A new day

Well, it will surely have hit the papers that the bishops found a way forward on blessing same-sex unions, however they are allowed or not by state law. A group of bishops--I think with a variety of positions/thoughts/stances on the question met together for several hours and crafted a resolution that they thought could pass the house. I heard that +Gene Robinson said that it was the most grace-filled conversation he had been a part of in the house of bishops.

In our house, we did several things which just make me think that it is a new day and maybe the church can go on to grow from here--they were actions of integrity, of justice, on a variety of subjects that we just couldn't have accomplished three years ago--or six, or even twelve. Pensions for lay employees over 20 hours a week, new disciplinary canons that have reconciliation as a model and plan; a budget that made severe cuts but expressed our commitment to the MDGs, the poorest of the world. And new money for some initiatives that we've talked about for a long time. We'll have to do more locally and in creative ways, especially with Hispanic ministries--that part of the budget was cut severely. But local ministry can be alot more effective than something bureaucratic. They are reducing the ask from dioceses over the next three years, again releasing money for local initiatives. Convention will be two days shorter in 2012, and the committees and groups that meet in the meantime will have to do less face-to-face and more by the web.
We repudiated a 15th century idea (the "Doctrine of Discovery"), which said that indigenous peoples were there to be conquered, defeated and subdued in order to "convert" the world to Christianity. A huge admission. We also passed a framework for our conversations with persons of other faiths and interfaith dialogue (somethign we know about in Torrington)
A huge day. And worship in the Emergent model with Brian MacLaren tonight; he's preaching tomorrow at the eucharist.
Feels pretty full. And very hopeful and realistic. A good day for our church, at least in my view.