As one who so often sees the how our institutional priorities limit our effectiveness, and more over, the very substance of our ministry, I am encouraged and hopeful by new movement in The Episcopal Church. The Re-Imagining we are undertaking must hold the spirit of our sacramental relationships and expressions as most important. As Robert Hendrickson argues for that very sense of the sacred, I am mindful that it is in our relationship to the sacred that the true action is.

I do fear that this will be the territory , not for Re-Imagining or Re-Birth or Renewal, but for Re-Branding or Re-Doing the status quo, claiming either progress or tradition as a flag to bear our standards.

Our structures and institution must change because we are compelled through sacramental relationship to better embody the Kingdom of GOD with structures and authorities that best represent the Spirit-filled moments in our history and our Spirit-needed opportunities for the future. Our structures need to match the theology we have grown into. We need to be a wiser and more generous church. I have great hope that will be so. Or, at least, we’ll get a little closer to it.