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Bishop Peter Rogness, St. Paul Area Synod, continued the study of Isaiah 58:1-12 with the voting members Saturday afternoon. As he read the passage, he told the participants to ask themselves how we ourselves are being described in the passage. “Where are we doing the wrong fast? Where are we repairers of the breaches?” He went on to compare Isaiah 58 with “A Common Foundation,” a document signed by over 30 religious leaders who agreed on shared principles for work on overcoming poverty. “Central to all religions is how we treat the poor,” he said. Bishop Rogness then invited the assembly to gather in small groups to discuss where it is in their particular communities they may have the opportunity to be “repairers of the breaches.” After calling the group back together, Rogness then asked for individual reflections about what begins to take shape from Isaiah 58 that they’ll take from this place. One voting member responded, “One person can make a difference.” Another said, “This gives me so much energy that I want to go back and share it with my congregation.” Rogness summed up his Bible study as well as the work of the assembly with a story of an Ethiopian immigrant, which illustrates the importance of this work. “You are a part of a church that has been repairers of the breaches,” he said. |
