Submitted by The Very Rev. Wil Keith, Rector, Holy Cross Faith Memorial
For me at least, Kanuga has always been a
place of consistency. I grew up coming
here, not to the summer camp, but for the annual conventions of the Diocese of
Western North Carolina. I was raised out
of this diocese and would wander from cabin porch to cabin porch, reconnecting
with folks, and later during seminary, shamelessly plugging my name to
delegation after delegation, searching for a job.
But this year, I heard something new. Rev.
Michael Sullivan, who is the tenth president of Kanuga
Camp and Conference Center, was the preacher at our opening Eucharist. He used this platform to open our hearts and
minds to the Gospel
reading for the day and, quite frankly, said many things
that needed to be said yet are not often heard.
There was a clear challenge to embrace a new
day in the Episcopal Church: To prune
away the fruitless vines in our governance and structure. Declining numbers, committee meetings that
accomplish little, and outdated models of ministry help us little and keep us
from the work that is set before us. As
Rev. Sullivan put it: “there are people out there that would rather do yoga
than come to church on Sunday morning. They would rather get their Bikram in a 105
degree room, sweating their tails off, than come to church and listen to a
bunch of people complaining about the air-conditioning.”
Therefore, it is time for us to adapt. We must be open to new ways of reaching
people, streamlining our governance to free up resources to those engaged in
active and life-changing ministry, and assessing our privilege honestly so that
we can continue to be the best Episcopal branch of the Jesus Movement we can
be.
“I have searched through the Canons and
Constitution of The Episcopal Church for the word, ‘love,’” Rev. Sullivan
said. “It’s not there…. I propose an
amendment.”
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