Diocese holds diocesan-wide Eucharist and picnic
by Katie Sherrod

Tim Stevens of St. Christopher writes, "Bishop Wallis Ohl celebrated the Ascension Day Service with approximately 130 members of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth on Sunday afternoon May 16, 2010 at All Saints School.

"The fresh breeze of the joyous occasion spilled over into the picnic where folks from many parishes renewed friendships and experienced God's love for our many common goals. I expect that similar happy events will become more frequent as the energy of our diocese gains momentum."

Well, that sums it up. Despite the relative short notice for this event and the many other happenings going on both in the diocese and in our secular lives, the turnout was quite nice.

At the Eucharist in the All Saints School Chapel, the "diocesan choir" sang beautifully under the guidance of Shirley Johnson, choir director at Christ the King, and the congregation joined in lustily with musicians from several parishes providing accompaniment. Acolytes and readers also came from several different parishes.

Several children were in the congregation and the bishop stopped on his way processing out of church to greet some of them.

The shared meal at the altar was followed by the shared meal at the potluck picnic. The serving tables were indeed "groaning boards" of delicious food.

As the bishop had urged, people found new friends with which to sit and eat, some at the picnic tables, others on the lawn and others in the lawn chairs they brought. The hum of the many conversations was broken only by laughter and trips back to the dessert table. Maurine [Mo] Lewis brought her greyhound, Gregory, who was a very well-behaved guest.

At least one game of badminton broke out, courtesy of the youth group from Trinity, Fort Worth.

More such diocesan events are indeed being planned, the next one in October. The reason for these gatherings is simple -- Bishop Ohl wants to get to know all of us, and he wants all of us to get to know all of us too. So stay tuned!

Photos of the meeting, courtesy of Katie Sherrod are available here.