Report From the ECW Spring Conference

by Lana Hamilton
Diocesan ECW Correspondent
Those of you who were unable to attend the combined (think all 3 dioceses) ECW Annual Spring Conference missed a spirited keynote address by the Rt. Rev. Robert Tharp, retired Bishop of the Diocese of East Tennessee. As usual, Tharp took us in a direction different from what the title (Joy and Wonder in All God’s Works) might seem to imply. It seemed to me to perhaps have been inspired by the fact Easter 2001 had occurred very shortly before the conference.

Tharp (I am paraphrasing!) spoke of Joy as being an intense experience of elation or ecstacy and Wonder as being a manifestation of awe. The resurrection was noted and our joy and awe in that event; it was pointed out, however, that as is so often the case, the joy involved pain as well. Without the suffering and death by crucifixion there would have not been that first Easter.

Tharp reminded us that with joy quite often comes pain. We thank God for the joys he grants us; do we recognize and acknowledge to Him that we are grateful for those pains which are necessary also? This principle applies to many aspects of our lives. Without the pain of childbirth, there no new human life.

We had two presentations from which we had to choose for our first Saturday morning session with there being only a single offering for the second session. Both presentations I attended were very demonstrative of the conference title, Joy and Wonder in all God's Works.

I attended the morning session offered by the Rev. Robert Hughes. He presented a bit of the more recent history of how we and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) have come to recognize and acknowledge that what we actually have is a Call to Common Mission. One observation made by Hughes is that the more we learn of the theology of ELCA, the more we come to realize how much more catholic in theology are the Lutherans than we previously thought and how also how much more protestant, in the true sense, are we.

Having not yet developed the ability to be in two places at the same time, I was unable to attend the program on music but heard very good reactions from those who did. All were able to experience the tiniest look during Morning Prayer on Saturday.

The second session was a worship presentation involving sacred drama. I was surprised to learn that sacred drama has quite ancient origins.

Members of a survey action class presented three different "scripts" in acting out realization by disciples of the Resurrection, one for each of eras in which they might have been performed originally. It was a delightful experience. It occurred to me at the time it might be something we could do for my home congregation and I like it the more I think about it. A visual as well as oral presentation of one of the readings or Gospel on occasion could be very appealing to anyone, perhaps especially to those growing up in a very visual world.

There were 20 of us who stayed for Saturday afternoon and evening events.

Although Sister Lucy from St. Mary’s Convent was too ill to speak to us, we did enjoy evening prayer at the convent after a truly awe inspiring "tour" of the new Chapel of the Apostles built as the worship center for the School of Theology at The University of the South. Dean Guy Lytle conducted the introduction to his "baby."

After evening prayer we had a very enjoyable dinner experience at Pearl's, a well known Sewanee restaurant.

You must try to attend next year (same weekend in April) when the Rev. Don Johnson, who will soon be consecrated Bishop for West Tennessee, hopefully will join Bishops Herlong and vonRosenberg for his first experience of the "grilling of the bishops." We must see that this event gets a permanent spot on his calendar.