Another St. Michael's Conference complete - Rector's Rambling for 7/18/2021

      

I am writing this nine days ahead of time because, by the time you read this on Sunday, I will have been away this past week at the St. Michael’s Conference for Youth, Midwest.

Last year we held the Conference in the midst of severe COVID-19 restrictions.  Of the four regional St. Mike’s, ours was the only one to gather, and we were able to do so safely.  This year we had some revised precautions: limiting numbers, masking and distancing inside, and the continued discipline of concomitance (receiving Communion in one kind only, the Host).  We look forward next year to being more wide open.

As always, the St. Michael’s Conference is a wonderful opportunity for young people to learn more about their Lord and His Church, to worship Him in the beauty of holiness, and to develop an intentional Christian Community.

And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that as exhausting as it can be for the clergy and staff to try to keep up with the Michaelites, it is also a time of wonderful renewal for me and the other clergy on staff.  The clergy have a chance to spend some time together in prayer and in a social context, and the energy of the young people revitalizes us as we see the church of tomorrow in their hopeful eyes.

This week I will try to play “catch-up”, not only with sleep, but also with the various regular things that are scheduled at St. John’s.  By the end of this year’s conference I was already looking forward to next year’s gathering, and hope to bring some of that energy from the Conference into life of the parish the rest of the year.