Service Times:
Sundays at 8:00 am and 10:30 am
Dear Friends in Christ,
The past two days I have attended the Fall Clergy Conference at Trinity Center. The meeting is the annual gathering of clergy from across the diocese where we have discussions around topics that parishes are celebrating or struggling with as we move the Church forward in what it means to be the Church in this diocese.
This year, our guest presenter was Eliza Griswold, the Pulitzer Prize author of Amity and Prosperity who spoke to us on her current book Circle of Hope: A Reckoning with Love, Power, and Justice in an American Church. I’ll have more on the themes of her book after I have re-read it with this new understanding of her conversation with us (the clergy) and inwardly digested it as there is so much there that pertains to The Episcopal Church, parishes and the environments and communities within we preach and live.
I want to focus on the words of our bishop, Robert Skriving, given at the closing Eucharist today. He said, (and I hope I have quoted him correctly), “God calls us to listen widely, God calls us to hold tightly, God calls us to let go.” There is much in these three small sentences that resonate with me, and I hope with you.
God calls us to listen widely. Bishop Skriving implied that we are to listen across all barriers. Barriers of racial and ethnic divides, language barriers, the young, the old and all those cultures in between. We are changed when we listen widely to different voices. I would say we are changed when we listen deeply. We must engage in Holy Listening if we are to be transformed.
God calls us to hold tightly. Bishop Skriving emphasized that we are to hold tightly to that which builds us up as people of faith. I would add, in these troubling and uncertain times, holding each other tightly is a must! We are to be there for one another, to support one another; rather than bring another down with disparaging remarks and causing division. Jesus wants us to be united. When we are united under one Body, then we are a power to reckon with.
God calls us to let go. Bishop Skriving remarked that God is with us in the messiness of life. We are all called to proclaim the Gospel and to let go of the messiness that we are in. I would add that we are all called to let go of the stuff that we hold onto; let God deal with it, so that we are free to proclaim the Good News, the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Go!
Listen widely!
Hold tightly!
And let go!
Blessings,
Rev. Anne