House of Bishops, Day Two--March 26,2011

It was a rainy dark day here at Kanuga, but the presentations were thought-provoking and light-bearing.

We began by using a new form of Morning Prayer. We used the Prayerbook service, but instead of discussing the appointed readings at our tables, we used the ancient practice of lectio divina. Since we have to sit through so many words in the course of the day, it was nice to begin by entering into silence together.

The theme for today was "Reaching Young Adults with the Gospel." We got the background on generational differences from Lisa Kimball, who teaches at Virginia Seminary. I realized again what a bad job the Episcopal Church has done in this area, but there are signs of hope. Key for me was understanding that we don't do ministry for young adults we do it with them, and that means spending more time listening to their needs; where they are instead of trying to impose our programs and conceptions on them. Much of what was discussed the clergy of the Diocese of Arizona heard at our recent youth summit, but it was nice to learn about some best practices from the larger church. In the afternoon we heard about two projects involving young people, the Episcopal Service Corps which now has about 20 sites around the country where young interns are giving service to the church while living in community, and the Relational Evangelism project which trains 20-30 year olds to engage in conversations about God with their peers--they receive a stipend for this and it seems to be very effective. So, already I have lots of new ideas to try out at home!

Tonight we begin a sabbath time of quiet that will last until a service with some visiting Moravian bishops tomorrow night and a fire-side chat with our Presiding Bishop after that. I am looking forward to sitting by the fire and catching up on some reading, listening to the rain on the roof.