Diocesan Convention This Weekend

Beloved in Christ,

I am eager to be with so many of you at diocesan convention this weekend. Our ninety congregations are diverse in every imaginable way, and we are spread out across almost ninety thousand square miles. But it we do not have ninety churches. We have one church that exists in ninety places. In a geography like ours, that can be hard to really feel and know. it is easy to feel like we are on our own and responsible only for ourselves. But autonomy and self-reliance are not Christian values. We have been created by a God whose very heart is a community, a relationship, a connection across difference. Diocesan convention is one of the few opportunities we have each year to incarnate the reality that we belong not to ourselves, but to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to one another as the church. 

We will do some important business like electing people to important positions, approving our annual budget, and acting on a resolution to ask the General Convention to add a holy Minnesotan, Father Denzil Carty, to the calendar of saints in the Episcopal Church. But the deeper and more important purpose is for us to celebrate who we uniquely are, and to simply enjoy the gift we have been given in sharing our life together. Our work at convention is to delight in one another, as God delights in each and every one of us. 

We have been incarnating that deep spiritual reality almost every one of the last one hundred seventy years. We have gathered in the face of every kind of adversity—pandemic, war, economic crisis, civil turmoil, prosperity and peace. Every time, we have found again that Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the source of our life. Every time, we have found God’s mighty power to sustain and save. Every time, we have found again that the promises of God are true. Every time, we have found the gospel of Jesus Christ is worth giving our entire lives to. 

It’s a holy and humbling privilege to add a chapter to God’s story in Minnesota each year. See you in Saint Louis Park.

Grace and peace,

The Right Rev. Craig Loya