Letter from Bishop Katharine and Bonnie Anderson to the Archbishop of Canterbury

Forgive me, I should have posted this earlier (our air travel back to Virginia took longer than planned). Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson jointly signed this letter to Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams in the wake of our General Convention.

The letter makes abundantly clear that we wish to remain engaged with the Anglican Communion, asks for respect for our governance and a recognition of all of the baptized members of our church including gays and lesbians. Here is the letter, followed by a second letter from Bishop Katharine.

The Most Reverend and Right Honourable Rowan Williams
Lambeth Palace
London

Dear Archbishop Williams,
We are writing to you as the Presiding Officers of the two Houses of The General Convention of The Episcopal Church. As your friends in Christ, we remain deeply grateful to you for your gracious presence among us recently during our 76th General Convention in Anaheim.

As you know, The General Convention voted this week to adopt Resolution D025, “Commitment and Witness to the Anglican Communion”—a multilayered resolution that addresses a range of important issues in the life of The Episcopal Church that clearly have implications for our relationships within the Anglican Communion. Because this action is already being variously interpreted by different individuals and groups, we want to offer our perspective to you with the hope that some background, context, and information will be helpful in understanding this action of our General Convention. If you have not already had an opportunity to read it, a copy of the resolution is attached. We understand Resolution D025 to be more descriptive than prescriptive in nature—a statement that reaffirms commitments already made by The Episcopal Church and that acknowledges certain realities of our common life. Nothing in the Resolution goes beyond what has already been provided under our Constitution and Canons for many years. In reading the resolution, you will note its key points, that:

* Our Church is deeply and genuinely committed to our relationships in the Anglican Communion;

* We recognize the contributions gay and lesbian Christians, members of our Church both lay and ordained, have made and continue to make to our common life and ministry;

* Our Church can and does bear witness to the fact that many of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters live in faithful, monogamous, lifelong and life-giving committed relationships;

* While ordination is not a “right” guaranteed to any individual, access to our Church’s discernment and ordination process is open to all baptized members according to our Constitution and Canons;

* and Members of The Episcopal Church do, in fact, disagree faithfully and conscientiously about issues of human sexuality.

It is important to understand the process through which this Resolution came into being.

In 2006, the 75th General Convention adopted Resolution B033 which “called upon Standing Committees and Bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider Church and will lead to further strains on communion.”

While adoption of that resolution was offered with a genuine desire “to embrace The Windsor Report’s invitation to engage in a process of healing and reconciliation” within the Anglican Communion, it has also been a source of strain within the life of our own Church.

This year at least sixteen resolutions were submitted asking the 76th General Convention to take further action regarding B033. These resolutions fell into three categories—those calling for the repeal of B033; those restating or seeking to strengthen our Church’s nondiscrimination Canons; and those stating where The Episcopal Church is today. From these options, our General Convention chose the third—along with reaffirming our commitments to the Anglican Communion—with the hope that such authenticity would contribute to deeper conversation in these matters.

The complex and deliberative nature of our legislative process involving bishops, lay deputies, and clerical deputies prevents the General Convention from acting rashly. However, it does lead eventually to a profound consensus. Sometimes this consensus takes years to achieve. As Resolution D025 itself states, we are still not all of one mind. Passage of this Resolution represents another step in a conversation that began with the 65th General Convention in 1976 which stated that homosexual persons are “children of God and have a full and equal claim with all other persons upon the love, acceptance, and pastoral concern and care of the Church.” The discussion of these issues has continued consistently through every General Convention for the past thirty-three years, and we understand it to be an important contribution to the listening process invited by the successive Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, and 1998.

Some are concerned that the adoption of Resolution D025 has effectively repealed Resolution B033. That is not the case. This General Convention has not repealed Resolution B033. It remains to be seen how Resolution B033 will be understood and interpreted in light of Resolution D025.

Some within our Church may understand Resolution D025 to give Standing Committees (made up of elected clergy and laity) and Bishops with jurisdiction more latitude in consenting to episcopal elections. Others, in light of Resolution B033, will not. In either case, we trust that the Bishops and Standing Committees of The Episcopal Church will continue to exercise prayerful discernment in making such decisions, mindful and appreciative of our relationships in the Anglican Communion.

In adopting this Resolution, it is not our desire to give offense. We remain keenly aware of the concerns and sensibilities of our brothers and sisters in other Churches across the Communion. We believe also that the honesty reflected in this resolution is essential if indeed we are to live into the deep communion that we all profess and earnestly desire.

Please know that we continue to hold you in our prayers even as we invite yours for us.We remain,

Faithfully,

Your sisters in Christ,

Bonnie Anderson, D.D.
President of The House of Deputies

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate

——————————————————————————-
TO THE PRIMATES OF THE ANGLICAN COMMUNION:

15 July 2009

Dear Brothers in Christ,

My heart was filled with joy at seeing so many of you here last week at the 76th General Convention of The Episcopal Church meeting in Anaheim, California. It is important to me that we continue to find ways to communicate with one another directly about our different cultural and ecclesial contexts, and thereby prevent any misunderstandings.

For this reason, I am sending you a copy of a letter addressed to the Archbishop of Canterbury and co-signed by myself and the President of our House of Deputies. It outlines in some detail Resolution D025, which was adopted at this Convention, explaining both what this resolution means and what it does not mean. With so much misinformation circulating through the press and other sources, it is crucial to me that I provide the Archbishop and all of you with accurate information. To this end, I am also attaching a copy of Resolution D025, so that you may read it in its entirety for yourself.

As the attached letter notes, some people have been concerned that the adoption of D025 has effectively repealed the 2006 General Convention Resolution B033. Let me stress that this is not the case. Rather, we understand D025 to be more descriptive than prescriptive in nature, acknowledging the realities we face in various parts of our own Church while reaffirming our ongoing commitment on all levels to our relationships within the Anglican Communion.

I would welcome any questions or feedback you might have, and reiterate yet again my profound appreciation and joy at having so many of you with us as we gathered as a Church to worship, fellowship, and deliberate together. May God continue to bless your ministries and strengthen our bonds of affection.

Your servant in Christ,

[signed] Katharine Jefferts Schori

Monday Funnies: General Convention

General Convention is done, not to return for another three years, and so we bring you back to our regular feature in this space: The Monday Funnies.

The convention was not without its zanier moments, as when a group of bishops used Mickey Mouse hands when indicating their votes. Sorry, no photo of that one.

At the House of Deputies, each state deputation sat at tables marked with signs signifying its diocese. By the end of convention most, if not all, of the signs were decorated.

The Diocese of Olympia (Seattle) had a toy Space Needle atop the sign; Nebraska, a foam rubber corn husk; East Tennessee, a Davy Crockett hat; Northern California, plastic wine grapes; Main, red moose antlers. It seemed most of the decor had been purchased at Disneyland which happened to be a block from the convention center.

Everyone in the galleries kept a particular eye on the Oklahoma sign. That deputation would rotate putting one or more of the seven dwarfs on their sign, depending on the mood of convention at the particular moment. When the debates were testy, up went Grumpy. When the debate turned tedious, or inane, up went Dopey. And so on.

The Diocese of Virginia sign was decorated with a piglet. Don't ask me to explain.

Here's a few photos of the decor on the signs.

General Convention: A generous pastoral response, we pray

ANAHEIM -- As we prepare to depart California, please let me offer a few last thoughts on the General Convention that is now finished. Many words have already flown, reaction in some quarters is already extreme. Yet, there remains many conversations ahead, more than a few questions and much work to be done.

The biggest development coming out of the Anaheim convention, the one with all the headlines, is that our Episcopal Church took two significant steps to fully include gays and lesbians in the full life of the church. The convention declared, in effect, an end to the moratorium on ordaining new bishops who are openly gay. The other was to approve a resolution providing for a "generous pastoral response" around same-sex blessings. What that phrase will mean in our parishes remains the work of all of us and our bishops.

The convention also declared its willingness to remain fully engaged in the life of the Anglican Communion, but clearly understood that a cost will be paid in our relationship with the communion. How that will play out remains to be seen. Commentators will note that the Windsor Report is all but dead, but that has been true for some time. Perhaps it never had a chance; I will leave that to another day.

I am mindful that many people read this blog, and I do not want to put words into the mouth of our bishops. They speak for themselves, and will return home to answer questions and clarify the meaning of their work and words. I hope that our bishops will issue a pastoral letter clarifying what they mean by a "generous pastoral response" on same-sex blessings. I hope each diocesan bishop, including ours in Virginia, will write such a letter to their respective diocese explaining the way ahead as they see it; some bishops have already done that before leaving Anaheim.

And I hope we will give our bishops and our deputies a generous pastoral response. They worked very, very hard, grappled with difficult issues, and somehow managed to keep their respect for each other and their sense of humor.

The major reason I go to General Convention, even though this time around I had no official role, is to experience for a few days the breadth and diversity of our church. Worshipping with strangers from Missouri and Alaska just took my breath away. I heard some of the most moving and prophetic preaching of my life from our own Presiding Bishop Katharine, and Stephen Charleston, and Mike Kinman and Brian McLaren.

We sang favorite old hymns; worshipped with a big jazz band; danced to rock music; chanted Taize, and sampled worship forms that I am not sure yet have a name. Some will be lasting, others will fade away, and all were delightful and genuine attempts at loving God.

The Exhibit Hall was worth the trip by itself. The hall was filled with displays not just by vestment vendors, but by religious orders and educators and artisans. Military chaplains, including my friend Col. Carl Wright, had a booth, and they wore dress uniforms and fatigues. They reminded me that the gospel is preached on battlefields and in dangerous places by courageous people.

The work of convention seemed crushing, and deputies and bishops often looked exhausted. The Episcopal Church budget endured huge cuts -- Bishop Katharine said it would feel to many like they "had a heart attack," and it indeed it did. But the budget also presented a huge opportunity to focus our church on mission to the wider world, to truly look at how we are called, in Katharine's words, to "speak a word of healing to a world desperately in need of it."

We also revisited the e-word -- evangelism. We were told once again that we are called to be more than simply "an ancient service organization that meets once a week to do good works." We are called to change lives and save the world by recruiting people to the way of Jesus. Brian McLaren, who is a dynamic non-denominational evangelist from Maryland, told us how we need to retake the word from shabby television hucksters and street hustlers. "Evangelism means recruiting people and transforming them to defect from the old order," he said.

McLaren also thanked us for being willing to pay the cost of broadening who is included in God's church. Yes, there are those in the rest of the Anglican Communion and in Christianity who disagree with us. "You are doing a service by wading into turbulent waters," he said. "Every moment of Episcopal crisis is a moment of Episcopal opportunity."

Finally, Bishop Katharine reminded us "these resolutions only have life as they are implemented around this church. Your job is to go home and help this work we have done become food."

Amen.

General Convention: Breathing space on same sex blessings

ANAHEIM -- General Convention is over.

The convention ended Friday with a final vote by the House of Deputies on a resolution drafted by the bishops that would allow for a "generous pastoral response" to our gay brothers and sisters seeking to have their unions blessed. It was not a full-fledged endorsement of same-sex blessings, and it certainly was not an endorsement of gay marriage. But it was a giant step forward for this church.

How this plays out in Virginia will take many months, and Bishop Shannon Johnston has signaled he will work with those of us who want to provide blessings for all those living in committed relationships. What such a ceremony might look like I don't know; the resolution calls for developing "resources" for the church. When this will happen I don't know. We await further conversations with our bishop.

But make no mistake, the Church looks different today.

I know that this development will not please many in our church. Many have deep reservations that we are eroding traditional moral standards on marriage; I don't happen to agree, but those who feel differently must be heard and respected. Others will find this too slow and a half-loaf, and perhaps it is. It is up to each of us to take seriously the signs that say "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You" and make it a reality.

My plea is we will give each other breathing space, listen to each other, tell our stories and trust that the Holy Spirit is at work in us and in our church and making us a new creation.

I also hope that we will now stop fighting over sexuality and move onto the issues that threaten our very existence on this planet. I am mindful of Bishop Stephen Charleston's declaration earlier this week that the environmental clock has stopped ticking and the crisis of global warming is upon us. We are God's hands and feet in this world, God's partners, and the Episcopal Church is especially positioned to show how human beings can live together with their differences and find a way forward. I believe Bishop Stephen when he says we are not an accident.

There were many other issues at General Convention, including passage of a budget with $23 million in cuts for the national church, roughly a reduction by a quarter of the budget. Programs were eliminated and staff was laid off. A number of my friends are now looking for work today and recovering from the shock of losing jobs they love.

I will comment further in the next few days about the other issues, our experiences and some of the more zany moments of convention. We ended as we began, in worship, and Lori and I served together holding chalices and serving communion to friends and strangers alike. We are very blessed to be in this church.

Blessings,

Jim & Lori

General Convention: U2charist and Lori hangs out with Bono

ANAHEIM -- We attended Thursday evening a "U2charist," which is a Eucharist combined with the loud music of U2. Most of these are done by playing U2 CDs, but for this event the Diocese of California found a Bono impersonator (see photo taken in the exhibit hall). He sang well but the real Bono probably has nothing to worry about.

The sermon was by the Rev. Mike Kinman, now the provost of the Cathedral in St. Louis and the former executive director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation. He told some very moving stories about how everyday people have made a huge impact in the poorest regions of the world.

Convention resumes later with one final legislative push. More later...

General Convention: Quick update

ANAHEIM - The House of Deputies put off until Friday morning a final vote on the resolution allowing for the "development of resources" on same-sex blessings. The much-polished resolution was approved by the House of Bishops Wednesday. See my post below for more on the issue. Also there is an excellent commentary in the UK Guardian on all this. Click HERE.

General Convention: Same-sex blessings and what it means for Virginia and St. Paul's

ANAHEIM -- As you may have heard elsewhere by now, and on this blog earlier today, the House of Bishops Wednesday approved a resolution that would allow for the development of "resources" for same-sex blessings, and authorize those bishops who are so willing to provide a "generous pastoral response" to gays and lesbians.

What does that mean for us?

This morning I had a conversation with Virginia Bishop Shannon Johnston here at convention and asked him that question.

Bishop Shannon, who voted for the resolution, told me that he will allow us to develop a same-sex blessing ceremony as part of a "generous pastoral response" to our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Virginia. If we do such ceremonies at St. Paul's, we will do them only with the permission of the bishop, and we will be asked to provide information on how it works so that the wider church can study what we do. We will not be doing this in secret or being sneaky.

The resolution must still pass the House of Deputies, expected to happen later today, and then it will be the law of the Episcopal Church. It is worthwhile reading the full text of the resolution by clicking HERE.

Let me add a few observations: I watched the House of Bishops debate yesterday and I was much impressed by the respectful tone. No one was throwing the Bible at each other, and all seemed to talk of how conversation among the bishops had broadened understanding. Bishop Stephen Charleston said the House of Bishops was learning again how to have a conversation.

At one point, Presiding Bishop Katharine asked the bishops if they would like 20 minutes to talk among themselves about the resolution, and so they broke into small group discussion (which we could not overhear). When they reconvened, they worked together to wordsmith the resolution. "Working on the minutiae of language is valuable," said Charleston. "This allows the House to breath."

As for St. Paul's, I am aware some of our gay brothers and sisters would like to have their partnerships blessed by the Church. We are now approaching the day when we can do that openly and wonderfully, and I give great thanks for that.

General Convention: Reunions, receptions, worship, light sticks

ANAHEIM - General Convention Wednesday was a swirl of reunions and receptions, worship, music, light sticks and heavy doses of church polity and politics.

For me, the most moving experience was our

worship at mid-day. Bishop Stephen Charleston gave one of the most moving homilies I have ever heard.

He called himself a "Ten-minute prophet," saying he had only 10 minutes to convince us that our highest priority as a church and as human beings must be "saving this planet our island home" from the immediate threat of global warming.

"For years now the environmental movement has told us that there is a clock ticking, a clock, ticking, a great organic ecological clock that is ticking away the time of our lives to that when we no longer will be able to reverse the damage that we have done to this planet through our own greed, negligence and ignorance," he said.

Charleston was bishop of Alaska and is a Native American. He went on to be the president of the Episcopal Divinity School in Boston, and is now the assisting bishop for the Diocese of California in San Francisco.

And he said it is no accident that God has called our church to show the way. "The Episcopal Church comes to its decisive moment in history," he said. "Let your mind be open to the truth of what I have spoken."

At communion, Lori and I were among those privileged to serve bread and wine. We were at "Station 6," and I had a basket of bread and Lori administered a chalice of red wine. Many old friends came to our station, including Bishop Jerry Lamb and his wife Jane.

Another old friend, Carl Wright, who is a chaplain in the Air Force, came to our station, and after receiving communion, he asked for a blessing. I was very, very touched by so many familiar faces coming to my station. My soul soared.

We also looked at the exhibit hall, and were especially engrossed by the "Discovery Center" displaying various Christian education materials. The center was the brainchild of our friend Nancy Tennyson, and the photo is of Lori at the center.

This afternoon I sat in the visitor gallery of the House of Bishops as it took up a proposal for same-sex blessings. A group of 26 bishops Tuesday night worked on a resolution calling for the church to develop theological and liturgical resources and report back to General Convention in three years, and in the meantime provide "generous pastoral response." Among those in the working group was Virginia's Bishop Suffragan David Jones.

The resolution did not exactly endorse same-sex blessings, but it opened the door to exploring what that might look like in the future. Bishop Jones and Bishop Shannon Johnston both voted for the resolution while Bishop Peter Lee voted against.

There was a group of bishops who said they preferred to handle same-sex blessings without legislation, but their effort to sidetrack the resolution was not successful. The resolution ultimately passed the House of Bishops with 104 yes votes, 30 no, and two abstaining. The resolution moves back to the House of Deputies for a final vote.

Tonight we attended a Diocese of Los Angeles event that celebrated the Book of Genesis. As we heard the biblical story of creation, we got to wave light sticks. The photo is of our friend Stephen Carpenter and his light stick.

More tomorrow!

General Convention: Catching up with friends old and new

ANAHEIM - We've enjoyed our first afternoon at General Convention, meeting up with many old and new friends. And we enjoyed seeing my favorite nuns, Sisters Teresa and Alice of the Sisters of the Transfiguration. We've known them for years. Sister Teresa is the Mother Superior at the Mother House in Cincinnati, and Sister Alice is at the house in Eureka.

Tuesday evening Lori and I went to the Province VIII fiesta, and caught up with Bishop Jerry Lamb, who ordained me, and is now the provisional bishop of San Joaquin. 

Paul Brockman, from St. Paul's, joined us and told us that he feels very positive about the direction of our church. We also met with with Donn Morgan, the dean and president of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, who has family living in Charlottesville and told us he plans to visit St. Paul's at Thanksgiving. And I had a good chat with Bishop David Jones from Virginia.

We will catch up more on the doings at convention on Wednesday and download more photos.

General Convention: Kids there too!

Good morning! We are General Convention bound...

It may interest you to know that convention is not all about serious legislating a conflict about issues. 

It is also about kids.

A youth convention is underway parallel to the big 'ole convention. 

Here are a few photos we've seen so far.

General Convention: Quick update

Quick Update: The House of Bishops tonight took up the resolution that would lift the moratorium on ordaining openly gay bishops, and the bishops added the following amendment:

Resolved that this 76th General Convention affirm that God has called and may call such individuals to any ordained ministry within TEC and that God's call to the ministry is a mystery which the Church attempts to discern for all people through our discernment processes acting in accordance with the Constitution and Canons of the Episcopal Church.

The resolution, as amended, is back in the House of Deputies. Stay tuned...

Now that I have given you breaking news, which you can probably get faster elsewhere, this blog may be better served if I take a few steps back from the breaking news and let it sit awhile before commenting. See you in this space sometime Tuesday.

General Convention: Resolution on domestic partner liturgies clears committee

The news out of General Convention today is that the Prayer Book Committee reported out a resolution, C056, that would direct the creation of new liturgies for same-sex blessings to be reported back to the next General Convention in three years. 

As a stop-gap, the resolution also states that bishops "may provide generous pastoral response" in those states where gay marriage or domestic partnership is already legal. In other words, the bishop of New Hampshire, where gay marriage is legal, could do something "generous" but the bishop of Virginia, where gay marriage is not legal, could not do anything.

The resolution passed the committee by 6-0 among bishops and 26-1 by deputies. The committees have joint membership of bishops and deputies, but then each house must vote separately. You can read the full text of the resolution by clicking HERE.

Where this goes is anyone's guess at this point. The bishops may take this up tonight, or maybe tomorrow or the next day. Word is that the bishops are working tonight on the resolution that would lift the moratorium on any new bishops who are openly gay.

I'll let you know if I hear anything.

In the meantime, we will be headed to Anaheim and should be there in time for tomorrow's legislative session. We'll give you an update next when we get there, and we will be back this weekend. See you soon!

General Convention: Resolution on new gay bishops moves forward

It is time to check back in on General Convention where developments are cooking. But before we return to the politics of the church I do hope you will scroll down and look at the photos from our Shrine Mont weekend. We had fishing derbies, hikes and dances and a good time was had by all.

Ok, back to convention...

I got a call last night from our own Paul Brockman, an alternate deputy at convention, reporting passage by the House of Deputies of a carefully worded resolution that affirms The Episcopal Church's commitment to remaining a full and supportive participant in the life of the Anglican Communion, and (here's the kicker) also affirming that gays and lesbians, like others who are baptized, must be allowed to discern and respond to their call to serve God in the church. That call may include being ordained a deacon, priest or bishop.

Please note: The action by the House of Deputies does not take effect unless also approved by the House of Bishops. We know that the bishops held a closed-door session over the weekend to discuss the issue, and most are predicting that passage by the bishops is a close call at best. I will keep you posted in this space as developments unfold.

The resolution, entitled D025, would essentially lift the moratorium on ordaining any new bishops who are openly gay. That moratorium had been approved by General Convention three years ago to give the rest of the Anglican Communion "breathing space" in the wake of the ordination of Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire. The new resolution, however, does not repudiate the earlier resolution but, as one of its authors pointed out, is attempting to describe a "comprehensive description of the church's current reality."

You can read the full text of the resolution as it passed the House of Deputies last night by clicking HERE (and it is worth a careful read).

You can also bet that if both houses pass this resolution there will be sharp reaction on both sides of the issue. My prediction is that a diocese will soon elect another openly gay bishop, for example in the Diocese of Los Angeles where the search is underway for new suffragan bishops (assisting bishops). 

How the rest of the Anglican Communion will react is hard to predict; our relationships with some provinces, for example Nigeria and Argentina, are already broken for all practical purposes. There may be more churches who breakaway from the Episcopal Church, but they would probably break away anyway.

You can read the Episcopal News Service story on this by clicking HERE.

Shrine Mont weekend: Photos and more

We've returned from our parish retreat weekend at Shrine Mont, the diocesan center in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. We had about 130 folks, and there was much doing! 

The kids had a fishing derby and lots of games. Here are a number of photos from the weekend.

We had bird watcher hikes, nature walks, and one group took a big hike up a mountain. In the evening we had dancing and a bonfire. 

Lori gave a talk on cooking tips and demonstrated her favorite cooking gadgets; I did a workshop on parables. And in between, best of all, we both enjoyed visiting with folks, sitting on the porch rockers and chatting.

This morning we celebrated our Eucharist in the open air "shrine" that gives Shrine Mont its name. Shrine Mont hold the bishop's chair, or cathedra, making it the cathedral for the Diocese of Virginia. As Bishop Peter Lee is fond of pointing out, he has the highest ceiling of any cathedral in the world.

Before leaving today, a number of us walked the labyrinth, a recent addition to Shrine Mont thanks to Betsy Poist and a group of volunteers. 

The labyrinth is marked by stones, and the ground is rough earth. Walking the labyrinth I was sharply aware of how footsteps have shaped the walk in the muddy earth.

Monday we will get back to developments at General Convention, and we will be in Anaheim Tuesday for the remainder of convention. There is plenty of time to catch up on that the rest of the week.

Respectful debate on gay ordinations underway

There is a very respectful debate going on as I write this on the floor of the House of Deputies over whether to repeal B033, the resolution approved three years ago that mandated a moratorium on any further ordinations of bishops who are openly gay. 

Thirty deputies were chosen by lot to speak today, and I've listened as we've been packing for our Shrine Mont weekend. Everyone appears to be listening in silence; no applause. 

In talking on the phone a few minutes ago with Paul Brockman, who is there as an alternate, he said it is less a debate and more "statements of opinion."

Those speaking are speaking slowly and respectfully. Some have pointed out that homosexuality is not accepted by most of the Christian world and thus our actions tear at the fabric of the body of Christ. Others have pointed out that we need to be serious when we say "The Episcopal Church Welcomes You." You will be able to read a full account later at Episcopal Life on-line by clicking HERE.

We are headed to Shrine Mont for our parish retreat weekend, and much looking forward to connecting with people. There will be plenty of time next week to catch up on General Convention, so this may be the last entry until Sunday. The vote will be taken possibly tomorrow or next week. Whatever the House does must also be approved by the House of Bishops for there to be any change. And the weekend tends to be light at General Convention (you can expect that Disneyland will be brimming with Episcopalians tomorrow). 

Until we are back on line, blessings to all...

Jim & Lori

New saints headed for the Episcopal calendar?

This gets little noticed in the midst of the noise over the Big Issues at General Convention: Who will be included on the calendar of saints on the Episcopal calendar? 

Our method of saint-i-fying is much less elaborate than in other traditions (no canonization or miracles required). Rather it is up to General Convention each three years to add names to the book called "Lesser Feasts and Fasts." 

The honorees this year include naturalist John Muir, composer Henry Purcell and Frances Perkins, the Labor Secretary in the New Deal. You can read more about this by clicking HERE.

Earlier this week the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee considered these additions. But here is the rub: 100 names were proposed, and the committee seems to be headed toward including all of them in a book for "trial use" over the next three years. To say that it will be unwieldy is an understatement, and to have 100 new saints on the calendar all at once seems to me to make each one "lesser" not greater.

When I was a alternate deputy to the 1996 General Convention in Philadelphia, it was my privilege to vote to include Absalom Jones, who started the first integrated Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. We made a real big deal of it at convention. It would be great if General Convention could make a big deal for, say, John Muir and Frances Perkins and maybe leave it at that. 

General Convention: They get busy

I've been a bit busy today, so I haven't paid much attention to General Convention. But I did hear from friends who are on the floor at convention, and I had a great phone conversation with Paul Brockman, who is a member of St. Paul's and an alternate deputy from Virginia. Paul has been everywhere, testifying at various committees on various issues, and he was headed off to one of the big hearings of the week that was considering proposals to allow priests to bless same-sex unions.

Another of my friends told me the major highlight for her today was Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams' homily this morning at the daily Eucharist (the photo is from the Eucharist this morning). Bishop Rowan began with a thank you to the Episcopal Church for inviting him, listening to him, and especially for hanging in there with the Anglican Communion in the stormy debates over sexuality and other issues.

"Thank you too for your continuing willingness to engage with the wider life of our Communion," he said. "I do realise that this engagement has been and still is costly for different people in different ways: some feel impatient, some feel compromised, some feel harassed or undervalued, or that their good faith has been ungraciously received. I'm sorry; this has been hard and will not get much easier, I suspect. But it is something for which many of us genuinely are grateful to you and to God."

This evening I watched a webstream of the floor session, and it had its lighter moments, as when a deputy rose with a "point of personal confusion." The vote counting machines didn't work, but most deputies seemed to be rolling with the glitches. The floor session ended with deputies talking to each other one-on-one in small discussions about how they've been affected by the moratorium on ordaining new bishops who are openly gay. Deputies needed to be open to each other enough to share in this conversation, and that brings me round to Bishop Rowan's homily this morning:

This is what we are here for as a Church. Our life as church declares to the world that God's longing is for a humanity like this, a humanity broken open for intimacy. Broken open: because there is a cost in the creation of the humanity that God longs for. At the very beginning of all things, and at the very beginning of the story of God's people, the word of God speaks into a dark emptiness and brings life and light. 

By sheer divine freedom, God brings light, makes a humanity where there was no humanity, a community where there was no community. And God makes us able to receive his mercy where once we could not even understand that we needed it. In a word, we have been called from nothingness; but this means that we still stand over that abyss of emptiness – an inner void that only the Word of God can hold and fill and make to be something that is real and living. Sin is our constant temptation to slip back into nothingness, into unreality – the void of our own individual desires and agendas, the void of a self that deludes itself into the belief that it is really there on its own, independent of God and of others.

So when God in Jesus Christ restores humanity to its proper place in God's heart, Jesus has to face full-on the strange power of nothingness, the power of the terrors and dreams that are generated out of the self in its urgent attempts to keep itself alive by its own strength. Jesus dies because we don't want to die – to die to our fantasies and self-centred plans and dreams. To follow him is to risk stepping into life by recognising that something in us must die – so that everlasting and true life may live.

General Convention: Welcome baskets, hugs and hope

The first full day of General Convention is now past, and judging by my email and the Episcopal News Service reports, it was a crush of activity. The top of the news was dominated by a committee hearing on proposals for developing same-sex marriage rites, and the testimony was impassioned on both sides of the issue. No vote was taken. You can read about the hearing the reaction by clicking HERE.

Meanwhile, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams held a private 30 minute meeting with advocates for the inclusion of gays and lesbians, but by agreement, no one was talking about what happened in the meeting. The Archbishop later appeared on a panel discussion on the global economic crisis and his comments were quite thoughtful.

"We have suddenly discovered we have been lying to ourselves," he said. "For the last decade or more there has been a steady erosion of trust in our financial life. Our word has not been our bond. We have learned to tolerate high levels of evasion and anti-relational practices. We have lied to ourselves about the possibility of profit without risk."

You can read more about his remarks by clicking HERE.

With all that, what struck me the most were the reports of infectious hospitality amongst those at convention. There was a panel discussion by representatives of four dioceses that are rebuilding after voting to leave the Episcopal Church: Pittsburg, Quincy, San Joaquin and Fort Worth. The representatives of the rebuilding dioceses  reported finding welcome baskets in their rooms, placed by another diocese, and hugs in the hallways. Everyone I heard from told me of warm greetings and wonderful reunions.

And Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, the openly gay bishop whose ordination as a bishop has caused such worldwide controversy, had this to report last night, and I leave you this because it gives me hope:

It's hard for me to move from one place to another because of being stopped by countless numbers of people who want to say hello, tell me they have been praying for me, and to wish me well. More humbling still are the many people (surprisingly many, and usually young people) who want to tell me that my election is the reason they're in The Episcopal Church, or more usually, why they've returned to the Church, after year of being disillusioned with the institutional church. Wonderful, but exhausting too. Many seem so very grateful for the witness of New Hampshire to the wider Church. It is often easy to forget what our life and ministry and witness mean to the greater Body of Christ -- and it is a humbling expression of support for all of us in New Hampshire.

Who is the guy in the green jacket?

General Convention watchers are wondering: Who was the guy in the loud green jacket and bow tie who introduced Bishop Katharine and Bonnie Anderson yesterday? He is none other than The Rev. Dr. Gregory S. Straub, executive officer and secretary of General Convention. Here is his job description:

The Executive Officer is appointed by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies. As Executive Officer he/she oversees all aspects of the work of Church governance, from site selection through supervision and funding of the work mandated by the convention. The Executive Officer may also be elected to serve as the Secretary of the House of Deputies and, if elected by both houses of General Convention, Secretary of the General Convention.

Presiding Bishop: The mission is local

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori addressed the General Convention this afternoon and she touched on many themes around "the crisis" in the church and in the world, particularly the economic crisis which she laid at the feet of human sin. 

"The crisis is about focusing on the most important and most essential things first," she said. 

There is something else she mentioned that won't get the headlines but is worth underlining here, and perhaps somewhat in juxtaposition to what I wrote this morning about our church being more than local.

She reminded us that, in the end, our mission is on our own street, in our own community. Our mission is local, and the church is our parish.

"The church as a whole should not be doing mission work that can be done better at the local level," she said. "Some mission is more appropriate and effective at the parish and diocesan level. This church as a whole, for example, shouldn't be running Camp East of Eden for kids from all over the church." But, she suggested, we could "share our best practices."

Although she didn't say it exactly, there is a certain seduction in these large national church gatherings (having been to them myself) that Bishop Katharine seemed to be cautioning the General Convention to be wary of being pulled into. The General Convention is not the church but is a governing body. Yet the church is greater than the sum of the parts; somehow we need to keep the whole in our sight. "The temptation is to see our small part of God's mission, the one each of us holds most dear as the reason for this church's existence," and then "get selfish."

She also issued a reminder that as hard as we work on building and preserving our church, "the structures of the church are for God's mission but not God's mission itself."

And a footnote to the first day's session: It was closed by a prayer out of the Book of Common Prayer read from an iPhone at the podium. The world turns.

Steaming to General Convention: More than merely local

The 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, the once every three years gathering, gets underway this morning in Anaheim with the first committee hearings scheduled to begin at 7 am Pacific Daylight Time. 

There is not much yet to report; mostly what I've been hearing is about the travels to Anaheim. Some drove, many flew and a few, like my friend Bishop Greg Rickel of Seattle, took the train. Bishop Greg put this on his blog late last night, and it bears worth repeating because he bears witness to why General Convention is more than about mere legislating:

I learned for the first time that, other than the government of India, our General Convention is the largest parliamentary body in the world. That, in and of itself, is not necessarily something to be proud of, but it does seem to point to the desire for vast representation, and a willingness, or at least a wish, to hear others, to be the wider Church, in one place, even if only every three years. Lambeth, the gathering of bishops from around the Anglican Communion held last summer, is another such event and chance at that, held every ten years, and I must say that experience did shape me, that brief moment in time; being the wider Church in one place. In such situations one cannot hold so readily to the provincial notions that are so easily held when we are merely local.

I will post here from time-to-time about General Convention as developments dictate, and from time-to-time we may veer off the convention path and blog on other things -- maybe a poem or two. 

Lori and I will be at Shrine Mont this weekend with about 150 of you, and we are so looking forward to being there and spending time getting to know our wonderful parish and its people more deeply.

The Episcopal Church General Convention convenes this week

Beginning tomorrow (Tuesday), the Episcopal Church will convene the 76th General Convention, the once-every-three years gathering that legislates policy for our denomination and a great deal more. 

An estimated 10,000 people, including dignitaries like Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, will descend upon the Anaheim Convention Center (near Disneyland) in Southern California. The convention will last two weeks, and will spark a great deal of information, misinformation, commentary and news reports.

I will blog daily on the events of General Convention, doing my best to keep abreast of developments from a host of sources. Various delegations (called "deputations") will be blogging, along with bishops and various interest groups. I will monitor all this so you don't have to. That said, you probably should bookmark a special website set up by the Diocese of Virginia deputation for their daily reports and insights. You can find it by clicking the site called: CENTER AISLE.

Lori and I will be at Shrine Mont this coming weekend for our annual parish retreat, and then we will head to Anaheim for the closing days of the convention. We will blog from there once we arrive.

Before all this gets rolling, here are a few basic facts you need to know:

* There are 110 dioceses represented at General Convention, including 16 dioceses from outside the United States that are associated with The Episcopal Church. 

* The General Convention is our highest legislative body, and it is structured as a bicameral legislature. The House of Bishops (functioning like the Senate) has 200 bishops. The House of Deputies (as the name implies, like the House of Representatives) has approximately 1,500 voting lay and clergy deputies and alternates. The deputies are elected at diocese conventions (or "council" as it is called in Virginia), usually two years before each General Convention. 

* Most of the work is done in legislative committees, and General Convention sometimes seems to have more committees than the Congress. Much of the legislation will be reported to the floor of convention in the second week (when we are there), which usually makes the second week more exciting than the first.

* Voting in the House of Bishops is straightforward: One vote per bishop, majority rules.

* Voting in the House of Deputies is harder to follow. Each diocese has eight deputies: four clergy and four lay. The diocese deputation casts a single vote for or against each piece of legislation. For a deputation to cast an affirmative vote, three of the four clergy and three of four lay deputies must vote "yes." In other words, it takes at least six of the eight to cast an affirmative vote for that diocese to vote "yes," making it easier to defeat a bill than pass it. 

* Most deputations bring a few alternates so that each diocese is fully represented at all times while deputies take a break off the legislative floor. Paul Brockman from St. Paul's is an alternate representing Virginia and will no doubt have voting time on the floor. 

ISSUES

At least three related issues will dominate the news reports, and you can also bet other news stories will come as well. The three headline issues involve our church's approach to the inclusion of gays and lesbians, and our relationship with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The House of Deputies will be holding an unusual "Hearing of the Whole" on July 9-10 to consider rescinding "B033," which is the title given to a resolution approved in 2006 that declared a moratorium on ordaining any new bishops who are non-celibate gays (this in response to the reaction against New Hampshire Bishop Gene Robinson). 

That resolution has sparked a great deal of lobbying to retain or repeal it. After the hearing of the entire house, the Committee on World Missions will make a recommendation to the House.

There are also several resolutions asking the church to develop ceremonies for gay marriages or same-sex blessings. Such resolutions in the past have been generally viewed more favorably in the House of Deputies but defeated in the House of Bishops. Readers of this blog from Northern California should note that Bishop Barry Beisner introduced a resolution advocating same-sex blessings recommended by his diocesan convention in 2007.

Also watch for reaction to a private meeting Archbishop Rowan will hold with eight leading advocates for the inclusion of gays and lesbians. Those slated to be in the meeting include Integrity founder Louie Crew of New Jersey and my friend Michael Barlowe of San Francisco. That the archbishop even agreed to the meeting has already sparked a great deal of screed by those who are attempting to form an rival Anglican province in the United States.

Meanwhile, Archbishop Rowan has asked the convention to study and comment on a proposed Anglican Covenant between each of the 38 national provinces of the Anglican Communion. The General Convention is not being asked to vote on it, which is probably a blessing because it will allow the conversation to come with less pressure. Watch for buzz words like "the Ridley Cambridge Draft" -- it all has to do with the proposed covenant.

Those are the hot topics, but there will be much more going on. Watch for resolutions not as newsworthy but which will have a far reaching impact on how we fulfill our mission in our communities and in the world. Look for resolutions on economics, global warming and foreign missions.

And, as always, those at convention will worship together each morning and in various other gatherings. The convention hall will be filled with exhibits, and we will bring you photos and observations of all of it and the spectacle once we arrive. Stay tuned to this space throughout the week. 

Cartoon by Paul Walker; "Unbuntu" emblem of General Convention by Paul Fromberg.

Back in Charlottesville

We are back in Charlottesville, traveling all day on the Fourth. We were delayed getting out of Dulles, but the benefit was seeing seeing fireworks displays across the countryside from our commuter plane as it puttered its way down to Charlottesville.

Thanks to all of our family and friends in California. Your love and hospitality was amazing, both in moments of great joy and in sadness at the farewell to a young friend on Friday evening. And we are happy to be back in Charlottesville with all of our friends here.

We hope you enjoyed some pie on the Fourth!

Blessings,

Jim & Lori

Pie art by Sacramento artist Wayne Thiebaud

Celebrating our independence and religious freedom

You may not know this: Independence Day - the Fourth of July - is an official feast day on the Episcopal calendar, right up there with the feast day for Peter and Paul and all the saints.

The reason Independence Day is a church day isn't that the founders of our nation were necessarily saintly, but because the Episcopal Church was born in the American Revolution and the fight for independence from Great Britain.

Many of our nation's founders, particularly the Virginians, were members of the established colonial church which so happened to be the Church of England. Once free from Britain, they still wanted to retain what later became known as an "Anglican" form of worship. Thus was born the Episcopal Church. There is much more to the story than this, but that is enough for now.

There is another element to this worth noting in our contemporary world so torn by religious conflict. The founders of the United States believed that all things ultimately come from God, and their religious values were at the heart of their individual moral perspective. They certainly believed that those values informed how they would govern a young nation, and those values permeated the document we celebrate this weekend, the Declaration of Independence:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."

Yet the founders were repelled by the idea of a theocracy, a religiously based government. They had experienced such a government. The British monarch was also the head of the Church of England, and it had been only a century since Britain had endured a calamitous civil war between factions of Protestantism. The founders of the United States wanted no government with any official religion.

These values of religious freedom went even deeper than that. God was at the center of founders' moral life, but they understood that people see and hear God differently - or not at all. Even amongst the Virginia Episcopalians -- Thomas Jefferson and George Washington chief among them -- their understanding of God differed dramatically (and those divisions remain today).

The founders envisioned democracy as the way people could live (sometimes in great tension) in a society made up of peoples from many lands, many traditions and many religions, or no religion. The United States would not be a "Christian nation" but a nation that could allow people to find God each in their own way without being coerced by the powers of government. Jefferson's 1786 Virginia Act for Establishing Religious Freedom stated the reasons clearly:

"Well aware that Almighty God hath created the mind free; that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness..."

Over two centuries, this free market of religion has allowed Christianity and every major religion to flourish like in no other nation on earth precisely because none was the official religion. One only look at England to see the outcome of a church being supported by the state: The Church of England, some say, will all but disappear by 2050.

More ominously, we also only need look at contemporary theocracies, Iran chief among them, to see the dangers of a nation governed by religious institutions. Our independence as a free people was hard won, and that independence was from not just a colonial power, but from theocratic government. We do well to celebrate our religious freedom this Independence Day:

Summer connections in the West

We are winding up our time with family and friends in California, our first extended stay since arriving in Charlottesville in August 2008 (we've made some quick trips for funerals and graduations).

On Tuesday we saw my mother, Jean, again, and had a very pleasant visit. It is sunny and hot in Northern California. Here's a photo taken by her caregiver, Carla.

And to many of you, thanks for asking about her and keeping her in your prayers. She is doing much better than she was six months ago, and we are very pleased about that.

This past weekend, we took in a baseball game at our AAA League Sacramento River Cats, and friend scored us great tickets at field level behind home plate. Here's a photo of us at the game -- unfortunately, the Cats (the Oakland A's farm team) lost to the Colorado Sky Sox (the farm team for Chicago White Sox).

And, a little walking around Berkeley always pays off with wonders. Here's Lori outside a store that sells soap on 4th Street; and the gardens of Berkeley are exploding in color right now -- my hometown is truly one of the most beautiful spots on earth.

Finally, here's a photo from the Sacramento Farmer's Market showing a vendor selling giant cucumbers from the planet Mars.

See you soon, love to all,

Jim & Lori