I’ve spent the last two days on a retreat headed by Fr. Tom Erich. Tom is an Episcopal Priest who has begun a ministry called On a Journey. It’s definitely worth stopping by and taking a look.

Tom gave a workshop presentation entitled “The Listening Church.” In a nutshell what Tom has found (by chance not by design) is that the present energy of the Episcopal Church is directed toward answering questions that the vast majority of people inside and outside the church are not asking.

People’s questions apparently revolve around simple yet profound issues of Faith and of the simple daily concerns that Jesus seems to be speaking of in the parables.

His point is that the present structure of the Church has gotten itself tied up in making sure that the present structure continues rather than being open to follow where the Holy Spirit might be leading us.

It’s wonderful, scary and exciting all at the same time. It certainly sparked a great deal of discussion among the clergy at the retreat. There’s a great deal of information that we all need to unpack about this. I’m hoping that as the week progresses I’ll be able to post some more organized reflections.

In the meantime, if you have a moment, go and check out his website.