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A Dedicated Life 
Newsletter – May 2008
FROM THE BISHOP
With a splash of holy water onto their “chariots” (I couldn’t find references to bikes in the Scriptures) the ten starting riders of the Waters of Hope set off out of Keokuk yesterday at 9am on the dot. The city had provided a police escort to the River road and we took as many pictures and home video shots as we could. After further meetings at St John’s I took off after them, tracing their rotations first to a Casey’s in Montrose where they had been spotted an hour earlier. Not sure if I had arrived ahead of them in Donnelson , I turned off to check with “home base” – Mills House – to see if I was following the right route. Suddenly as I was speaking, the Trinity Cathedral Davenport van flashes by in the rear view mirror. I pursued it at 60 miles an hour for ten more miles until we reached the next town. Thirty four miles in the first two hours as a group average was pretty good going. Shepherded by our two deacons, Sue Ann Raymond and Chuck Lane, the riders have been able to go at their own paces and actually form three groups. Those with a clear sense of their limitations, are happy to take shifts in and out of the support vehicles. Mitch has put together a marvelous route through some of the most beautiful parts of southern Iowa, where towns as old as 1832 still manage to take pride in themselves for the passing traveler to enjoy. I recommend the J42 from Fort Madison into South Central Iowa.
Of course, while the major focus of our attention and prayers, the ride is a symbol of a self offering which I trust is going on in every congregation. Last Sunday in Waverly, I received a huge bowl of nickels, over $ 750 in value, to go with at least the same amount in checks for the Waters of Hope. It took the strongest man in the congregation to usher it forward. This, I assure the riders, is one event of many going on right now in the Diocese. If we all managed $ 1500 from our boxes of nickels and quarters per glass over Eastertide, it would be a resounding $ 90,000 to add to the grants of $20,000 being sought to matching the direct gifts by ingatherings, website and check. Then, there is the “returning the Rebate” campaign. If you are a little behind in all of this, there is still ten more days to the Day of Pentecost and the day of the rebate arrival! Clean water is easy for us to presume, and even at that we are worried about chemical run offs from agricultural enhancements. We can make a difference, and it is worth repeating this Newsletter focus while ten courageous people are embracing the Iowa weather and roads to get our attention.
Mitch found words of encouragement in the first Chapter of Ezekiel, where wheels are mentioned. “God is in the wheels” writes Ezekiel of his vision, and “God is in the wheels” became Mitch’s mantra as the going got tough around 80 miles with 30 still to go! Don’t take my words for it. Go to the Waters of Hope blog site and read the experience for yourselves, and let them lead you into prayer.
This is the third venture we have endeavored in this period between Ascension and Pentecost. Two years ago it was the Cathedral to Cathedral run, and the year before that the Healing Mission. Next year we hope it will be an evangelism event with Swaziland partners. These intentional periods of prayer – especially in the time in which we share with the disciples their aloneness and unknowingness of what waiting for the Spirit might mean – can transform us. Pray daily for the riders and their safety. Give thanks for their courage and sacrifice, and remember the ones for whom all of this is being done in the Sudan and Swaziland. And ask as Elisha did before Elijah got into his chariot for a double portion of Christ’s Spirit for the mission ahead. Thanks to Mitch for this great vision now being enacted. Thanks to those supporting by their presence and hospitality around the churches, and thanks for the cheerful giver who will turn all of this into clean water for hundreds and thousands of God’s special people.
+Alan
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