The Diocesan Convention runs from Friday evening through Sunday morning. At 11am on Sunday, October 28th, we are holding one Eucharist in many locations across the Diocese. Every Episcopalian is invited to attend in person the Diocesan Convention Eucharist in the Marriott Hotel in Des Moines at which I will preside and the Presiding Bishop will preach. For those unable to travel, I have asked each congregation to hold only one local worship time at 11am on that day when they can participate in the very same Eucharist that will be live-streamed across the Diocese. Hence, we will be celebrating one Eucharist in many locations. I have authorized worship leaders in each congregation to distribute the elements of bread and wine from the reserved sacrament on that day. It is expected that the elements will be consecrated “in special intention for the upcoming Convention” the week before. Local gatherings will follow the same order of service, enjoy the same hymns and prayers, hear the same readings and sermon from the streamed Eucharist from Convention, and to that end you will receive bulletins to follow along.
I am not sure if a Presiding Bishop has ever been to Diocesan Convention. I know that the Archbishop of Canterbury visited on one occasion. Nevertheless, this will be a new way to experience being One Church in Many Locations, the Episcopal branch of the Jesus movement in Iowa. We also want to give the Presiding Bishop as much opportunity as we can to minister among us. He will address Convention on Saturday afternoon at the late afternoon session, around 2:30 pm, just before the break for Evensong. This is a move away from the Convention dinner keynote speaker spot of our usual schedule. It is intended to allow visitors to register and attend Convention for that Saturday afternoon, stay on for Evensong at the Cathedral and then sign up for the evening Convention banquet. This year, the banquet will be “buffet-style,” at which the Presiding Bishop will hold a “question and answer” session at 6pm prior to a more casual, buffet-style dinner. There will be some opportunity during the buffet for informal interaction with him. He ends his evening with the youth. Clergy will have a session with Bishop Curry on Friday afternoon at the Cathedral.
This year we open Convention on Friday evening, October 26th, with a Gathering Eucharist at the Cathedral at 7pm. I will preach and the Presiding Bishop will preside. Convention business begins at 9am on Saturday morning. The Presiding Bishop has been fascinated by our commitment to holding forty Revivals last year, and is eager to hear stories of its impact and about the follow-up sessions, “Growing Iowa Leaders.” He is promoting “The Way of Love,” a rule of life for contemporary disciples. He is committed to inviting all of us to take personally and seriously this life of Jesus offered at baptism and nurtured by the Spirit of God within us. That’s why he wanted the General Convention to hear of our Iowa Revivals and invited me to address the plenary session of both Houses on our experience. He then asked dioceses’ deputations to discuss there and then at General Convention on how to adapt the local revival concept to their situations. I want to hear from Bishop Curry what may be transpiring because of that.
Watch out for revivals! Invariably they have signaled difficult times ahead for society, and for the Church in serving the needs of society. They are not spiritual entertainment, but an aspect of God seeking to find ways to get our attention. There is evidence that other awakenings are happening around us. This has become clear in the energy and creative genius offered to us by the various presenters at Growing Iowa Leaders. Most of them are young people, and mainly women, for whom solutions to sustaining the Church today is a matter of urgency. In Des Moines, an ecumenical group, called together for conversation by Jennifer Harvey of Drake University, is committing to twelve months of public worship witness each first Sunday of the month at 1pm at various locations in Des Moines, and different denominations are invited to take their turn in leading. Their proclamation of “We are Church Confessing” seeks to respond to what they see as “the nation going through an unprecedented and truly devastating and frightening historical moment. This moment is marked by increasing hostility and violence against communities of color, immigrant communities and religious minorities, and attended by evidence that authoritarian tendencies are emerging at the highest levels of government.” Some of their inspiration is taken from the statement “Reclaiming Jesus” which the Presiding Bishop and several nation-wide denominational and Church leaders developed at the beginning of Lent this year.
It has been a helpful challenge to concentrate on the message of the epistle of James these past few weeks. I take some mild comfort in realizing that James had to say what he did because the early Church, within decades of those who walked and talked with Jesus, and possibly saw Him die and risen, was made up of people like you and me. They showed preference to the wealthy and disparaged the poor; they fought with each other and had to be reminded as to where that anger came from. They had to be warned against the treachery of the devil in sowing seeds of dissension, and about the power of the tongue in reaping a whirlwind of conflict. They had to be told that “thoughts and prayers,” or even a “God bless you” were inadequate expressions of faith when a person’s physical vulnerability remained unaddressed. They were invited to show their faith by their works—to walk the Way of Love in relationships. And all of this was theologically underpinned by a personal understanding and embrace of how God showed them mercy, and forgave them, and provided for them. Is this where we are being led today? To let Jesus be known in us by how we practice upholding dignity, equality, justice, or practice a reconciling spirit and a way of sharing? Our world is larger than that which James knew; and we have no excuses for not knowing what is happening to billions of people in poverty, or hundreds of millions in economic and sexual slavery. If the technological revolution is only a couple of decades old, it stands to reason to me that God is hard at work creating a revived people for our time; and that Jesus’s concept that “by your love, people will know you are My disciples” is being reframed!
It is no coincidence that our Chief Revivalist is coming to Diocesan Convention to help us accentuate our Revival efforts. Don’t let the opportunity to receive him and let him point us to Jesus’ way of love pass you by. It is our time for God’s preparation of us as effective Jesus followers and for “our light to shine forth like the day.”
In the peace and love of Christ,
+Alan
The Rt. Rev. Alan Scarfe, Bishop of Iowa
