E-mail from Synod - day 1

Received (late) last night:

From the beautiful city of Lafayette: Greetings!

Synod is in full swing with clergy and lay delegates and families with children occupying a great portion of this luxurious hotel. Some have come from as far away as Sioux City, IA and Colorado Springs, CO to conduct church business, make new acquaintances and renew old ones. This is an active time with quiet intervals for workshops about Eastern church spirituality and Western spirituality led by Father Serafim, a Greek Orthodox priest who lives the monastic lifestyle and practices prayer in various christian traditions. This morning, the workshop I missed centered around the "Jesus" prayer (Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy upon me, a sinner) . The words are important, but more important is the attitude with which one comes to pray. I sense a growing theme at this Synod: PRAYER. Today is the National Day of Prayer. The Diocesan Anglican Church Womens group is focusing on prayer as they prepare for this year's fundraising efforts for the Youth Summer Camp program.

This is a broadly diverse group of people, some of whom are carrying hurts that date back to the 1960s and '70s. But laughter and adoration of God go hand in hand here as we celebrate not only our individual spiritual survival but the survival of the "Faith once delivered to the saints. " God is in his Heaven and all's right with the world.

Signing off for tonight with gratitude to Almighty God for ensuring that this faith never dies.

Maranatha!