Like a wandering Aramean...

Man I am tired.  I love traveling but this is starting to catch up with me.

My first trip was to Newark NJ for the Province II Youth Ministry Network followed by reporting to Provincial Council.  It's a long (and fairly boring) drive from Jamestown to Newark.  The meeting was good.  We had two new folks from Rochester in attendance.  It was some great conversation about a wide variety of issues.  The Youth Ministry Network operates as an information sharing and mutual support group for those of us working at the diocesan level (or near diocesan.  Both Rochester and Central New York are trying a new model).  I always enjoy meeting with my fellow diocesans and hearing about the different challenges facing us all.  I'm also happy to report that my report to the Council was well received.  So it was a good trip.

I did a report right after I arrived at the YMCA of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO.  The facility is beautiful but the program was even more astounding.  The conference, called "Everyone, Everywhere", is a mission conference.  It was held 3 years ago in Baltimore for the first time.  But it wasn't a "nuts and bolts" kind of mission conference.  There was some of that but the real thrust was getting people to think differently about the word "mission".  It's impossible to sum up 4 days of the conference in a paragraph or two.  In a nutshell mission is the essence of what it means to be God's church in the world.  One speaker referred to it as a posture of living.  Literally EVERYONE, EVERYWHERE.  The phrase that really got me was "The church was not created for mission, the church is created by mission".  I'm typing up my notes from the conference and would be more than happy to talk with anyone (individual, group or parish) that would like to think a little more deeply about mission.  It's not the mission talk you it is, that's all I can assure you.

As I write this I'm in Salt Lake City Utah.  My first time in that city AND that state.  Since I'm in meetings from 9AM to 9 PM I haven't seen much of the city other than what I saw on my way in from the airport.  From that I can say it's very clean and modern looking.  It also seems to rise suddenly out of the ground.  I've noticed this in a couple other cities as well.  Buffalo is always clearly a city set in the middle of large urban area.  Salt Lake City is kind of like Oz.  The folks here are super pleasant and helpful.  We're staying at the Wasatch Retreat and Conference Center which also houses the diocesan offices of the Diocese of Utah.  It is an absolutely gorgeous facility (and the food is really good)!  It sits right next to the cathedral.  There's an historic marker out in front of St. Mark's cathedral that notes it is the oldest non-Mormon church in continuous usage in the state.  Pretty cool.

Why am I here?  I serve on the Standing Commission on Ministry Development which is a Commission of the General Convention.  That means I'm serving with folks from all over the church.  It includes 3 bishops, 4 priests and about 6 lay people.  It's a very intelligent and articulate group and I enjoy the work we're doing.  In preparation for next year's General Convention we are looking at a change to the canons (the laws of the church) that would offer a method for a diocese faced with extremely severe disagreements with its bishop(s) to dissolve that dysfunctional relationship.  Our hope is that it would never be needed but there are a couple times when it would have been useful over the last 10 years.  We are also looking at resolutions concerning the education of the clergy and a separate resolution looking at the growth and development of lay ministries as well.  I chair the sub-committee on lay ministry.  It's been a fascinating look at what works, what doesn't and how we should be doing a better job.  It's a challenge but it feels like I get the chance to work on some important ideas for our larger church.  I'd be more than happy to talk with anyone about any of these issues too.

The down side on this trip is on the first full day here I came down with a big honking cold.  I'm trying very hard to not spread it among my friends here.  Hopefully I can keep it under control for the 4 hour flight east on Thursday.

Back in WNY Thursday afternoon and then Diocesan Convention starts first thing Friday morning!  I think I may collapse next week.  It'll be good to be at home for a while (still one more trip to come!  But not for two more weeks)