"Who are we?" The answers to that question lie at a number of levels. At the most fundamental level, the answer is that we are all Children of God. We are all connected through the power and action of a creator who, according to the Book of Genesis, created us in its very image and likeness. That to me means that all of us together might begin to reflect a very dim image of what God must be like.

The fact that we are children of God means that God is our parent and subsequently that we are all sisters and brothers. We are family. We might act very differently and we might look very different and we might speak very different languages but nonetheless we are all brothers and sisters, members of the same family.

Second, as Christians we have a very special brother in Jesus. He has shown us the depth of his love by his life, death and resurrection. He feeds us. He forgives us. He showers upon us his grace and his mercy. His love is all embracing. His ministry on earth was filled with actions that led him to Calvary; he was not afraid to challenge the establishment. However, he paid a dear price for it. And we are all the beneficiaries of his sacrifice. John, at the beginning of his gospel, tells us: "From the fullness of Christ's grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth have been given through Jesus Christ." (John 1:16)

Third, we are members of a worldwide body called the Anglican Communion. This communion, composed of loosely connected but independent bodies, such as the Episcopal Church in the USA, has the Archbishop of Canterbury at its spiritual leader. Rowan Williams, the current Archbishop of Canterbury does not have jurisdictional or legislative authority over the rest of the provinces that are part of the communion. He is the Anglican Communion's spiritual head, the primate of England, and the First Among Equals. Once every 10 years he gathers the other bishops from the worldwide communion for what is called the Lambeth Conference. At this conference the bishops address issues that affect and impact the communion as a whole.

Fourth, as part of that worldwide communion, we are just one of many loosely knit provinces. We are what people within the church often refer to as ECUSA, the Episcopal Church USA. We are made up of eight continental provinces as well as Province IX, which includes Panama, Colombia, Honduras, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Venezuela. These 9 provinces are further divided into dioceses. Our diocese is part of Province I which includes the dioceses of Western Mass., Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine.

Every three years, all the dioceses of the nine provinces of our Episcopal Church send elected lay and clergy deputies as well as its bishops to a gathering of what is called the church's General Convention. This has been going on since 1785. The one which just ended in Columbus, Ohio was the church's 75th. General Convention is the mechanism used by the church to receive, discuss and vote upon resolutions that will have an impact upon the church, the Anglican Communion and the world at large. These resolutions begin at either the House of Bishops or the House of Deputies. They have to be approved by a majority on both houses before they are passed. And, of course, during this past General Convention, Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected as our church's Presiding Bishop and Primate, a ministry and responsibility she has begun to exercise and will continue to do so for the next 9 years until a new Presiding Bishop is elected.

The last answer to the questions of who we are is that we are a diocese with a Diocesan Bishop by the name of Thomas Shaw and 2 Suffragan Bishops by the names of Bud Cederholm and Gayle Harris, the latter my immediate supervisor. Our diocese, one of two in this state, covers a vast territory and is made up of a number of deaneries with a number of parishes, aided congregations and missions. We are just one of those parishes in our diocese and in the Merrimack Valley Deanery.

Now, there is no doubt that when this wonderful church was founded, the Episcopal Church looked very different than it does now. To some extent, it was the church of the establishment. In fact, you know that the founders of this country were some of the same folks who established the church in the colonies.

How things have changed indeed! The Episcopal Church looks very different now than it has for a long time. In fact, the Episcopal Church's National Headquarters in New York has offices and staff that do nothing but provide support and direction for Hispanic, Black, Asian American and Native American Ministries, something that is relatively new in our church.

But then, why should we not expect change? Christianity has been changing ever since the Feast of Pentecost 2000 years ago. In the Acts of the Apostles, chapter 15, we read that the early Church was already engaged in the process of adapting to the needs and customs of many of its new members.

I believe that if we are going to continue to provide viable and vital ministry in the world in which we live, we will have to continue to make changes that make sense to the people of the world in which we serve while retaining the essence of who we are. To quote an Anglican theological principle: "In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, diversity; but in all things, love."

May God's Holy Spirit, always filled with surprises, continue to guide us and give us the courage to step into the future with confidence and hope.

Father Ramón I. Aymerich