Too many bags, no doubt. Back in the day, it was a sort of badge of honor for me to travel as light as possible. But I got over all that! I no doubt have much too much in my bags that is "just in case" that I will wind up bringing home again. But the Girl Scout leader in me always wants to be prepared!
With other members of our deputation, I will be traveling all the way across our country in just a day or so, and along with those clothes we hope will suffice for the two weeks, and protein bars to squeeze in breakfast before 7:00 am meetings, and more paperwork than we should carry, we will all bring with us our hopes and dreams for the church we all love. Those hopes and dreams may sometimes clash with the hopes and dreams others bring with them. We trust that God will be with us through it all.
As the junior member of our deputation, I have a lot to learn about General Convention and its workings. I will be paying attention to everything and everyone that I can in this effort to hear and see and know all that I can from and about the people who seek, as faithfully as we all can, to do God's will for our church and the world.
In seeking that will, I hope to bring, and I hope all can bring, what Dr. Marshall Ganz of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard calls a "critical eye and a hopeful heart," the ability recognize both need and possibility.
I ask your prayers for us all; for safe travels and open hearts and minds; for our church as it goes about doing the work that God has called us to do in the many places God has called us to do it, and, for the guidance of what my ten-year-old daughter affectionately calls "the only REAL spirit," the Holy Spirit.
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