Deputies Arrive at GC

Sunday, June 11, about 10 p.m.

Most of the Arkansas deputation is here. We've got a hospitality room for us to meet in to visit or caucus.
First committee meetings are tomorrow morning at 8:00.

Just a note about the difference between being a "deputy" and being a "delegate" or a "representative." It's an important distinction.

The members of the General Convention are the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. Each diocese has eight deputies, four clergy and four lay. We do not "represent" our diocese, in the sense that we might try to represent what we think our constituency back home would think. We are deputized by the diocese to be in conversation, debate, discernment and prayer and to make what we believe are the best decisions for the church. We are to try to find the mind of Christ and vote what we believe would be the will of God. So, I've made no promises about how I will vote about anything. It is the church's conviction that the role of being a deputy allows room for the Holy Spirit to move within the Convention and its deliberations.

So, for instance -- My Vestry last year completed an eight month process that led to their creating a resolution about their position supporting the possibility of our offering a rite of blessing to our committed same-gender couples. It was a statement that passed our Vestry unanimously. I carry that realization with me into our work here at General Convention.

But if my conscience is convinced that what our Vestry has stated is inappropriate for the church at this time, I am free to vote in a manner that would be contrary to the expressed position of my Vestry (and a strong majority of my parish, I would add). That's what it means to be a deputy. I am not bound or obligated ahead of time, even by my own Vestry's unanimous opinion.

Whatever decisions I make, I'll have to stand up and explain when I get back to Arkansas. But our primary allegiance as deputies is to what we believe God would want for the Church.

Lowell

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The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Clergy Deputy to General Convention