Where To Go From Here

I have wrestled with what to do with this blog now that GC is over. Here is what I have come up with.

I think I would like to continue posting reflections and news items here. There is so much going on as a result of GC that I think it would be useful to continue blogging. Now, this will not be an everyday kind of thing. I do not have the discipline for that (I was surprised that I made it through Convention). Instead, I think a weekly, probably posted on Fridays, recap and analysis of the week's events is what would work best here. I will also expand the links section to include the places I go regularly for news and information.

So, thank you to everyone who has been reading and I hope many of you will continue.

Just as a teaser, my next post will be about Bishop Smith’s pastoral letter. Oh I know you cannot wait.

GC Wrap-Up

I was at a meeting last week and a person who has been reading this blog asked where the final wrap-up was. She felt like I did not give my final reflections and tease out some sort of meaning from the chaos.

So, I told her I would post and here is my attempt at finding some clarity in what I think about my experiences at GC. (In a later post I will explain what I plan to do with this blog)

Part of the problem with making sense of my experience is that there was simply so much. Everyday was packed with conversations, testimony, people, and displays and on and on. There is no way to communicate it all, and I am not sure if I even remember half of it. So, I have given some thought to broad themes that could be teased out and have settled on three.

The first is diversity. I am a Missourian through and through. I have traveled quite a bit but have never experienced the breadth of our Church. At GC one is able to see the diversity of peoples, ideas, causes, organizations, and expressions of our faith. No where else could I experience a Mass based on the music of U2, then go to a hearing discussing liturgical reform, then listen to a sermon in Spanish, and sing psalm settings in several different Native American languages. It was really a shock.

Diversity is not only cultural. There were people representing almost every possible opinion within the Church. The big hearing on responding to Windsor is a good example. Almost every possible opinion on the subject was given voice and respectfully received. And that is what really stands out. People who vigorously disagreed were not just civil but seemed to respect and love each other. Sure they fought passionately when the time came but outside the legislative process there was true respect and love. Now this is not to say that some exempted themselves from much of GC. There were some, not many, who did refuse to participate in worship at GC and held many meetings and such outside of the Church structure. On the whole, however, most folks participated in GC activities and worship.

The second theme is mission. In almost every discussion and debate someone would bring up the mission of the Church. There was a real desire of Bishops and Deputies to reconnect the Church to mission. To me, this refocus on mission does two things. One positive and the other more cynical. On the positive side recommitment to mission draws the Church back into the world and sets the Church as a lamp on the hill calling folks to changed lives and commitment to the oppressed. On the more cynical side focusing on mission will, hopefully, keep us to busy to fight over ‘other things’. I believe energy around mission, especially expressed in the MDG’s, will have positive outcomes for the Church. Hopefully folks will be drawn to our witness of God’s Kingdom and come labor with us. I doubt that it will keep us from squabbling. There always seems t be time in any family for fighting. I guess the key is to find a balance and not get swept away by the bickering.

The third theme is messiness. Both at GC and here at home I have heard many express dismay about how decision-making is done in the Church. Often heard is the complaint that the process does not leave room for conversation, meditation, and prayer. I simply do not agree. The process is messy but it does work. It seems to me that an idealized vision of the Church comes into conflict with the lived reality and folk find reality lacking. No system, no matter how slow (I mean deliberative), will even live up to the ideal. The system we now have has served us well for over two hundred years. Most of the matters to be taken up by GC are known well in advance. Through the use of technology and interim bodies many deputies, and certainly Bishops, have the ability to discuss matters fully, prayerfully, and with an eye toward what will actually happen on the floor. Yes the system is full of procedure and can get tied into knots. Every system can. The messy system we now have ensure a wide consensus for major decisions.

I hope this gives some closure to my experience at GC. It was uplifting and frustrating. I would do it all over again. Now it is time to move on to embrace the themes of diversity, mission, and messiness and make them visible in my own neck of the woods. It is not an easy task but with God’s help all things are possible.

Reflection and Aftermath

I am sorry I have not gotten to this sooner. The trip home from Columbus was awful. Mike Clark, deputy from Missouri, and I were on the same flight. We pulled away from the gate and sat on the tarmac for over 3 hours. We got to Chicago at 11:45. All connections had left and we spent the night in the cold terminal. I did not get home till 9 am on Thursday.

It seems while I was in transit, the Anglican world was lighting up. There is a great deal of sadness, anger, and disappointment in the events of Wednesday morning. I have not written about them, so I will briefly explain what I saw happening.

On Tuesday resolution A161 was defeated. Evidently the House of Bishops was not happy about that and decided to act. Some bishops took to the floor to criticize the HOD’s failure and claimed that the Bishops must act. Wednesday night the Presiding Bishop (Griswold) announced there would be a joint session to take up a new resolution on the subject of affecting a moratorium on ordaining persons to the episcopate with lifestyles that may be offensive to others in the Communion.

That night, many deputations met and bishops led difficult conversations demanding to know the reasons for Deputies voting down A161. The bishops were on a mission to get a resolution and were willing to do some arm-twisting to get it.

The next morning the joint session met. The PB gave a speech were he read the text of the resolution B033. He explained that it would give us a place at the table and allow reconciliation to begin. After that the HOD went back into session. The session began with a series of well-choreographed procedural motions that would allow B033 to come to the floor for a vote. Remember this is the last day of legislation. The deputies had never seen this resolution and no hearings were held. The new PB spoke and pleaded for this resolution and declared her support for the full inclusion of GLBT folk in the life of the Church. This one speech probably turned the tide.

The debate was fairly predictable. It was asserted over and over again how this would keep us in the Communion and that it does not single out GLBT folks. Finally, the vote was taken by orders and it passed easily.

Follow all that? Good. So what do I think? I do not think the resolution is that bad. I do not share the view that it sends gay folk back to the closet or sacrifices us for the Communion. I can understand that kind of language but I do support it. I think it is important to remember what this legislation is and how it came to be. It is the mind of this GC and, as such, can only encourage and inform. It does not, and cannot, direct a Standing Committee to do anything. Only a change in the constitution and canons could have affected a true moratorium and that did not happen.

I am also suspect of claims that this resolution reflects the mind of some ‘broad middle’ of the Church. We simply have no way of knowing that. It is just as possible that the ‘broad middle’ spoke the day before in the very lopsided defeat of A161. I would caution about the use of ‘spin’ in our conversations about this issue. It is not helpful and is just stoking the flames.

For me, the biggest problem I have with this mess is with the House of Bishops. I believe they have over stepped the bounds and purposefully insinuated themselves into the workings of the HOD. It has shown a lack of respect for both laity and clergy of this Church. They must be reminded that they are not princes of the Church and share governance with all the baptized. They abused the good will and respect that faithful Episcopalians show toward our bishops. We love them and do all we can to help them be successful in their calls. That does not mean they are free to trample, hijack, and steamroll over the process to get what they want. I was shocked and, frankly, disgusted. My hope is that if this ever happens again that the HOD will not accede to the arrogation of power.

On Tuesday, I will be at the Standing Committee meeting for the Diocese of Missouri. I am sure it will be a difficult meeting. The level of concern from these events has really surprised me. I hope I have the courage to express this to the bishop. (I get a little tongue-tied)

I pray that all this was worth it in the end. GC did so much good but it seems all the good will has vanished. Bishops from Africa have said it was not enough. 15 Bishops have signed a statement saying it was not enough. Another 30 have signed another letter saying it was too much. Archbishop Williams has referred it to a committee to tell him how to think about it (how is that for leadership).

I guess I will plead for patience. There are no elections to be consented to for some time. No one is being excluded now. In the next few months the Communion will respond and we will know where we stand. I can live with the ambiguity for a little while longer. Let the Right scream because it really shows that nothing is good enough for them. I do hope the Left will lower the volume. Perhaps the PB was right and this will open a door. If the door does not open then it might be time to think about stop knocking.

The Politics of Church

I have heard over the last few days that our current difficulties cannot be solved via legislation. This would cause me to smirk to myself because I had never really seen how the church handles its politics on the floor of a house at GC.

Now I have and it is slow, messy, and ugly. Much like watching sausage being made.

Today, debate began with Resolution A161. This is the one I was getting very worked up about this morning. I will spare you the ins and outs of all the steps but parliamentary procedures were being used that I did not even know existed. Deputies were scrounging through the rules of order for the smallest of advantage. It took FOUR HOURS to reach a conclusion.

And what was the final outcome? A very conservative substitute was ruled as out of order because it directed diocese to take certain action (only a canon change can do that evidently). Then the original resolution was voted down by a substantial margin in a vote by orders. They read all the no votes and both the lay and clergy from Missouri were no votes.

It is amazing how politics makes strange bedfellows. Both the liberal and conservative wings were set against this resolution. Both for different reasons. It was the ‘broad middle’ (some speakers actually claimed this label for themselves) that wanted to say something, anything, in response to Windsor’s request for moratoria on gay bishops and same-sex unions.

I was at dinner tonight with a good friend and had to miss the evening session. I know two resolutions from the Special Committee were to come to the HOD and revisions to the ministry title in the canons. I have not gone online to see what happened. So, I do not know if anything has changed.

Back to my original point (horrible transition but it has been a long week). I have become convinced that these issues will never be decided in legislation. There will always be a vocal and dissatisfied minority that will be willing to tie the process into knots. One of the most interesting things I noticed about GC is that people really knew each other. They have served in the same diocese or committee, went to seminary or college together, or any number of things that bind people together. I saw no bitterness in interpersonal relationships. Everywhere you go there is hugging, reunion, love, and respect. There is so much that binds us all together. By continuing to focus on these ‘wedge’ issues we do serious damage to these uniting processes. I really now understand why so many of the leaders in our church ask us to focus on what binds us.

Unfortunately, the vocal minority will not let the issue simmer. They demand clarity and doctrinal purity. It is not going to happen and I think I today I saw the church telling them so.

I will do a recap and general impressions type piece when I get back to St. Louis. That will probably happen on Friday.

Till then

A Very Sad Day

After a night’s sleep things have not changed but they are a little bit less raw.

If you have not heard, the HOD took up two of the ‘Windsor’ resolutions. The first was an expression of regret for the actions of GC 2003. The original resolution had used the exact language from Windsor that we had broken the bonds of affection. That was amended to apologizing for the straining of the bonds of affection. It passed handily.

The second resolution is more complicated and is not finished. The first resolve expresses regret (again) for the specific act of consenting to the election of a person living in a same-sex relationship. It then urges everyone in the ordination process to refrain from considering persons for election as Bishop whose manner of life may be unacceptable to others.

It gets better. The third resolve tells GC 2006 not to consider any move toward liturgies for same-sex unions. Next, the resolution asks for a breadth of pastoral responses to gay and lesbian persons (I have no idea what that means).

The resolution then ends with an apology to gay and lesbian Episcopalians that may find this offensive.

The debate on these resolution has been respectful. And very emotional. Becky Snow, of Alaska, begged on belhalf of the committee for the second resolution to be passed. Snow and her partner have been in a relationship for 25 years. She said that this sacrifice was painful but was a move toward reconciliation. A deputy from Chicago then got up and said that Snow may accept the cross but that the deputy from Chicago could not hammer in the nails. There were tears on all sides.

Then things broke down. All convention there have been problems with the voting system and speaker queue systems. Well, the speaker line-up system broke down. The President had to rely on the house’s kindness to each other.

The session ended at 7:30 (it started at 2). When they take up this resolution this morning they will start amending the second resolution. I have a feeling it will be ripped to shreds and will not pass. The final vote will be by orders and was asked for by conservative diocese.

Ultimately, none of this matters to our life at Trinity. It will have no effect on our life and work to be a place of radical inclusion. But I am concerned about the headlines. Most people do not read the full story and will not wait for us to gently explain how nuanced the language is. Or that it opens a ‘space’ for dialog. No, our mission in the GLBT community will be compromised.

I am not looking forward to sitting in the pride booth telling people The Episcopal Church welcomes you when they have just read news that, in fact, we do not.

So, I will be praying for the best.

Not Tonight

I will not be posting tonight. It was a long day and I just got back from dinner with the Missouri deputation. Plus, it was an emotional and difficult day for me. I am hoping after a good nights sleep I will be able to process what happened.

So, I am sorry but I will post before I leave in the morning.

Till then.

A Day of Glory

Oh I know. A rather dramatic title. But it was a dramatic day. It is one of those days that you hope never to forget. In case you have not heard, here is what has happened.

Before I get to the result it is important to understand the process. The Presiding Bishop serves a 9 year term. Frank Griswold’s term is up. So, one of the main tasks of this GC is to select a new PB. Here is how it works. The bishops, both active and retired, get locked up until they have an election. They vote until a candidate has a majority of the bishops present. After an election has been achieved, the HOD is notified. A committee then meets, briefly, to recommend confirmation from the HOD. Then, the HOD debates the elected bishop and then vote to confirm.

This year there were seven candidates. According to pre-convention thinking, a middle of the road kind of candidate would be elected. It certainly would not be the only woman nominated.

Well, the Holy Spirit has great timing. The next Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church is the Right Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori. Jefferts Schori is the Bishop of Nevada. According to testimony on the floor, she is brilliant. She holds a doctorate in marine biology and advanced degrees in theology. Imagine a scientist and theologian. Her husband is a theoretical mathematician. Oh, and she is the first woman PB. And one more thing. It was 30 years ago that the canons were changed to allow women to be ordained. Truly historic.

Ok, that is the background. What was it like being there? It really is difficult to describe. The hall was FULL. The bishops were taking a long time. They began to ballot before lunch but after two ballots broke for lunch. At 2 the HOD reconvened and proceeded with its regular business. It was rather strange. We all knew what we were waiting for but the House kept at their work like nothing was going to happen.

Then the President called some deputies off the floor. He then told us that a message had been received from the House of Bishops that an election had occurred. Then the confirmation committee met. About 30 minutes later the committee was called to give their report. The gallery was told to keep silence and we prayed. Then the announcement was made that Jefferts Schori was elected. People could not help themselves. Folks actually gasped in amazement and then there were squeals of delight from some.

Debate then began on the election. Every mic was filled. We heard moving testimony about what a wonderful person and bishop Jefferts Schori is and how this election affirms the role of women in our church. There were only a handful of speakers against the election. Most were concerned with the effect this will have on the Communion. One of these folks moved to have the vote taken by orders. I will spare you the details but it takes a super super majority to win with a vote by orders.

Finally, the vote was read and the Bishop of Nevada was confirmed as the 26 Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (elect). She will be installed at the National Cathedral in November.

So, what does all this mean for the church? Well, I think two things are clear. The first is that the House of Bishops is not as afraid of those overseas as I had expected. This was an act of courage that is as welcome as it was unexpected. The second thing is that much has now changed. I am not sure if it matters how we respond to Windsor. The subject has radically been changed and there will be many in the Communion who will be very distressed over this.

What will happen next? The same Spirit that inspired today’s events is the only One who knows for sure.

More pictures have been posted from today. I am posting them in different albums by day so you can skip the old pictures. For today Use this :

General Convention Day 6

Till tomorrow when the rest of the Windsor resolutions come to floor.

Pictures!!!!

The good news is that I found a way to post pictures. The bad news is that it is not on this site. The host of this blog is a free service and makes posting pictures difficult for someone barely literate enough to upload a phote, like me.

So, the pictures are hosted on Yahoo. Each time I post new pictures I will repost the link. All you have to do is click the link (or paste it into you browser) select the album. To see the captions of the picture you will need to select each picture.

Not want I wanted but it will work.

Here is the link:

My Album

It is a long link. Just make sure it all gets into the browser.

More tomorrow.

Pray for the election.

Ingathering


It seems the folks who schedule GC have anticipated that everyone may be tired by today. Most of the day was set aside for special events. This was actually good news for me because I of lack of sleep.

The first event was the United Thank Offering Ingathering Eucharist. The worship space was transformed and all the conversation tables were removed. There was seating for several thousand. This was first volunteer gig with GC. I was an usher. All that entailed was collecting the offering and directing folks to Communion stations. It was nice to be able to experience the service.

The best part of the service (besides hearing the Presiding Bishop celebrate) was the sermon. It was given by Jenny Te Paa. She is a professor of theology in Auckland, New Zealand. She is an ethnic Maori. What made her sermon particularly interesting is that Te Paa was one of the Windsor Commission members. So, what she had to say was given a great deal of attention. It was a very scholarly sermon and I still am not exactly sure what she was saying exactly. I hope to find a copy of the remarks on the web.

Anyway, here is what I heard her saying. She cannot imagine the Communion breaking apart but she understands that that may be a reaction to a ‘dream’ reality of how communion is experienced. Dreams do not always mesh well with reality. In the reality of living together two values are clashing (and always will) the need for security (and familiarity), and autonomy. She seemed to be saying that that is the foundation of the Communions current problems. She then went on to say that we should look to the example of Jesus to help resolve some of the conflict. In so doing room must be given to those who experience oppression in the forms of racism, colonialism, sexism, and homophobia. Not because identity is to be the sum total of human experience but because these forms of oppression are very real and have real effects on real people.

It was a very interesting talk. I think she is very conflicted over what TEC should do. It seems clear she agrees with TEC actions but is very troubled by how the Communion has been impacted.

After lunch, a join session of the Bishops and deputies was held to finalize the nomination for Presiding Bishop. I believe there are 8 candidates. Tomorrow after the Eucharist the Bishops will head done the road to Trinity Church. The doors will be locked and they will select the new Presiding Bishop. Then the Deputies will vote to confirm the choice. It should be an interesting day.

More later.

The Cause or Causes?

It is amazing really. I simply cannot get away from 'the' issue at Convention.

I went in early today to see the hearing of the National Concerns Committee. They have a resolution to look at and perfect concerning the ongoing violence and possible genocide in northern Uganda. Over the past few months I have been doing a great deal of reading about the Lakes Region of Eastern Africa. So, I was interested to see what all of this was about. Well, I sat down and the chair announced they were splitting into subcommittees and the hearing were postponed. Here I was all ready to learn and suddenly found myself with nothing to do.

The only thing that looked remotely interesting was the Special Committee session. These are the folks responsible for drafting TEC response to Windsor. When I came in they were going over a resolution word by word and line by line. The committee discussed and argued about quoting from the Windsor report and how to list paragraph citations. It would have been horribly boring except that this is an indication of just how divided the Committee really is. There is no consensus on how to proceed or what the final message should be to work toward.

The Committee is quickly running out of time and still have about 15 resolutions to deal with. Each step of the way they stop to hold hearings to see how folks will respond to their work. The process is so slow that it may be broken. I have a feeling they may just end up reporting out basically what they take in and let the Houses deal with the mess.

So what is the problem? The Committee is being pulled in two opposing directions. Part wants clarity and for language and message to come directly from Windsor and what the Primates have said. The other part wants the TEC response to be our own with very limited sourcing of outside material. Each side struggles with the other and debates last a long time. At one point today a member actually said that no consensus exists and that they should just go for majority opinion. Well, ultimately that is what will happen. It is just rather shocking to hear it in open session.

After the daily Eucharist (which was much better today with some great jazz reworking of classic 1982 music) I volunteered with EGR. Six of us stood outside the worship hall and snapped our fingers every 3 seconds. That is how often a child dies from preventable disease and hunger. It was amazing, or will be when I see the video. We were snapping away and folks just walked on by. Only a handful asked us what we were doing. A fitting metaphor, I think, for how we really deal with these issues. In case that came off as a bit preachy, let me assure everyone that I am no different than most Americans. I spend most of my time thinking about my own needs instead of the starving children of the world. It is not right and is something I work on changing in myself.

After the 'snapping' I spent a couple hours gluing popsicle sticks together to form a giant cross. The cross was worked on from the Eucharist to the end of the legislative session and was made of 10,200 sticks. That is the number of children that died during that time of hunger and disease. I worked from 11-1. Folks were really interested. Pictures were snapped, interviews were given, and Mike Kinman was making connection like crazy. It really is impressive to see him at work.

At the end of my shift I was talking to Mike about the video they were about to show concerning Uganda and the rebel army that kidnaps children for soldiers and sex slaves. Very ugly situation. I told Mike that I had heard that the Diocese of Southwest Florida was working on a reconciliation plan in that area and that I wish I could find out more about their plans. Well, it just so happened that the bishop was sitting on the sofa ready to watch the video. Mike introduced us and we chatted for about 30 minutes. The bishop and I do not agree on 'the' issue but we have much in common with respect to the need for reconciliation and finding creative ways to prevent human rights abuses.

After lunch with some Missouri folks, I spent the afternoon in the HOD. Nothing terribly exciting except for one item. They passed a resolution to adopt the Revised Common Lectionary as the official lectionary by 2010. That means reprinting of the Prayer Book. I believe the Bishops have already passed the resolution.

This evening I attended the Integrity Eucharist. Gene Robinson preached. I came to GC really looking forward to this. The place was PACKED. They had to turn folks away. The mood was festive but I was not. I guess it has finally happened. I have become a liturgy snob. The hymn choices were horrible and not gender inclusive, that really surprised me. Every thing was just off.

Bishop Robinson's sermon was OK. He cried a couple of times (if I was under the stress he is under I think I would cry even more). The message was that we must love our enemies. Nice message. Can't really argue with that but I was expecting something more. I have been to too many GLBT services where we proclaim God's love for us and love for those who do not share that opinion. Let me be clear. I have no problem with the message but I do think as a community we could be challenged in other ways. I would have loved to hear a message of how the challenge lays before us to be instruments of reconciliation and healing.

One of the things that the Bishop of SW Florida said to me was that reconciliation only happens through personal contact. I think he may be right. Perhaps we are being called to venture out of TEC and construct personal contacts in other provinces of the Communion. Or maybe not. The point is that this church has been mostly open to GLBT folk for some time now. This cannot be 'the' issue forever. Perhaps it is time for us to be challenged to do a new thing. Doing a new thing does not mean giving up on the old. It means expanding the vision.

I believe the MDG's are a new thing (well not really, it is actually recapturing a very old way of being Christian that converted the Roman world by caring for the poor). The question is how this new thing can be fused to the old that will do justice to both. Sorry, no answer for that one.

Till tomorrow.