Introduction to Indy

We landed in Indy 20 minutes early and three of us grabbed a cab to the hotel. Our driver asked about our visit; we said we were here for The Episcopal Church Convention. "Oh," he said. But a few moments later, he reached into the glovebox and extracted an exotic set of beads. "These are prayer beads," he said, "from Morocco." Martha asked, "Is that where you are from?" "Yes," he told us. And as I fingered the smooth dark beads shaped like discs, he said that they were made of sandalwood and became darker the more prayers were said, and they became more fragrant too. It appeared that many, many prayers had been said with those beads fingered in love or gratitude or hurt or anger. Then he said he did not know why people chased after money and things, because God is really all there is. "God is our life and our breath," he said. The gathering of faithful souls we call General Convention had begun in the back seat of a taxicab in Indianapolis.