Dear friends,
Downpours and all of the rain, there is also an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on this trip. Thank you for praying. And it has been a phenomenal previous several months, that way, in addition.
Not everything goes according to human plans, but in the end Jesus Christ sorts it out just right.
I have been able to work out the various appointments and trips, meetings and so forth. It unfolds one step at a time. As in previous months, quite a few things are coming together at the same time, from different perspectives. My strategy: sit tight and listen to the several points that I had intended to make, be made by others, except for the main point that God wanted me to raise. Launch into that point, and watch it all burst into flame. Glorious!
The Diocesan Synod was like that today. My presentation was almost near the very end, intended as a complement to Bishop Philip of Belize's comments on ministry. My points: it all starts with worship. Parish and diocesan development is a path of holiness. Stewardship (of time, talent, and treasure) is a spiritual discipline, like prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Spiritual disciplines include spiritual gifts, which include the path to ordination. Then, I asked everyone who wished to, at the Synod, to name a key value that they have valued in clergy and Lay Ministers over the past three years (with the intention that those points were for the benefit of Commission on Ministry members who where there). Those became points for consideration as part of the ordination process over the next few years. I ended with a prayer that God would answer all the issues on people's minds on all the topics covered, as the diocese moves forward. In the process, I drew examples from the Synod itself to make my points. There was a sense of unity and peace.
In the end, Bishop led everyone in a standing ovation in response to my presentation; the only ovation at the convention. It confirms the fact that the Holy Spirit was active in many of us at the same time. I think it went well. Keep praying. I pray for the Diocese of Belize every day. The Diocese is transforming.
Pray that the Holy Spirit speaks through me the right words to speak, and that this trip would continue to be a blessing for all. The current draft schedule (timing depends on the outcomes of phone calls and scheduling availability, the strength of human memory, and the desire of Jesus Christ):
Sunday plans are for me to visit the Cathedral for an evaluation of someone at the 6:30 am service who is in the ordination process, to evaluate his sermon.
Over the next week: continuing my meetings with people in/supervisors of the ordination process, meeting with the Commission on Ministry, informal participation in a meeting of clergy, interaction with the diocesan development people from England as part of travel (I suspect); and the upcoming Cursillo Weekend.
From the 25th until I return home, I believe that the plans continue for me to travel out and about, with potential modifications to the plans as the situation warrants.
I am praying for you, every day.
God bless you,
Shaw
Examining Chaplain, Diocese of Belize.
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