I have intended to write the last three nights, but have gotten in so late and had to get up and be at a committee meeting so early that I've barely had a spare moment for a thought. Must be General Convention.
It's a great time to reconnect with old friends from a hundred places over the course of thirty years in this church. People who've known me since my North Dakota college days, and seminary, and many, many folks throughout my life in the church. This is the great "family reunion" part of convention--all those folkss at once, in the span of a couple of days. It's dizzying, as well as gratitude-inspiring. I sure didn't get to where I am by myself, but as a product of many, many relationships.
Late yesterday and today the House of Deputies had a couple of sessions talking about B033, the disastrous resolution from the last convention foisted upon us extra-canonically at the last minute. It's the great pink elephant in the room. Will we set it aside and move ahead to include all God's people in the sacraments (read: marriage and ordination), or will we "moderate" our pace for the sake of our partneres in the rest of the world? Is that even the right way to put it? While there are still calls for us to refrain from blessing same-sex couples and from consecrating glbt persons as bishops for the sake of our relationships in the wider fellowship of Anglican churches throughout the world, the overwhelming and overall tone of this convention is that we will move ahead with some provision for blessing and with the determination to let each diocese discern its own best persons for leadership. This is especially true for deputies, whose lives and ministries are much closer to the ground than bishops.
Tonight I went to a dinner with a whole bunch of church historians. The other thing about General Convention is the constallation of events and groups that gather. Heard a talk by two young historians about what will happen to the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion in the 21st century. They remind me that the tradition is dynamic and open-ended, that whatever will happen to us next, God can make some good of and will.
I'm falling over, I'm so tired. Enough. Blessings, all. Ellen+
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Thank you for your perspective, Ellen. I am following blogs/information from both the Diocese of Texas and the Diocese of CT sites. I'm pulling some of your comments to share in the morning at St. Mary's (Cypress, Texas). It should be a very lively conversation! Holy rest, Ellen.
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