Sex and Structure

This post will cover the last two days of activities at General Convention.

I took the first half of yesterday off and so did not serve on the floor of the House of Deputies, but instead caught up with family, did some work, and went to the grocery store. During the second half of the day, I sat on the floor and we worked our way through resolutions.  At 5 o'clock we started a special session concerning 3 resolutions having to do with governance and structure.  These resolutions are connected to the work that the Task force on Reimagining the Episcopal Church (TREC) has done over the last 3 years.  The hope from TREC was to provide very practical ways of making the church more nimble and less top heavy.  After some lengthy explanation of the resolutions, we got into the meat of the first resolution.  It was clear there were strong opinions on the first resolution.  My largest concern was changing the way the Executive Council and the Presiding Bishop deal with personnel issues.  The new resolution would have allowed the Executive Council to direct the Presiding Bishop to fire a member of the PB' staff if there was a 2/3 vote from the Executive Council.  If the PB did not do as the EC directed, theoretically, the PB could be brought up on disciplinary charges.  This was concerning to me, since I believe the PB should have say over how he or she deals with personnel matters within his or her own staff.  Well, an amendment dealt with this whole problem and the resolution passed without any language about the EC being able to direct the PB concerning personnel issues.

The next two resolutions dealt with restructuring the Standing Commissions and Interim Bodies and budgetary issues around structure.  Both resolutions passed, as there seemed to be an overwhelming feeling in the House that we needed to support the work of the Task Force on Reimagining the Church.  What this means in the long run is that the church will create task forces as needed instead of having committees already in place to tackle issues that arise at GC.  In terms of the budgetary resolution, diocese will now be expected to pay their apportionment to the national church if they want to get any support or assistance from the national church.  This is important because many diocese do not pay their apportionment, for whatever reason, and now will be forced to if they want to share in the resources that the national church has to offer.  

Now a word on how this all took place.  While we started the conversation on these resolutions on Tuesday afternoon, we were stopped short of any action because it turned out the resolutions had not been translated for our brothers and sisters from other countries. So, even though we had called a special session to deal with these issues, they had to be postponed until Wednesday. When we returned to regular business, it was discovered that none of the resolutions for the regular session were translated either, and so the whole legislative session was adjourned.  This was frustrating, to say the least.  I sense a lack of organization and efficiency at this GC that has been driving me crazy since day 1. 10 days is a long time to participate in such a gathering, but add in inefficiency and it feels like forever!

Anyway, we finally passed the above mentioned resolutions yesterday, after having to vote by orders for the budgetary resolution.  Voting by orders means that each member of the lay and clergy order actually sign their name to the ballot and each order is voted as one vote.  So, if you have 4 clergy and all 4 vote yes, you have one yes vote.  If your 4 clergy split their vote, 2 and 2, then you have a divided vote, which is essentially a no vote.  Any 3 diocese together can call for a vote by orders. 

Once we finished that resolution, we moved on to the two resolutions having to do with same gender marriage.  These two resolutions had already been passed by the House of Bishops.  We set aside a special legislative session for these resolutions, allowing for more questions and longer debate. As you can imagine, there was a lot to be said by many people.  But ultimately, the House of Deputies, turned down any amendments, so as to not send the resolutions back to the House of Bishops, and passed both resolutions through a vote by orders.  The first resolution makes available to anyone who wants to be married in the church all of the liturgies for marriage and blessing, including the liturgy "I Will Bless You and You Will be a Blessing."  All of these liturgies though can only be used under the direction and with the permission of the Diocesan Bishop.  Any Bishop can decline their use in his or her diocese and any clergy person asked to perform a marriage or blessing can decline to do so, without penalty.  All Bishops do need to make available these liturgies to those who would like to be married but that availability does not need to be within their diocese.  What that means is that Bishops might be sending same gender couples who would like to be married to other diocese to be married, depending on the view of the Bishop.

I am glad we passed all of these resolutions over the last two days.  I think that marriage is a wonderful and sacred covenant between two people.  If two people want to commit the rest of their lives to one another, why should we stop them from the blessing that is marriage?  At the same time, I appreciate that the tent continues to be big. By that I mean, we have left some safeguards in place for people who believe differently. Bishops continue to have ultimate say and I hope that remains the case for the foreseeable future.  

During the debate session on marriage yesterday, a young man from the Official Youth Presence, got up to speak in opposition to the resolution.  He said he felt that marriage was meant for a man and a woman and he hoped we would vote against the resolution.  While my personal views differ from his, I was very proud of his witness to his beliefs.  He was an important reminder to the whole church that "traditional" views are not only held by an older generation.  Moving into the future, we need to continue making space for theological diversity and room to disagree.  Everyone is invited into our tent.  That includes those who oppose same gender marriage. It is the differing views of us all that make us the Body of Christ in the world.  We can't be perfect as that Body, but we can all be faithful. 

Light in the Fog

This reflection is about yesterday at General Convention.

General Convention is slogging along at a painfully slow pace.  Although the length of GC inevitably makes the whole experience feel like a marathon, I think the feeling of slowness is because of an inability to get anything done.  I went into yesterday morning frustrated that we were moving slowly and that important committee work was taking so long. I went to the governance and structure committee meeting in the morning to sit in solidarity with others from the Mississippi Deputation as that committee greatly struggled to come to some resolve.  It was a frustrating experience just watching the process; I can only imagine the frustration in actually being on the committee.  It was only 15 minutes before the morning Eucharist that I realized the committee was so bogged down that they were not going to join the rest of the community for worship.  (I'm about to get on a soap box) I believe many of the problems that committee is struggling with can be grounded in this decision.  If there isn't time for worship, if there isn't time to gather as the Body and to receive the nourishment and strength of Christ, then why are we even here?  Everything we do needs to be grounded in the beliefs we live out through our worship.  Needless to say, I was very sad to hear that the committee would not join us for worship.

After worship we headed into our legislative session for the morning and slogged some more through elections and resolutions.  We did make a bit of headway before adjourning for the morning. In the afternoon we came back and made real progress on resolutions that will actually mean something for the church.  We passed a resolution thats aim is to update the process of calling a bishop and we passed a resolution seeking to continue the work of the Marriage Task Force. We committed to supporting the work of planting churches and revitalizing congregations along with starting a new initiative that would strengthen our evangelism through social media.  The Book of Occasional Services will be revised and we will get new liturgical resources for honoring saintly people. On the social justice front we passed resolutions supporting handgun purchaser licensing along with a decrease in gun violence. 

Finally, the Deputation from Mississippi rose and we spoke to a resolution, written by us, to affirm the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag from all public, government, and religious institutions.  Two other people spoke in support of the resolution and it passed the house resoundingly.  I am posting below the remarks I made before the House of Deputies in support of this resolution. 

There was a great deal of activity in the House of Bishops yesterday.  They voted for the canonical changes that would make the marriage rite gender neutral.  I will not speak with authority on this subject so I invite you to check out David Knight's blog www.itinerantpriest.org

I ask your continued prayers for the Mississippi Deputation as we continue the marathon.  Please pray for the governance and structure committee.  Please pray for the repose of the soul of Sharon Wilson, a good friend to many in our deputation who was killed earlier this week up in Vicksburg.  Please also pray for the community of Vicksburg as they wrestle with this tragedy.  

Remarks Before the House of Deputies

I rise, on behalf of the whole Mississippi deputation to support this resolution

As this resolution states, symbols are important and they help to shape our belief and our continued understanding of God in the world.  To continue to allow the Confederate Battle Flag to have a place in our churches says something about the episcopal church. We believe it is time that we remove that symbol - which for some is claimed as a symbol of heritage but for many more has and continues to be a symbol of slavery, racial injustice and violence, and now, more than ever, a sign of the white supremacist movement.  The Confederate Battle Flag has no place in a church that calls all baptized persons to respect the dignity of every human being.

But this resolution goes one step further.  It challenges us to get out of our churches and engage our public and government institutions in a conversation about such a toxic symbol of hate having any place in our current civic life.  While only a first step in starting the hard conversation we need to have about racism, acceptance of diversity, and dismantling institutions that tear down some while lifting others up, this resolution is symbolically important and shows that the Episcopal Church is on board with the conversation that is happening on a national level right now.

We felt as the deputation from Mississippi that we needed  to speak to this issue. But this isn't just our issue, and so we call on the whole church, as people of God, to join with us to remove this symbol of hate and oppression and to work toward bringing equality to all people.  thank you.

What Sabbath Looks Like at GC

The Sunday that falls during GC is always an interesting beast. The morning starts much later than any other day at GC because instead of starting with Committee Hearings at 7:30 in the morning, the first "official" gathering of the day is the UTO Eucharist.  But, just because that is the first "official" event of the day, doesn't mean that Eucharist is the first event of the day.  At 7:15 yesterday morning I was standing in a large group of people who had gathered for an event called, "Finding Common Ground." This was a walk to promote the end of gun violence.  Many of the Bishops of the Church, including Presiding Bishop Elect, Michael Curry led the walk.  It was a powerful witness to where the church stands on this issue and one that I think we need to be talking about more.  

The morning continued with our UTO Ingathering and Eucharist.  This is the shining star of GC and did not disappoint.  For me, it is so wonderful to worship in such a large body of people who so love to sing and worship together.  Our common voice is so loud and spiritually deep - it makes my soul smile to be a part of it.  The Presiding Bishop spoke truth in her sermon and definitely brought her A game.  I know that some found her a bit offensive in calling out some of the struggles and difficulties we have wrestled with over the last 12 years.  I found her inspirational though, in that she claimed the elephant that has for so long been in the room and then spoke to how we need to move forward, not allowing the elephant to define where or how we move forward.  There are so many ways in which the church is doing mission and works of redemption and that is where we need to focus our energy.  After her sermon we had the UTO Ingathering where the women of the church presented the UTO offerings from each diocese.  It is powerful to see how much support this program receives and how much good we can do through this amazing witness.  I think the overall total for the years 2012-2014 was over 4 million dollars.  That money will go to provide UTO Grants to local congregations and mission ideas.

In the afternoon we gathered again in the House of Deputies to continue our work of legislating.  I was optimistic that we might get something done but sadly, my optimism was misplaced.  The HoD seems to be struggling to just function (something I did not experience at last GC) and getting through legislation feels like Sisyphus trying to push the rock up the mountain - even when we feel like we have made it to the top of the mountain, the rock rolls back down and we have to start all over.  It is taking forever to get through anything and I fear what that will mean for the rest of the week and what legislation might not come before us because we run out of time.  On a slightly positive note, we did pass the prison reform resolution that calls the church to start getting active in the injustices that are taking place within the prison system in the US.  There wasn't much more accomplished though.

I understand that it would be a poor use of time to give the whole of Sunday to sabbath and worship while at GC.  But it was definitely frustrating that on the Sabbath day we weren't better stewards of our time.  We have so little of it here to accomplish anything and while I think the general attitude is hope for the future, we are, in the present moment, diminishing the possibility for hope in the future because we are getting bogged down in inefficiency and, what I perceive to be, unimportant details. 

Hopefully today will be better.  I ask your prayers for the work of General Convention.  I also ask your prayers for the whole city of Vicksburg and specifically the Episcopal Community there, as they have been devastated by the news of the violent death of a community member.  

The Joy of Being Called

The Joy of Being Called

Today has been a day of profound joy and grace.  It started out early with my testimony at the committee on Social Justice and US Policy.  I spoke to the resolution on removing the Confederate Battle Flag from personal, public, governmental, and religious use.  Although I had my whole testimony written out beforehand, I was still nervous and shook the entire time I was testifying.  Thankfully, the committee was supportive of the resolution and didn't ask any followup questions.  Of the three people who testified, two of us spoke in favor of it and one person spoke against.  The person who was opposed was a young person and I have to admit it broke my heart to hear him testify to a need to make room for people to be able to fly that flag. The committee quickly voted to accept the resolution and so, the resolution will now go before the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops for consideration.

After that meeting I headed to the Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Church Music.  People were testifying to a resolution that would put a naming rite in the new revision of the Book of Occasional Services.  The people testifying were a cool mix of transgender people, who hoped the rite would give them the opportunity to celebrate with their church family a very important step in self identity, and monastics who wanted the rite to be able to celebrate their decision to enter a religious order.  It will be interesting to see what the committee decides. 

From there it was on to worship.  The music for the last few days has been a jazz group.  Today, we switched to Native American music that consisted mostly of an awesome and incredibly powerful drum circle and a haunting native flute.  Needless to say, the music was beautiful.  The preacher was a younger native clergywoman who did a fantastic job of speaking to her journey of faith within the context of the gospel passage.  It was incredibly refreshing and grounding to hear her witness and I really appreciate the breadth of diversity in the preaching at GC.  At the end of the service, the Bishops of the Church were all asked to leave together and head to the Cathedral where they would begin the process of electing a new Presiding Bishop.  Seeing them leave from the midst of the congregation was powerful but at the same time, my heart ached for the lack of gender and ethnic diversity amongst their ranks. 

Our morning legislative session began shortly after worship finished and was mostly marked by celebrating the 230th anniversary of the House of Deputies.  That body has been around a very long time.  After acknowledging some of the past leaders of the House and celebrating their ministry, we moved on to legislation.  Although we tried to work, most of the morning was spent in anticipation of one thing - the results from the House of Bishop's on the election of the Presiding Bishop.  Right before we were to recess for lunch the delegation showed up.  But instead of telling us who they voted for, they had to give the news to the confirmation committee first.  That committee had to sit behind closed doors for almost an hour before coming out with the result to tell to the over 800 people in the house at the time.  

To say that there was great joy in the announcement of the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry being elected, would be an understatement. The news of his election filled the house with an overwhelming sense of elation and hope.  There was singing and clapping and crying and hugging.  I truly believe that Bishop Curry is the right person to lead this church forward and with him as our leader, all of us will grow in faith and love of Jesus Christ. 

After Bishop Curry and his family came to the House to be welcomed, we headed into recess so that we could all get a quick lunch.  It was already 3:00!  After lunch we came back into session and passed an important resolution to recommit ourselves to the work of racial reconciliation as a church.  The committee that proposed this resolution asked for a large chunk of money to do that work and thankfully, the House passed the resolution with little argument.  

Today was a day of hearing God's call and responding.  My testimony before the Social Justice Committee was a call that I felt laid on my heart after Charleston.  I am tired of not speaking out for fear of offending someone.  Part of the role of priest, whether we of the cloth like it or not, is to be a prophet.  That is a hard call to embrace, but this morning, with a little shaking in my voice, I tried my best.  Our preacher at the morning Eucharist spoke of the power of her call to ministry and how that has shaped not only her life but the life of her community for the better.  The election of Bishop Curry as our next Presiding Bishop came about because the Bishops of our Church listened to where the Spirit is calling us as a faithful people in this time and place.  Finally, the House of Deputies stepped up and accepted the call to do something about the structures of racism that are present within our communities by supporting legislation aimed at eradicating the problem.  God calls each of us to big and small acts of faith everyday.  The Church is in a time of discernment where we are trying to know where God is calling us next.  But God doesn't just speak to large groups.  God speaks to each of us.  Calling us to a myriad of actions and thoughts and decisions that grow the kingdom.  Today, I saw all the good that can come when we are faithful enough to hear that call and act in faith.  Please pray that in the days to come we might continue to be open to where God is calling us as a church and as individuals, and when we hear that voice, may we embrace the call, trusting in our loving and redeeming God to go with us on the journey. 

Up and Rolling...

This post is a little late since I was just too tired last night to write before going to bed.  Yesterday was a full day of the legislative process that is General Convention.  There is not a great deal to highlight at the moment.  We are spending a great deal of time getting organized and working out the details of resolutions before they make their way to the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies.  I will highlight a few things though.

The Committee for Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Church Music has recommended a resolution to start the process of organizing ourselves for a Prayer Book revision.  What that basically means is that we are committing to thinking about how we are going to do it.  Kinda watered down, right? At least the conversation is happening!

Morning worship was particularly joyful because of the decision of the Supreme Court yesterday.  Episcopalians were actually dancing in the aisles before the service began and there were many tears of joy for many people.  I understand that not everyone was pleased with the Supreme Court decision yesterday and I hope that in joining in worship of the one God, they were able to find peace just as those who were celebrating were able to find joy. The Rev. Gay Clark Jenning, the President of the House of Deputies gave a fantastic and very engaging sermon and the music for the service was out of this world.  A shout out to Ann Phelps, from Mississippi, who is the lead singer in the jazz combo that helped lead worship.  

Our morning legislative session centered on a joint session with both houses where we broke up into small groups to discuss the positives and negatives of our church structure - from a national level down to the local level.  We were asked to tweet, yes tweet, our responses.  If you are interested in seeing some of the responses, check out #gcgas (hehehe).  The conversation was meaningful and I really look forward to how the governance and structure committee use the responses. 

After lunch I testified at the Formation and Education for Ministry Hearing and spoke to the importance of better advertising of the short term disability given to every woman for having a baby.  It was surprisingly scary to testify, even though I am so used to speaking in front of people.  I was so impressed by all the young and old people who got up to speak in support of the legislation.

Our afternoon legislative session started with one of the best gifts of GC - the Rev. Lester McKenizie - Chaplain for the House of Deputies.  Chaplain McKenzie is a very outward and visible sign of all that is good about our church.  He is a faithful, nonassuming and joyful witness to the love and reconciliation of Jesus Christ and he pulls everyone in to an experience of the Spirit through his wise prayers and amazing singing. It is a joy to have him as chaplain.

Our most argued legislation focused on a "Donor's Bill of Rights" to be used within congregations.  This resolution was rejected largely because of its really bad stewardship theology. While this might not seem that important, I think it really says something about our church and how we honor the gifts given us and more importantly, how we understand our relationship to money because of our relationship with God. I hope the committee can come up with a resolution grounded in theology and our belief.

After legislation was done, I went to a Gathering of Leaders (GOL) reception.  GOL is a program that lifts up the gifts of leadership found in clergy people. It was a great opportunity to see good friends from all over the country and to celebrate the ministry that the Rt. Rev. Claude Payne has offered to all of us through GOL. 

As you can tell, things are up and rolling.  There isn't much time for writing or even processing everything that is going on.  Please keep us in your prayers.  This is a marathon!

In the Beginning...

Well, today was the first official day of GC. It might not seem like it because I and many others have already been blogging on GC for a few days now.  But, there is a lot of work that gets done before the official start.  Largely, the time up until now has been used in legislative committee meetings. Legislative committees receive resolutions to discuss and to vote on before said resolutions make their way to the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. Oftentimes the resolutions are amended in committee and people outside the committee are allowed to speak for or against the resolutions. This is very similar to how congress works. I digress. 

Today started out with our first legislative session. This might sound exciting but actually it is the most most boring hour in the whole GC. There is a great deal of parliamentary procedure that has something to do with organizing the House of Deputies and making sure that all of us approve of the people who are in charge.  This takes about an hour and so our first legislative session basically consisted of making sure we were ready to start legislating.

From there we headed to our first morning worship. The only negative thing about worship was the actual space, which is abysmal.  There is a large pillar right in the middle of the space so not only is there no center aisle but the view of the altar is obscured.  Anyway, worship was beautiful and well done (except for the pillar) and even though the distribution of communion was incredibly awkward and at one point I saw Bishop Gray using large arm waving to help Bishop Marble find his way back to his seat, overall the experience was uplifting and meaningful.  It's important for the work we are doing at GC to be continually fed through the Eucharist. I am glad that each day we will be invited to worship together.  

After worship it was on to more legislative committee meetings. I sat in on Prayerbook, Liturgy, and Church Music. The topic of testimony was the centrality of the Eucharist and how small churches are struggling to remain vibrant without being able to offer weekly Eucharist. The proposed resolution would look for new ways to bring the sacrament to congregations that have no priest. It is interesting that we have so well indoctrinated the church to the centrality of communion within the 1979 Prayer Book that congregations just don't show up for Morning Prayer. Having served in small rural congregations and hearing the testimony of many faithful people concerning this topic, I think it's important that the church come up with creative ways to address this issue.  Over lunch the most creative idea that our deputation could come up with was sending the consecrated elements by drone to rural parishes. :-)

The testimony in Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music this afternoon centered on the revision of "Holy Women, Holy Men" which is in and of itself an expansion of "Lesser Feasts and Fasts."  I have concerns about this new edition and how it might take away the importance of some pillars of our faith by placing them along side good and faithful citizens who are worth knowing about but not worth venerating.  

Last this afternoon the House of Deputies gathered again to consider the resolution for new rules of order.  The hope in these new rules would be to help streamline the process of legislation.  There were many people who questioned and tried to amend the new rules - I was not one of them. We ultimately passed the new rules resoundingly.  Tomorrow will be our first opportunity to see how these new rules affect our ability to legislate.

After supper tonight I headed to the committee hearing on Structure. The Rev. Canon David Johnson can speak more eloquently to what was discussed but I will say that there was some convincing arguments made for getting rid of provinces within the Episcopal Church (provinces are like regional groupings of dioceses that allow for collaboration and networking) and for turning our legislative governance into a unicameral body where bishops, clergy, and laity all meet together in one house.   It will be very interesting to see what the committee recommends in terms of this legislation.

So, today there were lots of beginnings.  With those beginnings there were some definite hiccups and do overs but for the most part, the machine that is GC is moving forward with its business. 

Point of Personal Privilege

The following is more of a reflection on an encounter today and less about the workings of GC.  

At our opening Eucharist this morning I was invited to sit with some colleagues with whom I went to seminary.  This is one of the great parts of GC, that its really one big family reunion.  Right after I sat down, a Bishop and his wife joined us.  My colleagues and the Bishop have had a pastoral relationship and I just happen to be sitting between them.  That said, the Bishop is one I have met several times because his child was also a classmate of mine at seminary.  Our worship began and all of us used our ipads to follow along.  Even as a young person, that was somewhat surreal and there was some conversation between myself and the Bishop about how well the change was working.  The Bishop seemed thoroughly excited about the possibilities that ipads might have a place in our pews.  After a rather chaotic distribution of communion, we all returned to our seats and the Bishop dug in his bag and pulled out a very worn and used Book of Common Prayer.  He held it gingerly and thumbed through it with great care and a humble, personal display of devotion.  It was like watching two old friends saying hello, with love and joy in being together again.  At this point I leaned over and said, "As good as the ipads are, those are better, right?" and the Bishop, placing his hand on the book, responded with the gentleness of a father not wanting to disturb the slumber of a newborn baby, "There's just something about them."  After that he pulled out a small bible even more worn and used.  It fell open to a page with a small piece of paper stuck in it.  The paper was covered with names.  The Bishop looked over the names and then leaned across me to my colleague, handing her the paper and pointing out her name.  He said, "My prayer list." 

I have been very blessed in my life to have spent a good deal of time around Bishops who have exemplified not only a Godly life but a deep and personal sense of faith.  This morning was one of those moments, where I was welcomed in to an intimate experience of spiritual witness.  I was left with tears in my eyes as I watched a Bishop live out his commitment to the church and his faith in Jesus in small but important ways.  The Episcopal Church is blessed by these Bishops, both men and women, who have devoted their lives to being an example of love and grace, humility and integrity.  These are the people who lead our church.  These are the people who teach us about the transforming love of God that we can experience if we are only willing to commit our lives to the spiritual practice of being disciples. I was blessed this morning to one more time receive the gift of love and devotion to Jesus Christ.  

As we stood after the post communion prayer for the Presiding Bishop's blessing, the Bishop looked at me and pointed at the PB, saying, "that is what giving your life to the church looks like." Indeed it does and indeed giving my life to the church and to Jesus Christ is easier when I have such faithful witnesses.