taylor Sutton grew up in a segregated Washington, D.C., in the early 1950s. The son of working-class parents who taught him the importance of faith, family and hard work by example, he developed a social conscience early on.
“As soon as you learn language, you get an education,” he says. “I just rode the bus. People who looked like me weren’t represented in offices downtown.”
His mother worked at the state department, and his father ran Sutton’s Auto Repair for 37 years. His mother and father had 19 siblings between them.
With a large extended family, Sutton couldn’t go anywhere without the community keeping tabs on him.
“Nobody had a lot of money. Nobody went to jail. Nobody was on public assistance,” he says. “It went against the grain of what many thought inner-city black life was.”
In 1976, Sutton graduated from Hope College in Michigan, the same year his mother received an undergraduate degree from Federal City College (now UDC).
In addition to his parents, he credits spiritual writer Howard Thurman, a mentor to both Martin Luther King Jr. and Episcopalian Archbishop Tutu of South Africa, as a major influence. In fact, he patterned his life after Thurman’s writings.
Howard “maintained a spiritual grounding — a quiet strength,” Sutton says. “I’m rarely the one who is going to lead the march.”
On a mission
Urban education and the environment are issues Sutton likely will confront early in his tenure. His plan calls for educating the “poorest of the poor.”
“When it comes to education, the word Episcopal is a brand,” Sutton says. “It means high-quality education, and it’s very expensive.”
He cites St. Alban’s in D.C. and St. Paul’s as examples.
“I’m going to make that brand available to people in Maryland who don’t have the resources.”
When asked how he will do this, Sutton responds forcefully.
“I’m going to learn how to do it.”
As for the environment, the first “green bishop” believes the church must educate people not only in Maryland, but also across the nation.
“I see God everywhere,” he says. “In the trees, in the animals, in the air we breathe. I see energy and possibility.”
Sutton recently established his position on the continuing scuffle over the consecration of Gene Robinson, an openly gay bishop, at the recent Lambeth Conference in England, where 700 Episcopalian bishops gathered from around the world.
“Some people want to draw the line in places where I refuse,” he says. “I believe the net Jesus cast is a lot wider than some of my brothers and sisters who say, ‘no, not those people.’ ”
He’s not worried about “a little church fight” because of Anglicanism’s track record. There is no “top down” structure or select group making decisions. The community decides — including women and lay people.
“Anglicans have been very bad about keeping people out,” he says. “They tried to keep blacks out. They tried to keep women out. Some want to keep gay and lesbian Christians out. You can’t do it.”
He sees an end to the conflict.
“We’ll be stronger and clearer about who is worthy to be in God’s kingdom,” says Sutton, who believes conflict helps achieve truth and a deeper intimacy.
To elevate his commitment to reconciliation, Sutton will convene a meeting of world leaders in Baltimore Nov. 22 for conversations about race in America. He is calling it “The Bishop’s Initiative on Truth and Reconciliation.”
Archbishop Tutu and his daughter, the Rev. Mpho Tutu, will participate.
“We should’ve had this conversation at the end of slavery,” Sutton says. “We are going to have it now.”
The timing is strategic. The presidential election in November, which is shaping up to be contentious, will have just concluded.
“We keep running away from the issue, and it keeps coming back to bite us,” says Rev. Mpho Tutu.
While touring the English countryside during the Lambeth Conference, Sutton stopped with a group of bishops to talk to a shepherd.
“Do you poke and prod the sheep with the staff?” one of them asked.
“You can,” the shepherd answered, “but the most effective way is to go to where you want the sheep to be and just stand.”
Bishop Sutton identified with this approach.
“Too many of our leaders are trying to poke and prod people,” he says. “I want to be still enough in my soul to just stand in the streets, in the schools, in the prisons, and before the legislature. Gentle but strong.”
FOR MORE INFORMATION
For a complete schedule of “The Bishop’s Initiative on Truth and Reconciliation,” go to the ang-md.org.
