Busy Weekend

So far the 'restful' Labor Day weekend is turning out to be rather busy. The Cathedral hosted a Diocesan event focusing on the various outreach done by churches all around. We had exhibitors from El Paso to Los Alamos and Farmington to Alamogordo and even Clovis (who had 2 tables to showcase their outreach).

This was the first time something like this was done and the organizers hope it's just the first of many. While I'm not directly involved in the outreach ministries at the Cathedral, I was in charge of coordinating the food for the weekend. It was fun, but tiring.

Considering the media focus on the differences in the Episcopal church at large and locally, it was impressive to see over 1/2 the churches in the diocese participating and even move amazing to walk around and see the wide variety of outreach being done from small towns to big cities. Some of the smaller churches are doing more than bigger congregations. From local ministry like a food pantry, to sponsoring missionaries to Africa, to building houses in Juarez, to offering tutoring--the amount of dynamic outreach happening is, as I said, impressive.

The title of the conference was "Matt. 25" and that was the focus--how we are as parishes, individuals and as the diocese, and national church are living out that Bible mandate. An event like this helps everyone look beyond the differences and see that truly we are all trying to minister to the poor, the hungry, the prisoner, etc.

We can get so caught up in the little things that bother us that we miss the broader panorama of the true ministry happening. It is important to come together and share ideas in order to go forth empowered for ministry in new and exciting ways.