Tuesday, June 30

Tuesday, June 30

Late yesterday when I served on the Media Panel briefing the press on the day's events, I spoke particularly about two things we accomplished yesterday. I'm delighted that we've authorized a comprehensive revision of the Book of Occasional Services. It will be a resource for many different occasions, both for the church and for family use.  I also commented on our continued process of creating a calendar of observances, A Great Cloud of Witnesses. We also spoke of major initiatives to increase our support for Hispanic Ministries and our presence on the internet and in social media.

I was so tired when I finished, I felt like I didn't have enough energy to go to the Integrity Eucharist, one of the highlights of every General Convention. My friend Bishop Mary Glasspool was preaching, and I love her preaching. It was a disappointment, but my reserves are spent.

I didn't sleep well, so I felt pretty bushed this morning. I didn't even try to put my contact lenses in. Wore my glasses – usually a sign that I'm really tired. We had hearings on most of the other legislation that our committee is responsible for. It was enjoyable and passionate testimony. I particularly liked the witness who made an analogy between the early Church's Judaic roots – everyone who was part of the early community was circumcised – and today's conversation about the necessity of baptism for being in the Eucharistic community. The early Church let go of that profound biblical precedent in order to be inclusive. Maybe we should be more welcoming to communion, not requiring either circumcision or baptism before incorporation which leads to baptism.

Our preacher at this morning's Eucharist was The Rev. Kimberly Johnson, preaching on the celebration of James Weldon Johnson, the author of the wonderful hymn "Lift Every Voice and Sing." We sang it with gusto (and I can't sing it without some tearful choking). During her sermon, Kimberly told a story of her student communities working to delay or commute the execution of a Georgia death row resident whose guilt had come into great doubt. He was executed. A dejected group, many angry, gathered in defeat. At some point, a tall, black student stood and began to sing Life Every Voice and Sing, including these words from the second verse:

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

we have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered,

out from the gloomy past, till now we stand at last

where the white gleam of our star is cast.

This morning we had a special joint meeting of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies to have discussion within each diocese, including alternates and members of the Episcopal Church Women Triennial. Our topic: the Five Marks of Mission.

They are:

   1. To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom.

   2. To teach, baptize and nurture new believers.

   3. To respond to human need by loving service.

   4. To seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and to pursue peace and reconciliation.

   5. To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth.

We had a set of three questions for each of the Five Marks, identifying and imagining ways we can implement them in our congregations and dioceses.

We also had a celebration of the ministry of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts-Schori in an event hosted by PBS broadcaster Ray Suarez. Former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold was with us and addressed the house.

We passed two resolutions supporting alcohol responsibility supporting policies similar to St. Paul's alcohol policies.

We celebrated 75 years of outreach ministry through Episcopal Relief and Development and its predecessor, the Presiding Bishop's Fund for World Relief. Members of the Convention set a $75,000 fund raising goal. Through many creative means, we raised over $120,000. Many of the leaders celebrated on the podium.

I got word from a friend that the House of Bishops has declined by two votes to authorize a task force to study the theology of opening communion to the unbapized. I'm disappointed. This is one of those issues that creates strange bedfellows. Many believe that we should be inviting people primarily to baptism and that Eucharist is for the family of Christ. Others believe that Christ's example of eating with all is our strong evangelistic tool for inviting seekers to the table and then bringing them to baptism. The discussion has theological implications.

We went into a special session to discuss three significant resolutions about the structure of the Episcopal Church. I'm sorry, but I'm not a very good reporter on this topic. I find I cannot generate much energy and interest around it. One of the most significant aspects would be for the funding of the church budget to change from an "asking" for 19% to an "assessment" of 15%, with some sanctions. I like that. We would have only two permanent standing commissions – Constitutions and Canons, and Liturgy and Prayer Book. Otherwise, we would have Task Forces with sunset dates. We had a long period of questioning about the structure resolutions, which were extended when there were more questions that were not answered within the time frame. Then we had extended debate, which was ended when we realized that we did not have Spanish translations for the resolutions in question. We will take them up tomorrow. We are making such quick progress that the translators can't keep up with the texts. So, instead of recess at 7:30 p.m., we are getting off early at 6:45. Hurray!

Monday, June 29

Monday, June 29

The Legislative Committee for Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music met at 7:30 this morning. We passed a resolution calling for the Standing Liturgical Commission on Liturgy and Music to begin a process of developing a plan for a revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. We also passed a resolution to study the possibility of changing our canons to allow communion to the unbaptized.

Note: When we pass something in our committee, it still has a long route to take. It goes from our committee to the House of Bishops. If they make a change, it must come back to us before going to the House of Deputies. Both houses must pass the exact same resolution for it to be passed.

Our preacher at today's Eucharist was Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in America. He spoke with passion about the Armenian genocide one-hundred years ago. As he spoke, my friend Sam Totten came to mind. Sam is a genocide scholar, retired from the U of A, who has risked his life several times to bring resources to the people in the Nuba Mountains who are suffering a genocide by starvation and military bombing from the forces of President Omar al-Basir, indicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). St. Paul's has contributed to Dr. Totten's work, and we encourage our friends to write the President and Secretary of State to act to resist this genocide.

We returned to the House of Deputies. We honored our former Secretary Gregory Straub, a delightful and quirky beloved leader. We had some elections. They went much more smoothly. We passed a resolution encouraging Interfaith Engagement. There is a resource for interfaith work on the Episcopal Church website.

We passed support for anti-racism leadership training. We authorized development of an online resource list and library of materials for licensed lay leadership in small congregations.

I joined the other officers of my committee to present two resolutions that Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music has worked on. The comprehensive revision of the Book of Occasional Services was the resource that I chaired through a sub-committee. It was adopted by the House of Deputies without amendment and adopted today by the House of Deputies without amendment. I'm delighted!

Our other resolution was the authorization of the preparation of A Great Cloud of Witnesses (GCW). We took the entire allotment of 30-minutes of time for debate. There was an amendment that downgraded the resource from being "authorized" to being "made available for publication and distribution… for devotional or catechetical use, or use in public worship." With that amendment the resource was passed by a large majority.

We passed a resolution to support Latino ministry. We passed a resolution to create a network for planning congregations and supporting their leadership and development. We passed a resolution to promote revitalization of congregations through collaboration and coaches.

Many of the resolutions we are passing have significant "price tags." All of these will be adjusted in the budget process, many will be unfunded. Some of the resolutions call for external processes for fundraising.

We've set a special order to consider the various resolutions dealing with all of the work during the past three years examining the structure of the Episcopal Church. We will undertake that work tomorrow at 5:00.

We debated a resolution on decreasing gun violence, supporting laws that require criminal background checks for all gun purchases, ban transactions on military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, ban full-automatic weapon conversion kits, tighten laws and increase penalties for gun trafficking and "straw purchases," prohibit gun purchases without evidence of gun safety training, and recognize the impact of existing inheritance laws on the transfer of gun ownership. One of the first speakers supporting the bill was a member of the National Rifle Association (NRA). She said that all of the proposals of this resolution are also policies supported by the NRA. The resolution passed. Later we passed a subsequent resolution to support handgun purchaser licensing, also endorsed by our NRA deputy.

We passed a resolution supporting a $15/hour minimum wage or a living wage. We passed a resolution to urge all persons, public, governmental, and religious institution to discontinue the display of the Confederate Battle Flag. We passed a resolution to develop an online evangelism initiative. We passed a resolution requesting dioceses and parishes to study the resources already created in our report on the study of marriage, and to continue the work of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage.

While we were working this afternoon, the House of Bishops passed some liturgies for Same-sex Marriage. For a report about that, see the link below. The legislation still needs to come to the House of Deputies.

http://www.deputynews.org/house-of-bishops-passes-key-marriage-resolutions/

As we were finishing the session, I was asked by the media folks to be one of the two briefers from the House of Deputies for the daily Press Conference. Two conventions ago I did the briefings nearly every day. Since I am an officer on the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music committee, and there was some buzz about what we accomplished today, I got to be part of the daily press briefing. 

Sunday, June 28

Sunday, June 28

At yesterday's Eucharist, our preacher was a young Native American priest, the Rev. Cathlena A. Plummer, daughter of the late Bishop Stephen Plummer. She has worked as a shepherd, caring for her family's flock of sheep. She told a moving story of searching for some lost sheep and hearing a voice that guided her. Please enjoy her fine sermon, text or video at:

http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/06/27/cathlena-a-plummer-of-navajoland--preaches-at-general-convention/

Yesterday as I was leaving the Convention Center, a priest spoke to me to tell me that it was at St. Paul's, Fayetteville, that he came to faith. He is now a church planter, and he named his new congregation St. Paul's, after our own church. He is the Rev. Michael R. Gilton, Vicar of St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Prosper, TX.  www.stpaulsprosper.org

Sunday morning – 7:15 –

1,500 people and 79 bishops gathered near our hotel for a march through a portion of Salt Lake City organized by a number of bishops concerned by the "Unholy Trinity of Racism, Poverty, and Violence," marching as Episcopalians Against Gun Violence.

At 10:00 we gathered for the U.T.O. ingathering and the Sunday Eucharist of General Convention, always a highlight. The contributions from UTO representatives from every diocese added up to almost $4.8 million.

So many times at this Convention, I've found myself moved to tears. Another happened this morning during the reading of the Epistle. The lector was a young man overcoming a stuttering impediment. He read with grace and courage. When he was finished, he was met with a generous applause. I love this church.

Katharine Jeffert-Schori preached a fine sermon for our Eucharist, using the compelling readings for this Sunday.

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/78th-general-convention-episcopal-church-june-28-sermon-presiding-bishop

In the afternoon, we passed an excellent resolution urging congregations and dioceses to advocate for sensible and compassionate reforms in our mass incarceration system. Our congregation has begun to know many people who are serving time and many who are being released after doing so. Resolution A011 (the substitute which was passed) has 14 possible initiatives to address the destructive consequences of our mass incarceration system. I went to the podium to encourage deputies to add one more to that list: In many states people convicted of a felony and/or serving time incarcerated are disqualified from many social benefits. A person leaving prison, needed to recreate their lives, may find themselves unemployed, and banned by many potential employers because of their felony record. They find themselves unemployed, impoverished and often in need of creating a life in a new environment away from the influences that may have contributed to their earlier failures. That is the time when they most need the social benefits our society extends to our poor neighbors. Without such benefits, many people find themselves driven back to behaviors and places that create the likelihood of recidivism.

An interesting thing happened as we tried to pass what looked like an innocuous resolution about which cities might be considered as possible host cities for the General Convention six years from now. A deputy added an amendment to exclude any cities in dioceses that do not pay the full 19% asking to the budget. Well… A lot of discomfort ensued. I was glad to see the issue raised, though we are changing our apportionment system in order to get more full compliance. For at least two General Conventions I've tried to get deputies speaking to an issue that has funding implications to say what percentage of asking their diocese gives before speaking about how we should be spending their money. I got a bit of push back on that. Glad to see the anxious conversation today.

We then got bogged down on elections. The new electronic system has some bugs. Off for the night. Kathy is here. We're going out to dinner with some friends.

Saturday Afternoon and Evening

Saturday, June 27 -- Afternoon and Evening

Our afternoon session started a bit late because of the earlier extension to confirm and introduce Bishop Michael Curry as the Presiding Bishop Elect. We passed a significant change in our funding structure, making 15% the norm (lowering from either 18% or 19%, I can't recall) with an expectation of more dioceses reaching that asking.

We passed a strong resolution for combating systematic racism.

We also debated a compelling resolution about study and advocacy to address the high rate of incarceration in the U.S., especially of men of color. In the resolution there are 14 constructive ideas about improving our prison systems. We ran out of time while debating that resolution. I'm in the queue. One of the ideas that is not in the list is something that has troubled me. In many states, when someone finishes serving their time, because they are a felon, they are disqualified from many social services benefits. Many businesses will not hire felons. They can't get jobs; they can't get benefits that help the very poor. No wonder they turn to the familiar quick dollar by an illegal route. You make a mistake, we keep punishing you to make it impossible for you to re-create your life. Our "punishment first" system is deathly to all. Through our prison ministry, I've come to know many of the people who get caught in this system. There's got to be a better way.

In the evening I went to the hearing for PB&F – Program, Budget, and Finance – our appropriations committee. Bishop Wayne Smith joined me to argue for funding for the work of the Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music – important work that has been underfunded like many other programs. We had two minutes each to advocate for a remarkable range of work. The church doesn't have the resources to do all that we would want to do.

Saturday morning and afternoon

Saturday, June 27

Our prayer at our Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music Committee meetings is inspiring. We begin with a chant in harmony which continues as we offer our various intercessions. Then we sing a hymn—today Joyful, Joyful, we adore thee. Wonderful way to start the day, as we began at 7:30.

Our hearing involves a number of resolutions. First, a resolution for a process asking the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to begin to make a plan for the revision of the Book of Common Prayer. A169

The next resolutions are hot buttons:

—C010: "Invite All to Holy Communion"—the so-called "open communion" or "Open Table" resolution. More than any other issues, this one seems to divide us unpredictably. Very meaningful conversations. The resolution calls for a Task Force to study the issue. The resolution also acknowledges that many congregations are already experimenting with an open table.

—C023: an amendment to the Canons to relax the prohibition on communion for the unbaptized, making exceptions for those who are receiving communion with an intent to begin or strengthen a relationship with Christ and eventually to become baptized; and congregations which open communion to the unbaptized must do so as part of an evangelistic plan.

Note to St. Paul's people: The Canons of the Episcopal Church require baptism as a prerequisite for receiving communion. Many years ago I asked Bishop Maze to allow St. Paul's to practice an open welcome to communion largely because we live in a university community where many people who are exploring and seeking do so first by experiencing and then by reflecting on their experience. They are first seekers more than joiners. When they have room to explore, they are more likely to go deeper and to be baptized. He gave us permission to do so, and Bishop Benfield when installed renewed that permission for us. It is interesting to me to note that whenever Suzanne or I ask the members of our Inquirers' classes what it was that drew them into St. Paul's community, the welcome to communion is often the most significant and most repeated factor.

The Diocese of Connecticut has proposed trial use of another question to be added as part of our Baptismal Covenant: "Will you cherish the wondrous works of God, and protect the beauty and integrity of all creation?" Response: "I will with God's help."  C015

D036 is a resolution to add to the Book of Occasional Services the "Rite for Claiming New Name" from our alternative service booklet "Changes: Prayers and Services Honoring Rites of Passage." The name change liturgy is used by people changing their names after a marital change, as part of a monastic community, children taking adoptive names, and transgender persons. Among those testifying was my dear friend Gwen Fry, a transgender priest in Arkansas. She spoke of the day when she and her spouse went to the courthouse for her name change. She wished she could have come to her parish church and her parish priest to celebrate that sacred moment. It was beautiful testimony.

When the House of Deputies reconvened, President Jennings awarded the House of Deputies Medal to several great leaders: Dr. Charles Willie, the first African American President of the HOD. He was the preacher at the ordination of the Philadelphia 11, the first women's ordination. When the House of Bishops invalidated those ordinations, Dr. Willie resigned his office. Also awarded were former HOD Presidents Bonnie Anderson and George Werner, and long-time Deputy Vince Curry. Also awarded (in absentia) were former officers David Collins, Scott Kirby, Brion Prior. We continued with a Happy Birthday party – it is the 230^th anniversary of the founding of the House of Deputies in 1785.

Business then resumed. A few blocks away at the cathedral, the House of Bishops was meeting to elect a new Presiding Bishop. Not long before our scheduled recess time (1:15), we received word that the Bishops have an election. Our process requires that a committee from the House of Deputies meet with a deputation from the House of Bishops and bring back a recommendation to accept or decline. When the President suggested we recess for lunch, the House refused, wanting to learn who was elected. We continued to work.

The committee eventually returned with the announcement that Bishop Michael Curry was elected on the first ballot. The house confirmed. We have elected a new Presiding Bishop at 1:52 mountain time.

We waited about 20 minutes for the new Presiding Bishop elect to be escorted to the House of Deputies. He entered with Bishop Jefferts-Schori and to thunderous applause. It was particularly moving to see so many African American deputies so tearfully joyful. Bishop Curry addressed us briefly. A JOYFUL DAY!!

Friday, June 26

Today is my birthday. I awoke to find a wonderful video message from my grandson Reid, "Happy Birthday to LoLo!" As our Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music committee came to order at 7:30 I got serenaded with another chorus of the birthday song. We passed a resolution asking for funding for the Standing Commission of Liturgy and Music to begin a plan aimed toward a comprehensive revision of the Book of Common Prayer.

During the committee meeting we got word that the Supreme Court had affirmed gay marriage. That felt like a fine birthday present for me. (But my friend sitting next to me, a bishop from another diocese, felt it was a tragedy.)

As we entered the worship hall, a jazz group was playing and singing "Walking in the Light of God"—a wonderful female singer, pianist-clarinet, trombone, two saxophones, stand-up bass, and drums—singing and playing with such energy that I walked-danced down the aisle to get a seat close to the front. They led us singing several great hymn tunes with delightful accompaniment. The psalm included a sung versicle; while we read the psalm verses the musicians played creatively in the background. I was surprised when we got to the postlude, and our wonderful organist started playing an old favorite—the Widor Tocotta—a favorite of mine that Charlie plays so beautifully. The organ soared, filling the hall. But a surprise. Two or three minutes into the Widor, the organist stopped, and the jazz combo picked up the piece, creatively adapted. It was thrilling! The organ and the combo continued back and forth through the piece, until the final crescendo when they joined together for the ending. I had my phone recording and videoing much of it (once I realized what was going on). I'll try to figure out a way to post it. If you weren't watching on livestream, I recommend that you get on your computer with the speakers turned up high and watch it online. (I'll send a link to the service as soon as I get it.)

After worship we held a joint committee meeting with the House of Bishops in order to have a discussion on our church structure. Half of our Arkansas deputation and half of the Georgia deputation had conversation about what we liked and what we would like to change about the work of General Convention, the Church Staff and Executive Council, the Provinces, and Dioceses.

After a quick lunch we came back for committee work. We had extensive conversation about a resolution asking for ways to bring communion to congregations who rarely have access to priests to celebrate the Eucharist. We passed a resolution instructing bishops and ecclesiastical authorities to make provision for such congregations.

At 4:30 we went back into the big Legislative Session. We started with a series of nominations. I had the honor to again nominate Gay Jennings for President of the House of Deputies, who was the only nominee and thus re-elected.

Thursday, June 25

Thursday, June 25 – First Session

After going through the formal ritual of organizing the House of Deputies, President Jennings called all of the young deputies (born in the 1990's) to deliver the message of our organization to the House of Bishops. Among the group was Arkansas' own Thomas Alexander, 19, a student at Hendrix College. As the group processed down the center aisle of Convention, Thomas stopped for me to snap a picture. At our earlier meeting of Province VII, Thomas was elected to the Executive Council of the church, essentially the Vestry of The Episcopal Church.

Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori was the celebrant and preacher for our opening Eucharist. In a later note I will send a link to the sermon text and the video. I found myself sitting together with three old Oxford, Mississippi friends—Duncan Gray, III; Chip Marble, and Kee Sloan. Chip was my parish priest who presented me for discernment to priesthood; Duncan and I grew up together in the church his dad led; Kee and I went to seminary together and were close friends. Chip and Dunc are retired Bishops of Mississippi and Kee is the Bishop of Alabama. I feel like I've known these friends nearly all m life. We're not growing older; we're growing bigger.

11:15 – Legislative Committee. We listened to testimony on several resolutions. The most energy is around a proposal to allow lay leaders to carry consecrated Eucharistic elements from another location to congregations without ordained leadership.

The committee then took up work on the calendar. It is complicated work. Much sausage making. One resolution had five amendments, with much wordsmithing. Takes energy and concentration.  We adjourned for lunch and returned to work all afternoon. Made a lot of progress and finished the resolution that would authorize the Standing Commission on Music and Liturgy to continue the revision of the calendar of observations, now to be called Great Cloud of Witnesses.

We left Legislative Committees and went back to the larger Legislative Session. We had a big job – a complete re-write of the Rules of Order of the House. A team has been working to revise the rules and has done some remarkable work. Lawyers being constructive! It's tedious, but the new President's team has improved our process significantly. Their careful creativity was approved by an unbelievable margin – 794 for, 31 against (that's 96% for and less than 4% against). Wow!

Toward the end of the session we adopted a report and resolution  expressing our "pain, grief, and sorrow" with the families and friends of those killed at Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. We will send a Letter of Condolence from the General Convention.

Wednesday, June 24

Wednesday, June 24

7:00 a.m. First Committee meetings. Every resolution proposed at General Convention is fully considered. The first step is to offer public hearings on each resolution. We welcome testimony from deputies and others about the content of each resolution.

So this morning, I had good news and bad news. The good news: the resolution to authorize a comprehensive revision of the Book of Occasional Services had good support in the testimony, committee conversation and final vote passed our committee. The bad news: while that was going on I wanted to be at another committee to testify on behalf of a resolution supporting efforts on behalf of LGBT Anglicans in Africa. I think that other resolution had other good supporters. Can't be two places at one time.

We did good work in our morning committee work and reported out several resolutions. We had a half hour break, and then convened with both the House of Bishops and House of Deputies for an orientation session that included presentations from Presiding Bishop Jefforts-Schori and HOD President Jennings.

Above the dais are the flags of the 19 nations who are part of The Episcopal Church. We are more than a "national church."

The Presiding Bishop used her background as a biological scientist to offer images for the journey and relationships that constitute the living body of the Church. In her talk, among the things the Presiding Bishop mentioned was creative ministries like Magdalene House.

The Rev. Gay Jennings, the President of the House of Deputies, took some time to share the gospel of the day—the Nativity of John the Baptist. (Also the 4^th birthday of my granddaughter Laura.) Gay invited us to follow the example of John's father Zechariah—to listen and to understand your identity. Be surprised by the rising of the new in our midst. The new is being born in us, in the quiet of our souls, arising from what is in the corner of our soul, often that which is neglected or discounted.

We were greeted by the President of the Episcopal Church Women who are simultaneously holding their Triennial meeting. A great deal of their focus is in conversation about healing the wounds of the trafficking of women, which is of interest to St. Paul's and our new Magdalene ministry.

We then went through some extensive orientation to the mechanics of operating a nearly paperless General Convention. Every deputy and bishop has been issued an iPad with a Virtual Binder software that will take the place of the enormous paper binders of previous Conventions. (I'm writing a hymn, in process, to the tune "St. Patrick's Breastplate" – I bind unto myself today… is becoming My binder and myself today, will follow convention so virtually… -- more coming.)

Quick lunch in order to return for the finale of nearly three years of work. I've been serving on the Joint Nominating Committee for the Presiding Bishop. Our committee lead the process of presenting the four nominees to the whole Convention: Bishops Dabney Smith, Ian Douglas, Michael Curry, Thomas Breidenthal. Each bishop was introduced by a brief self-produced video and opening statements. Our committee had collected questions from the whole church and organized them into categories. We went through several rounds of questions. I got to be one of the questioners.

The candidates did a beautiful job. Each was himself. I heard a lot of people saying that they were pleased with the nominees. We will formally nominate them in a subsequent session and then the House of Bishops will elect. It's been a delight to be part of this process, and I'm glad that the nominees seem to be well received.

After we finished I went to a reception given by the Washington Cathedral. The Dean Gary Hall is a friend. I especially wanted to say thank you to him and to Bishop Budde who allowed me to perform a marriage in the Cathedral House last year for a faithful gay couple from our congregation. The National Cathedral truly serves as a House of Prayer for All People.

At our evening committee meeting we got pretty bogged down in perfecting the procedure for recreating the church calendar of observances, now being called A Cloud of Witnesses. There's a lot of energy around whether or not John Muir will be added to the calendar. 

Tuesday the 23rd at General Convention

This will be the only day I'll have time to eat a normal hotel breakfast. Nice leisurely morning. At 9:00 I went to register. Three lines – credentials, badge, and virtual notebook. This will be an almost paperless Convention. Every deputy is issued an iPad with all of the reports, resolutions, calendars and other information to replace the huge three-ring binders of the past. It's promising, but I had to do some preliminary work to be able to guide the sub-committee I'm chairing so we could all look at the same thing at the same time.

After registration I took an opportunity to go through the exhibit hall. (I never got through the exhibits at the previous Convention.) Our friends from Thistle Farm—Magdalene House were there. Learned some interesting things about the "Living Compass" program that I think I want to bring back to St. Paul's.

At noon our Joint Nominating Committee went through a practice session for presenting the four nominees for Presiding Bishop. That happens tomorrow at 1:30.  You might want to watch the livestream. http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/gc/

At 2:00 the officers and aides for the Legislative Committees had an orientation session. We've made a significant number of changes to the process for handling legislation, all designed to be more efficient and more digital. Hope it works!

The first Legislative Committee meetings were at 5:30. I'm Vice Chair of Prayer Book, Liturgy & Church Music. It's a big committee, with 39 members, as well as consultants and aides. After introductions we went into sub-committees. I'm chairing the sub-committee to consider authorizing a comprehensive revision of the Book of Occasional Services. We had a very productive sub-committee meeting and are poised to report out our resolution favorably. If the legislation passes, it would start us on the road to creating a significant resource for the church's prayers and pastoral services.

I didn't get to eat lunch until 4:00, so when the Arkansas deputation went to a Vietnamese restaurant, I just ordered from the tapas menu.

We start in the morning at 7:00 a.m. with hearings. First from our committee will be hearings on the Book of Occasional Services (BOS) revisions. I'm hopeful that it will get positive input and may be one of the first things from our committee. We're asking for funding of $94,000 to do the hard 3-year work of revising the BOS. I think it is a worthy project that will give the church a compelling set of prayers and liturgies for so many circumstances that aren't addressed in the Prayer Book.

I want to testify about a resolution to encourage efforts to support the safety and affirm the dignity of LGBT people in Africa. I travelled last year to Kenya to be part of a conversation group about the Bible and LGBT persons. I have a similar trip planned to Ghana in September. I've come to know some good people who live threatened lives. I may be unable to speak to the committee about the resolution because it appears to be scheduled at the same time as the Book of Occasional Services hearing is scheduled. Two places to be at 7:00 in the morning. I'm hoping something works out for me to do both.

NOTE: Tomorrow the four candidates for Presiding Bishop will be presented in a meeting of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, 1:30-4:30.  It will be livestreamed online. 

Arrival

I landed in Salt Lake City last night just before 8 p.m. and learned I had a first meeting to attend right about then. As soon as I checked in I joined them. It was a working group, my presence wasn't critical, but we're off to a running start.

After we finished, I walked to the nearest grocery to get breakfast things for the next two weeks. With our morning committee work typically starting at 7:30, it saves a lot of time to eat in the room and avoid the lines for breakfast.

Here is another good resource for following General Convention: Deputy News – deputynews.org. They will produce a summary story of each day's highlights as well as various special interest columns, video clips, paired opinion pieces, and lots of photos. Highly recommended!

Registration starts at 9:00. I want to visit the Exhibit Hall today. Last Convention it closed before I could go through it.

Lowell

78th General Convention 2015

The 78th General Convention is right around the corner. I'll be blogging again.

I started this blog three Conventions ago in 2006. Part of my reason was my frustration with the lack of secular coverage of the GC and the poor content and understanding. I ended up writing almost like a reporter (with opinions).

Now that we have live streaming access and robust coverage online, I don't need to work so hard. So I won't. I'll offer more of my observations and thoughts than I will do pure reporting. Since the sermons will be livestreamed and printed online, I won't do as much in-depth reporting on those either.

My jobs this time
-- Deputy from Arkansas
-- part of the presentation of the nominees for Presiding Bishop (I was a member of the Joint Nominating Committee).
-- Vice Chair HOD, Committee 11, Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Church Music
-- Chair HOD, sub-committee on A056, Revision of Book of Occasional Services
-- cutting up a bit. (I don't know how to defend my "Bonnie Ball" Championship from the previous Convention.

Okay -- off to Salt Lake City.