General Convention

Blog on Daily Office

2009-07-20T07:09:00.000-07:00

I probably won't be sending any more remarks through my General Convention blog, but if you've been following this blog, I'd love to invite you to my regular blog

Nearly each weekday morning I write a reflection based on the readings from the Daily Office of Morning Prayer. Here's the address: http://lowellsblog.blogspot.com/

If you'd like to receive these Morning Reflections via email, give your address to Kathy at secretary@stpaulsfay.org

Thanks,
Lowell

Post-Convention Follow-Up

2009-07-18T10:47:00.000-07:00

Here's a follow-up note about some things I think may be of interest to some who follow General Convention.

First, a note to my congregation. Kathy has just arrived in Anaheim. She has a conference at UCLA starting Sunday afternoon, so we're spending the time together between now and then. I'll fly back to Fayetteville Sunday afternoon.

My "Friends Talking" class on Sunday, July 26 will feature conversation about the General Convention at 10:00 in the Parish Hall.
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As I reflect on General Convention, with particular attention to our relationship with the Anglican Communion I've had a thought.

From the perspective of the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church is now the position St. Paul found himself in Acts 15. Paul had recognized the gifts of the Spirit in Gentiles -- despite the teaching of scripture and the tradition requiring circumcision and adherence to Torah -- and Paul had baptized and laid hands on those Gentiles nonetheless. Paul came to Jerusalem to the Apostolic Council to give witness about the presence of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit in the lives and ministries of Gentiles. The Apostolic Council listened to his witness, blessed his work, and sent him forth as the Apostle to the Gentiles. I hope the Anglican Communion will do likewise.

At the least, the Communion might want to take the advice of Gamaliel, the first century rabbi who appealed to the Sadhedrin not to act punitively against the Christians. His argument: if their movement is not of God, it will die of its own weight; but if it is of God, you could find yourself fighting futilely against God's Spirit.

Let's stay together; talk; listen; agree to disagree; go to communion together; and go out into the world in mission to serve the world in Christ's name.
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I had the opportunity to be on a telephone interview with BBC Radio 4 along with Bishop Ed Little. Bishop Little is a gracious spokesman for conservative Episcopalians and someone I have admired from a distance for a long time. (He sits at the same table with Larry Benfield in the House, and I know how fond Larry is of him.) I thought we had a constructive conversation, and I hope it will be edited for the British audience in a constructive way.
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When the House of Bishops took up debate about D025 concerning the Episcopal Church's relationship with the Anglican Communion and our policies on ordination, our Bishop Larry Benfield was the first, or among the first to speak. I've heard from several other bishops how much they appreciated his words and his leadership.

Here is the text of Bishop Benfield's address to the House of Bishops during that debate.

Statement by Larry Benfield, bishop of Arkansas, on the floor of the House of Bishops regarding Resolution D 025
July 13, 2009

I speak in favor of D 025.

One thing of which I stand in awe is how the early church was able to put into words God’s revelation of the Trinity and develop a creedal language 1600 years ago that has lasted down to the current age.

The revelation and the creedal language tell us of a Trinity that is mysteriously and intimately intertwined, with an unbounded reciprocal love. We do not understand its complexity, but we do see the results of that love; it is an outpouring of love for all of creation, especially an outpouring of love toward humanity, a love whose ultimate expression is in the love of Christ for humankind.

Likewise, the love of one human being for another, as creatures created in the image of God, is a complex and mysterious thing. Such love can take the form of friendship, or of what the New Testament calls agape, or of sexual love, to name but a few examples. Just as with the reciprocal love of the Trinity, we rarely understand human love, and sometimes are even frightened by it, as in the case of sexual love, because it is so personal, indeed, so intimate.

But we do see the results of such human love, as when the love of two people for one another causes them to reach out in love and concern for others. By saying that we will limit that love and concern for one another and, by extension, to others, simply on the basis of chromosomal make-up is fearful at best, and at worst a human obfuscation of the very mystery of the outpouring love of the Trinity.

I contend that we already have a theological rationale for moving forward in areas of human sexuality. In fact, we have had it for 1600 years, but only in this generation have the scales begun falling from our eyes. In ways that we frequently do not understand, we have a tangible glimpse of the divine love of the Trinity.

We need to witness to this generation, bringing good news now. Proclaiming the good news is never a future event; it is always a present honor and responsibility. If we as bishops always want to wait for a more opportune time, I fear that we are forgetful of our ordination vow to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Christ, enlightening the minds and stirring up the conscience of our people.
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The General Convention spoke on some other issues that are of interest to many. Here are some that caught my attention.

B006 – Immigration
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 76th General Convention recognize that all people living in the United States are entitled to protection provided by due process of law and that all immigrants and their families are entitled to receive protection granted by our laws and Constitution; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention call for a moratorium on roadside checkpoints and raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at work sites, transportation systems, community gatherings, places of worship, lawful assemblies and private residences leaving families torn apart and children parentless and negatively affecting businesses, workers, and communities; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention advocate for a return of congressional consideration and implementation of comprehensive immigration reform which will allow millions of undocumented immigrants who have established roots in the United States and are often parents and spouses of U.S. Citizens to have a pathway to legalization and to full social and economic integration in to the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention deplore conditions found in immigration detention centers and the over-reliance on a costly prison-like detention system for immigrants, and urge the uses of alternatives to detention, and calls for accountability and oversight to ensure detainees are provided with humanitarian treatment, adequate food and medical care and sanitary conditions; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention call for termination of any program which allows or funds local enforcement agencies to enforce immigration law, and return that enforcement to Federal Immigration Agents, leaving local law enforcement agencies the work of keeping communities safe and dedicating their resources to that end, and provide for a sense of safety for immigrant victims of crimes to come forward and report without fear of detention and deportation, and be it further

Resolved, That in as much as youth are a priority of the Episcopal Church, the 76th General Convention support the provision of conditional legal status for undocumented youth who arrived as infants and/or children and have grown up as members of our communities and schools, providing for them the opportunity to pursue higher education and/or serve the United States so they can become full contributing members of our communities and could eventually become U.S. Citizens.
________________

The convention also passed the following resolution about health care.

C071
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 76th General Convention call on its congregations to undertake discussions within the parish of the issue of health care coverage in the United States, including:

a) recognition that health is multi-dimensional, with spiritual, social, environmental, and mental elements as well as physical,

b) reminder of personal responsibility for healthy life choices and concern for maintaining one's own health,

c) proclaiming the Gospel message of concern for others which extends to concern for their physical health as well as spiritual well-being,

d) responsibility as a parish to attend to the needs (including health-related needs) of others, both other members of the parish family and those of the wider community, the nation, and the world,

e) recognition that there are limits to what the healthcare system can and should provide and thus that some uncomfortable and difficult choices may have to be made if we are to limit healthcare costs; and be it further

Resolved, That, The Episcopal Church urge its members to contact elected federal, state and territorial officials encouraging them to:

a) create, with the assistance of experts in related fields, a comprehensive definition of "basic healthcare" to which our nation's citizens have a right,

b) establish a system to provide basic healthcare to all,

c) create an oversight mechanism, separate from the immediate political arena, to audit the delivery of that "basic healthcare,"

d) educate our citizens in the need for limitations on what each person can be expected to receive in the way of medical care under a universal coverage program in order to make the program sustainable financially,

e) educate our citizens in the role of personal responsibility in promoting good health; and be it further,

Resolved, That this resolution be distributed to all Provinces and dioceses of The Episcopal Church for their consideration and support.
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D048 – Health Care: Single Payer Universal Health Care Program

passed very narrowly in the House of Deputies – 404/396

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the 76th Convention of the Episcopal Church urge passage of federal legislation establishing a "single payer" universal health care program which would provide health care coverage for all of the people of the United States; and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention direct the Office of Government Relations to assess, negotiate, and deliberate the range of proposed federal health care policy options in the effort to reach the goal of universal health care coverage, and to pursue short-term, incremental, innovative, and creative approaches to universal health care until a "single payer" universal health care program is established; and be it further

Resolved, That the Episcopal Church shall work with other people of good will to finally and concretely realize the goal of universal health care coverage; and be it further

Resolved, That church members and the Office of Government Relations communicate the position of the Episcopal Church on this issue to the President and Members of Congress, and advocate passage of legislation consistent with this resolution.
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We'll be getting the deputation together to visit around the state for Q & A and further conversation about General Convention.

Lowell

General Convention, Last Day, July 17

2009-07-17T17:42:00.000-07:00

General Convention, Friday, July 17 – The Final Day

Legislative Committee meetings are through, except for an occasional quick called meeting to respond to any changes that the bishops might make to our committee's bills. The committee has to vote on any changes before referring them to the floor for the deputies consideration whether or not to concur.

I am a Media Briefing Officer this morning. I'll "Meet the Press" at 8:15.
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Not so many reporters here today. Each of the briefers reviewed what we thought were highlights of the convention. Finished a few minutes early.
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9:00 a.m. Legislative Session

Chaplain Frank Wade's opening meditation today:

It is appropriate that this final day of General Convention is the feast of William White. In 1782, seeing what he thought we would need as new structures for this emerging church, he wrote "The Case of the Episcopal Church Considered." In that document, White planted the seeds that would create what would become the Anglican Communion, the Constitution of the Episcopal Church, and this institution, the General Convention. Every element of the church's polity was embodied by White's genius.

His vision fits the Gospel story and the vision of the Kingdom of God – from that first Convention in 1785 through this the 76th time of meeting.

In the creation story of Genesis, God spent the first six days establishing the natural order, which runs solely on God's energy.

After a Sabbath rest, God developed the moral universe. Unlike the physical universe, the moral universe runs on hybrid energy – divine action and human reaction. It has been our struggle since then to make God's energy and human energy compatible. In human history, that does not always go well.

William White was a revolutionary – a revolutionary in support of the founding of the nation and a revolutionary in the founding of this church. White dared to imagine God's energy passing through deacons, priests and laity, and not just bishops, and he helped create this House of Deputies, giving it equal power with the House of Bishops. That is not a universal characteristic in our communion.

We've been trying to prove William White's thesis. We've been trying to connect God's energy with ours, to dance with the Spirit, to follow Jesus. We've been trying to exercise hybrid energy.

Did we do it? Did we combine God's energy with ours in a morally satisfying way? Did we apply God's energy to decisions made and not made, to our stewardship of money and resources. Did we do it? Did we get our energy from God?

How would William White answer? How would you answer? How would God answer?

Yes, and yes, and yes.
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Our special order of business this final morning is to deal with the substitute amendment that the bishops passed about same-gender blessings.

C056 –
Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge the changing circumstances in the United State and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church, and for an open process for the consideration of theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same gender relationships; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, collect and develop theological, and liturgical resources and report to the 77th General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, devise an open process for the conduct of its work inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are engaged in such theological work, and inviting theological reflection from throughout the Anglican Communion, and be it further

Resolved, That bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church; and be it further

Resolved, That this Convention honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality; and be it further

Resolved, That the members of this Church be encouraged to engage in this effort.

This will be a vote by orders.

Some notes from the debate: (we took turns between pro and con)

A young woman said, "My mother is a lesbian." She said that she is an Episcopalian because this church welcomed her family.

This is a day of shame. The earlier legislation was ambiguous. This isn't.

A priest talking very fast listed members of his congregation that this affects – many gay couples in leadership, parents of gay children, etc.

Ian Douglas who has been intimately involved in our Anglican Communion conversations recognized the pain and complication that this resolution will provoke in the Communion, and he nevertheless urged its passage.

A deputy quoted George Will about the Episcopal Church's "trying to be more and more inclusive with fewer and fewer people."

The bishops have crafted a theological and pastoral plan – gently crafted. It is supported by liberal, middle and some conservative bishops, and passed by a 2/3rd majority.

This is the nail in the coffin for compliance with Windsor.

This will kill evangelism. I'll lose half of my congregation.

This will energize evangelism, especially among youth and young adults who aren't hung up about these issues.

Both sides invoked Ubuntu community. The "for's" with an eye for inclusion of all the baptized; the "against's" with an eye for our relationships in the Anglican Communion.

A priest from Sacramento said his phone rang off the wall when California opened marriage to gay couples. "Can you bless my relationship?" "I had to answer, 'No.'" He said there were tears, and much hurt. Many were people who had given up on church and now wished to return. Many won't be back. Yet, last November his church attendance grew by 75.

My comments on the floor(based on the essay I wrote the other day): "As Lyndon Johnson worked to pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964, he heard dire warnings – If you pass this you will spilt the party; you will alienate the southern half of our communion; you'll be thrown out of office. Today we look back at the decision in 1964, and we know they chose well. Be proud today to vote for this gentle, balanced resolution which extends the reach of compassion, equality, justice and above all, love. It's all about love. Choose love. One day you can look back on this day and be proud that you were here."

I noticed the dramatic contrasts tended to be defined by diocesan boundaries. Not so regional as might be imagined. Sometimes dioceses sharing borders voted opposite one another. Each diocese tends to have a spirituality.

Virginia likes to characterize itself as the broad middle. Their daily publication "The Center Aisle" endorsed both of the resolutions dealing with issues of sexuality, saying, "what the convention did is to reaffirm that the ordination process is under the control of local bishops and dioceses, while stressing that access to that process is open to all baptized persons. The Convention also invited local churches and dioceses (as well as churches elsewhere in the communion) to collect liturgical and theological resources regarding same-gender blessings."

Today's editorial in the "Center Aisle" asserts, "The bonds between our Church and Canterbury are still strong. ...Discussions will continue. Compromises will be struck. Bonds of affection will be strengthened. The focus on the foundational beliefs that unite us will return. The Church, in all its glorious messiness, will move forward."

Although the vote results were not announced before the lunch break, I'll post them here at the end of our conversation.

Reminder about a Vote by Orders – each diocese has 4 clergy and 4 lay deputies. We vote in each house, with each diocese getting one vote in the clergy order and one vote in the lay order. A tie vote 2-2, is divided and counts as a "no." Any resolution must have a majority of dioceses vote "yes" in both the clergy and lay order. (I repeat, it is a very conservative voting mechanism, requiring something much larger than a simple majority.)

Arkansas Voted "Yes" in both clergy and lay order.

Vote by Orders of C056 – Blessing of Same-Gender blessings
Needed to pass: Lay - 55; Clergy 55

Vote: Lay – 78 yes // 23 no // 7 divided (counts as "no") – 72% of dioceses voted "yes"
Clergy - 74 yes // 27 no // 7 divided – 68.5% of dioceses voted "yes"
The motion carried by more than a 2/3rds vote in both orders.

_________

Break for Eucharist and Lunch
_________

The Presiding Bishop presided, praying in French through most of the service.

Notes from her sermon:
We've heard lots of words. Words about policy, our missionary heartbeat, and solidarity. Some of us have had to eat our words. We have all eaten the sacramental Word, so our work can be closer to the Word.

We heard the reading of Jeremiah's call. Like Jeremiah, we have enacted words to build up and plant – supporting ministries of compassion around the world; we have plucked up and pulled down structures of injustice, and we have acted in opposition to racism and discrimination. Some of our words have been reconciling; we have crafted words to draw in, not to leave out.

William White, whose feast we celebrate today, lived in a time of conflict between northern and southern Anglicans, motivated largely by the fear of monarchical power exercised by kings and bishops. The conflict in White's day is not too dissimilar to some of the conflict today in the Anglican communion between those who seek more centralized authority and those who prefer more local focus. Our budget for this church now becomes less centralized and sends impetus for mission more to local initiatives. We ask, how do our structures serve God's mission? The collect for William White commends him as a man of patience and of reconciling temper.

We need a reconciling temper that holds the polarities together. It is interesting to note that White changed his mind over time on some significant issues. He models for us "both-and" thinking, so central to our identity. We recognize that most polarities are false choices, as if we could choose between justice and mercy or between inclusion and orthodoxy. The both/and tension is what Jesus invites us into.

Jesus draws near to Peter to ask him, "Do you love me more than these?" What are these lesser loves? Disciples? Fish? Fishing? All of these go into the background. In this Convention, are we more in love with being right or with Jesus? Tend the sheep. All the sheep, not just the flock in front of us. We are called to share the shepherd's work.

Go home and help this work this week to become food. Take this work home and interpret it. Bring digestible food home. It must be digestible if it is to be eaten. Will you love Jesus more in the telling? Digestible attractive food is Good News. If we bring home anger and feed others with it, we will produce indigestion. Healthy sheep avoid noxious weeds. Let us be led into good pasture. Let the Word be our substance. How does the Word become hope? The word of peace and healing to the world.

Become what you eat. Tend all of God's sheep.
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2:00 – Afternoon session

We passed a first reading for a feast for Thurgood Marshall

We passed the series of new commons that the Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee worked so hard on.

We authorized a Sunday in Lent for recognizing and supporting Episcopal Relief and Development.

We changed the canons so that episcopal elections 120 days prior to General Convention will no longer go to General Convention for consent but will follow the same procedure as all other elections.

We endorsed the "80-cent-solution" – if each Episcopalian gave 80 cents per year we could double our number of missionaries.

We passed a resolution to have a process for the members of the House of Deputies to indicate that they either are tithing or are firmly committed to tithing within five years.

We passed a resolution responding to the Archbishop of Canterbury's presentation about the world wide economic crisis. It commends the Bishops' March 2009 "Pastoral Letter" and seeks to devise a teaching resource. It also commends the 2010 Trinity Institute publication "Building an Ethical Economy."

The Bishops amended a canon change that deputies sent. Our deputies committee recommended that we not concur with the change. There were reservations from conservative and liberal voices with what the bishops did, which was to take all particular protections out of the canons and say simply, "All baptized persons shall have full access to the discernment process..." Some objected that this would be poorly received in the Anglican Communion. Others said classes of people who have experienced discrimination need particular protection. The deputies voted not to concur, so the canon reverts to its current language: "No person shall be denied access or have his or her discernment process terminated because of race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age, except as otherwise provided by these Canons."

We are just about finished, but House of Bishops have one matter they want us to receive from them. The Bishops voted to defer the resolution about the Defense of Marriage Act to the Executive Committee of the Church. Our house resoundingly concurred. I think there was a good feeling about this as a compromise, so that the church doesn't speak with a singular voice about an issue which we have various opinions about. The earlier House of Deputies vote speaks in one way to the issue, but the Executive Committee can offer a more nuanced approach.

As we closed, the President of the House invoked William White again, and his strange idea of including the voices of all people in the polity of the church – laity, clergy and bishops – the ministry of all the baptized. We find our work and identity grounded in the baptismal covenant.

She reminded us that we are all still deputies as we leave, until replaced. Today's paper left at the door of each hotel room had a large headline: "What's Our Next Step?" (The newspaper story was about space exploration.) She posed that question to us. We are to meet with our deputation and make a report about the Convention to our dioceses. We are to go home and do mission – start something or strengthen something.

It's time to end chapter 76 in the book of the life of General Convention. We have breathed the air that has been in our neighbors' lungs. We have lived Ubuntu.

A final announcement from the secretary told us that we had received a total of 419 resolutions; we completed work on 361 resolutions; the 95 incomplete resolutions which had been perfected by their committees will now be referred by the secretary to one of the standing committees.

We closed with many expressions of thanksgiving, including to those senior deputies who will voluntarily step down from service with this convention.

We adjourned at 4:55 p.m.

(I've got a follow-up email posting some resolutions that I think are of particular interest but that I haven't commented on earlier.)

Thanks for following my reports. It's been an honor to serve.

Lowell

General Convention, Day 9, Thursday, July 16

2009-07-16T19:02:00.001-07:00

General Convention, Thursday, July 16, Day 9 of 10

I slept until the alarm clock went off. Finally, my body has adjusted to the Pacific time zone. We finish General Convention's work tomorrow.

7:30 a.m. – Final Committee Meetings
We acted on all of the legislation before the Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee. The committee had a total of 63 resolutions to consider for the Convention. Everything from our committee goes first to the House of Bishops.

We sent the resolution about prayers for animal companions to the Consent Calendar.
We recommended rejecting some proposed alterations to Eucharistic Prayer C and continued authorization of the BCP Eucharistic lessons, reconfirming the RCL. (Note: According to Bishop Smith, the Canadian Church has done a good job of editing Prayer C. Alleged quote from ancient liturgical scholar: "If Prayer C sounds like it was written in a laundromat in New York City on the evening of the moon landing, it is because it was!"

Some things that leave the committee today may not have time to get through the House of Bishops and back to the House of Deputies for action.

We are also at the time when amendments are likely to kill legislation because there is not enough time for amendments to get through a committee and the other house.

Our chair Sam Candler said that the collegiality of this committee with deputies and bishops working together so well is a model of how the church should work. It has been an effective group, listening carefully to one another and working to find language that will create likely support in both houses.
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9:30 a.m. – House of Deputies Legislative Session

Chaplain Frank Wade's Meditation (notes)
Things that go without saying, usually do. In marriage we sometimes stop saying "I love you." Sometimes nations and churches fail to continue to tell their founding story. Saying our truth is a way of keeping our truth.

Paul said, "woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." Paul is saying that in order keep the gospel he must preach it, he must continue to tell the story.

The word evangelism has largely been stolen from the Episcopal Church, Frank said. Evangelism is not my trying to talk you into something, it is about sharing my story. T.S. Eliot said, "Take no thought for the harvest, just for the proper sowing."

I need to tell my story. If I don't tell it, I'm in danger of losing it. Because that which goes without saying, tends to go, without saying.

According to Frank, we're not that good at reflecting on and sharing our ongoing relationship with God. We Episcopalians can be woefully inarticulate. Suppose we as a church have assumed that our ongoing experience of God is something that goes without saying. Suppose for want of saying our story, we might lose our story. If the living God is only a remembrance of our ancestors, it doesn't matter what we say, for we will be adrift, cut off from the ongoing story that gives us life and validity. Without the story to tell, The Episcopal Church is an ancient service organization that meets weekly for a meal, listens to a speaker, and talks about how we give money to others to do good work elsewhere.

Keep first the Kingdom of God and live into gospel truth. We must begin to consider the importance of Evangelism in whole new light. We are part of a story worth telling. Let us tell our story and the story of what God is doing in our lives.
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Our first business is a special order to discuss and vote on the budget for the next three years of the Episcopal Church. Our deputy Pan Adams-McCaslin is the chair of the appropriations committee, Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F). It is a $140 million budget. Lots of people are lined up at microphones. There will be an emphasis on reducing costs of meetings – less money for travel. It is expected that more of the work will be done electronically and digitally.

The Black Caucus initiated the conversation with resounding endorsement of the budget, even though their interests would lose significant funding in the proposed budget. They offered the church a model of sacrifice and community as we began our debate.

We had several proposed amendments to the budget. The most dramatic vote was a proposal to add funding for the President of the House of Deputies support staff (she works for the House as a volunteer). The amendment failed 394 to 400.

I'm pretty pleased about something that I urged as the Convention debates our budget. I suggested that as each deputy speaks, the speaker identify what percentage of asking their diocese gives to the church budget. Asking is 21%. Arkansas gives 12%. Since we do not give our full asking, I believe people should know that and be able to take that into account as they listen to any suggestions or amendments I might offer with regard to our budget. So whenever I've spoken to a revenue issue, I've introduced myself as "Grisham, Arkansas, 12 percent." That's something I'd like to know about others speaking to the budget.

Many of the deputies are taking up my suggestion. As they introduce themselves, they are identifying what percentage their diocese gives in support of the budget. I've noticed that it is more frequent for deputies to claim their 21% giving than to self-identify at lesser amounts. (I noticed that one deputy from a diocese that gives no money from its diocesan budget, but only contributes through congregations and individual contributions to the national budget, did not offer that percentage in his introduction.)

We adjourned for church with about ten minutes left in our budget debate.
_________

Well known author an commentator on the emergent church movement Brian McLaren gave the sermon today. Some notes from his address:

For many Episcopalians, the "E-word" is an ugly word. Evangelism. It carries hints of colonialism, religious supremacy and bad televangelists. Imagine what the religious landscape would be if Evangelism were only the purview of Pentecostals and Southern Baptists, ignored and surrendered by Episcopalians. It is time to get away from our your reactionary prejudices, McLaren said to us. We need to link together E-piscopal and E-vangelism. It is a holy union. Religious moderates and mainline Christians need to rediscover a commitment to evangelism.

The reading from the epistle visions a new creation. We live in a new creation and invite other into that new creation. Paul and the other early adapters invited everyone into the new beginning. The new beginning includes dying to the old paradigms of dominion and religious shame and entering into the new politics of service for the common good, the new economics of sustainability, the new sociology of ubuntu, and the new religion of grace and compassion. This is a new way.

For Paul the E-word is the R-word – Reconciling. He saw a vibrant new identity. No longer insiders speaking from stained glass ghettos. An identity of peace, pleading with others – "Be reconciled to God." Pleading. Re-think everything. In Christ, God offers amnesty to all.

In John's gospel (1:35-42 – the call of the first disciples, including Peter). We see intelligent, earnest people in respectful conversation. Jesus asks, "What are you seeking?" Asking the right question. Important. Then, "Come and see." See what kind of adventure will unfold. That's exciting evangelism. That is happening in the Episcopal Church, McLaren said. At this convention, you have turned a corner, a page, and hearts – from the inside, outward.

For continued health, he said there are three distractions that we need to overcome.

1. Institutional Conflicts. McLaren told us: Your denomination has been offering a valuable service for the whole church in your brave and open work to extend full grace to all the baptized, and in many parts of the church you have been met with mockery and criticism. But you do not want to win that debate and lose your balance. Do not let it deform your fundamental incarnational identity.

2. Institutional Identity. We are tempted to lodge in our identity of trying to save our institutions, but the best way to save the institution is not to focus on self-preservation. He urged us to leverage our institution for saving the world. The MDG's and evangelism are both related aspects of our outward missional focus. It is all one piece. Resist a focus on institutional maintenance; make disciples; go into the world; do the will of God for the good of the world.

3. Institutional Rigidity. From McLaren's perspective, one of the most troubling issues facing the Episcopal Church is the complex way we have for our ministry candidates to go through discernment for ordination. He says that it would scare away anyone with a gift of evangelism. McLaurin says that he's one of those. Many years ago he was drawn to a calling and drawn by an attraction to the Episcopal Church. He felt call to church ministry, but found that call to be at odds with his call to evangelism. "Help people like me," he said, and tell those with a gift and call for evangelism that indeed, "The Episcopal Church welcomes you." McLaren closed with an energetic affirmation of the ethos and vitality of the Episcopal Church.
________

We finished debate on the budget and passed it in the form that PB&F proposed. Congratulations to Pan Adams-McCaslin for her good leadership. (Later this afternoon we got word that the House of Bishops had passed the budget, and Pan released an audible sigh of relief.)

At our passage in the House of Deputies, we paused for prayer for those who will lose their jobs because to the cut-backs authorized in this budget.

Returning to legislation.

We passed by a handful of votes an endorsement of a "single-payer" health care system for all – 404 yes / 398 no

A resolution opposing the "Defense of Marriage" acts raised some civil rights questions. I spoke in favor of the resolution, saying, "My wife Kathy and I celebrated our 34th anniversary last month. Our marriage is not threatened by the loving relationships of gay couples. I know gay couples who have been together longer than Kathy and I have. Those loving families are denied over 1,000 federal rights that I possess because I am married. That's discrimination, and it is wrong and un-American. I support this resolution to oppose the wrongly-named "Defense of Marriage" acts." We had a vote by orders.
Vote by orders:
Needed to pass: Lay 55; Clergy 56
Lay: 70 yes; 28 no; 11 divided 64%
Clergy: 60 yes; 35 no; 14 divided 55%
It passed.

A resolution condemning torture passed without audible opposition.

We had a resolution addressing the situation in Honduras. The resolution, largely informed by the bishop and deputies from that country, passed.

We had compelling witness from a lovely deputy who told the story of her 27 year old daughter's murder when a man proposed marriage to her and would not take "no" for an answer. In her grief, this mother set herself to learn about the pandemic of domestic violence. She said that clergy do not know how to respond when victims of domestic violence come to us. We tend to recommend anger management, or couples counseling, or restraining orders, which simply step up the abuse. Thirteen hundred women are killed annually. This is a hate crime. In the last five years, more women in the US have been killed by the men they live with, or used to live with, than American soldiers have been killed in war.

We need a change of culture, she said. The mover of this legislation recommends a training program by the Alabama Council Against Domestic Violence which that group offers to share at no cost.

We passed a courtesy resolution commending the continuing dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin. The rules of the house were suspended, and the four deputations stood to robust applause that rose into a standing ovation. There were tears of joy among many deputies.

We are doing well enough with our legislatvie calendar that we will not have to have an optional evening session. Hallelujah!

Lowell

General Convention, Day 8, Wednesday, July 15

2009-07-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

NOTE: I was so sleepy last night, that I forgot to send my report to this blog after I sent it to the Arkansas Clergy and to the Parish Constant Contact list.

I just posted yesterday (Tuesday) a few minutes ago in the blog entry just below this one. Sorry.

General Convention, Wednesday, July 15
Day 8 of 10

7:30 a.m. Committee meetings
The committee discussed our hope that both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies will be able to have an opportunity to discuss legislation around same gender blessings. It is expected that the House of Bishops will take up C056 this afternoon – that is the resolution that our committee passed earlier.

The Liturgy and Prayer Book Committee recommended referring all resolutions dealing with commemorations or additions to the calendar to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music.

We passed out of committee a recommendation to have a Sunday during Lent for support of the work of Episcopal Relief and Development.

We recommended sending a proposed alternative form of the Baptismal Covenant to the Standing Commission.

We passed a resolution for rites of thanksgiving and loss for a companion animal.

All of these will go to the House of Bishops for first consideration.
___________

9:30 a.m. Legislative Session

Frank Wade's Meditation:
Hezekiah – He's not that well known. Not many children are named for him. But he was a remarkably successful ruler of Israel. He was a builder. Hezekiah built the conduit that allowed for water to enter Jerusalem during a seige, and created the pool of Siloam where Jesus famously healed. Hezekiah also got along well with the prophet Isaiah, no mean feat. Hezekiah was a strong and good ruler.

And yet we have a record of a remarkable act of selfishness from Hezekiah. Isaiah prophesied to Hezekiah – after your death, the kingdom and the city will fall to Babylon and your sons and daughters will be carried away into captivity.

Hezekiah's response: "The Word of the Lord is good. Why not? There will be peace and security in my day."

Wow!! (Frank went on for a while. Did you hear that? ...etc) Can you imagine such selfishness? Who would be capable of such selfishness.

Someone like Hezekiah would go on polluting the environment, not worrying about the effects on later generations as long as his own convenience is not troubled, would not be bothered by endangering species or dying ozone or contaminated skies. Hezekiah ethics could incur debt beyond imagination, spending of endowments, acting with policies that ignored relevance to the younger generation and could let the education system rot, knowing the bad fruit won't rot until I'm gone. Such selfishness is almost beyond imagining.

And yet, many of us are living by Hezekiah's standards. What sets him apart from us is his candor.

Ubuntu links us not only with those who live now but also those who will live after us.

Are we trapped by our Hezekiah lifestyle? What will our church's "I am" be for our children when we have done with our "we are"?
_________

The House of Deputies passed a major piece of legislation by concurring with the Bishops to extend health care to our lay employees.

Things moved pretty slowly otherwise in the house this morning. When we stopped for Eucharist, I gave in to my deep tiredness and went back to my room to sleep for a while. I missed Steven Charleston's sermon, which I heard was outstanding. He's one of the finest preachers in the church today. Here's a link to an article about his sermon:
http://ecusa.anglican.org/79901_112609_ENG_HTM.htm
You can view the sermon online at http://ecusa.anglican.org/78650_87111_ENG_HTM.htm

Cheryl Clark sat in the house for me this afternoon, and I caught up on a lot of needed rest. I feel much better now.
_________

The afternoon was highlighted by a joint session of both houses meeting to receive the draft budget proposal. Arkansas' own Pan Adams-McCaslin is the co-chair of the Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F) Committee that prepared the budget. It calls for a decrease of $23 million and for lowering the asking from dioceses by 1% per year. For more about the budget presentation go to http://ecusa.anglican.org/79901_112611_ENG_HTM.htm

The House of Bishops took out language in the canon listing groups who would not be excluded from the discernment process – "race, color, ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age" and other proposed categories of gender identity and expression – and they replaced that with the words "all baptized persons" have access to the ordination process.

A lot of legislation moved through the House of Deputies today, including the final passage of a lay pension plan for employees who work 1000 hours a year or more. The deputies passed the statement. The deputies passed a resolution encouraging study of the current and any future draft covenant plans for the Anglican Communion. I was disappointed to miss the debate about the approval of a theological statement that will guide our interreligious dialogs. It was one of the most interesting offerings in the Blue Book.

The big news this evening is that the House of Bishops overwhelmingly passed an amended version of C056 that our Prayer Book and Liturgy committee sent to them. It will need to come to the House of Deputies next. We hope to see it tomorrow.

Here is the text that the Bishops passed, 104 Yes; 30 No; 2 Abstained:

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge the changing circumstances in the United States and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church, and for an open process for the consideration of theological and liturgical resources for the blessing of same gender relationships; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, collect and develop theological, and liturgical resources and report to the 77th General Convention; and be it further

Resolved, That the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops, devise an open process for the conduct of its work inviting participation from provinces, dioceses, congregations, and individuals who are engaged in such theological work, and inviting theological reflection from throughout the Anglican Communion; and be it further

Resolved, That bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church; and be it further

Resolved, That this Convention honor the theological diversity of this Church in regard to matters of human sexuality; and be it further

Resolved, That the members of this Church be encouraged to engage in this effort.

I plan to go to bed early tonight. I should be rested for the final sprint to the end of Convention.

Lowell

General convention, Day 7, Tuesday, July 14

2009-07-15T21:10:00.000-07:00

APOLOGIES!!

I was so tired last night. I sent my email to the Arkansas Clergy and to my congregation's list, but I forgot to post in this blog. VERY SORRY.

Tuesday, July 14, Day Seven of Ten

Last Night
We had a Liturgy and Prayer Book Committee meeting last night starting at 7:00 p.m. We finished editing a major contribution to our pastoral and liturgical resources – "Rachel's Tears, Hannah's Hopes" – Liturgies and Prayers for Healing from Loss Related to Childbearing and Childbirth. Throughout the past three years the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has worked with "Anglicans for Life" and with the women of the church and others in chaplaincy ministry to craft a pastoral resource. The work has been profound, carefully bridging the fault lines of abortion. It has been endorsed by leaders on both sides of the abortion debate.

In this work, the Episcopal Church has been able to have constructive conversation and prayer over one of the most emotional and divisive issues in our day. It has been a delight to work on the final steps of this fine composition.
_________

I meant to mention it in my Sunday report, but at the main Convention Eucharist on Sunday our own Archdeacon Joyce Hardy read the gospel and served as the deacon for the service. A proud Arkansas moment.
_________

7:30 a.m. – Committee Work
Liturgy and Prayer Book undertook a major editing project working with a series of new Commons – sets of prayers, readings and proper prefaces. Thanks to the sleepless work of Susan Williams of our committee, we have revised texts to consider. We worked through them, praying the Rite 1 versions out loud in order to perfect the language. Remarkable work.

It always impresses and encourages me how carefully, skillfully, and seriously the Church takes its work of creating prayer and liturgy. There is great wisdom and passion for this work. There is no way to exaggerate the passion and scholarship that is brought into this process. It makes me proud to be an Episcopalian and a person of "the Book" of Common Prayer and its other resources.

8:45 a.m. – Media Briefing
I left early from the committee in order to be a member of the Media Briefing Team for the morning press conference. Most of the questions were directed to the Bishops on our briefing team asking about their work in yesterday's passage of D025. We did talk about financing and the mission of the MDG's.

9:30 – Legislative Session
Morning Meditation by Chaplain Frank Wade: notes
Refugees, sojourners, immigrants, sojourners. Each seems different from the other, but taken together, there is a common point to consider. As Michael Battle writes in his book "Ubuntu," it is communities that teach us to be individuals. The community in which we grow up gives us its ethos as raw material from which we fashion our reality. We know we are beautiful because of the reference points of beauty we have learned from our environment.

Frank says, "I think of community as a gathered thing, with homogeneity." People who look a lot like us. But communities don't always hold together. Sometimes they leak, break off, rupture, spewing the parts in distant domains, creating refugees, sojourners, immigrants, sojourners.

These ruptured communities also form us. The mere fact of them, requires us to define ourselves. When a homeless person asks me for spare change, when I see a refugee on TV,
I know that they will get some of my money or some of my soul. Either I will empty my pockets a bit, or I will demean my spirit by turning away from their claim on me.

Amos warned those who lived well – people like us. We are in danger before God, not because we enjoyed good things, but because we were not grieved over the ruin of others. Jesus' story about Dives and Lazarus condemned Dives not because he was rich, but because he failed to see the hurting person at his doorstep. The very fact of their hurting requires us to respond. These broken pieces of community require us to behave one way or another. There is no formula of how we should respond, no guidelines. Except God's expectation that our humanity will emerge as we respond.

There is the call to hospitality. There is God's preoccupation with the little, the lost, and the least. The prerequisite is that we actually see them. No good is possible until we do; every good is possible when we do.
____________

The vote-by-orders on C061 that was not announced before we adjourned yesterday was announced. It passed overwhelmingly.
Total number of Votes: 109.
Needed to pass: 55 Yes
Lay: 82 yes // 21 no // 6 divided
Clergy: 72 yes // 28 no // 9 divided

The next order of business will deal with the new proposed church calendar of feasts and the principles for adding commemorations. I'm excited about this offering. We are adding more than 100 new commemorations for trial use. We'll be able to pray them and use them during the next three years, and then report back on our experience. We'll edit the feasts, prayers and readings for the next General Convention. If approved, it will become an updated version of "Lesser Feasts and Fasts," titled "Holy Women: Celebrating the Saints."

On a Vote by Orders, the calendar was passed overwhelmingly.
Needed to pass: 55
The Vote
Lay: 102 Yes // 5 No // 6 Divided
Clergy: 103 Yes // 3 No /// 6 Divided

Before the break for the Eucharist:
An enormous group of guests came into the hall as Ecumenical Visitors and Interfaith Guests. Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Protestant Christians lined up across the front of the hall.

Following the introduction of Christian Ecumenical Visitors, we had introductions of our Interfaith Guests. To close the visit, three cantors from the three Abrahamic faiths chanted the Aaronic Blessing. It was breathtakingly beautiful. A Jewish cantor began, with flowing, melodic prayers in Hebrew. It was gloriously haunting. As he ended his last note, a Muslim cantor sang a ringing sound of prayer like a clarion, and sang the same blessing in Arabic, clear and resounding in the echoing hall. His tones morphed into a gentle hymn from a Methodist singing blessings in an English style that sounded like a folk chant. As he finished his round, the Muslim singer joined and then the Jewish cantor – all three singing in their dramatically contrasting styles, yet flowing together with such complementarity that tears welled in my eyes and the Spirit rose palpably in the room. They finished one a single note and a holy silence descended upon us. It was an unforgettable experience. Jew, Muslim, Christian – each blessing us with our shared tradition. Incredibly beautiful.
________

Eucharist: Theme – MDG's – Millennium Development Goals
Preacher: Abagail Newlson of Episcopal Relief and Development
Notes from sermon: Jeffrey Sachs told this convention six years ago that ending poverty is not a matter of resources, it is a matter of will. Last year Episcopal Relief and Development touched the lives of 2.5 million people. We have a great hope.

She spoke of meetings among the CEO's of major food companies and another meeting among some of the dozen wealthiest individuals – all wanting to step up to alleviate poverty and suffering. Everything is connected; it's all one system.

Bishop Mark Hollingsworth of Ohio is biking 4000 miles immediately following this Convention in a significant fund raiser for the MDG's. "We can do this," she said.

"I am a daughter of many injustices," she said. Her mother is the descendent of slaves and of Cherokees who had hidden with slaves when being evicted from North Carolina. Her father's family fled England on explorer ships and established tobacco farms in South Carolina where they owned slaves for the labor for their business. One of her ancestors signed the Declaration of Independence in order to gain freedom from England. Her aunt was a Black Panther. In 1967 her father and mother met and fell in love. It was illegal for them to be married in her father's home state. His bishop refused to ordain him a priest. The family rejected them. They created a new family, a new nation. "I stand on their shoulders," she said. "How will my daughter stand on our shoulders?"

Working lunch. (Also, I had to retrieve my credit card from lost and found, having left it earlier in the quickie continental breakfast line.)
________

2:00 – Legislative Session

The first legislative work for the afternoon was for the House to respond to the Bishop's amended version of D025 concerning our witness to the Anglican Communion. The text that the deputies passed is in a previous report that I've already sent.

The bishops added the following language and passed the resolution by more than 2/3rds: "...that God's call to the ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church is a mystery which the Church attempts to discern for all people through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church;" and, "...the 76th General Convention acknowledge that members of The Episcopal Church as of the Anglican Communion, based on careful study of the Holy Scriptures, and in light of tradition and reason, are not of one mind, and Christians of good conscience disagree about some of these matters."

After debate, we again had a vote by orders and D025 passed
Lay: 78 yes // 21 no // 9 divided (72% yes)
Clergy: 77 yes // 19 no // 11 divided (72% yes)

The Church has reaffirmed its commitment to following its Constitutions and Canons in its discernment processes.
________

In his capacity with the Education Committee, Chris Keller made that committee's presentation in support of establishing a committee to examine the theological dimensions of marriage. In his statement, Chris quoted nicely from Bishop Charles Gore:
"The Church, standing firm in her old truths, enters into the apprehension of the new social and intellectual movements of each age: and because 'the truth makes her free,' is able to assimilate all new material, to welcome and give its place to all new knowledge, to throw herself into the sanctification of each new social order, bring forth out her treasures things new and old, showing again and again her power of witnessing under changed conditions to the catholic capacity of her faith and life."

As we adjourned, I went to the Media Briefing room to meet with the press to talk about the day. It was a significant day. We had questions about many of the resolutions that occupied the houses. One questioner seemed to be railing at us about numbers and the decline in the church. The Episcopal Church statistics mirror those of the other "mainline" churches and the Roman Catholic Church, when you take out the increase due to Hispanic growth. In other words, our demographics track the demographics of white Americans, particularly those who go to college. That's our base, and the base is not growing demographically. Two things that bode well for this "too white - too elitist" denomination. One is a new strategic plan intended to attract Hispanic members to the church, and the other is all of the resolutions that intend to honor the full participation of gay and lesbian people in the life of the church. Every survey of young adults shows that they accept the full equality of gay people. The biggest negative factor in surveys about young adults' attitudes toward church is that they believe Christians to be prejudiced, bigoted and anti-gay. Our welcome and full inclusion of gay people is one of our evangelism strengths, especially for the next generation.
________

As we closed the day, there seems to be some stuckness or controversy in the House of Bishops. They have not yet reported out the resolution D056 on same-gender blessings that my committee sent to them. It is to my mind a very good statement. I hope they can come to some resolution tomorrow. The convention clock is ticking, and there is only so much that can be done and ratified in the time remaining.

Lowell

General Convention, Day 6, Monday, July 13

2009-07-13T18:58:00.000-07:00

Monday, July 13 – Day 6

Conversation following yesterday's vote confirms the sense that D025 had strong support from the center of the Convention. The Diocese of Virginia publishes "The Center Aisle" as a forum for those who intentionally identify themselves as neither liberal nor conservative. "The Center Aisle" endorsed the resolution.

Although it is impossible in a vote-by-orders to get an accurate count of what the vote would be if it were a one-deputy-one-vote process, guesses that I've heard estimate the level of support somewhere around 75%.

7:30 a.m. – Committees Meet

Our task is to craft a resolution about same-gender blessings that will offer the Convention the opportunity to deliberate. We were especially focused on drafting something that will have a good likelihood passing the House of Bishops. The six bishops on our committee met together over the weekend and crafted for our consideration a document based on our earlier work with D056.

After considerable discussion and several amendments, we passed out of committee the resolution D056. (passed 6-0 by bishops and 26-1 by deputies on the committee; Bishop Parsley will write a minority report concerning one amendment that he hopes the House of Bishop will adopt).

As reported out of Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee, D056 would ask the Standing Comission on Liturgy and Music, in consultation with the House of Bishops Theology Committee, to "collect and develop theological resources and liturgies of blessing for same gender holy unions to be presented to the 77th General Convention for formal consideration" and to devise an open process that includes participation throughout the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The resolution would allow bishops to provide "generous pastoral response" to meet the needs of our members, particularly those in civil jurisdictions where same gender marriage, civil unions and domestic partnerships are legal. No bishop or other clergy would be compelled to authorize or officiate at such liturgies, and the Anglican Consultative Council would be invited into conversation about the resolution as well as other churches in the Anglican Communion. The resolution will go to the House of Bishops, where it is likely to be amended.
_________

9:30 – Legislative Session

Opening Meditation by Chaplain Frank Wade:
We will be having elections today. There are many fine nominees. They are qualified. They will be called to serve whether chosen or not. More are not chosen than are chosen. Those not chosen have an important role. They have as much to say as those chosen.

There is a temptation for all not-chosen. They have done what was necessary to qualify, they have good ideas, they stand vulnerable. But those not chosen are subject to the temptation to resentment. Resentment, according to Carrie Fisher, is like drinking poison and expecting someone else to die. Resentment is human.

Eleazar of Damascus was Abraham's servant, whom Abraham expected would inherit his estate, until the birth of Isaac. Isaac's name means "laughter." (Eleazar probably had another name for the baby, a name thankfully lost to us in history.)

Hagar and her son were driven out from Abraham's family. Justus was a qualified apostle and witness to the resurrection. He was not chosen as the successor to Judas. By a role of the dice Matthias joined the 12.

Those not chosen have a unique opportunity to be the heart of Christian witness. Their attitude and spirit will reflect Christ as they resist temptation and continue to serve. They witness to something larger than their own individual interests. They show themselves to be a servant community, who follow the one who is a foot washer. Those who are not chosen show what kind of church we really are.
_____

We began our deliberations with a very delicate matter dealing with conflicts emerging out of a challenged episcopal election in the Diocese of Ecuador Central.
_____

Eucharist. Preacher was Courtney Cowart, Director of Disaster Response, Diocese of Louisiana.
The Gospel lesson was the story of the Good Samaritan.
From her sermon: The Jericho Road was notorious and dangerous. Along that road, the chance for help was nil. People would hurry along, out of fear and caution. It would be unlikely for anyone to find a neighbor along this road, known as "The Bloody Way."

But all God needs is one catalyst. A Samaritan came across his social enemy, looked at him face to face, and all of the angels held their breath. Eyes met. A Samaritan chose to transcend the history of his people. He had a choice, to help a stranger or to collude with the norm of the road. By grace, this Samaritan chose mercy. It was a revolutionary act.

2000 years later, during a hurricane, 100,000 people were thrown into a toxic ditch and left in the road to die. All God needs is one catalyst, one true neighbor. A descendant of slave owners, a man in a purple shirt, sees a woman on the television; she is abandoned, rotting, holding a sign saying, "I am an American too." In the background an Army truck passes by.

Looking into eyes, that man chooses to transcend history. He assumes, as a cleansing honor, this stranger's plight. To mobilize is to risk defections from his diocese. It is a revolutionary moment; solidarity; compassion. These are our people, he says. A new communion. And a zillion Samaritan acts – the most powerful acts in the world – take place on the whole Jericho Road.

There is poverty and racism in the U.S. 37.3 million Americans are thrown into the ditch of poverty. So much of it is racial. Children. The 2006 poverty rate for children was the highest rate in the developed world. 58% of all children who grow up in the U.S. will spend at least one year living below the poverty line. We need to make choices about being neighbors. Ubuntu? Yes or No. All God needs is one neighbor. What if we all committed? I've seen the empathy of the world come to us, she said. It changed my view of humanity forever. 3 million people have engaged in a sustained pilgrimage to the Gulf Coast to glorify God on every Jericho Road.
__________

Meeting during lunch.
__________

2:00 p.m. – Legislative Session

Elections.

After extensive presentations and debate, the House confirmed the election of the Rev. Luis Fernando Ruiz Restrepo, bishop of Ecuador Central.

To speed our deliberations debate has been shortened to two minutes per speaker, total time 20 minutes.

Making good progress. One major piece of work was passed this afternoon – a major rewrite of the Title IV disciplinary canons. This is the culmination of 10 years of work. Thank God for good lawyers. A bunch of them worked hard to make this successful.

Some other items.

Program, Budget and Finance is going to recommend that the asking for diocesan assessments be reduced in the next three years.

The House of Bishops earlier passed a resolution establishing interim eucharistic sharing with the Northern Province and the Southern Province of the Moravian Church. The House of Deputies will receive that resolution sometime in the near future. With our growing relationships with the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the United Methodist Church, the Presbyterian Church USA, and the Church of Sweden – we are experiencing something of a reversal of the Reformation.

The Bishops also have passed a major proposal to expand health insurance coverage for all church employees working a minimum of 1,500 hours annually. The proposal will be coming to the House of Deputies.

C061 was introduced on the floor of the House of Deputies. It proposes to add the words "gender identity or expression" to the class of persons who would not be barred from access to the discernment process solely because of those reasons. Definitions were helpful (I hope my notes are correct.) Gender identity is one's own understanding of one's gender; gender expression is how a person represents or expresses one's gender identity to another, such as hair, clothes, voice, etc. It is what an individual does. It does not include one's relational behavior or one's sexual behavior. This proposal would prohibit excluding transgendered persons from a discernment process solely on the basis of their gender identity. No one has a right to ordination, and all persons in discernment must go through their diocesan discernment processes. We had a vote by orders, and we adjourned before the vote was counted and reported.

As we adjourned we received news that the House of Bishops had voted on D025, the significant resolution that the Deputies previously passed on a vote by orders. The Bishops concurred with amendment. The vote was 99 yes; 45 no; 2 abstentions. We do not yet have the amendment text. The resolution must come back to the House of Deputies for us to decide whether to concur with the Bishops' amended version. I'm told that the amendment says something about the mystery of call, but doesn't change the fundamentals of the version the deputies passed.

Randall Curtis told us that our Bishop Larry Benfield was the first to speak on the matter. Randall said that the Bishop was eloquent and moving in his support of the resolution. I'll send the text of the Bishop's comments as soon as I have it.

The House adjourned about 6:20 p.m.
________

7:00 p.m. – Our Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee has a special meeting to try to work on what continues to be a long list of resolutions.

I'm going to try to get this sent out before we begin.

Lowell

Jenny Te Paa

2009-07-12T23:12:00.000-07:00

Very possibly the most remarkable moment in the General Convention for me thus far was the address by Jenny Te Paa that I've written about earlier. Jenny was a member of the original Windsor Commission and is dean of a seminary in New Zealand. Here is a portion of her earlier address to the House of Deputies:

"I was sharing in all humility one of my deepest regrets (one that I know is shared by other Commissioners) that as members of the Lambeth Commission we were never fully apprised of the full facts of your polity and in particular of the limits to the power of the office of Presiding Bishop.

"As a result of that crucial gap in knowledge and understanding it is my belief that the very unfair, in fact the odious myth of ‘The Episcopal Church acting (in the matter of the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson) with typical unchecked US imperialism’, was more readily enabled and abetted to grow wings and fly unchecked for way too long across the reaches of the Anglican Communion...

"We realized, to our utterly deserved chagrin that we had perhaps failed albeit inadvertently to prevent something of the unprecedented vilification of the Episcopal Church and especially of its leadership that inevitably resulted.

"Your generosity of spirit in spite of all you have suffered so unjustly and unnecessarily over the past few years is just so perfectly admirable. That you continue with such magnanimity to gather international friends, to share with us so openly, so willingly all that you do so formidably, so precisely, so efficiently and so compassionately is a gift offering of such magnitude that it seems so utterly insufficient for me to simply say thank you, thank you, thank you.

[At this point, I had tears in my eyes.]

If I could be so bold I want also to assure you that among ourselves as your international friends we are now all quietly urging you not to dwell unduly with any sense of uncertainty about your place within the global Anglican Communion. Sure the fearmongerers abound – they always have and they always will but surely our gaze must always be fixed beyond the horizon of fear and just as surely that gaze must always apprehend first and foremost the images of those who are the least among us...

[Jennie was among a group of international guests among us. She took note of that, and of their encouragement for the sake of justice.]

I pause momentarily and ask you all to note that President Bonnie has here represented Brazil, South Africa, Ghana, Kenya and Aotearoa New Zealand – what she has done of course is actually invite the true global south into your midst!

[Lest you think this was just a "love feast." In charitable but firm terms, Dr. Te Paa challenged the General Convention about our appropriation of the term "Umbutu." She is from a native tribe in New Zealand and speaks with authority about the appropriation of one cultural idea into another culture. In the following, she challenged the Convention in sharp, but guarded words. Her address was not mere fluff.]

We have seen how attractive indigenous spirituality; in fact indigenous tradition in its many forms has suddenly assumed a level of contemporary interests and attractiveness. We have in all of this become desperately afraid of cultural appropriation and so as this intensely beautiful and endlessly complex concept of ‘ubuntu’ is uttered and claimed, explained and proclaimed I cannot help but wonder if all the necessary precautions against even unwitting appropriation have been taken?

Now as I said I offer this comment not by way of a criticism but rather by way of a word of loving advice from this your indigenous sister. I don’t know what precautions you may well have taken but if I may suggest, one of the markers which we indigenous peoples have found most helpful in these matters is to ask of those seeking to enter more fully into the very different socio, politico, spiritual, cultural worlds of ‘the constructed other’, are you intent on becoming one with or one of ‘the other’?

The most respectful of these options if of course the former. In this way we are each freed to become fully whom God created us to be and to flourish into that God given identity. The actions of one seeking to become ‘one with’ are those of selfless, sacrificial and loving solidarity whereas the actions of one seeking to become ‘one of’, are likely to be characterized by unashamed self-interest! The former option is thus more likely to be true ubuntu, but then I would not be so bold to determine such a thing! I simply raise a respectful cautionary flag.
_____________

I know she may be a bit hard to follow, but I find the spirit of Jenny Te Paa absolutely compelling.

Lowell

General Convention, Day 5, Sunday, July 12

2009-07-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday, July 12, Day 5

(NOTE: At the end of the day, we had a significant vote. It is reported at the end of this message.)

How wonderful to sleep a bit later this morning. My plan was to attend the ECW breakfast, but I didn't get to the exhibition hall in time to get tickets, so I slept late.

10:00 – We had the Convention's main Eucharist and the Ingathering of the United Thank Offering. The Presiding Bishop celebrated and preached to an enormous congregation that looked to me to be around 2,500 people.

The music and spirit was contagious. Some highlights from Bishop Jefferts Schori's sermon:

In the Gospel reading we heard the message "travel light." In the 19th century, missionaries often shipped their supplies ahead of them as they left for their journey into mission. They often packed their supplies in a coffin, not expecting to return home before their deaths.

Those missionaries took their culture with them. Culture can be an idol. Jesus sends us and tells us to travel light, to expect hospitality, to heal, and to announce peace, the Kingdom of God has come.

Are you open to receive what is offered here? What will you put down or leave behind in order to receive? Expect to meet the image of God in the other.

The Bishop told of a story about some young people who told her about going out into the city and offering "high-fives" to everyone they encountered. Some commuters stopped in their tracks to "high-five" the young people; others passed them by without a look. Whatever happened, the young people accepted it. The next day they were going to wave big signs saying, "Free Hugs."

Jesus told the disciples, Go! Just go. Notice – They went ahead of Jesus. Like an advance team. They announced, "The Kingdom of God is already here." Jesus told them to accept the response, whatever it is.

Are you ready to go ahead of Jesus? Expect to see evidence of God already there. Paul expected hospitality, even in jail.

Roland Allen told missionaries to bring the scriptures and sacraments, then get out of the way.

How much of a burden to our mission is culture and structure?

We are fed for service and we are fit for mission. Sharing our peace. It you find it, great. If not, move on.

The UTO offering will travel. All over – feeding, healing, preaching the Kingdom of God. The PB listed a long series of ministries that will be supported by the UTO. Ministries from all over the world and the U.S. Mission. Life on the road.

In the coming days, what welcome will you offer? What will you receive? Where will you announce peace? How will you heal?

Eat what is set before you and go out to become the sacrament of the Kingdom of God.
___________

After Eucharist, break for lunch.
___________

A little time in the exhibition hall before we resume.

Some other interesting ministries I found among the exibits:
The St. Nicholas Center has great ideas and resources to support celebrations in honor of St. Nicholas, especially in December. www.stnicholascenter.org
Dorcas House is an Episcopal Church ministry supporting children of prisoners in Tijuana, Mexico www.dorcashousefriends.org
There is a very impressive church in Palisades, California – St. Matthew's – that has a great tradition of developing outreach ministries. Good place to learn "how to." I didn't see their web site.
Global AIDS Interfaith Alliance – www.thegaia.org
___________

3:00 p.m. Legislative Session

Chaplain Frank Wade opened with a meditation. Notes from his talk:

Halfway point. Daunting list of decisions not yet made. They are the most complex. We feel as if we've been straining at gnats and still must swallow camels. We feel like we've been here a long time.

We've settled into a routine. Parliamentary decisions are making more sense. The shuffle between legislation and worship; liturgy and politics mean the same thing – the work of the people. We say "Aye" in one hall and "Amen" in the other hall. They are the same.

This is where we ought to be. It takes time to let the big decisions percolate. Our uncertainties are among the most familiar themes in scripture.

The only time our ancestors were certain of themselves is when they were making a calf. Otherwise they were following fire, or a cloud. Peter on the water – when he kept an eye on Jesus, he could walk; when he looked away, he began to sink. "Eyes on Jesus. Do the job." We're halfway there.
__________

We took up the first landmark resolution having to do with our policies with respect to our relationships within the Anglican Communion. Here is the text of D025:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring. That the 76th General convention reaffirm the continued participation of The Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion; give thanks for the work of the bishops at the Lambeth Conference of 2008; reaffirm the abiding commitment of The Episcopal Church to the fellowship of churches that constitute the Anglican Communion and seek to live into the highest degree of communion possible; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention encourage dioceses, congregations, and members of The Episcopal Church to participate to the fullest extent possible in the many instruments, networks, and relationships of the Anglican Communion,

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention reaffirm its financial commitment to the Anglican Communion and pledge to participate fully in the Inter-Anglican Budget; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention affirm the value of "listening to the experience of homosexual persons," as called for by the Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, 1998, and acknowledge that through our own listening the General Convention has come to recognize that the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed relationships characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God; and be it further

Resolved, that the 76th General Convention recognize that gay and lesbian persons who are part of such relationships have responded to God's call and have exercised various ministries in and on behalf of God's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and are currently doing so in our midst, and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention affirm that God has called and may call such individuals, to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church, which call is tested through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge that members of The Episcopal Church as of the Anglican Communion, based on careful study of the Holy Scriptures, and in light of tradition and reason, are not of one mind, and Christians of good conscience disagree about some of these matters.

Because I was standing in line to speak to the resolution, I wasn't able to take notes about the debate. We debated for 30 minutes, alternating between pro and con. The time ended before either I or Chris Keller could speak; we were both in line.

The House took a vote by orders. A vote by orders is a traditional and conservative structure that the General Convention observes, especially when it makes decisions on controversial or especially significant matters. In a vote by orders, we tally the vote in separate orders. The resolution must pass simultaneously by a majority vote in both the lay order and the clerical order.

Each diocese gets one vote in the lay order and one vote in the clerical order. Here's how that one vote is determined. There are four deputies in each order. It takes a majority of the four deputies to vote in the affirmative – 4-0 or 3-1 = "yes." A 2-2 vote is a divided vote and counts as a "no."

So anything that is significant or controversial cannot pass the General Convention on a simple majority. It takes something like a super-majority, and it has to pass both the lay and clerical order at the same time. Either house can defeat a matter. We don't make decisions lightly or with slim majorities.

Arkansas' vote on D025:
Lay "yes"
Clergy "divided" (which functions as a "no")

Results from the entire House:
Lay order: Needed to Pass – 50 Yes 77; No 31 – passed lay
Clergy order: Needed Pass – 49 Yes 74; No 35 – passed clergy
The resolution passes.

The resolution will now go to the House of Bishops for their deliberations and their decision whether to Concur or to Reject or to Amend and pass. If it is amended it would return to our House.

Lowell

A Brief Essay

2009-07-12T09:51:00.001-07:00

This is a bit of a departure for me. I'm not reporting about events from the Convention, but I'd like to share something that came to my thoughts early this morning when I was reflecting on the choices before the Episcopal Church with regard to our policies toward gay and lesbian Christians and our relationship with the Anglican Communion.
__________

When President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights act of 1964, he prophesied that the Democratic Party was "signing away the south for 50 years."

I can imagine the voices among the Democrats at that time of decision in 1964. Do not pass this Civil Rights legislation. You will split the party. You will alienate the Southern part of our communion. You'll be thrown out of office. We have a fragile relationship with the Dixiecrats. Don't do anything to further strain those relationships.

LBJ and the Democratic Party could have backed away from the Civil Rights Act of 1964. They could have maintained the structural union within their party - but at what cost. The cost would have to be put on the backs of black people, continuing the disenfranchisement of African Americans, perpetuating their marginalization and continuing their discrimination.

Today we look back at that moment of decision in 1964, and we know that they chose right and we are proud of them. When the time of decision comes, you have to do what is right, whatever it costs: to extend freedom, equal opportunity and to defend liberty and justice for all.

Lowell

General Convention, Day 4, Saturday, July 11

2009-07-11T23:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 11 – Day 4

6:30 a.m. – Early meeting to discuss upcoming legislation.

7:30 a.m. – Committees Meet. Prayer Book & Liturgy had hearings on nine resolutions.

There seems to be strong support for a process of hymnal revision, funded by Church Publishing.

We had a series of supporters addressing a request for the Standing Commission for Liturgy and Music to prepare resources for the Death or Illness of a companion animal. Last Convention I sponsored a similar resolution that didn't get passed.

I was impressed about a couple of testimonies. First, a priest from St. Francis, Fair Oaks, CA told us about their ministry for training service dogs, especially for Veterans. Vets suffering from post-traumatic stress help with the training of the service dogs and find that their work helps in their own healing. Second, a disabled priest told of her journey from hospice, to wheelchair, to walker, to cane, to Kona – she introduced her service animal. She told us about their ministry, "Dogs for God" in the Diocese of Los Angeles. Great stories and fine ministries.

We had opposing views over revising Eucharistic Prayer C. This should be an interesting conversation. It starts with the suggested inclusion of matriarchs in a paragraph about the patriarchs. There are quite a few other ideas about Prayer C. We'll have a lively conversation about this.

There is also a proposed alternative version of the baptismal covenant which would have the congregation speaking the words of the covenant rather than responding to the covenant, "I will, with God's help." We heard testimony that also included the possibility of setting the baptismal covenant liturgy to music.

After the hearing was ended, the committee began our conversation about same-sex blessings. The sub-committee that I served yesterday presented the version of a resolution that we constructed and the chair asked for comment, especially from the bishops on the committee, since whatever we produce will go first to the House of Bishops. We had some helpful, constructive conversation. We'll take this work up when the committee reconvenes Monday morning.
___________

9:30 – House of Deputies Legislative Session

We opened with the chaplain Frank Wade's meditation.

"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times..." Charles Dicken's words are applicable to every age, ours as well as Benedict of Nursia's age – today is his feast day. Benedict's life was during the golden age of the Mayans, the age of gold in west Africa; in the Pacific Northwest, they discovered how to catch salmon, and the Angles and Saxons were competing in England, not knowing their tribes would one day be joined linguistically. But in Benedict's world, the Roman Empire was dying slowly.

Benedict turned away from the crumbling world and turned toward the Kingdom of God, creating a Rule for community.

There is a truth – basic to the genius of the rule and basic to Ubuntu: Christianity is a Verb. Christianity is something that people do.

Phyllis Tickle says that there are three ways that people connect to Christianity. To belong, to believe, to behave. She says that Christianity of the heart needs all three. The Rule of Benedict says that we have to do, to have community. Ubuntu says community has to do to make us. We have to do our faith.

Do you know why we are called followers of Jesus? Frank asked. Because Jesus is going somewhere. Jesus is moving on, stepping into the future, Jesus is a verb. We are followers of Jesus.

Christianity is a verb. Mission is a thing done. In the best of times; in the worst of times. We must be about the doing of it.
_________

We had a 15 minute presentation from Kay Myers, the president of the Episcopal Church Women. One note: among the keynoters for the ECW Triennial meeting are two speakers that we have enjoyed in our McMichael Speaker Series at St. Paul's, Steven Charleston and Phyllis Tickle.
_________

Back to legislation. A couple of committee recommendations were turned down. We endorsed faith-based reconciliation training. We debated and passed a policy for transparency about members of church committees and organizations.
_________

The preacher for the Eucharist was Ray Suarez, Senior Correspondent for the News Hour with Jim Lehrer on PBS. "We are forced to fight the battles history has conspired to present to us," he said. Quoting Benedict (today is his feast day), "Let the house be led by the wise." Suarez told about his son and daughter going to the Gulf Coast to help with post-Katrina cleanup, to the Sioux nation and to Honduras with their Episcopal congregation's work and worship trips.

God has prepared us to be who we are for this time in history, he said. We don't agree on everything. We bring Jesus to a suffering world. In a world where they are telling us that Jesus wants us to be rich, our church is telling us Jesus wants us to be holy. So many people need what we've got, he said. A church willing to love them back, calling the whole world to change. We can cling to what is eternal, understand what is changing, and open our arms like Benedict, saying, "Welcome. You're home."
_________

Break for lunch

We have protestors shouting things like "the worst thing in the world is a woman lesbian bishop" and carrying signs like "Gene Robinson Minister of Satan." Some lovely young people walked silently in front of these protestors waving rainbow kites.
________

I took a "power nap." I got a chance to go to the exhibit hall. Found some books, ordered some clerical shirts and suits, learned about some interesting ministries – MicroPlace investments among world's working poor (www.microplace.com) – cooperating with the Episcopal Network for Economic Justice; www.beyondnuclear.org is raising concerns about the impact of uranium mining on indigenous peoples, their health and environment. I found new material from www.livingthequestions.com ; the Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union at the Los Angeles cathedral www.ecfucula , a ministry called St. Benedict's Toolbox www.stbenedictstoolbox.org , and some new publications from an old favorite Affirming Catholicism www.affirmingcatholicism.org
________

4:00 Legislative Session

Guests from Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and New Zealand spoke. All thanking the Episcopal Church for its witness of hospitality and inclusion. The South African spokesman spoke of violence being enacted upon gay people in Africa, including "reparative rape." If someone is identified as a lesbian, she will be raped in order to fix her, he said. Africa needs the courageous witness of the Episcopal Church on behalf of their gay Christians.

The most amazing moment of the Convention so far was the address by New Zealand representative Jennie Te Paa. She told the story of the New Zealand church's being the only province that has been punished by the Anglican Consultative Council for "raising indigenous people above their station."

Dr. Te Paa served on the Windsor Commission. I started trying to type what she was saying, but I had to stop and simply listen. Her word were incredible and moving. (After we adjourned I ran to the Media Center to see if they had the text of her speech, but it was hand written. Someone is typing it. When the text is posted, I'll send the part of it that was so captivating.)

She said that as she worked on the Windsor Commission, "We were never fully apprised of your policy." She said that they didn't understand the policy of shared leadership that is so core to the Episcopal Church's decision making. She regrets the vilification of the Episcopal Church, especially its leadership, within the Windsor process. She thanked us for "Your generosity of spirit, despite what you have suffered through these years." "I am a little surprised and saddened that too many Episcopalians are being affected by their sense of loss of face or vulnerability in belonging to the Anglican Communion," she said. "I am dismayed at the extent to which that seems to be prevalent."

As the others nodded in agreement, Te Paa said, "I don't believe that that is so … it is not how I perceive the rest of the communion regarding the Episcopal Church to be honest." This is another perspective of the Anglican Global South she said of the group on the platform.

"What's been good about being here and what's good about being able to repeat the message, is to assure the convention that that is far from the reality of the perception of the rest of the communion," she said. She cited the Episcopal Church's communion-wide support of theological education, its networks that organize Anglicans around causes such as the environment and peacemaking, and outreach efforts such as the NetsforLife program.

"The communion treasures you," she concluded. "It can't do without you."

She said that she hoped to invite other Christian educators to help the members of the Anglican Communion understand the "sheer ecclesiastical nonsense" of recent claims of certain provinces declaring themselves to be "out of communion" with other provinces, and threats that have been leveled to kick certain provinces out of the communion.

The fear mongers are at work, she said. Our gaze must be fixed beyond the boundaries of fear.

(I'll try to get some of the other quotes from her speech. I stopped typing as she extended something of an apology toward the Episcopal Church for the way it has been treated in the aftermath of the Windsor Report. It was a moving and significant speech.)

We had a couple of elections.

We debated and passed a resolution recommending the creation of a comprehensive definition of "basic healthcare" and to ask federal and state officials to establish a system to provide basic healthcare to all. The diocese of East Tennessee has offered to lead this work on behalf of the church.

We adjourned at 6:00. Tonight is the night for seminary banquets. I'm headed to the General Theological Seminary event at 6:30. I'll post my report afterwards.

Lowell

The Rev. Lowell Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, AR

General Convention, Day 3, Friday, July 10

2009-07-10T22:58:00.001-07:00

Friday, July 10, Day 3

7:30 a.m. – Legislative Committee meetings.
Our Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee began our deliberations on the various resolutions addressing the blessing of committed same-gender relationships and the questions about pastoral responses in states where civil unions and marriage are legal for gay couples. We began with a free form conversation about our thoughts following the hearing yesterday. One deputy remembered similar hearings in 2003. He said he recalls feeling exhausted after those hearings; yesterday, he said he felt energized.

One of the questions before us is what to do about dioceses in states where same-gender marriage or civil unions are legal.

One of the bishops on our committee has written about a tradition in the Orthodox faith which allows Bishops the pastoral authority to do what is necessary to care for their parishioners.

RESOURCE NOTE:
Available on-line – theological studies about blessing, marriage, baptism and sexuality:
From the Chicago Consultation, Christian Holiness and Human Sexuality:

From the Diocese of San Diego, Holiness in Relationships

We will need to look at the resolutions that offer changes to the Canons of the Church.

We will need to look at the resolutions that address questions about rites.

It seems that there is a wide range of options that the House of Deputies might confirm; it seems that there is a narrower range of options likely to be considered in the House of Bishops. Whatever we recommend will go first to the House of Bishops. We would like to create something with a likelihood of passage.

One possible resource that might come out of this process could be another publication in the Enriching Our Worship series. Rites from that series must have the permission of the Bishop to be used in a diocese. One suggestion: a volume in EOW that would include appropriate theological essays as well as gender neutral alternate rites for: 1. the Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage, 2. Blessing of a Civil Marriage, 2. A guide for a Rite 3 form of celebration.

We want to craft resolutions that have a chance of passing and which try to honor our responsibilities to our baptized members as well as our responsibility to achieve the highest possible degree of union with our partners in the Anglican Communion.

We created two sub-committees to work on language to craft resolutions for the committee's consideration. I'll be serving on the sub-committee working on rites.
______

I left the committee work a bit early in order to go to the morning Media Briefing where I was part of a team of three deputies and two bishops who were to field questions from the press. There weren't too many questions. Most questions had to do with our impression of the Archbishop of Canterbury's visit.

I responded to one questioner asking what impression the Archbishop's two-day stay with us might have made on him. I remarked that I recall the year when press from all over the world came to report on the consent process on Gene Robinson. There was a delay of almost two days, and the press was stuck. They had to watch the General Convention while we waited on a process before deciding on Gene Robinson's consent. Several reporters who unexpectedly had to watch our debate and processes wrote articles and editorials commending the quality of our deliberations. Several editorials said that Washington's governmental bodies could take instruction from the Episcopalians, with our passionate debate combined with great care and respect for the members. "These people really love one another," they noticed.

I remarked on the unprecedented number of Primates from across the Communion who are visiting this Convention. I hoped that they would enjoy our legislative process, which is rather unique in the Anglican Communion. We share power among the orders. Whenever any important issue is decided, it must pass a majority of each order: Bishops, Clergy, Laity. (In many other Communions power is lodged pretty exclusively with the Bishops.) I believe our tradition of energetic and shared decision making might be a gift to the rest of the communion.
_________

9:30 – We returned to our Legislative Session.

Chaplain Frank Wade was addressing the Women's Triennial meeting, so Elizabeth Anderson from the Youth Presence read his meditation. Some highlights:

Richard Tawney is famous as a historian of economics and for his advocacy of humane systems of finance and economics. He also had great insight into the Christian community. Tawney said, "Those who seek God in the absence of their fellows find not God, but Satan, whose countenence bears a striking resemblance to their own." Left to our own, we tend to worship ouselves.

Ubuntu. We need community, differences and perspective. The "other" is not an enemy to be conquered, but a book to be read. We need the otherness of others to be our best selves. Because that is hard, we need to ask God for humility to hear and love the other. When my truth can be joined to your truth, a great truth might emerge.
__________

There followed a brief legislative session.

Then we entered into our second "Committee of the Whole" to allow conversation, not debate, about our thoughts concerning B033, passed at the previous Convention. (B033 continued a moratorium on the election or consent to election of gay bishops.) The chair created a random process for conversation, using a lottery to choose 30 members of the Convention to speak. Each speaker had two minutes to speak. Over the time period we had good balance – 16 people wanting us to take a next step beyond B033; 10 speakers wanting us to continue the policies of B033.

Some of the comments from various speakers:

An historian told us that B033 tends to turn us into a professing church rather than a creedal church. That is not traditional, she said. Requiring conformity is not Anglican. She does not want to be morphed into a Presbyterian.

Do we really think our relationships with the Anglican Communion are fragile? No! They are not. The church's involvement in the MDG's has developed relationships and involvement of parishes and dioceses with many partners throughout the Communion.

Our relationships with the Anglican Communion are indeed fragile.

A deputy told how upset an elderly woman was after the deputy returned home from Convention in 2006. The woman was returning soon to South Africa and Rwanda to work with children with HIV, many orphaned. She had made many close friends in those countries, and knew they would be disappointed, because they are looking to the U.S. and the Episcopal Church to help end the discrimination and persecution of gay people in their countries. She wept for their sadness.

Peter's vision of a sheet descending with clean and unclean animals, and the voice telling him, "God has shown me not to call anyone unclean or profane." B033 does that; calls some people unclean or profane.

There are two kinds of change. There is modification of the way things are. And there is adaptive change – the change of a whole system. Adaptive change takes time. The longer a system has been one way, the longer adaptive change takes. The temptation is prematurely to jump out of the chaos and the anxiety that accompanies adaptive change. B033 is a crucible for adaptive change.

If you say "wait," please tell us how long.

A deputy remembered the advice given during pre-marital preparation. "Would you rather be right, or would you rather be married?" It is time for us to wait; be still.

We should act with modesty and self-restraint. This church is not the entire Body of Christ.

Many planes approached the sound barrier. The planes shook, and the pilots turned back in fear. Only Chuck Yeager had the courage and perseverance to continue to fly through the shaking. He broke the sound barrier and emerged into the peace and quiet of super-sonic flight.
________

Lunch conversation about the upcoming debates. Then at 1:00 I joined a sub-committee of the Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee to work on the resolutions dealing with same-gender rites. We did some efficient work and developed a text that the committee can consider at our next meeting.
________

Legislative Session: 2:00 - 6:00.

Fairly uninspiring stuff for the most part. Slogging through legislation. There was a dramatic debate over the contested election of the Bishop of Central Ecuador. It was not resolved.

We passed a Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation. We passed a significant resolution on Immigration Justice. We passed a resolution decrying extra-judicial killings and disappearances in the Philippines.

We heard a presentation from Episcopal Relief and Development.
Our outreach ministry has achieved:
Highest rating possible from Charity Navigator
Met all 20 standards for the Better Business Bureau's Charity Accountability
90 cents of every donated dollar goes directly to the relief ends.

Very moving and exciting presentation about the work of Episcopal Relief and Developmentf, inluding the MDG Inspiration Fund. We've reached and surpassed a $3 million goal despite the economic downturn of the past year.
_________

Left to do the Media Briefing for the press at 6:15.

News from other parts of the Convention. The committee that was looking a lay pension and insurance inclusion proposal passed it as recommended, unanimously.

And the House of Bishops passed "Holy Women, Holy Men," a new expanded calendar of observation for the great "cloud of witnesses." I'm pretty excited about this. We've added over 100 people to our calendar, for trial use. The church will set up a process for praying these propers and for reporting back our experience. There will be a procedure for the whole church to respond and to critique the calendar, collects, readings and proper prefaces between now and the next General Convention which will reconsider the calendar for permanent acceptance.

I hope everyone in the diocese will contribute to the trial evaluation of the new calendar and its readings.

Lowell

General Convention, Day 2, Thursday, July 9

2009-07-09T23:26:00.000-07:00

Thursday, July 9 - Day Two

Early start with committee meetings at 7:00 a.m.

In Prayer Book and Liturgy, we worked to perfect a series of new "Commons" - special orders of collects, readings and proper prefaces for new observances such as Commons for Artists and Writers, Care of God's Creation, Goodness of God's Creation, Anniversary of a Disaster, Prophetic Witnesses, etc.

It is often said that sausage is delicious, but you don't want to watch it being made. We had some sausage-making moments as we worked hard to perfect these commons. We made progress, but had to quit at 9:15.
_________

We began with our first "Mission Conversations" at 9:45. After some instruction, eight of us at our small table each told a story about ourselves and a time of choice important in our lives. We each had two minutes. Then we had five minutes of debriefing to help us understand what each of us heard.
_________

Our Eucharist began at 11:30. Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles presided, alternating beautifully between English and Spanish.

Our meditation was by The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop began with a preamble. He first said "thank you" for our invitation to him and for our willingness to engage in conversation within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It is hard conversation, and many feel impatient, compromised, harassed, etc. It won't get easier. Secondly, he wanted to be open and self-defining about his own hopes and anxieties. He said that he hoped the Convention would not make decisions which would push the communion further apart. He said that the Communion is deeply concerned because the Anglican Communion values what the Episcopal Church can give to the rest of the Church and he hopes the bonds of relationship will be deepened. Quoting St. Paul to the Corinthians, "God knows we love you."

Continuing his meditation, +Rowan invoked a vision of the church to which we have been called. Quoting from the Gospel reading (John 15:15-17), the Archbishop said "His Word makes us his friends." God has allowed us to overhear the eternal conversation of the Son with the Father whom he calls "Abba." We are allowed within earshot of the intimacy betwen the Father and the son, an intimacy which Jesus opens to the world. It is a fact of our being in Jesus that we are in intimate union with God.

God's longing for humanity is broken open for love. There is a cost. In the divine freedom, God makes light, creates community which forms humanity. We are called forth from nothingness. Even now we stand over the abyss: sin, the nothing out of which God has called us, perpetually threatens to cause us to slip back into emptiness. Jesus faces full the strange power of nothingness. Jesus dies because we do not want to die, to die to our fantasies. Yet he, in his love, is indestructible. The Church, in Christ, looks death in the face and declares it to be overcome.

Yet we continue to collude with death. The Archbishop gave a litany of ways that we are destroying our creation, especially in the ecology and economy. But the church names death and promises life. We must give up trying to justify ourselves. We must recognize that life is not our achievement. When we accept our helplessness, "our name is spoken by God," and we are called friends.
_________

During lunch I enjoyed some fascinating conversations led by Jenny Te Paa, a seminary dean from New Zealand and a member of the original Windsor Report panel. She was joined by a professor of history from Oxford who advises the Church of England House of Bishops. Both of them spoke of the gifts that the Episcopal Church can give to the Anglican Communion.

There is a freshness and fearlessness present in the Episcopal Church that is absent in many of the other Anglican provinces. Some of that is due to our structure, which includes empowered voices other than bishops, and due to the significant contributions of women in our church leadership. In many parts of the church, gay and lesbian Anglicans and their pastors are counting on us to stand up and speak for them, for they are often silenced and many live in life threatening circumstances.
_________

At 2:00, a crowd that I estimated a crowd to be about 400 showed up for our committee's hearings about a series of resolutions addressing same-sex blessings and marriage.

Some of the resolutions that received comment involved changing the canons of the church to reflect some of the gender neutrality that is now present in the secular laws of several states. These resolutions would substitute the word "spouse" where the words "husband or wife" appear, and either "two adults" or "two persons" where the words "a man and a woman" appear in the church's canons. The intent would be to allow, but not require, bishops and clergy in dioceses where same-sex civil marriage or civil union is allowed to give our members access to those rites. Other resolutions would authorize the preparation of trial rites for same-sex union blessings or adapt the Prayer Book rites toward marriage equality. One proposal would allow the bishop or Ecclesiastical Authority to authorize rites for "diocesan liturgies for blessing same-gender committed relationships of enduring love, mutuality and fidelity," while protecting the conscience of any bishop or clergy." And a final resolution seeks to designate Inquiring and Discernment Parishes that would offer pastoral blessings and report back to the church an evaluation of their experience.

Some of the comments from the two hour hearing:

Speaking against the proposals, a deputy overheard a teen say, "The prophets were a bunch of straight men who said what God would not say." These blessings are contrary to the word of the prophets. To allow them would be to teach children not to trust the Word of God.

Just like the ordination of women at an earlier Convention, the presence of committed, blessed gay couples is "not longer a theory to be considered but a reality to be recognized."

From a bishop: 36 years ago, 1973, we changed our canons to allow remarriage after divorce - despite the clear teaching of scripture, a wealth of ethical tradition, and a core understanding about the meaning of the marriage. We did so out of grace, compassion and pastoral mercy for people whose marriages had died. Gay people now ask for what heterosexual persons secured for themselves years ago. We must cease to heap burdens upon others that we would not carry.

These proposals would change the earliest of scriptures, Genesis 2 which defines marriage as the union of man and woman.

A mother spoke of her child, adopted from Korea as an infant. We knew he was gay by age three, she said. When we realized, we left the Roman Catholic Church and became Episcopalian. We would not have our child grow up in an environment where he would be treated as a lesser child. He is now 22. Like any mom, I pray that he will find the love of his life, and that when that man comes along, we can celebrate the joy of his marriage in our church.

A California priest told of his parish's experience during the open window when marriage equality was allowed in their state. Their Vestry passed a resolution declaring for all couples equal access to the sacraments. He and his staff of priest performed marriages for 46 gay couples during the months it was legal in California. He said he was so humbled during the pre-marriage preparation sessions with these couples, and he recognized his own arrogance as a straight man. The shortest time any of these gay couples had already been together was eight years. They ranged from 8 to 38 years together. The couple in their 70's who had been together 38 years told him that the love between them was so big, it could only be divine.

A woman said that same-gender blessings were not accepted by a majority of the greater communion of our churches or the greater Christian communion. She fears we will experience further bleed-out.

A gay priest told how the church has always stood by him. When he recognized his sexual orientation as a teen, he came to his priest and said, "I can't take communion. I'm gay." The priest said, "So? We've known that about you for a long time." When his bishop approached him about the possibility of his having a priestly vocation, he said, "No, Bishop. I'm gay." The bishop said, "So?" He is thankful for the church's consistent support.

A 17 year old high school graduate told about how much the annual week of summer camp had meant to her. The community she experienced there was formative. Among her friends was a boy who was gay. He was accepted; he was their friend; his sexual orientation was a non-issue for them. In his suicide note, when he took his life in junior high school, he said he could no longer live in a world where he was accepted only one week in the year.

One person told of listening to the stories of African, Asian, and Latin American GLBT persons who live under the threat of beatings, exile and death. They are looking to us for support. For them it is a life and death issue.

Another woman said she is liberal, but she is worried that we are becoming a community of the fundamentalist left. We are not working to be inclusive of the right. Do we yet know theologically what is the distinction between marriage and sacred union?

A young Massachusetts woman announced to her Irish Catholic family that she and her partner of five years were getting married. The family had not previously showed much understanding or support of their relationship, but her aunts and uncles were suddenly enthusiastic about the announcement. "They may not understand my sexuality, but they understand weddings." The rites and celebrations are important.

A woman spoke of her husband of eight years who told her he was uncertain about his sexuality. They went to counseling for seven years, and finally ended their marriage. She has recently happily remarried. "I have the freedom to marry." Her husband who now identifies himself as gay does not have that freedom. She wishes for him the same rights and joy that she has.

A member of the church in Europe said that civil rights do not automatically make church rights. We need theology, especially in parts of the Anglican world that still believes that homosexuals are sinners.

Jesus said, "If you love me, keep my commandments." Love his law. It is God's law that same-gender relationships are wrong.

An 18 year old member of the Youth presence at General Convention said she is gay. She is her parents' only child. She wants us to hurry up and pass rites for her parents' sake and her own, so that she can be married from the church, not only buried from the church. Her father wants to walk her down the aisle.
______________

4:30 p.m. - The House of Deputies reconvened for a Legislative session.

Chaplain Frank Wade offered the day's meditation.

In theology, we rarely have what might be called a "breakthrough." We move slowly. Not often does theology say, "This just in..." "Film at 11.."

But the High Priestly Prayer of John 17 is just such a breakthrough moment. Jesus prayed to the Father, "Make us one and you and I are one." That prayer was answered with a resounding "Yes!" Because of that response, We Are One.

It is said that when Einstein learned of the atomic bomb, he said, "This changes everything, except the way people think." When God said "yes" to Jesus' prayer, this changed everything except the way people think. We think as if unity were a goal to strive for rather than a reality.

Ubuntu. Our distinctiveness comes from our connectedness. Like gravity, it's not just a good idea; it's the law.

History is full of stories of separation. But, mark this well: Because of God's answer to this prayer, separation is the organizational experience of a theological impossibility. We are one, just as Jesus and the Father are one. The prayer has been answered, and the answer is "Yes." "Film at 11..."
_________

After a failed attempt to work the electronic voting machines, we moved to a special order to engage in conversation about B-033, passed at the 2006 General Convention.

A bit of history. (I hope my notes are correct.)

The Windsor Report of October, 2004 asked the question, How does the Anglican Communion address the relationship between its component, autonomous parts? Three conclusions: 1. Churches should refrain from electing or consenting to the election of a bishop whose manner of life further strains relations within the communion. 2. Churches should refrain form authorizing rites for same-gender relationships. 3. Churches should refrain from intervening activities in dioceses other than their own.

The 2006 General Convention passed several resolutions, including an expression of regret for the pain caused to other members of the Communion, and a commitment to listening to other parts of the church. But when a special committee offered a resolution mandating our refraining from consent to the election of a bishop in a non-celibate same-sex relationship, it failed.

Fearing that we had made no adequate response to the Windsor Report, late in the Convention, the House of Bishops wrote and passed B033. The House of Deputies suspended the rules to consider and to pass the resolution which strongly urged the church not to elect or consent to a bishop whose manner of life might cause offense to other parts of the communion.

In Fall 2006, the Joint Standing Committee and Primates of the Anglican Consultative Council judged that the response of the Episcopal Church was an adequate response to the Windsor process. Some Bishops and Archbishops disagreed with that judgement and intervened to disagree.

At the Lambeth Conference of May 2007, the Bishop of New Hampshire was not invited.

In September 2007, the House of Bishops with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Joint Standing Committee of the ACC re-affirmed B033 and judged that the Episcopal Church had "clarified all outstanding questions."

The Archbishop of Canterbury then solicited opinions among the Anglican bishops in March 2008. There were three types of responses. 1/3 concurred that all outstanding questions had been clarified; 1/3 said the Episcopal Church had not responded adequately; 1/3 didn't respond.

In Mary 2009 the ACC reaffirmed the moratorium.

Now where are we? There was no timetable given for any moratorium. The moratorium of restraint regarding diocesan boundaries has not been observed. There was also no definition of what consensus might mean within the Communion.

The options for our church are as follows:

1. Take no action and allow the policies of B033 to continue.
2. Reaffirm B033 (there is no resolution to that effect, however)
3. Pass one of the resolutions now proposing a commitment to full inclusion.
There are three types:
1. Repeal B033 and reject its interpretation.
2. Declare a conclusion to the time of restraint and make a new statement to reaffirm our non-discriminatory policies.
3. Make a general statement about where we are today, reaffirming that all orders now have gay and lesbian members and are open to discernment by gay and lesbian members.
__________

The House then spent 30 minutes in a process of respectful listening. Each deputy found one person who was unknown to them, and they addressed three questions:

1. What is your story with respect to B033?
2. What is our story as a church with respect to B033?
3. What is God calling us to do now?

I had an engaging conversation with a priest from Southwest Florida.
__________

We recessed. I didn't have time to eat before our committee had hearings about other proposed additions to the church calendar.

Among the more interesting ones (to me) - Andronicus and Junia, Apostles (Romans 16:7) A faithful couple, Paul calls "my relatives and prison companions. They are notable Apostles and they were in Christ before me." Note: a woman apostle.

Thurgood Marshall. Civil Rights lawyer, supreme court justice, vestry member and deputy to General Convention.

Designate the first Sunday of Lent as Episcopal Relief and Development Sunday.

A Creation Cycle lectionary for part of the Sundays after Pentecost.

Paulii Murray, first African American female priest

John Jay, first Chief Justice; Trinitarian, founder of the American Bible Society, Warden and Vestry member. We adjourned a little before 9:00 p.m.
___________

Day Two is over.

Tomorrow I'll be one of the Media Briefing Officers. It will be interesting to see what questions the press asks us.

Lowell

General Convention, Day 1, Wed., July 8

2009-07-08T23:02:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, July 8

8:00 a.m.: Opening Session of the House of Deputies

We are called to order.

I'm delighted that Frank Wade will serve as our Chaplain. He did so at a previous Convention. He opened our first session with a Meditation and Prayer.

The first meditation by Frank Wade: "Ubuntu"
Not a natural notion for him. Growing up, he learned that the emphasis was on our individualism. Individuals come together to form community.

Ubuntu says that community creates individuals. Ubuntu is a foreign concept, hard for him to wrap his mind around. It comes from South Africa. The closest he's been to South Africa is South Carolina. It is a stretch to hold on to a truth from another culture.

Yet he recognizes that his own individualism was never his own invention. His life was derived – from God, ancestors, mentors, tormentors, those who loved him... long list.
Ubuntu does not negate individualism, with its emphasis on responsibility, peculiarities, etc. They are in fact enriched in community,.

Yet, for him, as a product of our culture, Ubuntu is hard to grasp. He had been thinking about Ubuntu on the plane from Washington D.C. to Anaheim. He said that he had just about wrapped his head around Ubuntu, when he landed at "John Wayne Airport." "John Wayne is to Ubuntu what Darth Vader is to the 23rd Psalm." If there is a word for Un-Umbutu, it would be symbolized by the characters that John Wayne played. Frank said he grew up strongly influenced by those characters. John Wayne has had more influence on his life than Bantu wisdom. Frank felt like he was trying to smuggle Ubuntu through the airport, just waiting for the sound system to begin to play Frank Sinatra singing "I did it my way."

Our culture of individualism has planted strong influences upon our souls, influences that are not without merit. But Ubuntu is a deep wisdom from another culture. "We'll work on it. Together." Together is not only what we are but together is also who we are.
________

President of the House, Bonnie Anderson quoted former President Pam Chinnis, telling some history. The House of Deputies was an innovation in the church, following the American Revolution. During colonial times, not one bishop from England visited the colonies; all ordinations occurred in England; during the colonial period there were no confirmations in America and no churches consecrated. When we accomplished our independence, our church knew that it could thrive without the particular presence of bishops, and we knew that we didn't want "prince bishops" any more than we wanted a king.

So our structure with a House of Deputies was an innovation. Whenever we pass controversial or very important legislation, we always do so with a "vote by orders," meaning that all three orders of ministry – lay, bishops and priests – must agree for something to pass. Each order has the power of veto. Ours is a model of shared leadership.
________

9:15 a.m. Eucharist

It is so moving to participate in a Eucharist with nearly 2000 Episcopalians. Inspiring music and wonderful energy. Our music was led by some South African styled singers and percussionists. Exciting stuff. Worship is wonderful. Times like this make me so glad that I am an Episcopalian.

Presiding Bishop Schori preached.
Her opening story recalled an ordination she participated in. Nedi Rivera was being ordained bishop in Olympia. At the end of the service, her father, bishop Victor Rivera wrapped her in his Episcopal cope. Bishop Rivera did not accept the ordination of women; he had not attended Nedi's ordination to the priesthood; he had never received communion from her. Katharine asked Nedi, "When did your father change his mind?" Nedi answered, "He didn't change his mind. He changed his heart."

The PB picked up from the reading in Ezekiel, "A new heart I will give you," and extended the heart metaphor throughout her sermon. Ezekiel, she said, told us that God is giving us a heart transplant. We do that medically now, but brain transplants are not yet possible. However, the heart for Ezekiel was the seat of both emotion and mind – a clean and new brain and heart, and a new spirit.

Ezekiel imaged an inward looking, small, fearful body of dry bones in need of the moist breath of the creative spirit. The Presiding Bishop, as a metaphor, told the story of the growing heart and abundance of the Episcopal Church of the Philippines. In 1898, a small group of U.S. Army chaplains as part of an occupying force, planted the Episcopal Church there. In 1901, it became a missionary diocese; in 1937, a diocese of the Episcopal Church. In 1990, The Episcopal Church of the Philippines became an autonomous church of the Anglican Communion. (I was a deputy at that convention, and went to the microphone to note that at the moment of the birth of the new church, the statistics that track the membership of the Episcopal Church took a dramatic declince; that should not be interpreted as a loss of membership or vitality, but as evidence of growth. Beware of statistics that don't tell the full story.) The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Church of the Philippines are in a cordial covenant relationship. In 2007, that church achieved self-sufficiency. Today, the Prime Bishop came as a visitor to give to us a thanksgiving gift from the people of the Philippine Church.

The PB continued with her metaphor of the heart, saying that we have received our heart from an organ donor who gave his life for us with the promise of abundant life. Jesus is the giver of our new heart, and every time the church gathers the Spirit gives our hearts a pacemaker charge. Will the heart muscle respond? Will we accept the transplant? Will we live with new abundance, the life of metanoia – repentance; new heart/new mind. How will our heart push more blood? "Can you hear the heartbeat," she concluded. "Mission... Mission... Mission..."

________

11:00 – Committee meetings

Prayer Book, Liturgy and Worship
We began by finishing our work on the new calendar "Holy Women, Holy Men." A major piece of work and some tedious editing. We made a series of corrections and passed this significant proposal. It will now go to the House of Bishops.

Lunch break

2:00 – Committee meetings continue
We held public hearings about the resources of litanies and prayers surrounding pregnancy and childbirth, as well as hearings about the resolutions that involve budgetary expenses.

A young deputy offered a moving testimony on behalf of a proposed work to combat anti-Judaism in the Christian tradition. She told of her experience of taking a class in college on the history of anti-Semitism. Her testimony about her visit to a holocaust gas chamber brought tears to my eyes.

We heard testimony about "Rachael's Tears, Hannah's Hopes" –
Devon Anderson who was the chair of the committee that worked on this resource for six years told about its evolution. She said that she wished that she had such a resource when she and her husband had a child who they discovered had special needs. She also spoke of a couple in her church who had a stillborn child after eight years of infertility. Resources like the prayers in this collection would have been so helpful. With these prayers, the church can walk with parents through their pain, without hurrying, and moving into hope.

This proposed publication originated from a request from NOEL, the National Organization of Episcopalians for Life. They asked for a rite of reconciliation for women after abortion. The Standing Commission expanded the scope of the work, and maintained the involvement of NOEL (which is now Anglicans for Life) throughout the various steps of composition, which included three complete overhauls. The result is a collection of liturgical resources that has received praise from people across both sides of the great fault line of abortion.

After a bit of conversation about the nature of reconciliation, the committee passed "Rachael's Tears, Hannah's Hopes." It will go to the House of Bishops.

We finished by passing all of the resolutions that have budgetary requests from our committee. It is important to get those resolutions to the Program, Budget and Finance Committee – the hardest work of the house – which Pan Adams from Arkansas chairs.

Our committee has done some incredible work very efficiently
_________

4:30 p.m. House of Deputies Legislative Session

We established a special order to allow conversation in a non-debate style forum about the controversial resolution B-033 that the General Convention passed in the previous Convention, adopting what amounts to a moratorium on consents to the election of any bishop in a same-gender committed relationship. We will have two opportunities this week to discuss the matter. There will be a random lottery system for speakers in order to try to facilitate comments that are representative of the house.

PB&F (Program, Budget and Finance) passed the budget priorities that will guide the way we allocate our resources: Networking the members of the Body of Christ; Alleviating Poverty and Injustice; Claiming our Identity; Growing Congregations and the Next Generations of Faith; Strengthening Governance and Foundations for Ministry.

We adopted the "Five Marks of Mission" as articulated by the Anglican Communion:
- To proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
- To teach, baptize and nurture new believers
- To respond to human need by loving service
- To seek to transform unjust structures of society
- To strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth

We passed a resolution to support development of resources for diocesan camps and camping programs.
___________

6:00 p.m. Special event: Christian Faithfulness in a Global Economic Crisis
featuring Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury

We adjourned into a large ballroom where former Arkansan and once Rector of St. Peter's, Conway, Bishop Greg Rickel, Bishop of Olympia introduced the evening's program on global poverty, our collective problem.

Greg quoted someone (I didn't get it) saying that the three wrong ways to meet a crisis are: 1. Fail to see it. 2. See it and be afraid. 3. Be so custom bound that you fail to respond.

He introduced the Presiding Bishop who used some great imagery to emphasize the interconnectedness of the global economic and ecological systems. Her brief comments are worth looking up if they are published in transcript form. She is a compelling speaker.

The PB introduced the ABC (i.e. the Presiding Bishop introduced the Archbishop of Canterbury.)

Archbishop Williams began by citing a Papal Encyclical from Pope Benedict published just yesterday about the world economic crisis titled "Caritas in Veritate" (sp?) – "Love in Truth."

Williams said that we are in a crisis of truthfulness. We have been lying to ourselves.

1. Ordinary truthfulness and transparency, especially in high finance, has become compromised. There has been an erosion of ordinary values in financial life. "Our word has not been our bond," he said.

2. We have lost the truth about our place in creation. We have lied to ourselves as if we could produce limitless material growth in a limited creation. We've lied about the limitations of the earth. We have pretended that there can be profit without risk, and speculators have manipulated figures to hide risk.

3. We have been dishonest by acting as if one person's profit can be isolated from another's well-being.

There is no normal any longer, he said. Therefore, we cannot seek restoration, because it would be restoration to dysfunction. Instead, we have to name this financial crisis as a crisis of truthfulness. Then we must determine to live in the truth.

1. We must speak truth in our dealings with one another. There must be transparency. We must rebuild trust, but trust takes time and relationship. It is necessary that we build a culture of patience in order to rebuild trust.

2. We must tell the truth about the world. Our lifestyles and policies must have respect for the world's material limits. We are embodied in a material world, which is finite. All our decisions involve risk. Profit doesn't come without cost. We always have to ask, who bears that cost?

3. We need truth telling about the common good. The good of the individual is not enough. Anyone who has sung in a choir knows that there are social and shared goals. With a process of mutual attention we can discern what can be done, and yet doesn't have to be done.

The market is not a satisfactory moral outline. "What the market will bear" is not adequate, for we must live with one another tomorrow. The metaphor of the Body of Christ instructs us to recognize the common good. What is given to us is to be given to anotyher. We are the active presence of Jesus Christ.

The Archbishop tried to be more specific with five points.

1. The need to move from a model of economics toward trust takes time. We need to define what we mean by wealth? In its original sense, it means "well being." Well being includes being at home with our world.

2. We must account for environmental costs in all economic calculations. "The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment."

3. In our era, the role of democratic governments has been undermined by the flow of money from some multinationals. The economy of a small country can be undermined. We need to ask about the ethics of nations serving as "cheap labor havens." We have need for capital controls.

4. International instruments (World Bank, G-7, etc.) How can these be reconceived in order to give protection for the disadvantaged?

5. Reconstructive policy. What does the real economy need to do? After the emergency, what will sustain long-term well-being?

The Archbishop decried cynicism about politics. Skepticism is healthy. Cynicism is not. We need revival of small scale economic things – microfinance, Habitat... Small economic development offers a place and partnership with faith communities, especially in Africa.

Churches believe that human beings are made in the image of God. While we are in the process of growing, we are making the image of God manifest.
__________

We closed with a video and conversation with three Episcopalians.

Sarah Eaglehart is a Lakota from South Dakota. She told of the poverty related challenges faced by her people, and the need for mission to bring hope and education to their reservations and communities.

Michael Scott comes from a farming family that has lost the family farm in the northeast. His home is now a superfund cleanup site. There are few family farms today. He says, if we get farming right, we get a lot of things right.

Steven Zizi of Ghana is a physician who coordinates "Nets for Life," providing medicated mosquito nets to prevent malaria. Lives are being saved, he showed us.
___________

Tomorrow I'll serve for the first time as a Media Briefing Officer. And we'll continue our work.

As we had dinner around 9:00 this evening, someone looked up with a tired expression. Day 1. So that was Day 1. What are we going to feel like on Day 10?

I hope nobody asks me, "How did you enjoy your vacation?"

Lowell

Report on Tuesday, July 7

2009-07-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 7

8:00 a.m. Our Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee met from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday and organized 56 resolutions referred to our committee thus far into 6 groups, and we scheduled our first hearing for Tuesday evening to allow public comment about the proposed new calendar of "lesser feasts" – "Holy Women, Holy Men." An important part of this proposal is a clearer set of guidelines and procedures for our continuing alterations of the Calendar of the Episcopal Church.

Noon: Lunch conversation.

I heard that the English parish that created the original Alpha program for evangelism has changed their presentations. Previously part of their teaching was a statement about the sinfulness of gay relationships. Although their leaders have not changed their minds about that, they are now silent about homosexuality as they present the Alpha program. They have found that if they say something negative about gay people, they lose people who had previously showed interest in the church. It was a negative factor for their evangelism, especially among young adults.

Overheard: "Difference doesn't have to mean division."
________

2:00 p.m. A joint session; Bishops Deputies and Visitors

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori opened the joint session by framing the context of our meeting with the word "Crisis." In a crisis, we focus on the most essential things first – caring for the most vulnerable. The financial meltdown has provoked a worldwide crisis, she said. The sins of the few have wreaked suffering on the many. We will need to consider the "needs of the poorest around us and inclusion of those who do not have full ascess to the life of the church.."

The PB also criticized the "great Western heresy – that we can be saved as individuals, that any of us alone can be in right relationship with God." She called individualism a form of idolatry, because it puts my words and my self in the central place that only God can occupy. Ubuntu insists that "I" only emerge as we connect; there is no "I" without "you," and "We" reflect the image of the Creator.

she said that we may face some "cross-shaped decisions" but that we would also experience resurrection.
_________

President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson told of her story of being raised in a multi-racial neighborhood, a white kid with divorced parents, being welcomed and embraced by the entire neighborhood. Although she walked to mass daily at their Catholic church, "no adult knew her name."

She told about visiting an Episcopal Church with her husband 35 years ago, and being welcomed and invited to take on a ministry of creating a nurserty so mothers could engage in community outreach work during the week.

These are tough times, she said, but today, for the first time in human history, we have the resources, technology and capacity to eliminate extreme poverty worldwide (quoting Jeffrey Sachs). More than 50% of our congregations have embraced the Millennium Development Goals; 82 of 110 dioceses give 0.7% of their budget to the MDG's, and Episcopal Relief and Development aids 2.5 million people in 42 countries.

Quoting Deputy Byron Rushing, she said, "The church does not have a mission, God's mission has a church."
_________

A highlight for me was a presentation by Marshall Ganz, a lifelong community organizer who now teaches at the Kennedy School at Harvard. He dropped out of Harvard undergraduate school in 1964 to go to Mississippi during the "long, hot summer" of Civil Rights organization. He returned home to Bakersfield, California with new, "Mississippi eyes," and began helping organize farm workers.

Using the story of David facing Goliath, he asked, "How is it that the powerless sometime prevail? Why doesn't Goliath always win?" Commitment, motivation and resourcefulness. Ganz teaches "public narrative" as a way to access courage and communicate values corporately.

Public narrative is pretty natural stuff for Southerners. It's telling stories. Our stories. Stories that tell about our choices in uncertain situations; stories that each us how to act. They convey our values and passions, and they link us in community. Our stories tell us why we have hope, and our shared stories can link us together in action. We'll practice public narrative at our small tables this week.
__________

Quote:
"Who discovered water?"
"I don't know, but it wasn't a fish."
(We need outsiders to know ourselves.)
__________

4:00 The House of Deputies gathered for an organizational session

The Episcopal Church includes 16 nations. There are 18 flags behind the head table in the House of Deputies.

Michael Battle, the author of "Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me" addressed the House. (He'll be at diocesan convention in February in Fayetteville.)

We are created in the image of God, and God is Trinity. God is community, not an individual. We are made in the image of God – being community.

Good story from Michael Battle: Roman Catholic School. There is a sign posted by the nuns: "Apples. Take only ONE: God is watching." Further down the aisle. A sign in a child's scrawl: "Cookies. Take all you want. God is watching the apples."

Battle said that we in the west have been socialized to make the adjudicating reality "Me." Decartes said, "I think; therefore I am." We emphasize our difference, our individual consciousness. Doing so locks in and limits our world view.

He offers Ubuntu as our entrance into the "mystery of being one and many, without lessening either." He says that is an image truer to our reality as creatures made in the image of God.
_________

7:00 p.m. – Committee Hearing on the proposed new Calendar of feasts: "Holy Women, Holy Men" – adding over 100 observances to our calendar.

Bishop Jeffrey Rowthorn who worked for eight years on this project began our testimony. He reminded us that these calendar observances are optional. They are proposed for trial use during the next three years. The vision is for our calendar to be of more global character and to reflect a broader, more ecumenical flavor, recognizing people from many traditions and cultures who have influcenced and contributed to our inheritance as a "great cloud of witnesses."

Overall there was a good bit of enthusiasm for the project.

We heard testimony taking exception to the inclusion of John Muir, who left his organized church to embrace mystery and life in nature. (It was pointed out the church he left was a rigid, fundamentalist one that most of us would have left as well.)

There was criticism by several of including John Calvin in the calendar. A deputy suggested that the proposed collect for Richard Hooker is not as good as the current offering in Lesser Feasts and Fasts. There was a critique of some languge in the collect for DuBois, an oblique reference to the title of one of his books could be misinterpreted as an insult.

The Committee then discussed the work. Strong support for the principles laid out for inclusion of observances. We need a defined way to allow people to offer critique, editing, and suggestions for editing the calendar and lectionary during the three year trial period. A sub-committee will meet tonight to work on a proposal for our committee to look at.

Lowell

Tuesday Morning

2009-07-07T07:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I spent six hours in training to be part of the Media Briefing Team for the House of Deputies. On Friday the 10th, Tuesday the 14th and Friday morning the 17th , I'll be part of a three person team from the Deputies and two Bishops who will field questions from the press. General Convention Briefing sessions will be streamed on-line live on the Episcopal Church web site, 8:45-9:15 each morning and 6:15-7:00 each evening.

A couple of things stood out for me during our training. First, the Greek orators manifested three characteristics: Logos (the word), Ethos (showing moral character, inner source), and Pathos (the human connection, touching emotions). I like that.

Dan Webster who does communications for the Diocese of New York advised that every answer should end in a statement of our personal theology and faith: Point 1, Point 2, 3-Because I believe..."

Now if I can just remember not to speak in run-on sentences.

Ended the day watching the Disneyland fireworks from our Arkansas hospitality suite.
______________

I'm halfway through reading Michael Battle's book Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me. Ubuntu is the theme of the convention, and Battle's book was mailed to every deputy. I am enjoying the book, and I'm excited that St. Paul's and the Diocese have combined to invite Michael Battle to Fayetteville to speak for next year's Diocesan Convention that we'll host February 20-21.

Ubuntu is an African expression of personhood. We understand ourselves to be formed in community. We are interdependent. Desmond Tutu says: "A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belong to a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are torured or oppressed."

Battle cites a study that says that 90 percent of all families watch TV after dinner. He speaks of "thresholds." "The threshold to TV is low, and so you move across that threshold easily. The rewards from that are also low. It is well established through research that when people get up from two hours of watching television, they don't feel well. They feel worse than they did at the beginning. so low thresholds produce low rewards."

Battle invites us to practice "focal things." Focal things have high thresholds, and high rewards. Preparing a meal; being honest; reading poetry; playing the guitar; exercising regularly; writing letters; playing tennis, hiking and fly fishing, and celebrating the Eucharist. "A focal thing is something that has a commanding presence, engages your body and mind and engages you with others. ...A focal thing is not a t the mercy of how you feel at the moment. You are committed because of your love." We build community through our commitment to participating in focal things with others.

Part of the meaning of Ubuntu is one's passion for the well-being of the other. Russian theologian Nicholas Berdyaev stayed up all night worrying about the concept of heaven. He wondered how could he die and then go to heaven, where all of his desires would be fulfilled, and yet still be conscious of someone in hell? "How could he still be in heaven knowing someone else was weeping and gnashing their teeth forever?" Ubuntu means that now one could be in heaven as long as some of us suffer. An injury to one of us is an injury to all.

Lots of good stories and good quotes, especially from Desmond Tutu. It's a good book.

I leave soon for my first meeting with the Liturgy and Prayer Book Committee that I'll serve on. We've got a daunting agenda. In addition to two major proposed publications – a set of liturgies and prayers for healing from loss related to childbearing and childbirth, and a new calendar of feasts for the church year – we also will be charged with considering whether the church will take a step toward rites for lifelong commitments of persons of same-gender orientation. We'll be a busy committee.

Lowell

2009-06-30T12:12:00.000-07:00

I’ve just about finished reading the “Blue Book” (which is burgundy) – the Report to the upcoming General Convention.

Arkansas will be happy to know that Bishop Edward Thomas Demby is included in the proposed revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, sharing April 14 with Henry Beard Delany, the second African American bishop, and father of the famous Delany sisters. The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music has created an entirely updated proposed calendar for lesser feasts, adding many new observances (no one from LFF was dropped). The new publication would be called “Holy Women, Holy Men: Celebrating the Saints.” And we’ll have three readings for each commemoration instead of two.

Another major contribution from the Liturgy and Music Commission is a thorough and flexible resource of liturgies and prayers for healing from loss related to childbearing and childbirth, “Rachel’s Tears, Hannah’s Hopes.”

If you’d like to look at “Rachel’s Tears, Hannah’s Hopes” and at the proposed replacement for Lesser Feasts “Holy Women, Holy Mean” you can access a pdf online. The report from the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music is nearly 400 pages however.

The other item that caught my attention in the Blue Book was a proposed “Statement on Interreligious Relations,” developed by the Standing Commission on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.

This statement is intended to establish a foundation for the Episcopal Church in our processes in interreligious and interfaith dialogues. Just as the Chicago-Lambeth Quadrilateral serves as the basis for our ecumenical conversations with other Christian bodies, the Commission proposes this text as a basis for our conversations with other religions. I found it to be a remarkable and compelling piece of work, worthy of study and debate.

If you would like to read it, it is Resolution A074. The resolution is at the bottom of page 154 of the Blue Book. The explanation and the Official Text is pages 155-162. It is about 2/3^rd of the way through the Commission’s report, click to access on line.

(the first part of this report includes the proposed agreement with the Moravian Church. You’ll have to scroll past that to page 155)

Just a taste of it the proposed “Statement on Interreligious Relations”:

9. “Today the picture of the world we have to carry is of the earth seen from space. Borders and boundaries are fluid, easily fractured, and unstable. The peoples of the earth will either survive together or perish together. Paradoxically our entire world is, at the same time, housed inside the flat screens of computers that provide immediate access to almost anyone or anything at anytime, anywhere on the planet. Crises and conflicts that were once local matters and seemed to be none of our concern are now global.”

14. “We understand the Holy Scriptures to be inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and at the same time the work of human authors, editors, and compilers. …We believe the Holy Spirit continues to guide us in our growing understanding of the Scriptures, which are always to be interpreted in the widest possible context of God’s redeeming love for all people.”

17. “…It is not a unity of opinion or a sameness of vision that hold us together. Rather, it is the belief that we are called to walk together in Jesus’ path of reconciliation not only through our love for the other, but also through our respect for the legitimacy of the reasoning of the other.”

26. “…In all of this, we affirm that Christianity needs to be lived and presented as ‘a way of life’, rather than a static set of beliefs.”

27. “Christians being to the conversation Jesus on and beyond the Cross. We see the Cross as transformative for every faith tradition including Christianity itself. We present the Cross as the Christian symbol and act of self-emptying, humility, redemptive suffering, sacrificial self-giving, and unvanquished love. Jesus’ death and resurrection frame the dialogue for us. Values such as reconciliation, peace-making, and forgiveness are what we bring to the discussion of salvation.

28. “Our invitation in dialogue is to ask all religions to tell us where they embody such values and how they experience and understand what we call salvation…”

And from the concluding paragraph 34:

“Interreligious relations are no longer about competing faiths, but about mutual demonstrations of Love Incarnate. We close this statement encouraged by Dr. King’s word: ‘Love is the key that unlocks the door which leads to ultimate reality. This Hindu-Muslim-Christian-Jewish-Buddhist belief about human reality is beautifully summed up in the first Epistle of St. John: “Let us love one another; for love is of God; and everyone that loves is born of God and knows God. The one who loves not does not know God, for God is love. …If we love one another God dwells in us, and God’s love is perfected in us.”’”

I think it is an important piece of work and worth attention.

Lowell

2009 General Convention from Anaheim

2009-05-18T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'll be posting again from the 76th General Convention.

Again I'll write about some of the underreported things such as highlights from sermons, lectures, meditations, and conversations that offer insight or inspiration from the Convention.

I'll also keep you posted on the legislative process.

Since I'll be serving on the Liturgy and Prayer Book Committee, I can track that group's deliberations. That means I'll miss things happening in other committees.

This year I'll also be serving as one of the nine members of the Media Briefing Team for the House of Deputies. I may get some broader overview from that perspective.

Feel free to offer comments. That's what GC is for -- conversation, debate and deliberation about what is best for the Church. Let your thoughts be known.

Lowell

post-Convention Apology and Correction

2006-07-17T16:31:00.000-07:00

In my email and blog from General Convention on Sunday, June 18 I reported something that was untrue and I want to make an apology and a correction. I passed along an unsubstantiated rumor that the Bishops of Dallas and Fort Worth had told their diocesan ECW's not to participate in the Triennial and that was why there was no representative from those dioceses present to present a check at the Triennial UTO Ingathering service. That was incorrect.

The Diocese of Fort Worth had representatives to the Triennial who had to leave before the UTO service on Saturday. The Diocese of Dallas does not have a functioning ECW or UTO chair right now and did not have representatives attending the Triennial, but Dallas has contributed over $25,000 to the UTO. The vacancies in the Dallas ECW and UTO are not because of any directive from their Bishop. I apologize to both Bishops and to both dioceses. Bishop Jim Stanton is a long-time friend whom I love and admire very much. It would have been easy to check out that rumor with him or his staff or deputation (several friends there too). I feel very bad about the misinformation.

Let me make a plug for the United Thank Offering, a major outreach ministry of the Women of the Church. The tradition is that you keep a "blue box" in a convenient location, and every time something happens that you are thankful for, you offer an outward and visible sign of your thanksgiving by placing a coin or bill in the box. Many parishes have a UTO fall ingathering on the Sunday closest to All Saints' Day and a spring ingathering on the Sunday after Ascension. You can give your UTO money to your parish or diocese at any time and they will send it in, usually through the diocese. Nearly $3 million was granted last year through the UTO.

Lowell
The Rev. Lowell Grisham
Arkansas Deputy to General Convention

Convention Post Script

2006-06-22T08:21:00.000-07:00

One last PS from General Convention.

I'd like to give you links to the sermon by Jenny Te Paa to the UTO Eucharist. I thought it was exceptional.
Warning: she is a theologian; seminary dean from New Zealand; it is a fairly dense piece of preaching.
To read or download her sermon, go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/75383_76154_ENG_HTM.htm

The other sermon I'd like to promote is Presiding Bishop Elect Katharine Jeffort Schori's sermon at the final Eucharist.
To read or download her sermon, go to: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/75383_76300_ENG_HTM.htm

Beginning tomorrow, I'll resume sending my Morning Reflections based on the readings from the day's Daily Office.
It will be sent to the same email address that I've used for the General Convention reports.

You are welcome to continue on the list, but if you only wanted the General Convention updates and do not want to receive Morning Reflections, it's easy to unsubscribe.

Send an email to lowell-request@arkansasusa.com
In the body of the email type (in all caps): LEAVE

You'll automatically be unsubscribed from the email list.

Lowell

P.S. Here are a few responses to the B033 resolution calling for restraint in episcopal elections. I was particularly interested in Gene Robinson's thoughts:

Bishop Dorsey Henderson of Upper South Carolina, co-chair of the Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, described the resolution as "an appropriate and blessed way forward, strengthening the Episcopal Church, strengthening the Anglican Communion, without closing any doors unnecessarily."

Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, a member of the committee, said it is "the best that we can do," conveying hope that the Anglican Communion realizes the process has been the result of a compromise.

"It's a relief to me because my hope is that we can stay in communion and continue the conversation and affirm the Windsor process," she said. "Having this vote in both houses says to the Anglican Communion that we are very serious about our relationship."

Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire expressed some disappointment with the resolution because it does not affirm the role of gay and lesbian people in the church, but seemed encouraged by the seriousness with which the Episcopal Church has grappled with the issues in public.

"The church has a picture of the wide diversity in this church and people have been remarkably honest and loving in all of this," he said in an interview after the vote. "I have been approached by all kinds of people who have felt called to vote for this resolution in order for us to continue the conversation with the Anglican Communion."

Robinson encouraged support for Presiding Bishop-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori "in every way possible...to give her everything that she can have in her pocket to go to the primates meeting, to go to the rest of the Communion," he said. "In some sense, having given the Anglican Communion what it asked for regarding gay and lesbian members of this church, we'll be looking to them to see if they were serious about wanting to be in conversation about this, or whether they wanted this to end the conversation."

Describing the process as a journey, Robinson acknowledged that there will be bumps in the road.

"This is not what we hoped for, but it's what we have, so I'm much more interested in talking about tomorrow than I am about today or yesterday," he said.

Bishop Mano Rumalshah of Peshawar in Pakistan, one of more than 60 international visitors at General Convention, said the resolution represents the best response given the circumstances.

"It could have been much more but at least it keeps the door open and allows the dialogue to continue and let's rejoice in that," he said. "Let's not give up. Let's not draw the lines too hard. Let's continue to have hope in humanity and each other and in God's spirit that, yes, things can go on."

PPS: Thanks to everyone who read all these reports and thanks for all of your prayers.

Lowell

The Final Afternoon

2006-06-21T15:24:00.000-07:00

Wednesday afternoon -- the passage toward adjournment

The afternoon session is a calmer house, looking to take care of as many resolutions as possible. Many of these are significant.

We passed a resolution about Iraq, one crafted with the support of the Bishop for the Armed Services, asking our government to "develop for implementation a plan for the stabilization of Iraq, to be followed by the prompt withdrawal of U.S. Armed Forces."

We have a series of resolutions acknowledging the sin of slavery, our church's complicity and economic benefits gained because of slavery, an apology, and an agreement to a journey of reconciliation. We are called to think about what we should do and report back to the 76th Convention. Part of the moving testimony included a quote from a prayer by a 19th century Bishop of Virginia who led a prayer among a group of slaves commending them for accepting their role of service and sacrifice as God's will for them in this life. I asked the deputy for the book so I can look it up. The quote was from Harold Lewis' book "Yet With A Steady Beat" p. 43.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has sent a response to our passage of B-033
"There is much to appreciate in the hard and devoted work done by General Convention and before that by the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion in the crafting the resolutions. This and the actions taken today show how strong is their concern to seek reconciliation and conversation with the rest of the Communion.

"It is not yet clear how far the resolutions passed this week and today represent the adoption by the Episcopal Church of all the proposals set out in the Windsor Report. The wider Communion will therefore need to reflect carefully on the significance of what has been decided before we respond more fully."

We've continued to pass more legislation in concurrence with the House of Bishops. Including the Liturgies for Transitions that our Prayer Book Committee worked on so hard. We've referred a bunch of stuff to the Executive Committee for their action. We've added some Lesser Feasts for trial use. We passed money and program for rebuilding in Louisiana. We passed a study about seminarian debt. We passed another piece of our response to the Windsor Report, affirming a listening process.

I know some parishioners will be pleased to know we passed a resolution about creation and evolution:
"That the 75th General Convention affirm that God is Creator, in accordance with the witness of Scripture and the ancient Creeds of the Church, and be it further,
Resolved, that the theory of evolution provides a fruitful and unifying scientific explanation for the emergence of life on earth, that many theological interpretations of origins can readily embrace an evolutionary outlook, and that an acceptance of evolution is entirely compatible with an authentic and living Christian faith; and be it further,
Resolved, that Episcopalians strongly encourage state legislatures and state and local boards of education to establish standards for science education based on the best available scientific knowledge as accepted by a consensus of the scientific community; and be it further
Resolved, That Episcopal dioceses and congregations seek the assistance of scientists and science educators in understanding what constitutes reliable scientific knowledge."

We passed recommendations for Nonviolence Training and for Reconciliation Training. Kathy will be pleased with a resolution supporting efforts to achieve accessible, affordable, high quality, universal health care and commending organizations such as our own Community Clinic at St. Francis House.

We authorized Interim Eucharistic Sharing with the United Methodist Church, recognizing that the UMC is "a member of the one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church in which the Gospel is rightly preached and taught" and encouraging our mutual prayer, common study, joint programed and mission. We welcome members of the UMC to receive Communion in Episcopal Churches. It also set up policies for the sharing of worship and Interim Sharing of the Eucharist as well as future dialogue. I am told that this policy has already passed in the Methodist Church.

We ran out of time before being able to deal with some resolutions concerning Israel and Palestine.

We closed with George Werner leading us in the Prayer of St. Francis, his voice breaking as he finishes his service in this office for the church he loves so much.

We are adjourned!
Thanks be to God!

Lowell

The Last Day -- The Big Decision

2006-06-21T11:00:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 21 -- the last day of General Convention

Presiding Bishop Griswold celebrated and PB-elect Katharine Jefferts Schori preached for our final Eucharist this morning. Our own Cindy Fribourgh was the Deacon for the service.

Bishop Schori's sermon was as good as any sermon we've heard during this Convention. I'll send either the text or the web link once it is posted on the Episcopal Church site.

She spoke of her awaking early Sunday morning before sunrise, the morning after her election. It is an overcast day, with rain in the forecast. As light was beginning, she went out to run. She told of meeting or passing by various people -- hotel workers, newspaper deliverer, street person, two business people going to work, another runner, etc. And a rabbit. She greeted each of these in some way. In each of these meetings, she said, there was some degree of wariness, however. She invited us to dream of a world in which all human and other creatures meet in such a way that their meetings are not tinged with fear.

Jesus said, "my Kingdom is not of this world." Jesus' kingdom is a kingdom in which there is no fear. Fear has no impact in the presence of the cross. Jesus calls us friends, not agents of friends.

We will not be fearless until we find ourselves rooted in the soil of internal peace, planted in the infinite love of God. Fear really is our idolatries of self-interest. We say, "that's mine; you can't take it, because I can't live without it." If you threaten my self-interest, I will respond with fear. Unless we can respond like Jesus, who brings us peace through the blood of the cross.

The Godly messengers always say to us, "Fear not." When we know ourselves to be God's Beloved, we are then able to recognize another as Beloved as well, and we can reach beyond our defenses toward the other. We can lay down our sword and shield, and seek the image of God especially in those we find hardest to love. We need to lay down our need for power and control and see Jesus in the weakest and poorest.

I'll send a link or text of the complete sermon.
__________

We entered the legislative hall for a Joint Session of both the House of Deputies and House of Bishops.

As the Presiding Bishop said, "Would the deputies and bishops please take their places," there was a five-second sound of rolling thunder from the storm that is passing by outside.

Bishop Griswold said that when he was elected as Presiding Bishop eight and one-half years ago, he called the church to the costly discipline of conversion. He said then that the words conversation and conversion come from the same root. Conversion is a new way of seeing one another, seeing Christ in one another. It is less a change of mind and more a change of heart.

Our Convention has passed two resolutions indicating our desire to commit to the Anglican Communion and to be in the conversation about a possible Anglican Covenant, but we communicate to our brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion that they have been taken seriously, our further conversation is threatened and our bonds of affection will be further strained. For our voices to be heard, we must communicate clearly that we have not ignored those who sincerely cannot understand our actions.

"Conversation works," said Bishop Griswold. He spoke of his experience at the Primate's meetings, which have often been difficult. Sometimes he's had to receive quite a bit before he was able to give. Humility and restraint are necessary precursors to conversation. Sometimes it appears that we are taking a step backward, but that step may be necessary before we may go backward.

We have very different views in this church. Many believe that an expression of restraint constitutes a betrayal of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, and have opposed the earlier resolutions. Others are looking for justification for their intention to walk away, and have also opposed the proposed expressions of restraint. We have had an odd joining of opposite ends to resist our making a statement of restraint. Bishop Griswold urged the great middle to express itself so that we don't avoid taking steps that preclude conversation. Bishop Griswold looked toward Bishop Schori and said, "Give the 26th Presiding Bishop a chance to be at the table."

What we yearn for has not yet been enacted. The Presiding Bishop asked both houses to consider the following resolution, B-033 (starting in the House of Bishops):
Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, that the 75th General Convention receive and embrace the Windsor Report's invitation to engage in a process of healing and reconciliation; and be it further
Resolved, that this Convention therefore call upon Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion.

The Bishops left to begin their consideration of this resolution.
_________

Our House began to work through a prioritized series of resolutions. Most of the first ones have to do with our structure and organization, how we do our business.

We're working pretty efficiently through our business.
One of the good pieces of work is the creation of a new Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Education and Formation to develop and recommend comprehensive and coordinated policies for children, youth, adults, and seniors for lifelong Christian formation.

At 11:50 a bunch of bishops started walking into the visitor's section. They've obviously finished their work on B-033. The rain has increased and provides an intense, roaring background for our conversation. It is getting more difficult to hear.

Rumor has it that there was a failed attempt in the House of Bishop to amend B-033.

After noonday prayers, we are moving to suspend our rules in order to allow B-033 to be returned to the house. The rain outside has silenced.

A series of deputies from conservative dioceses are trying under the Robert's Rules to prevent our consideration of the resolution on the grounds that we have already voted not to reconsider a similar resolution. To my mind, this is an attempt to sabotage the Episcopal Church by preventing us from making a statement to the Anglican Communion. If we don't pass anything, they can then justify their attempts to deconstruct the Episcopal Church.

We passed the special order to allow the House to consider B-033.

Presiding Bishop Elect Schori has asked permission to speak to the house. We have granted that permission.

We are debating. Louie Crew, the founder of Integrity, has said that this resolution would "cut the tongue out of the Holy Spirit." As we talk, it is becoming clear that there are liberal/progressive members who do not like this resolution but will vote for it for the sake of our engagement of conversation with the Anglican Communion. One who called himself part of the "mushy middle" said that he is troubled by the pull from the edges.

She spoke of living in a church with two minds. She offered an image of conjoined twins -- parts of two bodies united in one being. When physicians/ethicists worry about separating those twins, they worry that it is wrong to separate those twins unless they are both able to live. Our church is not really one and is not really two. This resolution is far from adequate, she said. The language is extremely challenging, but it's probably as good as we can do today. She said she is fully supportive of the place of gay and lesbians in our community. This is not slamming the door. But this is probably the best we can manage at this point in our history.

South Carolina, Quincy, Fort Worth, and Central Florida have asked for a vote by orders.

Sally Johnson, chair of Constitutions and Canons, a grounded progressive said, "This resolution tears me apart. It goes against everything in my very being. And as a gift to the Presiding Bishop Elect, I think we should give it to her." Another progressive said that this is a resolution that gives in to the spirits of fear and timidity. A conservative said that we need to sacrifice our personal needs for the sake of the whole church and approve the resolution. Another conservative objects because this resolution is less than what we can do; send it back to the Bishops. A deputy from Virginia said we have embraced a listening process, and this resolution will help keep us at the table, in part, so that the voices of gay and lesbian Christians can be heard. A conservative said that this resolution is tossing a half a carrot to the rest of the communion, defeat it. Another conservative spoke of his shame yesterday when we refused to be humble enough to speak to our brothers and sisters Anglican Communion; we need to adopt this to say that we are listening.

The first amendment has been proposed to add the words "until the General Convention 2009" in order to give a time limit to this commitment of restraint in episcopal elections.

Frank Wade, the chair of the Special Committee, said that the acts of one General Convention cannot bind another General Convention. We could add these words to every resolution the house passes. This amendment doesn't add anything and complicates much. A liberal deputy expressed his frustration that those who have been so critical of the actions of our Convention have not been willing to be in conversation with us.

The amendment was defeated on a voice vote. The chaplain came forward to lead us in prayer before the vote on the main resolution.

For me (and for most of us) this is a difficult and conflictive vote. For the sake of remaining in conversation with the full Anglican Communion, we are denying some of the gifts that are ours and the potential for leadership from some of our gay and lesbian leaders. If we pass this, we do so on the backs of some of my friends; some of the priests who I hold in highest regard and hope one day may be bishops among us. I voted "yes" along with the rest of the Arkansas deputation, but I felt my throat choke as I cast my vote.

The Electronic results of our vote by orders is:

Needed to pass:
Lay: 72, yes; //21,no // 11 divided -- Yes 72 // 32 No & Divided 77%
Clerical: 75, yes; // 24,no // 10 divided -- Yes 75 // 32 No & Divided 76%
The resolution carried.

Lowell

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Tuesday, June 20, afternoon & evening

2006-06-20T18:41:00.000-07:00

Tuesday Afternoon

We've tried unsuccessfully a couple of times to reintroduce A161 (the Election of Bishops) to give the house a chance to consider (for the first time) the wording as it was originally offered from the Special Commission. Rumor around here has it that we'll get a chance to add it as an amendment to another resolution from the Special Committee.

We've made some progress on a resolutions calendar that is far behind. Dispatch of Business will have to work up a list of resolutions that will take priority since we are unlikely to be able to act on all of the matters that have been filed.

After lengthy discussion the deputies concurred with the bishops to confirm Barry Beisner who was elected Bishop by the Diocese of Northern California. Beisner has been divorced twice and married three times. Although that was not an issue in his diocesan election, it has been heatedly debated at General Convention. His election was confirmed, but not without considerable dissent.

We passed the Budget.

We concurred with the House of Bishops on a first reading of the Constitutional change that would give all bishops voice in the House of Bishops but give vote only to bishops having jurisdiction and bishops holding an office created by General Convention. It also defines a quorum as a majority of all Bishops entitled to vote. There have been times when the House of Bishops has had trouble getting a majority vote because of the large number of retired bishops who are absent but who are counted for a quorum.

We adjourned at 6:00 p.m. and returned for an evening session at 7:30.

_________________________________________________

Tuesday Evening

The chair announced that the Presiding Bishop has called for a joint session of both houses tomorrow morning. The assumption is that Bishop Griswold wants the houses to work together on our response to the Windsor Report. The Special Committee is working with the Presiding Bishop and other leaders to perfect some alternative language for us to consider tomorrow. I assume we would have to suspend the rules in order to do that. Some powerful negotiating is going on.

Our first consideration tonight is A159 -- Anglican Communion: Commitment to Interdependence in the Anglican Communion
This resolution reaffirms "the abiding commitment of The Episcopal Church to the fellowship of church that constitute the Anglican Communion and seek to live into the highest degree of communion possible..." Our house had already passed this resolution on June 14. It was amended by the House of Bishops in a way the bishops felt protected our autonomy. The Committee believed that the Bishop's insertion sent conflicting messages. A conference committee re-wrote A159, and we now are considering that substitute resolution. The intent of the resolution is to say we have a basic commitment to the Anglican Communion. The voice vote to affirm our commitment to the Anglican Communion sounded unanimous. Amazing!

The next resolution is the more controversial "Anglican Covenant Development Process" resolution. It is imagined that a Covenant process would take nine years in taking form. There are at least three possible forms of Covenant that have been imagined -- theological, canonical, or relational. This resolution only asks us to support the idea, follow it, and report back. It is not a commitment to a form of covenant or to accept whatever may be proposed. There is some suspicion that this is a "blank check" resolution. Will we be included the process of the creation of a Covenant? There is nervousness that we will be committing ourselves to something about which we will have little influence. The resolution is carefully crafted so as not to commit us to a Covenant but rather to get us in the conversation about whatever Covenant might be developed within the Anglican Communion. The house voted overwhelmingly in favor of the un-amended resolution. There is some momentum building.

We've just extended the time of adjournment. It is ten minutes until 9:00 p.m. We want to take on the major work of amending the Canon III ordination canons. This is big work to try to make the processes for ordination for deacons and priests more similar, and to delineate the formation processes more clearly. This is a 38 page resolution. It's been a hot topic of conversation and study. There are new policies for receiving and forming clergy being received from another denomination. The excellent work of the committee was rewarded. At 9:20 p.m. we passed the Canonical changes without amendment. We're cooking!

We'll start a little earlier tomorrow.

Lowell

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

Tuesday, June 20

2006-06-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

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

All Day Monday, June 19, the 7th Day

2006-06-19T19:21:00.000-07:00

General Convention, Monday, June 19 --

Whew. It's been a full day.
This is a long email (I couldn't get to a pause long enough to get an earlier email sent). The "hottest" stuff is toward the end.

Picking up on something from yesterday. The Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican communion spoke to Convention yesterday. He spoke of the four strands of the Windsor process: (1) the Panel of Reference, to offer slow, careful consideration of the relationships in communion; (2) the Small Group which is assessing the Episcopal Church response; (3) the Listening Process which began last January, to monitor and share information about local listening processes; (4) the Anglican Covenant, there is interest in the possibility of an Anglican Covenant (although there is little interest in the text about the covenant in the Windsor Report). He imagines a 6 to 9 year consultative process to create such a Covenant.
__________

Also yesterday, the House of Deputies concurred with the House of Bishops recommending some fundamental principles on immigration, following the recommendations of the report "The Alien Among You" as the policy of the Episcopal Church:

1. Undocumented aliens should have reasonable opportunity to pursue permanent residence.
2 Legal workers should be allowed to enter the United States to respond to recognized labor force needs.
3. Close family members should be allowed to reunite without undue delay with individuals lawfully present in the United State.
4. Fundamental U.S. principles of legal due process should be granted all persons.
5. Enforcement of national borders and immigration policies should be proportional and humane.

And we further resolved that the Episcopal Church deplores any action by the Government of the US which unduly emphasizes enforcement, including militarization of the border between the US and Mexico, as the primary response to immigrants entering the US to work. There were two other resolves connected with this resolution.

The issue and policies became more personal with the story told by Dianne Aid. Her home parish was very excited a little over a year ago when they were able to hire a Hispanic/Latino Missioner and Youth Director. Juan is Mexican born and has lived in the U.S. for 20 years (originally coming as an undocumented 14 year old). He was adopted by an Episcopal priest and his wife, an ESL teacher. He graduated from a U.S. college, English became his dominant language and U.S. culture his dominant culture. In the late 90's, Juan gained legal status through a religious worker visa. Due to a paperwork glitch and a lost in the mail application for an extension, Juan's visa lapsed. Their parish re-petitioned -- Juan left in December for his visa interview. Six months and $8,000 in attorney fees later, he is stuck in Mexico while U.S. immigration sits on his request for a waiver. Juan is one individual of millions separated from family, his job and community by our broken immigration system.
__________

Picking up with today (Monday), our Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee believes we finished all of our work during this morning's session. We approved a resolution that would urge development of a pastoral plan for future revisions of the Book of Common Prayer; we simplified a resolution acknowledging the authority of the Triune God as exercised through scripture; we passed a resolution authorizing beginning a discussion about the relationship between baptism and Eucharist, recognizing the canons that prohibit communion to the un-baptized and the wide practice of ignoring of that canon in congregations and dioceses who promote an open communion; we passed a request to create prayers for the death of a companion animal. All of these resolutions will now go to the House of Bishops for action before coming to the House of Deputies.
__________

When we reconvened, the Diocese of Fort Worth made a formal appeal to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion requesting alternative oversight following the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as Presiding Bishop. Bishop Iker of Fort Worth has left the convention.

I've had a chance to talk to several friends who are bishops, and each of them said they were surprised by her election. There was no "campaigning" or "politicking" they said, but a slow rising tide of quiet consensus kept growing. Each of them said that it felt like the Spirit was truly at work. I sensed among them a feeling of awe and gratefulness about how their voting process evolved. One bishop said it was as if this was the first time (in a long time) that they simply voted their hearts rather than strategizing and thinking politically.

__________

This afternoon began with the presentation from Program, Budget and Finance. Pan Adams is the chair of PB&F and lead that presentation. If I'm reading the budgetary stuff correctly, we have a budget of over $152 million. To balance the budget, the church management will have to effect staff cost reductions of $825,000 through attrition and retirement. If every diocese gave their asking, we'd have over $8 million more. Quite a number of dioceses contribute little or nothing to the Episcopal Church budget, including Dallas, 0%; Quincy, 0%; West Texas, 1.2%; Central Florida, 1.9%; Tennessee, 1.9%; Navajoland Mission, 2.1%; Fort Worth, 3.2%; and the following dioceses did not provide their diocesan reports and no pledge was listed: Western Kansas, South Carolina, Springfield.

Our largest increase in spending during the next triennium will be with Millennium Development Goal related projects of several kinds.
__________

Late this afternoon we began to take up two of the resolutions from the Special Committee #26 (I think I referred to it incorrectly as #25 in earlier emails) on the Episcopal Church's response to the Windsor Report. There is more energy around these resolutions than anything else that we've considered.

The first resolution A160 is titled "Expression of Regret." Here is the resolution that passed with 68% of the vote:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, that the 75th General Convention of The Episcopal Church, mindful of "the repentance, forgiveness, and reconciliation enjoined on us by Christ" (Windsor Report, paragraph 134), express its regret for straining the bonds of affection in the events surrounding the General Convention of 2003 and the consequences which followed; offer its sincerest apology to those within our Anglican Communion who are offended by our failure to accord sufficient importance to the impact of our actions on our church and other parts of the Communion; and ask forgiveness as we seek to live into deeper levels of communion with one another.

After lengthy discussion, the final wording above included substituting the word "straining" for the committee's proposed phrase "breaching the proper constraints of."

We were unable to finish debate and take up possible amendments to the next resolution from the Special Committee, the Election of Bishops, A161.

I am unhappy with the first resolve in this resolution, and especially the changes that the committee made to the original wording from the Special Commission.

Here's the text as it is now proposed:
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, that the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church regrets the extent to which we have, by action and inaction, contributed to strains on communion and caused deep offense to many faithful Anglican Christians as we consented to the consecration of a bishop living openly in a same-gender union. Accordingly, we are obliged to urge nominating committees, electing conventions, Standing Committees, and bishops with jurisdiction to refrain from the nomination, election, consent to, and consecration of bishops whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion, and be it further
Resolved that this General Convention not proceed to to develop or authorize Rites for the Blessing of same-sex unions at this time, thereby concurring with the Windsor Report in its exhortation to bishops of the Anglican Communion to honor the Primates' Pastoral Letter of May 2003; and be it further
Resolved that this General Convention affirm the need to maintain a breadth of responses to situations of pastoral care for gay and lesbian Christians in this Church.
Resolved that this General Convention apologize to those gay and lesbian Episcopalians and their supporters hurt by these decisions.

We extended the afternoon session to almost 7:30 to finish the opening debate on this resolution. We'll begin with it tomorrow, hearing proposed amendments.

Two changes from the original wording proposed by the Commission have damaged this resolution in my mind. In the first resolve, the previous version read "we urge nominating committees, electing conventions, Standing Committees, and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise very considerable caution in the nomination, etc..." I might have lived with that. But the new "refrain from" language bothers me. I keep thinking of Martin Luther King's letter from the Birmingham Jail written to those moderate, compromising clergy who were saying "now is not the time, please stop agitating, we're not ready yet." Let the Holy Spirit constrain us, if we must be constrained -- as seems to have happened in the recent election in California -- but I do not like constraining the Holy Spirit through this kind of external legislative process.

Our debate was hampered by a malfunctioning automated system for tracking the order of speakers. That was frustrating to all. We'll pick back up with A161 "Election of Bishops" tomorrow when we reconvene at 10:45 following the Eucharist. Since our committee finished its work, I can sleep late tomorrow! Thanks be to God.

Lowell

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A quick reflection on woman PB

2006-06-18T15:22:00.000-07:00

Sunday later

The election of a woman as the Presiding Bishop has prompted both celebration and wonder. Beside the usual questions -- how will this play in...? One thing I noticed. There were no sad faces among the youth. The kids here were all very excited. How cool! We've got a woman PB, they were saying. This will play well among young people, they are saying, especially for those who think of the church as woefully square and old-mannish.

We passed major legislation in support of MDG (Millennium Development Goals) late in the day.

Lowell

New Presiding Bishop Elected

2006-06-18T13:33:00.000-07:00

As we reconvened we received the results of the earlier vote by order. The resolution for Delegated Pastoral Oversight passed overwhelmingly.

The worship resources Enhancing Our Worship was encouraged for us, including on Sundays.

A wonderful new service for Renewal of Ministry with the Welcoming of a New Rector passed. It's a great improvement to the Prayer Book Celebration for New Ministry.

We also added some fine resources and additional rites following death.

We passed a resolution of pastoral concern for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and their families.

We passed a resolution encourage the appointment and nomination of young persons ages 16-30 to serve in leadership.

The announcement of the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori, Bishop of Nevada who was elected by the House of Bishops on the 5th ballot. The House of Deputies is required to consent.

Bishop Jefferts Schori was on the Special Commission on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, on the board of the CDSP Seminary. She's been a college professor. Our vote whether to consent or not to consent was be a vote by orders. The vote was: Lay Order -- yes, 93 / no, 8 / divided, 7; Clerical Order -- 94/10/4

___________________________________

Lowell

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

Sunday Morning

2006-06-18T10:23:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 18, Day 6

At 11:08 we went into silence before beginning consideration of the first resolution to make it to the floor from the Special Committee #25 charged with consideration of the resolutions prompted by our opportunity to respond to the Windsor Report. A163 is a resolution providing for Delegated Pastoral Oversight to allow congregations "who do not feel able to receive appropriate pastoral care from their own bishops" to delegate another bishop to provide oversight; it reconfirms "maintenance of historic diocesan boundaries, the authority of the diocesan bishop, and respect for the historic relationships of the separate and autonomous Provinces of the Anglican Communion." The argument in the house centered on the phrase "when requested in good faith" as a characteristic for a request for delegated oversight. The phrase was retained. Portions or all of the deputations from South Carolina, Fort Worth, Quincy and Central Florida called for a vote by orders.

Going back to Friday, something I didn't report earlier. The secretary general of the Anglican Communion commended the Episcopal Church for the way we have responded to the recommendations of the Windsor Report. "General Convention is a very careful body. I commend the Episcopal Church for the way it has taken seriously the requests of the Windsor Report, and you see this seriousness in the way that business is being conducted on this particular issue at Convention. ...We need to remember the Listening Process is a mutual process."

Another event that has set up some buzz around the convention is the screening of a rough cut of a movie, "Traces of the Trade: A Story from the Deep North." This documentary tells the story of the DeWolfs, the largest slave-trading family in U.S. history. The DeWolfs are also a prominent part of the Episcopal Church in Rhode Island. James DeWolf Perry was the 18th Presiding Bishop. The film is produced and directed by a DeWolf descendant, Katrina Browne. She and nine other family members retraced the route of the "Triangle Trade" in slaves, rum, sugar, and other goods as the family addressed complex issues of atonement and reconciliation. It is hoped that the completed documentary will be shown on PSB eventually.

One of the things that troubles me is the selective way that some dioceses choose to participate in the General Convention and the Triennial Meeting of the Episcopal Church Women (ECW). Yesterday when the dioceses of the church presented their United Thank Offering gifts at the big service (some said more than 5,000 attended), it was pretty awkward when our Province presented our UTO checks. Arkansas went first, then Dallas and Fort Worth were announced, and no one went forward. According to our ECW Triennial participants, the bishops of both of those dioceses have told their women not to participate in the ECW.

It does seem encouraging that several diocesan bishops are present for this meeting who do not regularly participate in other House of Bishops meetings. It is discouraging, however, that once again at this General Convention, whenever there is a Convention Eucharist scheduled, there is another Eucharist occurring simultaneously nearby for those members of Convention (deputies, bishops and others) who do not feel that they can share communion with the rest of the Convention. I believe that has been happening ever since the ordination of women, though I could be mistaken. That saddens me, but it is a long-standing reality of our church.

There is something else that doesn't sadden me but makes me mad. A number of dioceses have chosen not to contribute financially toward their apportionment for the work of the Episcopal Church, They do not contribute, or do so minimally, to the general budget of the Episcopal Church. (Some individuals in many of those diocese do send offerings to the budget as a sign of their disagreement with their diocesan policy.) I got real irritated yesterday when an outspoken deputy from one of those dioceses that does not contribute to the church's budget went to the floor to support a funding proposal. This was a proposal that had not been through our budgeting process and seemed to me to be a financially irresponsible overspending. It really bugged me when a deputy from diocese that has no money in the budget is arguing that we should be spending more for something he supports. I'd like these dioceses to put their money up if that's where their mouths are going to be. Thus endeth the rant.

The House of Bishops is sequestered at Trinity Church nearby for the election of the new Presiding Bishop, who if confirmed would become the 26th PB. They are in our prayers.

Yesterday the convention had events to honor, and roast, the outgoing Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold and the outgoing President of the House of Deputies, George Werner. Our new president of the House will be Bonnie Anderson. Yesterday we elected a new Vice-President, Brion Prior of Spokane. He was chaplain of the previous Convention, serves on the national Executive Council, and is noted for his work with youth.

We have adjourned early, not having heard from the House of Bishops about their election. (They were supposed to call after their third ballot.)

1:15 p.m. Sunday
___________________________________

Lowell

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Saturday Morning

2006-06-17T09:32:00.000-07:00

Saturday Morning; Day 5; June 17

The Confession of Martha --
One of the well known feasts of our calendar is the Confession of St. Peter, remembering when Jesus asks the disciples, "Who do you say that I am?" and Peter responds, "You are the Christ..." The annual Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity occurs between the feasts of the Confession of St. Peter and the Conversion of St. Paul. There is a lesser observed confession in the Gospel which we noted by resolution yesterday, the Confession of Martha. In John 10, after Lazarus has died, Jesus returns, albeit delayed, to Bethany, to a scene of great grief. Martha greets him, "Lord if you had been here..." Jesus said to her, "'I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, 'Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'"

I don't have the resolution in front of me, but my recollection is that we approved referring the feast of the Confession of Martha to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music with the hope that it will be included in the upcoming revision of our Lesser Feasts and Fasts (LFF). Another note about LFF. One of the important considerations that is part of the evaluation of any proposed addition to the LFF calendar is any local tradition of observance of a notable person or event. There is interest in the possibility of adding the late Justice Thurgood Marshall to the calendar. He was an active Episcopalian, the chief attorney who argued the famous Brown vs. Board of Education decision, and was the first African American Justice on the Supreme Court (I think my history is correct). We typically do not add someone to the calendar until that person has been dead for 50 years (there are exceptions). It would strengthen Justice Marshall's cause if, for instance, the parishes he served celebrated a feast in his honor, or, for instance, there were an observance of the Brown vs. Board decision in Arkansas churches. Just a thought.

Committees met again this morning at 7:30. We made some significant progress in Prayer Book and Liturgy. We finally perfected the Liturgies for Rites of Passage. This is material intended for the Book of Occasional Services. It includes Prayers for the Transitions of Childhood, Prayers and Rites for the Transitions of Young Adulthood, Prayers and a Rite for the Transitions of Midlife, Prayers and Rites for the Transitions of Elders, Prayers for National Service (primarily military), Prayers and a Rite for Remembering the Dead. Included in our work was an entire re-write of several prayers, including a rite of betrothal, and the creation of the series of prayers for national service. In the "Blue Book" this material is over 80 pages.

Just before we voted, I offered one more prayer (tongue-in-cheek) to be added in the section of prayers for Transitions of Young Adulthood, just following the prayer After Moving From the Family Home. My addition was a prayer For the Return Home of an Adult Child:
O God!
Bubba is back.
Increase the space between us.
May the work of his hands bring him satisfaction..., with insurance,
as we give you thanks again for regular lawn care. Amen.

The prayer was energetically received.

The committee also passed a significant resolution affirming that baptism is full initiation. Our resolutions, once they have been acted upon by our committee, then go to the House of Bishops. From there they may be amended or approved or rejected. They then return to the committee (if amended) or to the House of Deputies if approved.

Following the committee meetings we had the annual United Thank Offering Eucharist including the UTO ingathering. It looked like a congregation of 4,000 filled the worship space. The sermon was given by Jenny Te Paa of New Zealand, Dean of their seminary and a member of the Windsor Commission, as I understand. Her sermon was a seminal bit of preaching. I can't do it justice with some sound byte quotes. I'm sure it will be posted on line. I'll send a link or the text when that happens. It was a significant sermon, beautifully presented.

I am taking the afternoon off. Kathy is here and we're visiting with a seminary classmate who lives nearby.

Lowell

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

Friday @ General Convention

2006-06-16T16:03:00.000-07:00

Friday Morning

At 7:30 a.m. committees got to work. We now have passed the 50-resolutions mark referred to the Prayer Book & Liturgy Committee. We've still got tons of work to do. But Pan's job at PB&F is harder. She needs $5 million more to meet all of the program requests presented to the appropriations committee of the church. We had hearings on two new resolutions presented to us. One resolution directs the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to prepare rites for the loss of a domestic animal. I'm for it. The other is a resolution acknowledging "that the Bible has always been at the centre of Anglican belief and life" and declaring that "Scripture is the Church's supreme authority." (language from paragraph 53 of Windsor Report) We had a lively and nuanced series of Q & A with the sponsor of the bill, one of my favorite deputies Kendall Harmon. Kendall was on our committee last year and is one of the most articulate conservative theologians in the church. He resisted amendments such as adding "Jesus Christ as revealed in Scripture is the Church's supreme authority" and other such suggestions. It was also suggested that the resolution might add language from the next paragraph 54 of Windsor. The question Kendall's resolution raises concerns the relationship of the authority of scripture to the authority of God. It'll be a fine debate.

Our preacher for today's Eucharist was Martha Horne the Dean of the Virginia Seminary. She did a lovely job dancing with the oddly coupled themes of the feast of Joseph Butler and a Day of Celebration of Women's ministry. She created a complementary tent enclosing law and love, reason and inspiration, male and female. Our music was led by a tight rock/jazz combo who offered creative settings for plainsong, hymns and Eucharistic settings. It really worked! Put some ideas in my mind for some creative worship.

At our table, one of our members talked about a parish group for elders at her church called "Wisdom Gifts." The participants tell their stories, and in doing so they are better able to see how these are gifts from our "wisdom people."

When the legislative session resumed, yesterday's vote by orders was reported. A proposal to cease the practice that requires anyone elected bishop within 3 months of General Convention to be confirmed by General Convention was defeated by one vote in each order, which means we will continue that tradition of voting confirmations.

A word about a vote by orders. The General Convention is a structurally conservative institution. Whenever anything controversial (and some substantive things that may not be controversial) are to be decided, we will vote by orders. Here's how it works. Each diocese has one vote in the clerical and one vote in the lay order. Adoption requires a majority of dioceses voting in the affirmative in both orders. We poll the four members of each order to determine the diocesan vote. A 3-1 or 4-0 vote is "yes." A 1-3 or 0-4 vote is "no." A 2-2 is a divided vote and is counted as a "no." Therefore, it takes considerably more than a majority to pass any vote by orders.

Friday afternoon

This afternoon (Friday) we had another vote by orders on the question of whether the church will adopt the Episcopal Revised Common Lectionary as the lectionary of the church, with the current Book of Common Prayer Lectionary available as an alternative until 2010. The RCL passed overwhelmingly on a vote by order (Lay - 77 yes / 32 no & divided; Clerical - 77 / 33. The RCL is our official lectionary effective on the First Sunday of Advent, 2007.

Earlier today I took the morning off the floor and was able to go through the Convention Exhibit hall. Every three years I order new clergy shirts and black suits during convention, taking advantage of Whipple's 15% off convention discount. In the exhibits area I saw Madge Brown of Little Rock who is the primary exhibitor at the Community of Hope booth. I went by the American Anglican Musician's booth where they were playing a DVD of the Arkansas Choir Camp at Subiaco that Charlie Rigsby of St. Paul's directs. On the video I saw Linda Kelly directing a choir, and I recognized lots of the children singing. Great fun.

Two other things in the air. We will be considering establishing interim Eucharistic sharing with the United Methodist Church. Interim sharing means that we stand together with ordained members of both churches at the table in order to learn more about each other. We spent many years of interim sharing with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America before moving toward mutual recognition and intercommunion. Also in the air, confirmation of the election of the Rev. Barry Beisner as bishop coadjutor of Northern California is being questioned because he has been divorced twice and married three times. That fact was not an issue during the election, but has been raised since by people outside the diocese.

We threw/invested (you interpret) a bunch of money in church plants. There was some division in the deputation whether that was a good idea. We'll let everybody defend themselves when when they get home. Sandy Powers was elected to the ECW National Board as the Province 7 representative. Mandy Alford is the "honored woman" from the Diocese of Arkansas. Seminarian Terri Daily is 40 today. Linda Nelson cam by the Arkansas room for a visit. Kathy's plane is delayed, and I'm not happy about that.

Lowell

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

Thursday night

2006-06-16T04:23:00.000-07:00

It is actually Friday morning. I ate a light meal and went to bed early last night. Feel much more rested.

I missed the forum on reconciliation last night, so I've included the Episcopal News Service report about it below.

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Episcopal News Service
Thursday, June 15, 2006

Danforth challenges Church to a "higher calling" of reconciliation
"Toward a Reconciled World" is theme of Presiding Bishop's Forum

By Matthew Davies

[ENS] The Rev. John Danforth, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, challenged the Episcopal Church to a "higher calling" of reconciliation during Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold's forum: "Toward a Reconciled World."

The forum drew an audience of more than 500 people to the Greater Columbus Convention Center at 8 p.m. on June 15.

Setting the context for the evening, which formed part of the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, Griswold explained that God's concern is the world and not the Church.

An Episcopal priest and former U.S. senator from Missouri, Danforth said that the center of American politics has eroded and "the common ground has been cut out because the most active and articulate people representing the political parties are on the fringes."

A first-timer to General Convention, Danforth offered an "outsider's perspective," observing that virtually all the public attention directed at General Convention had been on the issue of sexual orientation.

"I don't want to downplay the issues ... but I want to raise the basic question of whether that issue is the centerpiece of the Episcopal Church," he said. "I believe that we have a higher calling, a more central message ... ours is a special calling to the ministry of reconciliation."

Danforth said that the Episcopal Church has always represented the middle way, "where all sorts of people can come together around the altar ... and have all sorts of different views.

"If God calls us to a ministry of reconciliation, how you conduct yourselves at this General Convention is very important because it would be very hard for our church to offer ourselves as the broken answer to the world.

"A broken church is a sad church. If we can't exchange the peace with one another it's hard to explain to people how we purport to be agents of peace.

"I plead with you to figure out a way to hold this together and put whatever you can into context of a higher calling."

Griswold honored Danforth with the Presiding Bishop's Award for Faith and Public Service.

Dr. Jenny Plane Te Paa, dean of the Anglican Theological College in Auckland, New Zealand, urged the Episcopal Church to create a safe and inclusive space in which it might "consciously endeavor to engage public discourse," noting that "God's reconciling work still happens best between human beings who are fully present, full visible and fully vulnerable in the encounter."

Malaika Kamunanwire, director of communications for Episcopal Relief and Development, spoke about the church's response to "healing the brokenness that comes from disaster, disease, chronic hunger and poverty."

Alex Baumgarten, international policy analyst for the Episcopal Church's Office of Government Relations, spoke about advocacy as a tool of reconciliation.

"The world possesses the knowledge, the resources and the strategies to end global poverty altogether. All it lacks is the political will," Baumgarten said, referring to the Millennium Development Goals that "recognize all of humanity's problems." He also acknowledged the ONE Campaign, with which the Episcopal Church has partnered to establish ONE Episcopalian.

"Finding the heart of God" was the theme of an address by Bishop Thomas Shaw of Massachusetts, during which he described the witness of the Anglican Communion and "the reality that no one is alone. No one is isolated in God's gift of the worldwide Church."

He reminded the forum of the millions of Anglicans throughout the world, "who every day are making the heart of God a reality for serving and inspiring one another."

Music was provided by Isaac Everett, Stephen Hoevertz and Miles Kennedy.

-- Matthew Davies is international correspondent for the Episcopal News Service.

Lowell

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

Thursday morning thru 4:30

2006-06-15T13:48:00.000-07:00

Thursday, June 15; Day 3; Morning through 4:30 p.m.

While over 1,000 people packed the hall to participate in last night's hearing about the Special Commission's report in response to the Windsor document, Pan Adams was chairing the Program, Budget & Finance (PB&F) spending hearings. Almost 150 people attended; 51 spoke addressing 28 different ministries over a 2 1/2 hour session. Tonight, PB&F will have a funding hearing to listen to how the church might fund its mission.

Our Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee hosted a hearing on resolutions that intend to reaffirm the words of the Prayer Book that Baptism is full initiation in the church. The intention is to bring together over the next three years a diverse forum of scholars and others to clarify the canons and constitutions and to promote a coherent model for lifelong formation, education and training for growth in faith.

The issue is that Baptism is the initiatory rite of the Church and Confirmation is a pastoral rite. A pastoral rite is not a credential rite, i.e. it is argued that it is inappropriate that one would be confirmed in order to do something that you couldn't do if you were not confirmed (like serve on the Vestry, be a Lay Eucharistic Minister, etc.)

Speaking in support of the resolution were three giants of liturgical scholarship, Louis Weil, Lionel Mitchell and John Westerhoff.

Dr. Weil said that we are still living into the theology of the Baptismal rite and Baptismal covenant which was fundamental to the creation of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Confirmation classes are too limited in scope to meet the lifelong need for formation. Formation needs a greater context. Too many people jump through the hoop to "get confirmed" and then graduate from continuing education and formation.

Hearing Dr. Mitchell trace the history of the development of the church's initiation rites was like listening to Thomas Jefferson talk about the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. He is concerned first that we confirm the integrity of the sacrament of baptism -- it is sufficient, says Mitchell.

Dr. Westerhoff says that Confirmation has been carrying too heavy a burden. A ritual should be focused -- to do one thing and to have related catechesis about that one thing. Confirmation has been used as the rite that is used (1) for a person to become an Episcopalian, (2) as a rite of passage into adult responsibility for a youth's faith, and (3) the completion of initiation. That's too much.

Then he gave us a quick teaching about catechesis (what we used to call "teaching" / the word means "christening"). Catechesis needs to be 3 things -- intentional, life-long, and related to rites of the church. There are three kinds of catechesis. (1) Formation (or Nuture) -- a natural process; we all learn one way or another. Formation is our participation and practice in our particular way of life. We we be formed in faith? How faithful will our formation be? (2) Education is critical reflection / self-critical reflection. Education demands change, and can be transforming. (3) Instruction or training, which gives us skills. Training is how we acquire knowledge (or credentials for tasks). We need all three in our life-long teaching and learning in the church.
___________________

At our morning Eucharist, Presiding Bishop Griswold preached on the feast of Evelyn Underwood. When he was 15, a priest lent him her book "The Life of Christ" which opened Frank's eyes to the interior life that energizes and sustains our life in the world. Underwood's study "Practical Mysticism" argued that all Christians are called to intimacy with Christ, not because it is what we want, but intimacy is what Christ wants. It is a misconception to equate mysticism only with visions or dramatic emotions. Everyone can be a mystic. Mysticism is our call to a relationship of reunion with Christ and with other Christians in the Holy Spirit, fostered in prayer. Our reading from Wisdom spoke of Wisdom not as a body of information, but a person, an embodied relationship pressing into "holy souls" which "makes them friends of God." Paul says that Christ is the Wisdom of God. John invites us into relationship with Christ -- abide wit me and I in you. In that same passage Jesus calls us friends. The Spirit draws us together as friends and as friends of God. How does that prepare us to be eager to serve the world in his name.

From noonday prayers meditation: "If you really want to know a people, you need to know for what they hope."
____________________

We've resumed legislative activity. So far pretty routine stuff. The most heat generated today is about a resolution calling for the development of materials "to assist the church to address anti-Jewish prejudice expressed in and stirred by portions of Christian scriptures and liturgical texts..." A substitute amendment was offered to omit the reference to scripture so as not to infer that there is any anti-Semitism in scripture. It was pointed out that we have a history of interpreting some scriptural passages in an anti-Semitic manner. We concurred with the House of Bishops' resolution that included the consideration of interpretations of scripture in those materials by a 68% to 32% margin.

Lunch break. First good sit-down meal I've had since I've been here.

We passed the first of the resolutions from the Special Committee #25 concerning our response to the Windsor Report. This resolution reaffirms that the Episcopal Church is a "constituent member of the Anglican Communion... making a commitment to the vision of interdependent life in Christ, characterized by forbearance, trust, and respect and commends the ideal expressed in Sections A and B of the Windsor Report as a means of deepening our understanding of that commitment."

Some statistics on the number of resolutions at this convention compared with 2003. We had 336 resolutions in 2003, 332 in 2006.

I'm going to take advantage of a break to send this email.

Lowell

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Wednesday Afternoon (this is out of chronological order)

2006-06-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Wednesday afternoon;
The next blog entry is about Wednesday night's hearing and is more recent. Sorry.

Ooops. I don't care for facts very much. (Myers-Briggs ENFP) I told our deputation about the hearing our committee was having with the fab four liturgists testifying. This was the John, Paul, George and Ringo of liturgy -- Weil, Hatchett, Mitchell and Westerhoff at 2:00. So Bishop Maze and about half our our deputation showed up in a nearly empty room. Wrong day. Wrong time. They'll be here tomorrow morning at 7:30. Did I say how far you have to walk to get to the Convention meeting locations? Or how slow the elevators are? Dennis Campbell said it took 10 minutes to get to the Hotel (they are a mile away); it took him 12 minutes to get to the Arkansas deputation room via elevator.

Our committee did some outstanding work to re-write the proposed betrothal/engagement ritual and replace a single proposed prayer with a whole group of prayers for persons serving in the military and a couple of prayers for those who are conscientious objectors.
We're voting for 12 persons to be elected to the Church Pension Fund. We have new electronic remote voting units. So far the error rate is nearly 20%. We're longing for good ole paper hanging chads. Great confusion. 800 strong willed persons trying to work something a little less complicated than your TV/DVD/CD/VCR remote.
We finally finished the vote after about 45 minutes of semi-chaos. After all of that, 96 of the 829 ballots were disqualified, so by our rules, we'll have a paper vote tomorrow. (Jesus didn't pick his 12 this way. Or... maybe that explains Judas?)

The leader of the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund gave us a moving presentation of the needs and possibilities for responding to the challenges of poverty, disaster and illness in the world. I'm hoping I can get a copy of his speech and some of the statistics. Compelling stuff.

In our most substantive action thus far, Pan Adams, the chair of the Program, Budget & Finance Commission presented the mission priorities for the church in the upcoming triennium. PB&F ranked the priorities in the following order:
1. JUSTICE AND PEACE: Promoting justice and peace for all of God's creation and continuing and accelerating the leadership role and programs of the Episcopal Church, which support the eight Millennium Development Goals in the dioceses of the Episcopal Church and in the world.
2. YOUNG ADULTS, YOUTH AND CHILDREN: Reaching out to young adults, youth and children through intentional inclusion and full incorporation in the thinking, work, worship and structure of the Church.
3. RECONCILIATION AND EVANGELISM: Reconciling and engaging those who do not know Christ by participating in God's mission of reconciling all things to Christ and proclaiming the Gospel to those who are not yet members of the church.
4. CONGREGATIONAL TRANSFORMATION: Revitalizing and transforming congregations through commitment to leadership development, spiritual growth, lifelong learning, dynamic and inclusive worship, greater diversity, and mission.
5. PARTNERSHIPS: Reaffirming the importance of our partnerships with provinces of the Anglican Communion and beyond and our relationships with ecumenical interfaith partners.

Wednesday Evening Hearing

2006-06-14T19:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the big hearing for the Special Committee that is charged with crafting resolutions of response to the Windsor Report. The crowd was too large for the largest ballroom at the Hyatt Convention Hotel. Each diocese got five tickets for a reserved section. Most of the seats were "general admission." Many people could not get in.

My overall impression was to note that we may have a compromise that can stand up in the form of the report of the special commission. There was vigorous opposition from both sides of the debate. "Conservatives" complained that the language was unclear and should embody an unequivocal repentance and compliance with a conservative interpretation of the Windsor Report. "Liberals" complained that the recommendations are part of a conversation that has excluded the voices of gay and lesbian Anglicans and do not represent the testimony of the Holy Spirit. There were people from both "sides" who commended the report as a comprehensive compromise.

The report of the Commission was the result of much work and prayer by a diverse group that worked together to craft resolutions to consider in our response to Windsor. The report came out with unanimous support from that commission.

The resolutions that we were taking comment on tonight include these features:

We declare our intention to live into the highest degree of communion possible with the Anglican Communion and commit to interdependence.
We express "our own deep regret for the pain that others have experienced with respect to our actions at the General Convention of 2003 and we offer our sincerest apology and repentance for having breached the bonds of affection in the Anglican Communion by any failure to consult adequately with our Anglican partners before taking these actions."
"...the Episcopal Church regrets the extent to which we have ...contributed to strains on communion and caused deep offense to many faithful Anglican Christians as we consented to the consecration of a bishop living openly in a same-gender union. Accordingly we urge nominating committees, electing conventions, Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise very considerable caution in the nomination, election, consent to, and consecration of bishops whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."
We "affirm the need to maintain a breadth of private responses to situations of individual pastoral care for gay and lesbian Christians."
We "concur with the ...exhortation to bishops" not to "authorize public Rites of Blessing for same-sex unions, until some broader consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges."
Bishops who have authorized public diocesan rites are invited "to express regret that the proper constraints of the bonds of affection were breached by such authorization.

(We didn't discuss the plan for delegated Episcopal pastoral oversight for congregations who are at odds with their own bishop. Nor the support of the Millennium Development Goals as part of our joint mission in the Anglican Communion. Nor did we directly address the commitment to an ongoing listening process or the possibility of the development of an Anglican Covenant. Nor a recommitment to several "full and equal claim" resolutions from previous General Conventions. Nor a resolution stating that "homosexual persons are entitled to equal protection of the laws with all other citizens." Those hearings were at another time. I'll try to get some reports.)

The chair Frank Wade opened the evening saying that our main activity would be listening. Our norms: respectful listening, undivided attention, no demonstrations of support or opposition, and the creation of a hospitable space. He quoted an old saying: "If two people agree on everything, one of them is not necessary.
_____________________________________________

Some comments from those who testified:

In 2003 the General Convention created a classical Anglican solution, incorporating compassion and compromise. It was a both/and policy rather than a parliamentary either/or. Take care not to abandon that.

Windsor said in clear language "stop." Our language saying "exercise considerable caution" is unclear.

Quoting Frank Wade -- We do need each other, and the Anglican Communion needs us to do more than simply say the same thing the Windsor Report is saying in a compliant single voice. Gay voices have been systematically excluded from every Anglican Communion forum for thirty years. When the primate of South Africa invited gay Anglicans to speak to Lambeth, they were not allowed. We need two voices to have conversation, not just compliance.

This set of resolutions is not perfect, but is comprehensive. It has unanimous support from a very diverse group. (comment from an openly gay deputy)

Saying that we regret our failure to consult the Anglican Communion is not the same as saying we regret our decision. We should say we regret our decisions in 2003.

We should have three more years of a moratorium on the consecration of new bishops. That will show how serious we are.

The motive of those who voted to consecrate Gene Robinson and to permit same-gender blessings was the movement of the Holy Spirit. To say that we regret such decisions would be to blaspheme the Holy Spirit, the only unforgivable sin.

One who had visited in Africa told of how hurt our brothers and sisters there were. But they appreciated our presence and our expressions of regret.

We should not repent of opposing oppression any more than Galileo should repent that the earth revolves around the sun or of the church's support of integration or women's equality.

Bob Duncan, the Bishop who heads the Network, said that we have come to an impossible place. There can be no resolution. Unless we comply fully with Windsor there must be a division. He and others will walk away. It is "comply or good bye."

Gene Robinson said the question is, do we recognize the light of Christ and the face of the creator in gay and lesbian Christians or do we not see in them, like we have come to see in black and women Christians, the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

A person with connections with the Anglican Consultative Council said that her contact believes that the Special Commission report fulfills the expectations of the Windsor Report and that it is an impressive balance of concerns which will be received positively overseas.

It is a good balance. It shies away from naming a moratorium on incorporation of gay people until a consensus occurs in the Anglican Communion, which means "never." And it shies away from saying that the Episcopal Church will simply go our own way. That path is the path of conversation.

In 2003 we acted as we sometimes criticize our government of doing, we acted unilaterally. It is hubris to declare that our understanding of the Gospel is superior to others.

The Windsor Report was prepared without the input of a single gay or lesbian voice. We were silenced.

For a true conversation to take place, Rabbi Ed Friedman said that you need three things: 1. Two people must face one another. 2. They must have some distance between them so that they can be heard. 3. Static must be minimized. There is nuance in both the Windsor Report and the Special Commission's report, and this responsible nuance creates space which allows conversation.
____________________

The forum was handled in an atmosphere of respectful listening with the true sense that good committed Episcopalians come to very different conclusions about these important matters. There were no personal attacks nor was there anything that I heard that seemed inappropriate or unseemly. It was strong, passionate debate of the highest order.

Funny. We fell into chaos trying to operate voting instruments that were not much more complicated than a TV remote this afternoon. Then we stood up to the highest standards of truth-telling and respectful, passionate debate this evening.

Lowell

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

Tuesday nite & Wed morning, June 13-14

2006-06-14T10:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday evening, June 13

The House adjourned at 6:15 p.m.; some committees, including mine, began meeting at 7:00. Dinner was bourbon and cheetoes in the diocesan hospitality room (didn't get to go to U2 Eucharist)

The Prayer Book & Liturgy Committee debated the use of the Revised Common Lectionary becoming the Lectionary of the Episcopal Church by Advent, 2010. There is strong support for the use of the RCL because of its ecumenical nature, because most liturgical study resources are keyed to the RCL, because it includes more readings that focus on the stories of women in the Bible, because the Epistle readings are more coherent and divided in a more understandable manner, and because there is less material that can be interpreted as anti-Semetic. Our committee will move its adoption. (Our parish has been using RCL for some time; I personally prefer it.)

We also did almost two hours of creative work to edit and perfect a whole series of liturgical resources and prayers for pastoral purposes during life transitions. We also formed three sub-committees to work on areas that needed a little more attention. I am knocked out by the talent and breadth of knowledge and experience of the people on this committee. Good work. We finished about 9 p.m. The subcommittees will meet between then and 7:30 in the morning.

Earlier in the day, the Archbishop of Canterbury conveyed a message of greeting, assuring us of the prayers of the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. He thanked us for the work our Commissions and Comittees have done in responding to the Windsor Process and encouraged us to work to find some "common convictions about what it is to live and into make decisions as the Body of Christ."

Public hearings about the Title IV disciplinary canon revisions are generating a great deal of hesitancy and argument. There is a great deal of energy in support of the MillenniumDevelopment Goals.
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Day 2, Wednesday, June 14 -- AM

7:30 a.m. legislative committees resume. Our committee took up the additions to Lesser Feasts and Fasts. I was particularly taken with origin of the nomination of Bertha & Ethelbert to the calendar. It is the result of a pilgrimage made by a group of young people to Canterbury Cathedral from their church in Frankfurt, Germany. The youth were so taken with the story of the French woman Bertha who established a chapel in Canterbury and then helped lead her husband Ethelbert to baptism, that the kids came home to write and perform a "rap" version of that story for their diocese. It is their diocese that has moved the adoption of the feast.

Except for the feasts that were approved at the previous Convention (Florence Li Tim-Oi, Janani Luwum, Philander Chase, William Temple, and Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis), all of the nominated feasts will be referred to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. That Commission is half-way through a full-scale revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts. We approved the principles for the revision process.
________

The morning Eucharist was celebrated partially in Spanish and partially in English, with music by a wind quartet (and organ) and once again a compelling series of projected images of art. Our feast is Basil of Caesearea. The preacher, the Rev. Miguelina Espinal picked up the themes from the reading from 1 Corinthians 2 -- "I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom... I came to you in weakness and fear... My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power." Rev. Espinal said that "our capacity to reason is weak and leads us to uncertainty." She said, "According to Jesus, this joy and wisdom which comes from the Holy Spirit is given to those who have simple and humble hearts. Jesus tells us that those with a humble heart recognize that they need God. The Gospel of Luke tells us that the poor are those with the simple and humble hearts. A humble person is one who has the capacity to maintain a spirit of kneeling before the Lord even though they are standing up right."

She reminded us that St. Paul's told us if we have all the knowledge in the world but do not have love we have nothing. Keep the message simple. She concluded with a story:

Diego had never been to the sea. His father, Santiago, took him on a journey to discover it. They traveled south. The sea was beyond the tall sand dunes, waiting for them. When the boy and his father finally stood at the peak of the tallest sand dune, the sea exploded before their eyes. The sea's vastness, beauty, and brilliance were so great, that the boy became silent. When he finally spoke he was so overwhelmed that he said to his dad, "Help me to see."

When we see the vastness of God's wisdom and love for us our natural response is to say to God, help us to see and understand.

During our table conversation, one person told a story about simple and humble hearts. A famous American scholar-theologian went to the East to learn of their wisdom. He went to the home of a guru to tell him of his purpose. The teacher invited him to tea. Silently the teacher began to pour the tea into the theologian's cup. Half full. Full. Then to the brim, as he continued to pour as tea, spilling over the edge and onto the tray. The theologian looked shocked. The teacher said, "You have come to me saying you wish to learn from me, but you come with your head full of your own ideas and opinions. Unless you can empty your own cup, there is no room in you for my teaching."
__________

As our morning Legislative Session opened, President Werner reminded us that this House does not do business as usual. We pause from time to time for silence and prayer. Applause is prohibited. There is no show of celebration overe the votes and decisions that we make, for as you walk from here, the person next to you may feel exactly the opposite from you, and that person is your brother/sister.

We passed a series of resolutions and funding to support World Mission pilgrimages, education materials and missionaries.

The chaplain's meditation was a timely one, telling a story of a youth mission trip. The group was rebuilding a porch for an elderly woman named Dorothy Williams. They rebuilt and painted her porch. When it was done, he noticed they had missed a spot on the inside corner of the porch. The only way to reach the spot was on his knees. He finished with two green knees. Not just any green, but outdoor, all weather, oil based green paint. Dorothy Williams saw his knees and said "wait." She brought baby oil and a rough cloth. Carefully, painfully kneeling on her own knees, the elderly woman scrubbed his knees clean -- an icon of caring service.

He quoted from St. Basil -- "If you seek to pursue the spiritual path independently, how can you show compassion, how can you show patience, how can you exercise humility." That's why being in church is better than taking a walk on Sunday morning, he said.
___________

We elected Bonnie Anderson to become the new President of the House of Deputies at the end of this General Convention.

We've adjourned for lunch. Our committee has a major open hearing with presentations from four of the church's great liturgical theologians at 2:00 -- Marion Hatchett, Lionel Mitchell, Louis Weil, and Carolyln Westerhoff talking about a resolution to define baptism as full initiation. That conversation raises the question -- what is the meaning of Confirmation? Rumor has it that these liturgical giants have very different approaches to the question.

Most of the legislation is still in committee, so work on the floor is slow. As the committees bring their reports, business will accelerate.

Tuesday; 1:15 p.m.

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

Tuesday, June 13; afternoon

2006-06-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

Legislative committees reconvened at 2:00. We worked until 4:00 when the Houses reconvened in legislative sessions.

Our Liturgy and Prayer Book Committee had vigorous conversation about a creative series of liturgies and prayers for transitional passages in life. We couldn't quite finish our consideration in the time frame. A sub committee will be working to enhance one series of prayers. This is going to be some material that will be welcomed and used. Especially interesting is a Rite of Passage for a Significant Birthday which is informed by the Hispanic tradition of Qinceaneara (a girl's 15th birthday) and Fiesta Clavel (a boy's 15th birthday). There is also a fine liturgy for honoring elders.

I hear that there is energetic debate about some new disciplinary canons that would establish procedures which could include laity under these canons.

In a committee hearing about the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the invitation to encourage our institutions and individuals to commit to contribute 0.7%, a friend of mine, the Rev. Michael Russell, rector of All Souls' Church in San Diego, said there is "nobody more generous than poor people in Kenya, and every time we walked into their homes they fed us with hard boiled eggs -- the best food available to them. The question is: are we going to put the best food we have on the table?"

We had a cordial visit from the Archbishop of York, who is originally from Uganda. I'll try to find a copy of a fetching quote that he had, but was too long for me to take notes on it.

An hour of incredibly boring debate about Structure stuff. This is not a place for people with Type A personalities, ADHD, or behavior problems when they were in fifth grade. Perfectionists with high control needs are not helpful either on the big floor. They are very helpful in committee.

There are fifteen national flags behind the podium representing the nations that are part of the Episcopal Church. This is more than a national church. We are one of the most international provinces in the Anglican Communion.

I hoped to attend a "U2 Eucharist" sponsored by the Episcopalians for Global Relief this evening, but our committee is behind now, and we'll have to meet at 7 p.m. to get our resolution to the floor. I probably won't write again today unless something interesting happens. (or unless I get to go to the U2 Eucharist)

Lowell

Tue AM 1st Eucharist , 1st Session

2006-06-13T10:28:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 13, Day 2, 12:30 a.m

Committee meetings began at 7:30 this morning. Our Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee polished a fine alternative to the Prayer Book's Celebration of New Ministry reflecting a the shared ministry of all the baptized as we welcome a new rector or other congregational leader. If passed the rite will be in the Enriching Our Worship under the title The Renewal of Ministry with the Welcoming of a New Rector (and "Rector" is in quotes, so it can be used flexibly).

The opening Eucharist of Convention began at 9:30. We used the lections for the Holy Spirit. Presiding Bishop Griswold preached.

Bishop Griswold opened with the express desire that we seek the mind of Christ. "It is dangerous to invoke the Holy Spirit. What if we were taken seriously?" he said. It may be that the Spirit may ask us for more than we want to give. After Jesus' baptism, the Spirit drove him into the wilderness. In that place, Jesus said that his food would be to do the will of God. With that he initiated his ministry of reconciliation, which led him to the costly place of the cross. From the cross, Jesus holds us in an "unrelenting cosmic embrace."

Our Gospel was Luke's "ask, seek, knock" passage, which concludes "how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?" Ask, seek, knock, said the Presiding Bishop. "How much more will God give the Holy Spirit? How much more will God give us unfolding truth. How much more will God give us unbounded love." (may not be an exact quote) He quoted the Galatians "fruit of the spirit" and challenged us, "How much more of the fruits of the Holy Spirit will we be able to bear?"

The Bishop wondered, when the prophet Isaiah announced "the Spirit of the Lord is upon me," might Isaiah have felt uncomfortable about what the Spirit was calling him to. Did he welcome the call to "bring good news to the oppressed." Possibly it was the Spirit pushing him toward the new demands of the Spirit. Jeremiah complained to God, "You have overpowered me!"

At this convention we have many points of view, many different hopes, and many who carry anxiety. We say that whatever that may be, these are expressions of Christ.

Bernard of Clairvaux taught that we must study "both the book of Scripture and the book of experience to read the marks of the Spirit." When we read these two books, we discover tensions. That reality means that we must exercise patience and generosity of spirit. Persons of genuine faith can disagree, yet we can maintain "the unity of spirit in the bond of peace." (Ephesians)

Bishop Griswold invoked the Holy Spirit, inviting each of us to invoke the Spirit to ask "what do I bring to this convention? What attitudes, opinions...?" We can we driven by urgencies that are unconscious. Ask the Spirit to raise these urgencies to our consciousness. Ask the Spirit for deeper knowledge. We will be given by the Spirit greater awareness, especially greater awareness of the gifts each of us bring. What gifts do I bring to this convention? Finally, the Bishop asked us to place what the Spirit gives us in our hands, and to extend our hands in offering to God.
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Following the sermon, we had a Bible Conversation Time at the tables. Part of what I shared referenced the reading from Isaiah 61, which speaks of "good news to the oppressed," and binding up "the brokenhearted." As we read those words, two groups of friends, with real names and faces, came to my mind. Among those feeling oppressed and brokenhearted are friends who feel like their church has left them, that it has abandoned the orthodox faith and abused the Anglican Communion. Also among those who have felt oppression and broken heartedness within the church for their whole lives are many gay and lesbian friends. What I want is for both of those groups to be bound together in the Good News.
_____

It is a wonderful thing to celebrate in Eucharistic worship with over 2,000 people. I found myself moved as we sang together. There was a Spirit of such earnestness and affection present. A solo violin played during part of the communion. Evocative projection pictures of images of original art works stimulated a sense of the Spirit as imagined in paint, sculpture, and glass. It was beautiful. I wondered. How hard might it be for those who intend to leave this beautiful church to be here touched by the liturgy and art of our shared worship. Our love of this church is deeply rooted. As has been the case for several conventions, there are some members of convention who do not participate in the convention Eucharists. They conduct an alternative service which is structured to be more consistent with their beliefs. For those who are there rather than here, especially those who plan to leave this communion, their absence would spare them pain, I can imagine. And yet, I also wondered, were they here, might the compelling power of the Eucharist be an opening for the movement of the Spirit toward reunion?
_____

Just after 11:15 the House of Deputies convened for the first time. The first orders of business are procedural and organizational.
Among the first dignitaries who had a role in the organizing were Pan Adams, chair of PB&F to move one election, and our won Harriet Neer, President of the Episcopal Church Women who are meeting nearby in their Triennial.

We've got the best seats in the enormous hall. One the back row, next to the water cooler and nearest to the bathrooms. We're also the closest delegation to the exit for quick getaways and early positions in lunch lines, and sitting next to the Youth delegation with their alternating bursts of energy and strained expressions of boredom. Great place to be.

Lowell

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________________________________________________________________________________________

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

Monday morning -- just getting started

2006-06-12T10:31:00.000-07:00

Monday, June 12, 1:30 p.m.

Before the convention comes to order, committees have begun their work. My Prayer Book & Liturgy committee met from 8 a.m. to 11:50 to begin looking at the 45 resolutions that we have to consider so far. Wednesday at 5:00 is the filing deadline, so we'll have a handful more to consider. We went through all of the resolutions that need money appropriated. We have to get those requests to the Program, Budget & Finance (PB&F) committee as quickly as possible so they can be considered among all of the appropriations. Our request will total $200,000. Pan Adams is the chair of PB&F, possibly the most difficult job at General Convention. I just looked into their hearing on budgetary priorities and couldn't get into the room because it was so packed.

Among the more interesting things our committee is looking at are Liturgies for Rites of Passage for times of transition. We have proposals for rites related to stages in human development -- youth, rising adulthood, midlife, elders. Prayers for things such as the first day of school, going away to camp, earning a driver's license, beginning to date, going off to college, moving from the family home, beginning or ending a job, surviving a tragedy, healing after a divorce, taking on the care of elder parents, becoming a grandparent, remembering a departed soul a week / month / year after death, visiting the site of a death, coming home without a departed loved one, the birthday of a departed loved one, and many others. There are liturgies for celebrating a significant birthday, celebrating an engagement, receiving or claiming a new name, celebrating our elders. I'll be on a sub-committee working on many of these rites of passage texts.

We're halfway through a six-year revision of the Lesser Feasts and Fasts. We're setting up principles of that revision. We expect some spirited debate about the place of the two lectionaries -- the Prayer Book and the Revised Common Lectionary.

There is a lot of work on additional liturgical resources in the Enriching Our Worship alternative services. There is a much needed service titled The Renewal of Ministry with the Welcoming of a New Rector that I imagine will become the standard replacement for the Prayer Book Celebration of New Ministry service. The new version emphasizes the shared ministry of congregation and priest more than the Prayer Book liturgy. There is a lot of material for use with the Burial service. These pastoral rites will offer welcome resources for some of the times when we most need our prayers.

This afternoon the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies will give their opening presentations to the Convention, and we'll have an orientation to the new voting and microphone systems. There is also something called "deputy conversations." Tonight, the committees reconvene at 7:00.

Lowell

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Go to www.generalconvention.blogspot.com
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_____________________________________

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

Deputies Arrive at GC

2006-06-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

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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Click the "comment" link below.
________________________________________________________________________________________

Keep us in your prayers.

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

General Convention Blog

2006-05-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

This is a blog for conversation about the Episcopal Church General Convention in Columbus, Ohio, June 12-22. It is set up by the Rev. Lowell Grisham, clergy deputy from the Diocese of Arkansas.

Each day I'll post one or more emails about the GC. In addition to news, I'll post brief summaries about sermons, meditations, and teachings that are part of the event, as well as reflections about the ministry and energy of Convention.

Blog comments are welcome.

I'll send my first post sometime around June 12.

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You can unsubscribe at any time.

Lowell

The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
Rector, St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

C1 - Arkansas
Prayer Book & Liturgy Committee