Mary Lee Talbot – Staff writer
The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson will preach at the 10:45 a.m. Sunday Service of Worship and Sermon in the Amphitheater. Robinson replaces previously announced Sunday preacher the Rev. Liz Theoharis, who is attending to an urgent personal matter and is unable to travel to Chautauqua during Week One.
Robinson serves as vice president of religion and senior pastor of Chautauqua Institution. He was elected Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire on June 7, 2003, becoming the first openly gay and partnered priest to be elected bishop in historic Christendom. He served as the Ninth Bishop of New Hampshire until his retirement in early 2013.
A senior fellow at both the Center for American Progress and Auburn Seminary, Robinson is a celebrated interfaith leader whose ministry has focused on helping congregations and clergy, especially in times of conflict, utilizing his skills in congregational dynamics, conflict resolution and mediation.
He is the author of In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God and God Believes in Love: Straight Talk about Gay Marriage.
In 2009, at the invitation of President Barack Obama, Robinson prayed the invocation at the Opening Inaugural Event at the Lincoln Memorial.
In his weekly column in The Chautauquan Daily, Institution President Michael E. Hill, who will deliver is annual Three Taps of the Gavel address to open the Summer Assembly Season prior to the Service of Worship and Sermon, said that the Chautauqua community was saddened not to welcome Theoharis to the Amphitheater pulpit.
“She is in my prayers, and I look forward to her joining us in a future season,” Hill wrote.
Please see the 9 a.m. Monday through Friday Morning Devotional listings in The Chautauquan Daily for information on Week One’s additional substitute preachers.
