The presence of God

The parliamentary process at the 77th General Convention, the pace, the procedures and the paper – pages of paper, may not be for everyone. I find myself during long legislative sessions wondering what I am going to preach or for whom I can pray or if the fish are biting in my favorite pond. I find myself missing my family, my friends, the good folks in my parish. I also find that the process, including my wandering thoughts, are all gifts of the Holy Spirit.

The process lacks perfection, but so do the people of God even when we are gathered in this glorious event. Thus, that makes gaps, spaces and lots of room for God’s grace and the leading of the Holy Spirit. The decisions we have made as a church; the acceptance of a provisional blessing for same-gender relationships, the budget, the commitment to restructure the governance and the administration of the church, the election of church leaders, and the affirmations of long standing theological traditions transpire in those gaps, spaces and places of imperfection in our church and in our common life.

I believe that all the decisions we have made are attempts to speak to the presence of God. Regardless of one’s position on any set of issues or concerns, we are affirming that God has, can and will make all things perfect, especially those decisions which we have made faithfully. Being faithful and being correct is not the same thing. That is one of the gaps in our common life. We are called to make decisions, we have to make decisions, yet we do so with humility and faith in the hope that God’s grace does indeed prevail.

I am proud of our decisions, not for their theological perfection, not assuming that they serve as the final word in the kingdom of God on any one subject, but because they presume that God will lead us being united in Christ to a deeper understanding of how God is acting in our lives. In our baptism we proclaim:

There is one Body and one Spirit;
There is one hope in God's call to us;
One Lord, one Faith, one Baptism;
One God and Father of all.

I give thanks for that unity given to us and I continue to be hopeful in God’s call for us to share the good news to the world.

The Rev. John P. Leach