Dear Friends,
As many of you know, during the September visit with our companion dioceses, Bible study was an almost daily occurrence. Study of the scriptures was the context through which we wove together insights of our diverse group, opening our hearts to each other through what the Spirit was saying to God’s people. After the visit, the planning committee gathered to take a look back and to see what our next steps might be. One idea was to have a diocesan wide Bible Study during the season of Lent.
A small group was gathered to develop the idea of using Ephesians 2:11-22, the focus of convention, to format a Lenten Study for the people of El Camino Real. The study is divided into five parts for the five weeks of Lent. The team envisions each parish using it as meets their needs. Some might have a mid-week soup supper gathering while others might use the study for a Sunday forum. Vestry, committees, and/or commissions might use a portion to open their meeting or in full, perhaps for a retreat. Individuals might use the passage for daily meditation. Some might use it after Lent. This online blog, accessible through a link on the diocesan web site: www.edecr.org, will encourage conversation throughout the diocese – a place to share your reflections, enthusiasm and fear. Our friends in Gloucester will have access to the web site and we look forward to their insights as well.
The study is designed to take us into a deeper awareness of the hope and promise incarnate in God’s Word, to offer time to reflect on and share portions of our life stories, and to breakdown walls that impede our journey, moving from being strangers to citizens of the household of God.
I hope you will join those of us who are committing to gathering more deeply into God’s word, praying our way into a stronger experience of the Body of Christ, citizens of the Kingdom of God, where Christ is our home.
May this Lent be a time of reflection, prayer and growth for each of us and for our diocese.
Blessings,
+Mary
Filed under: Lenten Study
