The Rt. Rev. Sam Rodman and the Rev. Maria Tjeltveit (members of the Moravian-Episcopal Coordinating Committee, or MECC), represented The Episcopal Church at the Moravian Church’s Northern Province Synod in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in June.
The synod elected the Rev. David Bennett as president of the Provincial Elders’ Conference (the equivalent of The Episcopal Church’s presiding bishop). Like the Rev. Betsy Miller, whom he will succeed, Br. Bennett is ecumenically minded. When he was president of the Eastern District, he met regularly with the bishop of the Diocese of Bethlehem and the bishop of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The Northern Province includes congregations in Canada, and the synod approved a full communion relationship with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada. This completes the full communion circle with the “Churches Beyond Borders” resolution approved at General Convention last July.
The synod theme, “For the Healing of the World,” was reflected in the large number of resolutions adopted from the Committee on Church and Society, whose chair is a member of the MECC Racial Reconciliation Working Group. Another member was the keynote speaker. A full communion Sacred Ground participant (now facilitator) led a morning worship service. Presiding Bishop Michael Curry extended a letter of thanks to the synod.