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The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, preached at Trinity Wall Street on Ascension Day, June 2, 2011.

You have a much-deserved reputation as a great preacher. Why is preaching so important?

I really do think preaching, certainly at its best, when it’s done with a deep desire that God and the good news of Jesus might really come to bear and touch somebody’s life, makes all the difference in the world. What matters is, does the preaching open up that moment in such a way that the eternal word of God becomes flesh and actually dwells among us? When that begins to happen, then God is in business, and God’s doing something, and when God does something, lives get touched. And changed.

You are often asked to be a guest preacher at parishes around the country. How does that compare with preaching to the same congregation all the time?

It’s different. You don’t necessarily know that community or that congregation as well. But I’ve got to tell you, I’ve learned that the longings in the heart are the same. You can go anywhere in the world, and the deep longings of the soul for God and to be in relationship with other people, those longings transcend all sorts of cultural and sociological differences. So if you really do begin to preach to the human heart and the soul, and the deep needs of our common humanity, and bring the Gospel to bear there, you’re going to click. You’re going to make a connection.

Trinity has worked with you and the Diocese of Costa Rica on a program. What can you tell us about that?

The proposal that Trinity graciously funded is designed to bring leaders from Costa Rica, vestry people, and leaders from North Carolina, vestry people, together to do common and shared work on reflecting that radical welcome in our congregations, and as people who go out into the world. That’s a challenge and opportunity for us here in North Carolina. And in my conversations with Bishop Monterosa, he has the exact same challenge. But if we can work together on learning how to do that effectively, that’s the way of Episcopal evangelism. That doesn’t have a thing to do with knocking on anybody’s door. That has everything to do with people meeting people, and getting to know each other, and welcoming each other into their space. When you do that, God will do the rest.

What is the best part of your job?

I get to meet some incredible people. I’ve seen a remarkable woman, for example, in Haw River, who realized that children in the foster-care system weren’t having birthday celebrations. She started baking birthday cakes for every child, so that every child would have a cake on their birthday. And St. Andrews, Haw River, that church is part of it. I get to meet people like that. Just having that experience, and being able to share it, is a remarkable and sacred gift and opportunity. I love it.

What do you see as the state of the episcopal Church today?

We live in a profoundly pluralistic culture and world. We live in a world where we are interconnected in ways that we never imagined before. We know more about each other; some folks might say we know too much about each other. And I think one of the great challenges for faith is to live in this multicultural, pluralistic world, being people of faith who reflect the love of God and not the tyranny of God. I think that’s one of our greatest religious challenges, and it has impact for different ages and generations of people. This is an Episcopal moment, a moment that is crying out for a way of being faithful that doesn’t have to deny somebody else’s way of being faithful. This is our moment.

–Interview by James Melchiorre