In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory. (
Ephesians 1: 13-14)
Many things happened yesterday to remind me why I so much love being here @ St. James. I began the day by having coffee with a friend of mine who has been a Deputy from the Diocese of Arizona to The Episcopal Church's 77th
General Convention.
Matt Hall is a motivated, intelligent, and devoted
Young Adult Episcopalian.
Matt,
Lisa Jacob,
Carl Freeman,
Lauren Lenowski,
Katie McCallister, and so many other young adults encourage me to obey Jesus' commandment to share The Gospel of Good News in bold and imaginative ways. They are excited about our church's present and future. Young Adults are Episcopalian stakeholders and leaders are the ones who are
urging us to
"reimagine the workings of the Episcopal Church to prepare it for mission in the 21st century." The convention
resolved for us to devotedly envision the future so that we can use our rich heritage as a grounding to more creatively discern and discover how Episcopalians can best:
- Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom,
- Teach, baptize and nurture new believers,
- Respond to human need by loving service,
- Seek to transform unjust structures of society, and
- Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth
That's important redemptive
work and I was glad to observe Episcopalians young and old alike engage themselves in these sometimes frustrating but rewarding tasks.
I stayed in Indianapolis a little bit longer than I expected because I was confident that everything would be coming together for last night's World Choir Games
concert. Ok, maybe I was a little anxious. Nonetheless, my soul began to rest and my heart began to fill w/ joy at around 6:00 when I witnessed just how splendidly the parish's leaders and volunteers were prepared and excited about hosting the choirs and our guests. checking mics, preparing refreshments, setting up tables and chairs, fixing up the rooms where the choirs would relax and rehearse. It was simply awesome!
I pondered to myself whether or not the parish's leaders of 50 years ago would have imagined hosting a concert when and where a delightful
Chinese children's
choir and beautiful Latvian women would sing. Could they have know or experienced what joy and wonderful music we would share with so many people from so many different cultural backgrounds?
I simply want to close by once again saying, THANK YOU. Thank you to Dick, Jane, Garyne, Walt, and the vestry for your willingness to take some risks and host this huge undertaking. Thank you to all of you who baked cookies, set up chairs, prepared snacks and beverages in the kitchen, hosted our guests in the hospitality tent, served as ambassadors to the choirs, worked as ushers, helped prepare and share materials, and/or did some other tasks that I'm forgetting about here. Thanks to those of you who came and enjoyed the music and shared your hospitality and our church w/ friends and family members in the pews. It was a HUGE success and so worth your encouraging efforts.
The redeeming and imaginative work that is going on in the broader Episcopal Church and closer to home here at St. James is often chaotic, inexplicable, and precarious. Nonetheless, the rewards of sharing the Good News of God's Reign through Jesus' compassion and The Holy Spirit's joy are worth it. We can't help but thrive when we channel the energy and blessings of accomplishing this work with one another toward people who might otherwise never know of us or The Episcopal Church. I, for one, can't think of any other community of faith that I would rather be sharing this mission with as we move into the future than with you. Thank you for reminding me of how fortunate I am to be serving with you in our corner of Christ's vineyard in Westwood and the Western Hills of Cincinnati. Thank you for your risk-taking, hospitality-sharing, fun-loving, Christ-like love.
Blessings Along The Way,
Jim+
Hello Sisters and Brothers in Christ 
