“I am grateful to our Convention committee for suggesting the theme ‘Unity, Constancy and Peace,’ for our 2004 diocesan convention,” said Bishop Charles vonRosenberg. “This certainly is an appropriate theme – as well as subjects for our prayers – in these days. I look forward to focusing our attention and efforts in these positive ways at our diocesan convention.”

The convention theme derives from Eucharistic Prayer A, the Great Thanksgiving.

This year’s convention will begin on Friday and will end Saturday afternoon, affording attendees the opportunity to spend Sunday in their home parishes. Jackie and Gary Mabrey and Linda and Rick Gordon, all of St. John’s, Johnson City, are co-chairpersons of the 2004 convention.

The diocesan convention is an annual event at which clergy and lay delegates from the 45 Episcopal churches in the diocese gather to conduct business, elect diocesan leaders to various posts and adopt a budget, as well as socialize and worship together.

Because there will be no Sunday morning worship service, the whole of this year’s convention will be set within the context of the Eucharist. Each session will have a worship component that will move participants through a different part of the Eucharist, beginning with the Opening Sentences at Friday evening’s session and culminating with the distribution of Communion at the final session on Saturday. In this way, the convention will be rooted in prayer, and the event itself will become an offering and act of thanksgiving for our common life in the diocese.

The convention will open mid-day Friday with registration followed by hearings, organization and election of officers in the afternoon. Evensong will be held in the new nave at St. John’s on Friday evening. Afterward, attendees will return to the Holiday Inn for a reception and banquet, featuring choral and instrumental groups from Milligan College. Saturday morning the general session reconvenes; workshops and a boxed lunch follow, as well as the clergy spouse luncheon. The general session will conclude Saturday afternoon.

A rich variety of workshops, open to delegates and non-delegates alike, is planned for Saturday afternoon. Subjects include: “Islam and Christianity: Seeking Peace and Unity between Children of the Same Father,” a panel discussion; “Traditional Music and Sacred Music,” a workshop discussing the links between the traditional music of our region and sacred music; “Creatively Communicating the Gospel,” a workshop on storytelling; “Church Marketing,” Sexual Misconduct Prevention,” Hate Crimes,” and “Communicating with Angry People about Difficult Matters.”