Our Annual Family Reunion

I’ve been musing about our diocesan convention that occurred this past weekend. I have many thoughts about our annual family reunion, but I’ll keep it to one for now: The power of being centered first on what we hold in common is a gift we can take to our broader culture.

Convention was structured around worship and prayer, reminding us regularly that we were there because of our common faith, and our desire to express that through the Episcopal Church. In our fractured and continually fracturing society, we are segmenting ourselves into ever-smaller groups who agree precisely with our positions. We’re organizing around the least common denominators. In the church at its most faithful, however, we organize around the greatest common denominator, God.

In our civic life we can model affirming what we have in common before wresting with our disagreements. We can intentionally find common ground with our adversaries. We can seek Christ in each person, loving our neighbors as ourselves.

Greg