This past weekend, your Trinity delegates and I gathered with about 450 people from for the annual diocesan convention. Our diocese includes about 100 Episcopal congregations in Western Washington, from the Canadian border to the Oregon border, crest of the Cascade Range to the Pacific Ocean. Friday was a day of workshops and a plenary session guided by our new bishop, and Saturday was a business meeting.
I would like to invite the delegates who attended either day to come up and share something that they found exciting or interesting from diocesan convention.
Thank you for sharing your experiences and excitement with us.
Some of the things I found most exciting about diocesan convention this year:
I love to see the people gathered, about 350 clergy and delegates, plus visitors and exhibitors, all with a passion for The Episcopal Church.
Welcoming St Michael South Sudanese congregation as a Mission Station, a baby congregation that is just starting out.
Learning more about our new bishop and starting to get a sense of his leadership focus areas. The theme for convention was “Come to me and I will give you rest.”
The most powerful moment for me was standing next to Bishop Phil and offering my prayers as a holy conduit for healing, anointing one person after another during the Eucharist on Saturday.
Phil LaBelle has been our bishop for about 6 weeks, so we are getting to know more about him. He impresses me as humble, fully engaged, pastoral, and faithful. And, as demonstrated by his chuckling when the assembly corrected his pronunciation of Tukwila, he has a sense of humor.
Bishop Phil took two specific opportunities to engage and guide our thinking. First, in the Friday midday plenary, entitled “The Church We Yearn For” where he challenged us to acknowledge the passing of Christendom and the church the way it was 50 years ago and to re-center ourselves on the mission Jesus gives us, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all people.” That’s a very brief summary of the content, which was delivered with humor and compassion, and provocative questions for reflection and conversation.
The second was in his Convention Address, which was given as the sermon at the Eucharist Saturday morning. Bishop Phil covered a wide range of reflections and celebrations about the diocese, even as he acknowledged the losses we may be feeling. His sermon closed with an invitation to laying on of hands and anointing.
Since convention was livestreamed and recorded, you can check these out on the convention website. In the Friday recording, the bishop begins his presentation at 11.29 through about 35.30, and Saturday the bishop’s address begins at exactly 20 minutes.
Healing features prominently in today’s gospel. Jesus and his disciples are leaving Jericho when they encounter Bartimaeus. Bartimaeus may be blind, but he has heard of Jesus and his healing ministry, and he wants some of that.
Mark the gospeller, is a careful curator of the good news he tells. His good news about Jesus Christ the Son of God focuses on healing in body, mind, and spirit as salvation. Jesus brings physical healing as a representation, a promise we can see, of the good news of God’s reign where all people and creation see and know dignity, peace, and plenty.
Bartimaeus believes Jesus has power to heal his sight. Once healed, he cannot look away from Jesus and he follows Jesus on the way.
It really is that simple. If we trust Jesus’ vision for how to walk in love, how to continue his ministry of healing, to bring good news of God’s reign to this hurting world we live in, we find clarity in our own sight of the way to follow him.
As Bishop Phil reminded us, we need to be healed of our anger, grief, weariness, and despair. For our eyes to be opened, to see God at work in the world around us and join Jesus’ mission of making disciples of all people.
Holy God, you sent your Son to live among us so that we might know you better. In your mercy grant health and healing for our relationships with you, and with our families and friends. Mend broken hearts and give us pathways to reconciliation. We pray this through Jesus the Christ, the image of the invisible God, who shows us the way to walk in love. Amen.
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