At the end of June, Bishop Laura Ahrens and Dr. Louisa Baker, ECCT’s Director for Training & Clergy Support, spent two weeks in Scotland connecting with the people of the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney and with their bishop, the Rt. Rev. Anne Dyer, as part of our ongoing relationship with Aberdeen. ECCT’s relationship with Scotland began in the 1700s with the consecration of Samuel Seabury, the first bishop of The Episcopal Church and the first bishop of the Episcopal Church in Connecticut, in Aberdeen. Since then, ECCT’s relationship with the Diocese of Aberdeen and Orkney has evolved and strengthened. For example, in 1928, the then bishops of Connecticut and Aberdeen and Orkney began a reciprocal canons program designating canons from each diocese as canons to each other’s cathedrals. Through the years, Connecticut bishops have traveled to Aberdeen prior to Lambeth conferences to connect with the bishops and diocese. Occasional trips of ECCT clergy, parishes, and other diocesan leadership have continued to strengthen our bond with this important sibling in the Anglican Communion.

Bishop Laura and Dr. Baker met with clergy and lay leaders in Aberdeen and on Shetland to explore ideas of congregational vitality, resilience, and healing. It was a time of profound connection at this moment in time. In addition to offering teachings around the diocese, they had a chance to connect with lay leaders and clergy through informal conversations at dinners and in visits around the diocese. Bishop Laura had the opportunity to preach at Saint James in Aberdeen on Sunday, June 28. In the sermon, found below, she shared some of the Gospel witness she and Dr. Baker saw and experienced in Aberdeen.

Together, ECCT and Aberdeen and Orkney are looking forward to the journey ahead, knowing we are blessed to have such faithful friends and siblings across the Communion!

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The Rt. Rev. Laura J. Ahrens
June 28, 2026, Proper 8A
St. James’ Church, Aberdeen, Scotland

 On November 14, 1784, Samuel Seabury was consecrated in Aberdeen, Scotland by the Rt. Rev. Robert Kilgour the 39^th Bishop of Aberdeen, the Rt. Rev. Arthur Petrie, Bishop of Moray, Ross, and Caithness, and the Rt. Rev. John Skinner, Bishop Coadjutor of Aberdeen. This momentous occasion was the beginning of the new American Church, The Episcopal Church.

The day after the consecration, Seabury pledged to use the Scottish Communion Office “as far as is consistent with the order and usage of the Church in America.” This pledge, called “the Concordat,” is often spoken of in The Episcopal Church as Seabury promised to use the Scottish Prayer Book when he returned to America.

In the 200 plus years since that great beginning of The Episcopal Church, both your liturgies and ours have morphed and changed in a variety of ways, responding to new understandings of how we are called to live our faith in this moment in time and adding new metaphors and images to help connect faithful worshipers to God. And yet, the echos of the Scottish liturgy remain in our prayers in what is now the the 1979 Book of Common Prayer for The Episcopal Church.

Our connections here are deep and long lasting. I am the 1018^th bishop consecrated in The Episcopal Church since Kilgour, Petrie, and Skinner laid hands upon Samuel Seabury.

The Church in Connecticut, where I serve as bishop, is forever indebted to you here in Aberdeen for your willingness to come alongside us and help us be about serving God and being faithful in our prayer and worship. Our roots in worship are similar to yours and our call to share the Good News of Jesus Christ to the world is the same. Like you, we are constantly listening for the word of God in our lives, discerning where and how God is calling us to witness to and embody God’s love. We are all, as it says in the words of your Scottish Liturgy 1982 (revised 2022), seeking to “live by faith, walk in hope, and be renewed in love.”

Jesus in today’s reading from Matthew guides us in that faithful seeking. “Welcome the one who sent me, welcome the prophet, welcome the righteous person…and give a cup of cold water to…the little ones.” Welcome and care. Welcome the Lord God into your life, feel his love for you in your heart- you are his beloved, you are loved, you are forgiven, you are made new…resurrection and new life are yours.

In receiving that love, it is too big to keep to yourself, it is too big to hide under a bushel or hoard away like a secret treasure. It must be shared. By God’s very nature, it must be shared.

And that sharing is what “living in faith, walking in hope and being renewed in love” looks like. It is sharing a cup of cold water with one of the little ones. It’s sharing hope with the marginalized and those who are the pushed out by those who crave power and recognition to feed their egos and seek selfish gain. In the sharing of God’s love, the faith within us grows, in the sharing of God’s love, we are transformed…we grow in our faith and understanding of the depth of God’s love for us, which in-turn makes us want to share it even more.

One of the many things I love about Scotland is how much walking I do when I visit here. These walks include walking about the great city of Aberdeen, walking along the beach at the North Sea, walking in the highlands. Walking alone, walking with friends, always walking with God.

The Scottish Liturgy of 1982 has us promise in the last prayer before we leave our Sunday worship, that we will walk in hope. I wonder, as we each walk about in our days, what walking in hope might look like in our lives. Imagine yourself walking down Union Street and rather than an occasional mutter about construction or traffic, imagine seeking to walk in hope down this familiar street. What do you see if you look at the city through God’s eyes and ask to be the embodiment of hope in your walk? What do you see and and what does hope look like in this walk? It might be seeing the lonely woman pushing her cart down the street, tired and concerned about finances and next things, or maybe just trying to get through the day. You might not have seen her before. What prayer might you offer to the Lord? You may find the words of your liturgy, “God I pray for the anxious, the lonely, the bereaved, that consolation and peace may be theirs (Form 1).” Or it maybe a simple, “Lord God, hear their prayers. Hear and heal the longing of her heart.”

Maybe in your walk in hope you see someone who is homeless or hungry. Hope invites you to share about the Saturday meal at St. James, or maybe to offer a simple smile that says, “I see you,” or some other appropriate offer of kindness and love.

It’s the walk along the North Sea or the highlands, or just around the local park where you walk in hope giving thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season or the beauty of this fragile earth our island home. It might be picking up litter or finding other ways to maintain and care for God’s creation as others walk similar paths, helping them to see hope in the world in the gift of creation’s beauty and power and grace.

Walking in hope into the office in the morning as you great co-workers and friends. Pausing that extra beat to listen as you offer, “How are you?”

All of those are simple ways to walk in hope. Our world is broken and divided in so many places, in so many ways. And the world is longing to know God’s healing and hope-filled love. How is God calling you to embody God’s hope today? How is God calling you to witness to God’s hope in the lives of those around you – those you typically see and those who you see afresh and new when you seek to see the world through God’s eyes.

What does hope look like to you? And how is God calling you to share it today? May Christ go before you to guide your steps, Christ be within you to kindle your vision, and May Christ shine from you to give joy to the world.”

AMEN

Sarah: Could you tell us about Camp Washington’s new summer offering, Women’s Camp? Tuesday: “I'm really, really, excited to share the Women's Camp that we're going to be hosting this summer at Camp Washington. All of us deserve some time for refreshment and rest and renewal, and I know that some of the best experiences I've ever had in my life have been going to camps or to retreat sessions that are specifically for women and women-identified people. I wanted very much to give that same opportunity to other women.

Hello! I am James, Camp Washington’s Summer Camp Director. As with most people, I hold many other hats outside of work: brother of four, son, advocate, rock climber, friend, a partner, Episcopalian, and so on. One of the of these roles is "Young Adult."

“Changemakers Camp is going to be a session that focuses on making use of our voice, on the many different avenues of how to care for our world, and all while still doing ‘the camp thing.’

There were times throughout the days spent in the Holy Land that felt beyond the bounds of earthly reality. After several postponements from the initially scheduled dates of travel in 2023, finally being on the land and in the marked places where Jesus walked felt surreal and more than I could grasp.

Deacons are a bridge between parishioners and the communities where they live. They are called to ensure the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely are served. Throughout 2025 and 2026, our deacons will be reflecting on how their ministries intersect with food insecurity in Connecticut. Two of ECCT's deacons, the Rev. Dinushka De Silva and the Ven. Ellen Adams, share a bit about how their home parishes are helping feed the hungry across Connecticut.

The government shut down highlighted how many people are food insecure in our state. Almost every parish in the ECCT already addresses this issue in some way. 

On Sunday, October 5, I left my home in New Haven at 8:30 in the morning to attend the 9 o’clock service and mural dedication at Grace and St. John’s in Hamden, Connecticut. My Uber driver and I traveled in silence along Whitney Avenue as the storefronts and Victorian homes of New Haven transformed into the storefronts and Arts and Crafts cottages of Hamden—finally making a left on Dixwell Avenue before turning into the church’s driveway.

From my laptop, Margaret Sipple appeared on my screen. A parishioner of Trinity Episcopal Church in Branford, Connecticut, Margaret was Zooming with me from Weld, Maine, a place that has been a large part of her family since she was a child.

From June 7-June 14, 2025, members from the Episcopal Church in Connecticut went on a pilgrimage to Iona, Scotland. The pilgrimage was 30+ members strong and was offered through Earth & Soul and Hartford International University for Religion & Peace. Participants spent a week on the island where St. Columba first brought Christianity to Scotland in 563 CE.