June 22, 2009

Aloha my Sisters and Brothers in Christ:

In keeping with the Constitution and Canons of our Diocese, I write to inform all members of the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai‘i that the business meeting of our 42nd Annual Meeting will be held in the Tenney Theatre of the Cathedral of St. Andrew, Honolulu, on Saturday, October 29th, 2010.  The opening Eucharist will take place at 6:00 PM on Friday, October 28th, 2010, in the Cathedral.  

On Saturday, registration will begin at 8:00 AM.  The business meeting will begin promptly at 9:00 AM.  A box lunch will be provided following noonday prayers.  The plan is to adjourn by 4:00 PM (please do not make plans to leave before that time).    

The theme of this year’s Annual Meeting will be “Pili Pa‘a.”  We will gather singing – by gracious permission of its Big Island composer, Mr. Joe Camacho – a wonderful contemporary hymn (with this refrain): “Pili pa‘a no ka kua me ke aloha a mau loa.  We come together in love and hope, we come as one.”  My experience of our Diocese is one of a remarkable sense of love and hope, of mutuality and care, and of truly desiring to serve God and the world as one.  I am proud of this Diocese and delight that we can come together to engage God’s mission.  

Before the Convention Eucharist on Friday evening, October 28th, there will be a day of training to empower and encourage the leaders of the Diocese.  All day on Friday, we have the opportunity to engage in training as Convention Delegates, Wardens, Treasurers and Eucharistic Visitors.  For example, there will also be training in Disaster Preparedness, Safeguarding God’s Children and Diversity.  A detailed schedule will be published in the near future, but my hope is that this day will provide our diocesan leadership the needed training to further the mission of the Church.   

As has been the practice for several years, all Convention materials and announcements will be posted on our diocesan website, www.episcopalhawaii.org, (click on the “Convention XLII” tab).  We will have the business of our Diocese to tend: the budget, reports, elections and resolutions.  Please prepare with care and prayer.  It is through our work that we will shape the mission and ministry of our Diocese.  As you read the material and discuss it with others at the pre-Convention meetings, you are engaging God’s mission.  You are putting into place the structures that can make Christ’s Body, the Church, an active and vital force in the world.  This is very important ministry to our common life.  Thank you for your preparation for the meeting and your service to the Church.

Aloha i Iesu Kristo,        
+Bob