This past Saturday, January 24th, at Church of the Advent in Metro III Convocation we inaugurated our “Conversations with the Bishop” series. Letters of invitation from the Bishop’s office were sent to convocation Vestry, and the call went out for parishioners to sign up for one of the twenty group spots.

We are fortunate to have Barbara Fitzgerald, Trinity Church-Jefferson County parishioner and member of Trinity’s Bishop’s committee, to offer this account:

During our potluck lunch and prior to the conversations, Bishop Smith gave us a bit of background history on his childhood and youth in West Texas, living on his father’s cotton farm and then moving into a very small town.

After we had eaten a delicious meal and some of Bishop’s Smith wonderful homemade bread, we listened to his ideas on his vision for our Diocese. Bishop Smith spoke of “cracks in history” as those critical moments when things change. Moses lived at such a time, but he never saw the Promised Land, he came to the brink of it only. We may be in those times now. In order to make it through we must be willing to go out of our safety zones and find adventure in our churches. Leaving our comfort zones will bring us to awe, that place not far from fear, where we find God’s presence.

There were half a dozen churches represented at the meeting. These are some of the ideas that various church members brought into the discussion: (more…)

• Advent-Crestwood Episcopal Church of the Advent, 9373 Garber Road, Crestwood, MO 63126, ph 314-843-0123, www.advent-episcopal.org
• Emmanuel-Webster Emmanuel Episcopal Church, 9 S. Bompart, Webster Groves, MO 63119, ph 314-961-2393, www.emmanuelepiscopal.org
• Grace-Kirkwood Grace Episcopal Church, 514 E. Argonne Dr., Kirkwood, MO 63122, ph 314-821-1806, www.gracekirkwood.org
• Metro III Map by convocation
• St Mark-St Louis St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 4714 Clifton Ave., St. Louis, MO 63109, ph 314-832-3588, www.saintmarks-stl.org
• St Matthew WW St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 1551 Bennett, Warson Woods, MO 63122, ph 314-966-8909, www.stmattsstl.org
• St Paul-Carondelet St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 6518 Michigan Ave., St. Louis, MO 63111, ph 314-352-0370
• St Thomas (Deaf) St. Thomas Church for the Deaf, Grace Episcopal Church, 514 E. Argonne Dr., Kirkwood, MO 63122, ph 314-821-1806
• Trinity-Jeff County Trinity Episcopal Church, 202 West Miller Street, De Soto, MO 63020, ph 636-586-2542, www.trinityjeffersoncounty.org