Naim Ateek, Founder of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem and Chair of its Board, spoke at Ed Browning’s funeral in the cathedral in Portland OR on 19 July 2016:
On behalf of SabeeI and Friends of Sabeel I would like to express my deepest condolences and sincere sympathies to Patti Browning and to all the Browning family. We share your grief. We also loved Bishop Browning; and we give thanks to God for his life and witness.
It is a great honor and privilege to be asked to take part in this funeral service for a person I loved, admired, and respected greatly.
Bishop Browning was the President of Friends of Sabeel North American from its inception in 1966 until he became president emeritus in 2012. He and Patti visited us in Jerusalem a number of times. They were both dedicated to the quest for a just peace in Palestine-Israel. In one of our international conferences, Bishop Browning was the keynote speaker in Jerusalem. He and Patti were true friends and staunch supporters of Sabeel’s ministry.
When I think of Bishop Browning, two words come to mind:
The first is HUMILITY: During my high school days in Nazareth, we had to memorize the poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling. One of its stanzas reads, “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, or walk with kings …nor lose the common touch.” These words, I believe fit well Bishop Browning. During his time as presiding bishop, he met with presidents and world leaders and he had a good collection of photos with them. On a visit to their home in Hood River, I expected to see those pictures displayed in the living room. To my surprise they were relegated to a lesser visible place in the house. This is the kind of person Bishop Browning was. He walked with kings and presidents but did not lose the common touch. He was reachable, approachable, and accessible. “God gives grace to the humble.”
The second is COURAGE: Bishop Browning had a soft voice but a big heart and a great courage. In the Gospels, Jesus criticized religious leaders for having eyes but could not see. Bishop Browning’s eyes could see. He saw the agony of the victims of injustice. When he visited Palestine, he felt with the Palestinians who were living under the oppressive Israeli occupation of their country. Like Bishop Desmond Tutu who also visited us, he could see and feel the injustice and oppression. In 2003, with the help of Bishop Browning, we were able to invite Bishop Tutu to become the international patron of Sabeel. And he continues in this role to this day. Bishop Browning took a courageous stand for justice for the Palestinians. Even when it was not fashionable, he stood on the side of the marginalized. For Bishop Browning, there were no outcasts. His stance reflected the spirit of love and compassion for the victims of discrimination.
As we pay our respect for this dear friend and brother, I believe he still has a pertinent message for us all: “Don’t forget the victims of discrimination and racism in your communities. Work for their liberation.” And I would like to think that he has a special word to the leadership of our Episcopal Church, bishops, clergy, and lay: “Don’t forget the Palestinians. They too are God’s children. Champion their just cause, and work for their liberation so that they and their Israeli neighbors may live in security and peace.”

Brian Grieves shares Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s statement read at the service in Portland OR:
Ed Browning was installed as Presiding Bishop a few months before I was elected Archbishop of Cape Town and he retired the year after I did. I could not have wished for a more supportive friend – both personally and of our church – at the height of our struggle against apartheid.
Both in and beyond Southern Africa, he breathed new life into the Church and was a champion of justice for all people everywhere. He visited us in South Africa during our darkest days and gave us encouragement and hope. He fiercely challenged US politicians and corporations to bring an end to the evil of apartheid. Even while he was Bishop of Hawaii, he visited our diocese of Namibia and risked his life traveling on land mined roads to stand with people who were suffering.
Before and after our liberation he took on the challenge of another apartheid - the injustice of the Occupation of 4 million Palestinians.  Patti was at his side throughout that courageous witness.  May you all continue that witness with the same courage and commitment of Ed and Patti.
Whether he was advocating for women, lay people, people of colour or gays and lesbians and others to be fully included in the life of the Church, he became a conscience for justice that you are still building on now.  Keep on with the journey.  And should you forget, Patti will remind you.
To Patti and the family, I wish I was able to be with you. I send you my and Leah's hugs and love. My love also to the whole Episcopal Church, which was such a faithful partner to us under Ed's leadership. Claim his legacy and pursue the cause of justice that our Lord Jesus Christ requires of each of us.
Well done, you good and faithful servant of God, Ed Browning. May you rest in peace and rise in glory."

Ann Coburn, co-convener of EPF PIN’s education work group and a member of the leadership team reflects:
It has been said often that Ed Browning had a pastor’s heart and a prophetic voice. Those often don’t sit easily together but with Ed they did, even after becoming a bishop when, I have experienced, the prophetic voice often disappears. For Ed this is who he was for the church, for the wider world, and for individuals like me.
I have many Ed Browning stories, as I was fortunate to have known him and worked with him, especially during his tenure as Presiding Bishop. He was a friend, mentor, pastor, and prophet to me. Two stories I share here because they are etched on my heart.
Towards the end of the General Convention in Detroit in 1988, where I was a deputy from the Diocese of Connecticut, I got a call telling me my 5 year old daughter was being given a series of tests because the doctors thought she had some intestinal bacteria or virus that she might have contracted during our recent sabbatical in Zimbabwe. Without many good-byes, I left quickly to go and be with my family. I had not been in the house more than 5 minutes when the phone rang, and it was Ed Browning wondering how my daughter was and also how I was. I was stunned that he would take the time to call when I knew that in the final hours of all conventions there was a frantic pace to pass resolutions and neatly as possible tie up loose ends. And as Presiding Bishop he had way too many demands upon his time and attention, so for him to call in the midst of all of that touched me deeply. In those few anxious days until we found out that there was nothing seriously wrong with my daughter, my own bishop never called, making Ed’s call even more precious and remarkable.
My other story has to do with Ed’s prophetic voice. I had visited Israel/Palestine once before meeting Ed and Patti Browning. I pretty much knew one narrative, the one that said little or nothing about the Palestinians. But Ed and Patti used their voices, their feet and hands, and their souls to help educate the Episcopal Church to the other narrative. Because of my growing respect for the two of them, I paid attention to what they were saying and more importantly to what they were doing. They were instrumental in the growth of Sabeel, the Palestinian Liberation Theology Center in Jerusalem and its supportive network Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). I didn’t realize at the time the tremendous pushback they received and the relationships that were strained and even severed because they dared to speak out for justice for all Palestinians. Ed’s ministry and voice led me to FOSNA and the transformation of my own heart and ministry. I never go back to Palestine without giving thanks for Ed and Patti for their courage, their faith, their justice ministry, and for leading me and countless others to use our own voices when others are silent.

Mary Miller, former EPF staff and long-time EPF member remembers:
There is so much that happened in my life that wouldn't have except for Ed Browning's leadership and friendship. A set of lively pictures – in my photo album and in my head – sum up my remembrances of Ed.
AMNESTY
Ed Browning and I first met long distance. As the new bishop for the Convocation of American Churches in Europe, Ed had discovered there were AWOL U.S. personnel in Europe in protest of what we were doing in/to Vietnam; many of them wanted to be able to come home. I was a program assistant for peace and justice ministries on staff at the Episcopal Church Center and part of my job was administering the Register of Conscientious Objectors. Ed's request for help with the issue landed on my desk. Suddenly, I had a new colleague and a new friend. We worked on an amnesty resolution for action at the 1973 General Convention in Louisville and set to work with the Episcopal Peace Fellowship to make it happen. The resolution failed in Louisville and the pictures of all that are only in my head. A good amnesty resolution was adopted in Minneapolis 1976 - along with ordination of women to the priesthood, which over-shadowed everything else.
Ed moved from Europe to World Mission on the church-wide staff. We stayed in touch, and as relevant issues arose, his connection with EPF became stronger.
THE NEW PRESIDING BISHOP
Ed Browning was elected presiding bishop at the 1985 Anaheim Convention. I was national chair of EPF at the time. His installation was scheduled and the liturgy began to take shape. I was asked to be the lay person on the team assigned to present Ed with a plumbline of justice, one of the Instruments of Ministry. Barbara Ramanarine (deacon), Barbara Harris (priest) and Desmond Tutu (Bishop) chose me to hand the plumbline (a real one) to Ed. I remember that my hands were not entirely steady as we stepped forward for the presentation. His response was “I call upon all people of good will to join me in speaking out against evil and oppression.” But then, the signal to return to our assigned seats never came. Suddenly, I found myself standing next to Desmond Tutu singing "Christ is made the sure foundation" at the top of our lungs! And then the Peace. A photographer caught the moment that Ed and Bishop Desmond embraced each other - and that photo includes former Presiding Bishop John Hines, Barbara Harris and me. It landed on page one of the New York Times and into history.
CELEBRATIONS AND PROTESTS
The election of Barbara Harris to be suffragan bishop in the Diocese of Massachusetts was a milestone to say the least. It was obvious to anyone who saw Ed Browning in those days that it was a major joy for him to be her chief consecrator. Those gathered for the consecration listened, not always patiently, to protests at the appointed place in the liturgy and heard with gladness Ed's calm response “...we will proceed.” “There's a sweet Spirit in this place” was a Communion hymn and I can still hear it. No way to get close enough for any individual photography but there's certainly a visual public record – as there is of the international turmoil that followed.
In mid-January 1990, on the eve of U.S. troops being sent into the Persian Gulf War, a prayer service was held at the Washington Cathedral. Afterward, a large crowd processed down Massachusetts Avenue and 16th Street to the White House, following the new EPF processional cross. The Brownings were up front all the way. We kept vigil in Lafayette Square for a time, then processed a few blocks to Metropolitan A.M.E. Church for an all-night vigil for peace rather than war. Toward dawn that January night, Ed, who had been in contact with the Administration steadily during the Fall, decided to appeal one last time to stop what was about to happen. The offices of the American Chemical Society were next door to the church and an ACS staff member (who had carried the EPF cross most of the way) went with Ed to find a phone to call Jim Baker ... to no avail. Ed was heart-broken but he had tried his best and we were grateful.
At the Fall 1999 House of Bishops meeting, a new Suffragan Bishop for the Armed Forces was chosen. EPF had for decades protested the existence of the office though not the person chosen to fulfill it and we prepared to do so once more. Bishop-elect Charles Keyser understood our position, though disagreeing with it, and welcomed a conversation about the office and the consecration. The possibility of a prayer vigil for peace, jointly planned and sponsored, to occur before the consecration was raised and so it was. Photos show Bishop-elect Keyser facing both the Presiding Bishop and the EPF delegation, led by NEC Chair Ann McElroy. Conversations with Bishop Keyser continued over the years, thanks to the tone he established. Eventually the office portfolio became Federal Ministries (including federal prison and hospital chaplains, as well as military chaplains under the bishop's oversight.) As the work shifted, EPF ceased to protest the office and continued work with the incumbents. The prayer vigil seems to have become a tradition: it took place when George Packard was consecrated, and again with Jay Magness. Plans are underway as the House of Bishops prepares to choose the next Bishop Suffragan for Federal Ministries.
In the early '90s, EPF was asked to join in a Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear whistleblower who had let the world know through photographs and reporting that Israel had nuclear weapons. Vanunu had been kidnapped by Israeli agents, tried secretly for treason and sentenced to 18 years in prison. EPF said “yes!” and joined the Campaign. Ed and Patti supported the effort from the beginning. In Washington a coalition of peace groups stood vigil at the Israeli Embassy regularly, sometimes with acts of civil disobedience. Mordechai's release was finally announced for April 2004 after he served his full term (minus 6 months – for good behavior?), including 11 ½ years in solitary. As it happened, Sabeel's International Conference dates that year were just right for the Free Vanunu Campaign; many of us went to Ashkelon after the conference to welcome his release. My photos include Ed and Patti waiting in the hot sun, Sabeel hats offering some shade. It was a long wait but worth it. Mordechai was whisked away in a car toward some unrevealed place of refuge. As we piled into vehicles and headed our of town, it suddenly came to me: I knew exactly where we were headed – to St. George's Cathedral in Jerusalem and sanctuary offered by Bishop Riah. And though it was never sad out loud that I recall, I'm very sure that Ed Browning had everything to do with it.
Vanunu stayed at St. George's for a couple of years and is still in Jerusalem, forbidden by Israel to leave the country – a house arrest to this day.
RETIREMENT
One photo I keep was in general circulation in the late 90s – of Ed and Patti on the steps of their blueberry farm home in Hood River OR. They look younger, rested, happy. Our communications slowed but never stopped. Birthdays and Christmas remembered, notes across country, no more photos personally taken but lots and lots of memories and gratitude.
The last photo is in our living room now, one we will always treasure. At the 2015 General Convention our long-time friend Michael Curry was elected Presiding Bishop. Michael was scheduled to preach in Oregon within weeks of the election, well before his installation, and some of us conspired to get him to visit the Brownings. He was more than willing and so it was. A photo was taken of the two shepherds together and it was sent to me soon after. When Ed died that photo was included in obituaries and press releases. And the whole world has seen the two Presiding Bishops together, Ed and Michael. It still feels like a miracle.

Gary Commins, former EPF NEC Chair and EPF member reflects:
Shortly after his election as Presiding Bishop in 1985, Ed Browning visited EPF’s National Executive Council at its fall meeting at Vail’s Gate, two hours from his New York City office. Being new to the NEC, I didn’t know it, but that is not the norm for Presiding Bishops. We go to them as, in a sense – decently and in good order – we should. Ed had no agenda, no airs of office. We had a two-hour conversation. As the hour grew late, he returned to New York.
The next week I asked a friend, “how did we get so lucky?” – we the peacemakers, we the Episcopal Church. How did we elect a bishop so down-to-earth? How did we find a leader so committed to peace and justice? His episcopate, like that of John Hines, opened doors, opened hearts, turned the church to face the world, and wedded prophetic ministry to the office of the Presiding Bishop.
Twenty-four years later, at the 2009 General Convention, EPF recognized Ed and Patti Browning’s shared ministry, giving them the John Nevin Sayre, Jr. Award. We recognized them with the award; they honored us with their presence. Every General Convention’s circus schedule features multiple events competing for attention and attendance. Turnout for the Sayre Award was large: EPF was not alone in wanting to honor Ed and Patti.
Such events invite premature eulogies for the living: we heard about Ed’s ministry and Patti’s commitment to justice, especially her advocacy for the Palestinian people. But what stood out most were not the praises offered but the people gathered – family members, lay leaders, bishops, priests, and deacons; peacemakers or not, for Ed made peace with those uncomfortable with doing justice. All of us knew we had been lucky – blessed – to be touched by their ministry.
This July, two days after Ed’s funeral, I happened to attend a meeting with Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, President of the House of Deputies Gay Jennings, the Rev. Naim Ateek and a handful of clergy and laity concerned about Israel-Palestine. We discussed the ways the Episcopal Church has drifted from its bold commitments to justice in Israel and the Occupied Territories to timid and tepid positions, benign and banal ineffectiveness. Throughout the meeting, like punctuation marks, each of us invoked Ed’s name, his spirit, and his ministry.
Ed, like all people the church honors, took controversial stands, braved criticism and vilification, and is remembered for what Martin Luther King, Jr. called the overall direction of his life. As we remember and celebrate the arc of Ed’s life, we pray that the direction of his life becomes the direction of our church. That would make us – us the peacemakers, us the Episcopal Church – blessed, very blessed, indeed.

Brian Grieves, long-time peace and justice officer for the Episcopal Church and EPF member, remembers:
Ed Browning opened wide the doors of our Church to literally everyone.   He began his ministry as Presiding Bishop when he proclaimed right after his election "This Church of ours is open to all.  There shall be no outcasts."  He lived out that vision for the rest of his life, whether for gays and lesbians, for people of color, for women in ordained ministry, for Palestinians, persons with AIDS and the list goes on.  He embraced fully Jesus ministry of inclusion.   In Hawaii, he preached to Ronald Reagan during an Easter service gently calling for resources to be spent on the poor instead of the nuclear arms race.  Yet as prophetic as he was, he was loved for being a pastor, even by those who didn't always agree with him.   - The Reverend Canon Brian J Grieves, former diocesan staff member under Browning in Hawaii and Peace and Justice Officer for the national Church with Browning and his two immediate successors

A final service was in Hawaii on 13 August 2016. Brian Grieves shared a Hawaiian chant with which we conclude our rememberings:
Oli Chant:  Kanikau Bishop Edmond Browning. Let the world know, Let the heavens sing. Let people of the world honor the name of Bishop Browning. Hear the ocean lapping on the shores or crashing on the rocks and reefs. See the clouds drifting slowly over the city. Feel the gentle breeze moving through the trees. Listen, for they are whispering the name of a man of God. A servant of God who worked tirelessly to spread the message of God’s love throughout the world. Let the world know, Let the people sing, Let all people honor the name of Bishop Edmond Browning. Father in Heaven, let the gates of your Kingdom open for your faithful son, Let the Heavenly choir honor your faithful servant Bishop Edmond Browning, Let the world remember, Let all people remember. Aloha no….Aloha no…Bishop Browning, thou great and faithful servant. Rest….Rest… Go with God.. Aloha No…….