The Grapevine Synod Editon May 1999 Contents News of theSynod President Stephen Lane's Sermon Making Connections - The Province II Synod Meeting May 8, 1999 The Synod Meeting of Province II was held in Albany, New York, hosted by the Diocese of Albany, and presided over by The Rev. Stephen T. Lane, President. In keeping with the theme, Making Connections, the two most pressing issues before the synod were the election of officers for the province and the report from the Provincial Council on the possibility of the position of Executive Officer. After the initial business of opening the meeting on Thursday afternoon and the presentations of the usual officers' reports, Barry Menuez reported on the study that had been made regarding the feasibility, job description and financing of an Executive Officer for the Province. The job description, along with comments from Steve Lane, had been published in the Spring issue of The Grapevine, the Province II newsletter. Following the report, there was an opportunity for questions and small group discussion. The concerns which surfaced in the discussion were of two general categories: the deputies who were new to the discussion and had not been a part of the workings of the province previously questioned the concept of an executive officer, while the others were concerned that the job description was not sufficiently clear and the resources to fund the position in the long-term were not adequately detailed. As a result, the motion which was passed during the business session on Friday was that the Provincial Council continue the development and refinement of the job description for the position of part time Provincial Executive for Province II; that the Council prepare specific budget recommendations, including the identification of potential and existing revenue sources for funding the position; and that the recommendations be brought to the Synod Meeting of May, 2000. Also on Thursday afternoon, the Synod took time from its meeting to have a "Ministry Faire", to which the various networks and organizations within the province had been invited to bring displays. There were displays by the Christian Education Network of the province, North Porch, a ministry of the ECW of the Diocese of Newark, The Brotherhood of St. Andrew, and The Grapevine, to name a few. The Diocese of Albany also arranged a tour of St. Peter's historic church, which is undergoing extensive renovations. The after-dinner speakers were Steve Duggan, Treasurer of the Episcopal Church, and Sonia Francis, Assistant to the Presiding Bishop for Program, who outlined some of the exciting changes coming in the budget process and in the organization of the program offices at the Episcopal Church Center in New York, all of which will foster connections among the provinces and the dioceses. Friday morning featured the reports of the various networks, including a report from The Rev. Jorge Gutierrez on Ministry Development and the report that is being planned for the Convention in 2000 and a report by Joyce Hogg on the work of the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. The bishops present took the opportunity to make connections by meeting together to discuss their common concerns. It was a particularly good time to hold such a meeting, as Bishop McKelvey and Bishop Croneberger , Diocese of Newark, Bishop Burrill, Diocese of Rochester, Bishop Daniels, Diocese of the Virgin Islands, Bishop Herzog of Albany, Bishop Garrison, the newly elected Bishop of Western New York, Bishop Sisk of New York and Bishop Joslin of Central New York all were there. In addition to several more resolutions, mostly recognizing service in the province, there were two resolutions passed to foster new connections. One directs that the Province contact the appropriate office at the Episcopal Church Center and that the resources be provided from that office for a pilot project allowing the Diocese of the Virgin Islands to purchase computer equipment for both the diocese and each congregation and for the diocese to become a satellite downlink site. The other directs the Provincial Council to appoint a person to head an Anti-Racism Network. This network will be connected to the JPIC network, which has anti-racism issues as a part of its concern, but it will be charged with developing its own specific program to focus on the problem of eliminating the evil of racism. The afternoon's program gave deputies an opportunity to explore some of the areas of ministry in the province by attending two of the four workshops being offered. Michel Losinger and The Rev. Mary Marguerite Kohn presented a program on AIDS Care Teams. This is a program by which over 30 Capital District congregations (Diocese of Albany) have established AIDS Care Teams to provide direct compassionate support to HIV/AIDS patients and their households. This award-winning interfaith ministry organizes its 275 volunteers in congregation based Teams using a unique model of team building and on-going support. The Rev. John Rollins and Jan Paxton offered a workshop on Internet Technology for Congregations and Dioceses. Electronic communication is becoming increasingly important in both parishes and the church at large. This workshop focused on the use of the internet as an evangelism tool and as a resource for ministry. Derni McGuire and Martha Gardner presented a workshop on the work of JPIC, the network for Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation. An important part of that work is the monitoring of legislation in the capitals of New Jersey and New York and the plans for Jubilee 2000. The Rev. Lynne Bleich Weber and a Lutheran colleague presented a workshop entitled "Lutheran-Episcopal Concordat Revisited" which examined the changes from the original Concordat and its ramifications for the Episcopal Church. The closing Eucharist was held at the Cathedral of the Diocese of Albany, with The Rt. Rev. Daniel Herzog celebrating and President Stephen T. Lane preaching. At that service the new provincial officers were installed: President, The Rt. Rev. Jack McKelvey (Newark), Vice President, Michael Rehill Esq. (Newark), Secretary, The Rev. John A. Rollins (Newark), Treasurer, Gwendolyn G. Carter (New York), Chancellor, John Wood Goldsack Esq. (New Jersey), Council Representatives, The Rt. Rev. Theodore Daniels (Virgin Islands), The Rev. Rawle C. Belle (Virgin Islands), and Joan Cupo (New York) and Executive Council Representative, The Rev. Stephen T. Lane (Rochester). The Synod meeting in May of 2000 will be held, again, in Albany, although it will be hosted by another diocese. The place and date will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. It is hoped that the connections which were made at this meeting will be nurtured and strengthened by our ministry together and that the fruits of those connections will be evident as we come together next year to plan for the Convention in Denver . Sermon at the Friday Evening Eucharist May 7, 1999 Synod Meeting of Province II Cathedral of All Saints in the Diocese of Albany Stephen T. Lane, President Grace to you and peace from God and our Lord Jesus Christ. Speaking this past Monday evening to the better than 400 denominational executives gathered in Rochester for the National Workshop on Christian Unity, our presiding bishop urged his hearers to understand that unless love lies beneath the various negotiated ecumenical agreements and structures, those agreements and structures are lifeless and useless. Without love, it's all gongs and cymbals. It's love for Christ and for one another in Christ that gives life to Christian relationships. Another speaker at the workshop was my guitar teacher. (I've given myself guitar lessons as a response to middle age.) My guitar teacher is 28, bearded and pony tailed. He likes two kinds of music - heavy rock and roll and Italian wedding music. He's a good guitarist and a good teacher. In his non-music life, Tino is a Ph.D. candidate in Systemic Theology at Syracuse University. Tino spoke at a workshop entitled "Christianity and Diversity." As he prepared, he asked me who would be attending. I told him as best I could about the denominational executives and ecumenical officers who would be present. He responded, "Oh, these are people for whom denomination is a religious experience." I said I wasn't sure about that, but I understood what he meant. Tino describes himself as post-denominational. He doesn't attend church. He says that for the people he deals with - students and college faculty - denomination is irrelevant. But his message to the workshop was very similar to our presiding bishop's. What counts, he said, is the story of Jesus Christ and the meaning it brings to people's lives. What counts is the way the love of Christ shapes lives and relationships. It's not about denominations. It's about love. I want to offer you the same exhortation: unless love lies beneath our concern for the program and structures of the Province, then the Province is so much meaningless bureaucracy - a layer of the church structure to support, but to no real purpose, it functions better executed by e-mail and conference calls. And some are saying that about the Province - that it is anomalous, powerless, irrelevant. The church has yet to share significant financial resources with the province. And money in our culture is both a symbol and a measure of power. But let me suggest to you that life of the Province is not about money, but about love, about making friends for Jesus and bringing those friends the Good News of God's love. It strikes me that in these days of Kosovo and Columbine, love is getting a lot of lip service. We speak of the lack of love or the need for love. But who's putting flesh on the words? Who's taking care of the children? Who's raising funds for disaster relief? Who's resettling refugees? Who's spreading the Good News of God's love? Who's actually doing the work love requires? It's my understanding that this is the Province's primary purpose: to foster and support the mission and ministry of the church, the works of love on behalf of the dioceses. To bring the concrete resources of love closer to the people who need them. The Province doesn't have a separate agenda or a special program. Its purpose is to help those on the ground, those working on issues of justice, or with young people, or with people who know not the Lord Jesus, to bear fruit. Our purpose is to be friends and to make friends so Christ can be known, loved and obeyed. This is risky and costly business, and we would be more comfortable following the lead of the larger church rather than leading that church. But perhaps we're called to lead. If we were to step out in faith we might make mistakes. We might put our slender resources at risk. We might put more demands on an already heavily burdened system. We might make a mistake in implementa tion. But if we hold back out of such fear, we will not be the losers. The true losers will be those who do not get justice, who do not hear the word, who are not resettled or housed or fed. Ours is a rich and diverse province with numerous resources and opportunities. Though we complain at one another about participation, our participation - compared to other provinces - is quite strong. And although we fret over being able to stay in touch or keep a geographically diverse province together, our commitment to one another is really deep and consistent. We must not allow the tensions of the moment to overshadow our essential unity and strength. Christ has chosen us in this province to go and bear the fruit of love. And we have tried to do that. For well over a decade we have served and assisted the ministry of the church in a time of diminishing resources. We have maintained numerous networks. In the case of JPIC we have done new work and advanced the cause of justice by assisting the dioceses in tracking legislation in state capitals. And many of us have been sustained by the vision that more work might be possible if we made better use of our time and our talent and our resources. If we organized ourselves better and stayed better connected. I still believe the Province might be the place where the resources of the church are harnessed for local use, where love might be made real. But it will not happen if we focus on the obstacles and the difficulties, if we think it's mostly about the money. It will happen if we remember it's about love, and we share God's love - concretely - with neighbors and strangers around us. I hope we will keep this vision before us and continue to explore new ways of doing our work and overcoming divisions. And I hope we will recognize that each diocese offers opportunities and resources from which we may all benefit and to which the province can bring assistance. Whether it is satellite downlinks in the Virgin Islands, AIDS Care Teams in the Diocese of Albany, monitoring of legislation in NY and NJ, companion relationships with the far corners of the Anglican Communion, refugee resettlement, we must continually challenge one another to embrace our diversity and to discover new ways to do ministry. For only as we embrace one another will we be able to embrace an even more diverse world, world of guitar playing Ph.D.'s in theology who don't attend church. The ultimate test of our love for Christ and one another is the fruit we bear in the world. May we in this Easter season renew our efforts to love one another as we have been loved and to bring the fruits of that love to the many who need God's love and our care. Amen.

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