Michael Curry installed as presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church

Declaring that “God has work for us to do,” Bishop Michael Curry was installed as presiding bishop of the 2.5 million-member Episcopal Church November 1 at the Washington National Cathedral.

Curry’s journey toward being the first African American to lead the denomination, which is 83 percent white, began decades ago when his parents visited an Episcopal church and his mother was handed the same communion chalice as the white parishioners.

Curry said of his father, “He joined the Episcopal Church because he really hadn’t imagined that could happen in America. He said any church where blacks and whites drink out of the same cup knows something about the gospel I want to be a part of.”

In his sermon, in which he quoted Charles Dickens, Bobby McFerrin (“Don’t worry, be happy”), and Jesus, Curry gave a new interpretation of the Good Samaritan story. He noted that a Muslim might be the one to care for a person in need.

“Or change it even more: a police officer was beaten and wounded, and it was an African-American young man or a Latino young man or woman who brought healing,” he said.