SC 2018 Winter Gathering

This past Saturday about 50 folks from 19 different parishes gathered together in West Haven to pray, break bread, talk, and to listen for the voice of the Spirit. The energy in the room was palpable, especially during moments when Bishop Ian said "God is good" and the entire room replied joyfully responded "All the time!"

Within the context of a Eucharist, we spent time dwelling in the word of God, imagining with Bishop Laura what it means to be a parish, praying for ourselves, the world, and others, imagining with Canon Tim what it means to be a region in the new missional age, and sharing the bread and cup. As we moved through the day people asked questions like, "Who is hungering now and how is God opening our hearts?" "How to we bring joy into the Church and the world?" And we asked bold questions about who we are as a people following God and what tools would help us to deepen our relationship with Christ.

Bishop Ian discussed five spiritual practices that can equip and support us as we begin to consider who we are during this missional age:

• listening - where is the voice of the spirit? whose voices are present?
• discerning - where are we being guided by God? how does this feel?
• trying on - what if...? why not!
• reflecting - how was that experiment? where did we see God in that? 
• deciding  - here is something to try, and then the process begins anew!

In all of these practices we can rest assured that God has already succeeded in Jesus! So we have total permission to try and to fail.

Bishop Laura led us through a discussion about what it means to be a parish in the missional age. This conversation had been happening in the episcopal church in Connecticut for the past few years, and on Saturday each person in the room had the opportunity to add their reactions and the stirrings of their hearts to the discussion. A parish is:

• a community of theological imagination,
• fed by word and sacrament,
• forming disciples and apostles in God's mission, 
• and connected to the wider Body of Christ.

The conversation around these ideas was dynamic! This brought us into the heart of what it means to be the Church in the world - how do we engage in sharing the Good News? How do we bridge the boundaries that get put up to keep our Church life separate from our daily life and that keep our communities separate from each other?

Finally, we had a discussion about what it means to be a region in this new missional age and what we might need in the South Central region to be about God's mission in this new age. The ideas were rich and varied! Themes of prayer, cost-saving partnerships between parishes for ordering supplies, and joy and creativity surfaced. If you have reflections on these questions please feel free to leave a comment below.