This Lent I am using a devotional guide written by Bishop Tom Wright, the noted English New Testament author and scholar. Today he used the story of Jesus calming the storm that is found in Mark’s 4th chapter as his text. He talks about the incredulity of the disciples when confronted with Jesus’ miraculous calming of the stormy seas. And then he comments, “Part of the point of Christian discipleship is to have our minds and imaginations challenged, opened, stretched, reshaped.” This observation made me think of the work of the Mission Task Force over the past few years and of the Diocesan Convocation that is coming up at the end of next week.
In trying to think about ways in which our Diocese can unite in the mission of Feeding the Hungry, we have been challenged by the difficulty of getting any group as large and diverse as our Diocese to focus on a single mission. Fortunately, our mission focus on Feeding the Hungry can be interpreted in as many ways as there are hungers out there to feed. So we have been thinking and talking and praying about those many interpretations with open and, yes, stretched minds for the past couple of years. Some of the fruit of all this thinking, talking and praying will be on display at Convocation and I urge every RI Episcopalian to come and share in this exploration of mission next week at Convocation.
Sara Miles is our speaker and reading her books Take this Bread and Jesus Freak make me eager to hear her in person. One thing she wrote especially applies to Convocation. In the introduction to Jesus Freak she wrote, “…I found that Jesus does not, anywhere in the Gospel, spend too much time calling his people to have feelings, ideas, or opinions. He calls us to act: hear these words of mine and act on them.” At Convocation we will concentrate on how we can put Jesus’ words into action right here, right now. Come join us.
Deacon Buck Close
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