Convention celebrates our congregations

The 2007 Annual Convention of the Diocese is over, and I am still floating a bit, buoyed by the good spirit and en­thusiasm so evident in this year’s gather­ing. Having taken time to read through evaluations by attendees, I can say that this description is not a singular assess­ment but an expression of many voices.

With heartfelt gratitude to all who prepared for and pulled it all together so well, our host congregation, St. Luke’s, Coeur d’Alene, the Joint Committee on Arrangements, the Diocesan Staff, and the staff of Templin’s Resort in Post Falls, I am happy to note that this year’s convention was first and foremost a “Cel­ebration of Congregations.”

While the presence of guest speak­er Bonnie Anderson, with her poignant presentations reflecting the Millennium Development Goals and building on our theme of Becoming Bread for the World, was certainly a high point of the weekend, it was the program on Saturday night that seemed to capture the essence of the celebration and called forth a bois­terous and jubilant response.

Hearing the members of congre­gations throughout the Diocese report their capital and endowment campaign successes – sometimes quite surprising and always stimulating – brought the convention to its feet in wonderfully free applause and affirmation of one another.

Applause and affirmation. Cel­ebrating our congregations. Publicly ac­knowledging what God is doing within and among us – I say again, often to our own surprise! – is both good and right as we live into who we are. Doing so, keenly aware that what we were rec­ognizing with thanksgiving at the banquet, powerful as it was, was only a small seg­ment of what is happening throughout the Diocese day after day.

Are we being stretched? You bet. Are we growing in spirit and service? For sure. Do we have more to do? Certainly so.

“Becoming Bread for the World” is serious business. It is also joyful. It can only be done by walking in faith, living in love, and recognizing that our conven­tion is at its very heart a Celebration of Congregations.

May it continue to be so, and may God continue to bless that which we receive and that which we offer in the name of Christ.