Dori Gorman, who led the World Council Devotions team, looks back on the week.
It’s the last day of World Council 2026 and everything is wrapping up. We are looking to the future with the Tomorrow Party, our final Solutions Studios Plenary, and our Closing Ceremony before we head to dinner at our final Canada House Celebration. A huge thank you to our wonderful Canadian hosts who have welcomed us and helped us feel at home all week!
While every part of the schedule has been so thoughtfully designed and curated, I can’t help but think of the seemingly small, yet significant conversations that have happened over meals and drinks throughout the week. Countless tables have been prepared for us, from high tops around the city to larger tables in the hotel dining room. The meals we have shared also remind me of our time together in Devotions each morning. All delegates were invited to begin the day in a quiet, reflective and, for some, prayerful space. The role of the Devotions Team was to prepare a table where everyone could be filled with a Spirit-focused experience of their choosing.
While our time together was grounded in the Christian faith, all were invited to approach Devotions from a diversity of perspectives. In many ways, it was no different from the meals we shared this week. Some found comfort in what was familiar, others sampled something new, and some chose to pass on what wasn’t for them. There’s never any judgment in that—simply take what you need in the moment and leave what you don’t. In the same way, every part of Devotions was an invitation, offering space for each person to engage in the way that was most meaningful for them.
Each morning came with an unspoken invitation from Psalm 34:8, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” With that in mind, delegates could choose what they wanted to try and what they wanted to skip. Without judgment without pressure, more than anything else we hope everyone experienced what Fr. Richard Rohr has named as his own personal prayer mantra: “I have nothing to prove; nothing to protect. I am who I am, and that is enough.”
Whether or not you were able to attend Devotions or even World Council 2026, I pray we can continue to be a movement that prepares a table for one another, that invites everyone to pull up a chair, and that blesses the agency of all to choose what they need in the moment in order to encounter peace, hope and wholeness.
As we prepare to leave World Council 2026, all are invited to take Devotions’ theme with them: in order to transform the world, we must first be transformed. Or as was said, “Changed lives, change lives” and “Transformed people, transform communities.” May this reminder to tend to your own spirit, mind and body along with others in your community, guide us all as we return to our collective homes, countries, and YMCAs. As Romans 12:2 encourages us, may we “not conform to the pattern of this world” – patterns of loneliness, fear and busyness – and instead “be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” May our minds be renewed as God helps us be transformed from harm to harmony, confusion to clarity, anxiety to action, pressure to presence and fatigue to flourishing. May we be transformed in our spirits, minds and bodies throughout our YMCAs around the world. Amen.
By Dori Gorman, YMCA of Middle Tennessee & World Council 2026 Devotions Team Leader
