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March 2001
Rowing
out to deeper water
When anyone asked me before
the Visioning Convocation, "What do you expect the outcome
will be? my answer often was, "If I knew, we wouldn't
need to do this." In these few weeks since January 26/27,
some of the answers are becoming clearer.
I believe that we are at a deeper water stage in our journey.
As the Gospel of Luke tells us, Jesus asked the disciples
to row to deeper water before letting down their nets. In
an early telephone conversation with our visioning consultant,
Helen Spector, as we were trying to fashion a response to
the anticipated question, "What do you expect?"
Helen reminded us that in order to cross the ocean we would
have to lose sight of the land. There was a collective silence
and in-drawing of breath from the management team gathered
in my office.
We have rowed into deeper water- we have moved to that point
in our journey where we cannot see the land we left, nor can
we quite see the land to which we are traveling. It is a very
necessary moment in our journey. If nothing else occurred
at the visioning convocation, that event informed us that
we are a new diocese - a church of the 21st century willing
to let go of icons of the past, however valued and esteemed,
and willing to row to deeper water, trusting in Jesus words
that our nets will be filled to overflowing.
For me, the most informative moments and reports from the
visioning convocation came from the work in the baptismal
covenant groups. It was in these discussions that the 700
attendees (including 120 youth), stretched their minds and
their hearts to a distant horizon, not yet visible. I met
with the district Conveners soon after the convocation and
when asked my expectations for their work, I replied, "First,
I don't expect that the districts will do all of their work
as single entities. It is much more realistic to expect that
most will be more successful at ministries in which several
congregations come together for a common purpose. But, I do
expect you to encourage and support the district convocations
to look to the future, to do more than old-style church, to
row into deeper water. In the weeks ahead, at district convocations,
at Diocesan Council, at vestry retreats, at CDC meetings,
I hope you will be looking to the future, to a horizon not
yet visible.
The mind-maps hanging on the walls at Episcopal House indicate
a prospective for our future: to be a church which encourages
and enables each person to discover and claim a vocation and
ministry; to be a church which is biblically literate, as
we come to understand how the Bible informs and shapes our
lives; to be a church which seriously educates us in our Christian/Anglican
roots, and assists us in the development and deepening of
our personal spiritual lives; to be a church where newcomers
in all of our mission stations are warmly welcomed without
hesitation or precondition; to be a church committed to youth,
both in word and deed, in order that they may become worthy
role models as Anglicans in the world; to be a church through
which its members bring their baptismal covenant to their
workplaces, in order to affirm the need for all people to
be treated equally, and to create a space where the acceptance
of diversity is a given; to be a church in New Jersey actively
involved in shaping political, economic, and justice conversations;
and to be a church technologically engaged and linked with
mission stations within our diocese as well as the larger
church and world about us.
All of the mind-maps will be available in some form at your
district convocations, and I hope on our web page. I encourage
you to look at them to discern your vision for the future.
I hope each of you, not just those elected to leadership,
or those who attended the Visioning Convocation, but each
one of you will begin or continue to participate in new ways
in the life of our diocese. We are all in this boat together;
fortunately, it is large enough to hold us all, with room
to spare; and we will lower our nets into the deeper water
where they will be filled to overflowing. Amen.
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