As you might expect, this year’s Annual Meeting will look unlike any other. We will be gathering virtually, unable to see one another in real time in the way we are accustomed. That being said, your staff and vestry leaders have been working tirelessly to adapt and amend the meeting to make it safe, effective, and efficient.

In my experience, annual meetings (and diocesan conventions) reflect the temperature of the group gathered. They are relevant when the mission of the church is relevant, and they are irrelevant when the mission of the church is irrelevant. They are contentious when the group gathered is lacking cohesive unity, joyful when the group is jubilant, anxious when the group is anxious, and so on. I have attended short annual meetings and diocesan conventions that were teeming with energy, and others that (though short) were a complete waste of time. I have taken part in extended annual meetings and conventions that left me wondering if my time was even being valued. I have also been to long annual meetings and conventions that were exactly what I and others needed.

We could pretend that 2021 is completely unique in the need it brings to adapt and amend our common life and functions (such as the Annual Meeting). But on one level, is that not true every year? Whether we are aware of it or not, we adapt our