Grande Finale

If the old adage "May you live in interesting times" holds any appeal for you, General Convention 2006 is right up your alley. Despite predictions that "nothing would happen" and the despite the glacial progress on legislation in the House of Deputies we have not only given the Anglican Communion its first female primate, we have come to clarity that:

* we are committed to our interdependence as members of the Anglican

Communion (passing resolutions affirming interdependence, regretting the impact of the actions of General Convention 2003 on some members of the communion and committing to participate in exploring the creation of an Anglican Covenant)

and

* we are committed to the inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the life

and work of the church, refusing to pass a resolution that included moratoria on consecration of gay/lesbian bishops and same sex blessings.

Here's one analysis from Kendall Harmon's titusonenine

<http://titusonenine.classicalanglican.net/>: The strategy of leaders of the Anglican church at Columbus had been to engineer the moderate middle ground to be Windsor-compliant, marginalising the radical liberals and the orthodox, for the sake of unity. This strategy failed. In the end, the key resolutions were too liberal for the conservatives or too conservative for the liberals.I think Kendall is probably right. I also think the strategists mis-read the "moderate middle" — both in Deputies and Bishops — who are just not willing to turn the clock back on inclusion or to make gay and lesbian people bear the burden for our participation in the Anglican Communion.

Who’d have thunk it?

June 18, 2006

What a wild, amazing, Spirit-filled, historic day behind us — may God give us grace for the wild, amazing, Spirit-filled journey ahead of us!I am still fairly stunned by the rapidly accelerating sequence of events that left us at the end of the day with the historic choice of the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion as the Rt. Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori (Bishop of Nevada) was elected (on the fifth ballot) the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Thrilled on so many levels at her election I am also deeply, powerfully aware of how far this church has traveled in order to allow it to MAKE this courageous and historic (I know — third time I've used historic … well it IS!!!) choice possible.

I remember the deep pain, division and anguish of the 1970's when the ordination of women (the last great threat to global Anglicanism and Western Civilization as we know it) was the thing that was going to split the church. I remember the lines for communion stretched out at diocesan convention with folks jockeying to get into position so they wouldn't have to receive communion from (horrors!) a woman priest. I remember my own Aunt Gretchen whose congregation (one of four) tried to "leave the Episcopal Church" over the ordination of women in the Diocese of Los Angeles in 1977.

And I carry with me, close to my heart, the stories of sister priests who had to cross police lines to get to their own ordinations because of the bomb threats.

And so the very idea that the bishops of the Episcopal Church could elect a woman to lead them … and the House of Deputies concur OVERWHELMING to that election with barely a murmur of dissent is so overwhelming I'm almost afraid to go to bed tonight lest I wake up and find out it was all a dream.

I am so proud of this church I could just burst.

General Convetion 2006: Legislative Day Three

Up early today trying to get a head start on what will be another big day (aren't they all at General Convention?) The Special Committee will continue hearing testimony on the Windsor resolutions this morning and the Deputies will likely get a chance to consider A159 … the first of those resolutions to come out of committee … sometime today.

This evening the Episcopal General Convention will be the focus of the Larry King Show so be sure to tune in and see us "live from Columbus."

Reflecting on the hearings last night I think the single most striking impression I took away was that the discourse was remarkably on point and remarkably free of both the Scripture bludgeoning and graphic sexual detail that has been so unfortunately part of these debates over the years. We were actually talking about the church and the nature of communion — and while I might vehemently disagree with many of the perspectives represented by the "other side" I am deeply grateful that the conversations were actually about theology rather than biology.

On that note, I thought the following comment exchange from an earlier post on this blog [Moderator note:  This was originally posted to Susan's blog here.] was worth bringing "up front." I think it is illustrative of both the core difference between the two "sides"here at this convention AND the core hope I hold for this church: that if we can keep coming back to Jesus in our discourse the Prince of Peace will bring us to place of both peace AND justice for all.

Opening Night

The "Voices of Witness" video premiered last night to a full house at Trinity Church of donors, benefactors and press. It was an amazing and wonderful thing to finally "come out" with this witness to the powerful movement of the Holy Spirit in the lives, families and relationships of gay and lesbian people AND to the impact their life and witness has had on their congregations, families and friends.

The press of convention business is, as always, extraordinary: we start with legislative committee meetings and/or hearings at 7:30 a.m. and don't stop until after the 10:00 p.m. daily debrief. In the midst of all that busyness it was an extraordinary gift to spend that hour watching and hearing these amazing witnesses who help us remember why we do the work we do — why the struggle is worth it — why the full inclusion of all the baptized into the Body of Christ is not a price the church has to pay but an opportunity the church is called to embrace.

More about committees and resolutions and all the gory GC details later.
 

The video will start playing in the CTB booth on convention floor today and we'll have DVD copies to give out (God willing and Fed Ex cooperating) on Friday. Information on ordering "Voices of Witness" will be available shortly on the CTB website <http://www.claimingtheblessing.org>… stay tuned and pray for the church!

Moderator note:  The trailer for Voices of Witness can be found here.

Deal or No Deal

There is always a certain "opening night" energy at this point of General Convention: the volunteers' aprons are crisp and bright, the greetings of friends and colleagues not seen since last convention sincere and energetic and the vendors and booth tenders are busy unwrapping their wares and arranging their buttons and pamphlets. So here are some quick musings on this first day of Getting-Convention-Going:

I've been here since Friday and today the Exhibit Hall opened, credentially began and it was my first foray into the cavernous convention center which will become very much our home-away-from home for the next ten days. As for us, we've spent most of our time so far getting volunteers organized, our work center and booths set up, and tracking the errant Fed Ex delivery — (scheduled for by 10 a.m. Saturday now promised by "sometime" Monday. We'll see!) I'll leave momentarily for a briefing for bishops and deputies on the pending legislation and our hopes for this convention.

What's our "agenda?" I couldn't say it any better than Michael did in his sermon last night … and the words that keep echoing from me from it are "We speak of what we know …" There's some calming reassurance in those words from John's gospel … "we speak of what we know."

Nobody's asking us to do anything other than speak of what we know. Speak of our lives made fuller and more holy by the Spirit of God present in them in and through the Episcopal Church. Speak of a church enriched and enlivened by the work and witness of LGBT Christians who want nothing more than to serve their Lord and live out their lives in relationship with their beloved and in communion with the saints. Speak of the mission and ministry of the church we love — and how sick unto death we are of having it hijacked by those determined to scapegoat LGBT vocations and relationships as expendable bargaining chips in the game of Anglican global politics.

What we know is that we are here in Columbus ready to move forward in mission and ministry while others are intent on drawing lines in the sand issuing ultimatums and piloting an Anglican version of the ridiculously popular game show, "Deal or No Deal."

Here's what we know: the Episcopal Church is smarter than that, more faithful than that and more determined to live out its historic commitment to the Gospel imperative than that. That's what we know.