Mtr Taylor Devine

Dear friend,

This past week I have been in North Carolina for the annual conference of Program Directors of the Episcopal Service Corps network. I got a taste of east coast fall, and have enjoyed seeing some family and old friends in the mix of meetings, worship, and trainings. Whenever I attend a gathering like this I notice the quick sense of belonging that follows. In a group whose vocations are most often building community, conflict navigation, translation across difference, all for the sake of leading young adults into deeper relationship with Christ, the gathered people have a way of drawing you out of yourself and into this place.

The architecture of our meeting space was simple, a big parish hall at a lovely suburban Church. The architecture of the community gathered is more complex, Program Directors of a number of years, brand new programs coming on line, long-timers calling to mind past program directors, short-timers recounting the struggles and beauty of their cohort, all navigating this work faithfully. Within the simple architecture of a meeting room is a deeper scaffolding, built on shared language and prayers, commitment to a rule of life, a life of prayer, and to seeking Christ in the other. This scaffolding builds a place to gather.

We visited another Church that had big, beautiful gathering spaces, but this one caught my eye as inspiration:

a dozen rocking chairs, setting up the architecture for a gathered community to reflect, to laugh, to cry, to pray, and to be.

The practices of Christian life set up the scaffolding of Christian community and prime us to be able to see God's light coming in through the window of our lives, to hear the rustle of the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Practicing blessing, serving as the Episcopal Service Corps members do, serving others through our work, being blessed by the reflections and hard learnings along the way, all takes place within a scaffolding, as it does in the Church at large. May the scaffolding of your practices of prayer, giving, and service help you to know the truth of Christ's light streaming in.

In Christ,
Mtr Taylor