Alive in Love

By Kate Long, Christ Church Macon

Over the past two days I:

• Worshipped with over 1300 people
• Listened to Heidi Kim- Missioner for Racial Reconciliation

• Ate lunch with Rev. Gay Jennings- President House of Deputies
• Attended the New Community Gathering celebrating ethnic heritage (basically the best multicultural party with music, food, and dancing from every corner of the Earth)
• Took part in a racism dialogue
• Processed the day with my Deacon Arthur Villarreal
• Ate breakfast with Presiding Bishop Katharine
• Witnessed a joint session where the Deputies and Bishops (like 1000 people) came together in a unicameral body which is technically against our constitution but is the discussion of how the Episcopal church could be structured in the future
• Listened to Rev. Canon Altagracia Perez- Bullard’s use of critical pedagogy in keeping congregations alive
• Got pink eye and went to the urgent care center
• Experienced loving caregiving from people I've known for less than 48 hours

To sum up every thought I have experienced through the course of events mentioned above would be impossible because each moment required so much energy and patience. General Convention brings hope to the notion that love can triumph over evil. Everyone here sees different areas of life that need love - poverty, environmental stewardship, racism, marriage, homosexuals', transgenders', and women's rights, international involvement especially in Palestine and Israel, and even in our own church- and everyone here thinks they are right.

Heidi Kim quoted a movie called Psalm of Howard Thurman urging us to “cultivate the listening to the sound of the genuine in ourselves” because the only good work I can do is the work in which I am passionate and capable. This is hard because our culture focuses on money because money can buy us more possessions. Rev. Altagracia presented the hard fact that the church’s “business is in souls and you don’t have to buy a good soul” so the material world continually forces us into areas where we might not be as successful than if we listen to the Spirit moving inside our own soul.

In one of the many conversations I have walking (occurring a lot because it is beautiful outside and events take place all over the downtown area) , someone described their current position as administering the administrators. As our current Why Serve programming is about discernment, I felt enlightened in that moment, because I want to empower the priests, the activists, the politicians, ect. instead of doing their work for them. I identify myself as a follow of Jesus but an “apostle to the apostles” like Mary Magdalene, who can bring news of the resurrection of our church home to young adult ministry and our diocese.