Discernment, says Bishop Hughes, is not just for people considering ordination or churches calling their next priest. It is the responsibility of all faithful people to ask themselves, and their community, “How is God trying to lead me into the thing that God has prepared me for in this life?" (Time: 4:02.)
Bishop Hughes returns to the topic of her last vlog post, beginning anew, and addresses two ways we can approach it: as a diocese, which we will do together through our strategic visioning and planning process; and as individuals, discerning what it is God has created us for and striving to mature in our faith and spiritual life. (Time: 5:00.)
Bishop Hughes encourages us to talk to one another about this time that we're in, and how we want it to reflect the priorities that, individually and collectively, we have come to know and value. (Time: 4:44.)
Bishop Hughes is posting reflections and photos from the 15th Lambeth Conference on her Facebook page. They are being collected here in chronological order. The photo gallery includes her own photos plus additional photos posted by her husband David Smedley, and others, in which Bishop Hughes was tagged.
What a shock and disappointment it has been to discover, in the midst of traveling to Lambeth, that the agenda will include a revisit and vote on a resolution from Lambeth 1998 that condemned homosexuality.
After her first General Convention in the House of Bishops, Bishop Hughes reflects on the power of community and of listening.
After multiple shootings over the Fourth of July weekend, including the horrific mass shooting in Highland Park, Bishop Hughes reflects, "We have protested, we have written letters, we've stood firmly, we've prayed. And if there's a thing that I feel that is missing, and it is not ours to do alone, it is when a community comes together and works for the common good."
As we continue to work through the change and challenges of this time, says Bishop Hughes, that inspiration that led us to the faith in the first place and that keeps us going in the faith is going to be important to us. (Time: 3:30.)
When we honor people through these awareness months, says Bishop Hughes, it is to help us see that we're all actually part of one another. We are all more of who we are because of all of us being part of the same family, that is the people of God.
Sometimes we get so caught up with our own needs being met at church that we forget that we're part of something bigger, says Bishop Hughes. And when we gather like we did at Convention this past Saturday, we remember that we are part of something bigger: God's work.
