Post-St. Michael's Conference for Youth - Rector's Rambling for July 16, 2017

Thank you to all of you who contributed of your prayers and treasure in support of the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth.

Every year I return from the Conference exhausted (I am not as young as I was when I started working at this conference 19 years ago) and yet I am also revitalized.  And I know from conversations with other clergy that they share my feelings.  It is a long week of worship, classes, activities, and fun.

Three highlights stand out for me.  One highlight for this week is getting to spend time with fellow priests, many of them also members of the Society of the Holy Cross.  We share experience, strength, and hope with each other as we compare stories from our adventures in ministry.

Another highlight is having a community of people to pray Morning Prayer, Evening Prayer, Compline, and The Holy Communion every day of the week.  The chapel becomes the central focus of the Conference.

The final, and most important highlight is seeing the young people begin to “get it” as they are worshipping, learning, and having fun.  Although some will stray from the practice of the faith, I have been with this conference long enough to not only see many of those old-time teens return back to the practice of the faith, but we are now seeing some of their children attend St. Michael’s Conference!

The challenge for the young people, as well as for the staff and clergy, is to keep the memory of those highlights fresh as we pray often by our selves, but for each other, until we gather again.

At the end of the Conference inevitably someone says, “the Conference should be two weeks long,” and we just smile, exhaustedly.  But then we think secretly to ourselves, "perhaps...."