A Report on the 226th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Church in SC

 
  A few reflections are worth circulating about the recent convention. Congratulations are also in order for
those of our worshipping community who are called to serve the Diocese. Pat Neumann has been elected
to serve on the Diocesan Council and Mary Ann Foy has been appointed to serve on the Commission
on Ministry. There were several priests who were recognized as having begun their new ministries
this year in the Diocese as well and I was among them.
 
  As usual, a budget was adopted and other elections were held, the reports of which will reach
you in the Diocesan newsletter.
 
  The Bishop’s address is available on the Diocesan website and I believe was recorded on YouTube.
There were several things that are important points he made about our present and future.
 
  The title of his sermon was “How do we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”
Bishop Skip is referring to the landscape of social, religious and political reality in which we live. 
He made three points: first, it is a strange land, second, it is not our song but the Lord’s, and third,
there is a need for a response from God’s people.
 
  He continued to say that we must not let the present reality to define us, but there is a promise
given to all people, of hope and the capacity to sing a new song-for our Diocese and beyond. We’re
not called to be a success but to gratitude and to entrust that future to God. He reminded us that
we’re not just to seek and serve Christ, but to be Christ to one another. Being Episcopalians
gives us a rich tradition to do this. And then the Bishops left us with a question:
“Good People of the EC in SC, how will we sing this song"?
 
 Fr. Paul