Each morning convention deputies, bishops, ECW representatives and various guests and visitors gather together in the huge worship hall.  A 'virtual pipe organ' has been installed.  Different choirs lead a wide range of music.  The scriptures are proclaimed in different voices, a variety of languages including ASL.  Each morning a Visual prelude with 15 or so slides with different takes on the theme of the day.  Some of them are available at http://ecva.org/exhibitions.html 

Yesterday, the central image was a dove in a medallion of stained glass; Orange, Reds, a huge swooping tail.  I made a sketch that captures the movement but not the brilliant light.  The other image that spoke to me was a photo.  Three little girls with their white angel costumes are holding hands.  All we can see is their backs as they head up the sidewalk to the church door.  They have fuzzy blonde and red and black kinky hair on which tippy halos are set, and gauzy wings.  The last one is carrying her stuffed pink elephant. 

This I think is an image of the Bonds of Affection that hold us together as a Church.  Loving and whimsical, straggling along the same path, bringing our gifts and our blessings with us, gathering to sing to the Christ Child.  

Jenny Te Pa spoke to hundreds and to my heart at the Presiding Bishop's Forum:  Toward a Reconciled World.  We are baptized into Christ's path of reconciliation - the practical love of one another.  We are commissioned to carry on the work of Jesus, to listen and to love and to bear each others' pain.  In the whirlwind of this Convention, this busy busy life she reminded us that the success of our mission depends not on how much we do, but on how much love we put into doing it. 

Today as I hobble off on my crutches toward the morning Eucharist I give thanks for the intervention that has slowed me down, made me vulnerable, and given me a chance to truly be present, face to face, ear to ear, to cherish the amazing stories of grace and resurrection that lift us up, and carry us forward.