A race to the finish

Newly elected Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry preaching
at the closing Eucharist of General Convention.

We are finally done. And that's both good and bad.

Good because it's been a long 11 days since I arrived in Salt Lake City. 

Bad because even when the work was occasionally tedious it was rewarding, and I will miss the fellowship, reconnecting with old friends, and making new ones.

There was much to commend the work completed by General Convention. Let me share some highlights:

We elected an energizing Presiding Bishop, Michael Curry, who enthusiastically urges us all to go out and share the love of Jesus.

We approved liturgies and canonical changes that open marriage to all couples who to celebrate the occasion in the church.

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts
Schori offers a finalblessing at the concluding Eucharist.

We approved some structural changes to The Episcopal Church. Nothing as dramatic as we might have envisioned three years ago when we called for the formation of TREC -- the Task Force to Reimagine the Episcopal Church -- but it's a start.

We approved millions of dollars to support new initiatives to proclaim Christ in new ways including in the Wild West that is the internet as well as support for reaching out to populations to whom we need to pay more attention.

We passed resolutions calling for racial justice and living wages. 

We called for the development of comprehensive plans for the revision of our Book of Common Prayer and our Hymnal. We approved continuing conversations on issues related to the Eucharist, our hospitality, and other issues central to our identity as Episcopalians.

We started every session with prayer or song or both. We spoke, even when disagreeing on substantive matters, with mutual care and respect.

And -- most amazing of all -- we ended 31 minutes early!

On the floor of the House of Deputies on the final day of the 78th General Convention. 

Marriage to be open to all couples

The final tally of voting by clergy and lay orders approving
liturgies to open marriage to all couples in the church.

Well, now we've gone and done it. Finally! After talking about gay rights issues for the better part of 40 years, The Episcopal Church will allow all couples access to marriage rites in the church.

Three years ago General Convention called for a Task Force to study marriage -- not gay marriage or straight marriage but simply marriage. The Task Force, chaired by the Rev. Brian Taylor (now retired, but formerly the long-time rector of St. Michael and All Angels in Albuquerque), published a variety of liturgical materials, canon law recommendations, and scholarly essays. At General Convention a special committee was formed to consider the resolutions proposed by the Task Force. After hearing testimony from all who were interested, this committee perfected liturgical and canonical changes for consideration.

Resolutions concerning liturgy typically are introduced first in the House of Bishops, as they are the group on the front lines, if you will, of assisting local clergy interpret and apply the liturgical limitations imposed by General Convention resolutions and by the canons of the church. After hours of prayerful discussion, the House of Bishops approved revised versions of the liturgical and canonical materials and referred them to the House of Deputies.

This afternoon we heard from the special committee, had the opportunity to ask questions about the proposed liturgical and canonical changes, considered (and rejected) a few amendments, prayed together, and then voted, first on the liturgy then later on the canons (or laws).

Some of the deputations asked that we vote by orders, meaning that each of the 109 deputations present had to record their votes both as clergy and as lay people. Above is the tally from the first vote. As you can tell, the vote wasn't even close.

This represents a significant change for The Episcopal Church, hot on the heels of last week's announcement from the U.S. Supreme Court regarding same-sex marriages.

What was notable for me in this process was the mutual respect in our House, offered by and to those with differing opinions. As reminded by the President of the House of Deputies, following the votes we did not erupt either in celebratory shouts and claps or in wails and moans. Instead, we all maintained a prayerful and respectful silence -- then moved on to the next order of business.

While not everyone will welcome this decision, I am proud to be an Episcopalian today. Our church has taken a brave stand, one that says to our LGBTQ friends: "You, too, are beloved by God. You, too, are redeemed and saved by Christ. You, too, have hope and comfort in the Holy Spirit."

For those clergy who do not wish to conduct marriage rites for same-sex couples, nothing we've done will require them to break away from what their heart and their understanding of Scripture require.

Our conversations on this issue have reminded me of one of the great blessings of being in The Episcopal Church: we do not have to agree on every issue. Rather, we have a unity that is lasting, deep, and profound, rooted in the love of Christ and our love and care for each other. May that care never waiver or be found wanting.

Below is a photo of our lay deputation hard at work on the floor of the House of Deputies:

A bold vision and investment for the future

Several years Apple released its new iPhone. I waited all of a month (or maybe it was less) before deciding to replace my old cell phone with Apple's offering. My old phone encouraged this decision by dying just as I going through my own internal "should I or shouldn't I" debate.

That was less than ten years ago. Since then, the smartphone market has exploded with more capable devices offered by Apple, Samsung, and others. The Blackberry phone -- favored by many in business and government -- has all but vanished, its numbers dwindling into obscurity. Apple is ascending; Blackberry is descending.

In The Episcopal Church it sometimes feels like we are like the Blackberry of old: still retaining a certain utility yet being outpaced by far more innovative and responsive offerings. Some folks bemoan the decline in the number of people who declare themselves to be Christians and the drop in the number of people who show up Sunday after Sunday in our Episcopal churches.

Rather than respond in fear, however, The Episcopal Church -- working through the resolutions considered and adopted at General Convention -- is responding with hope and outrageous boldness. 

Let me offer just one example of this: Resolution B009: Conducting on Online Digital Evangelism Test. As proposed, this called for "a digital evangelism test consisting of several campaigns..." with budget "of no more than $1,500,000." Then it went through the committee process and something even more bold emerged. Rather than a test, the resolution calls for "a digital evangelism initiative" and doubled the budget to $3,000,000. Wow! 

The resolution passed overwhelmingly in the House of Deputies, and it will next be considered in the House of Bishops. I hope they share the Deputies' bold and financially outrageous vision.

We are living in an Apple world. All the bishops and deputies at General Convention access a virtual binder with up-to-date information on resolutions on iPads provided to us. We worship using PDF versions of worship bulletins on those same iPads. When not on our tablets, many of us are checking email and Twitter and Facebook on their iPhones or tapping away on their MacBooks. Clearly we know at least a little about living in a digital age. May our church remain grounded in our history, heritage, and traditions even as we embrace a bold future -- a future that I pray will see us reaching out to those who need to connect with God in a church that, as Jesus commends, welcomes and loves all.

Oops -- what happened to Sunday?

Good morning! I usually post something to this blog in the evening, but last night Bishop Johnson hosted our deputation and others from -- and associated with -- West Tennessee at a fabulous dinner at a restaurant called Bambara. We enjoyed creative appetizers, fine wine, extraordinary entrees, rich desserts, and excellent company until after 11 pm.

Yesterday being Sunday we started later than usual. The bishops led an early morning march against gun violence, but I took the lazy approach and slept in a bit. 10:00 am worship, lunch, and a three-hour legislative session defined the day. At times the legislative process is deliberate to the point of making watching paint dry seem exciting by comparison. I'm frankly a little concerned that with only five full days to go we've not yet taken up substantive resolutions on marriage, church structure, liturgy, discipline, and more. We'd better be getting busy -- and a bit more productive.

I'm now in the meeting room for the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music committee, and we're about to begin. I'll report back later tonight.

An historic election for The Episcopal Church

Presiding Bishop-elect
Bishop Michael Curry

The big news of today was the historic election of the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry to serve as the next Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. (I wish could take credit for the photo on the left, but I "borrowed" it from a Facebook post.)

For the first time, the Church elected a black man to this office.

For the first time, the new Presiding Bishop was elected on the first ballot (with nearly 70% of his fellow bishops voting for him, leaving the other three nominees to share remaining few votes).

For the next nine years of his term in office, I expect Bp. Curry's passionate preaching, enthusiastic evangelism, and deep of Jesus to help energize and lead our church to new places and awesome opportunities.

Here's a link to a summary of the press conference that took place soon after his election was confirmed.

Earlier in the day Bishops, Deputies, and guests gathered for the daily service of Holy Eucharist. Our prelude was offered by the RedSpiritSingers, a Native American drum circle. Wow! The next bit of music? We all sang "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee"! Wow, what a great reminder that our worship can effectively combine all kinds of materials.

Oh, and we actually got a bit of business done along the way. I was at a 7:30 hearing, receiving testimony from folks on resolutions being considered by the Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music committee. More on that later (though I will tease you a bit and tell you that I don't think I've ever been in the company of some many transgendered persons ever in my life).

We also began consideration of resolutions related to improving race relations. Though I found some of the language potentially inflammatory, the spirit of the resolution and our need to offer real solutions and genuine hope is real indeed.

God is good indeed!

The tedium and the triumph

The hearing and meeting room for the Prayer Book,
Liturgy and Music Committee.

Mark Twain once commented, "Those that respect the law and love sausage should watch neither being made."

I know this to be true. Sausage because my oldest son, Russell, worked for a while at a sausage factory. The law because the primary focus of General Convention (though certainly not its only focus) is legislation. As a Deputy to Convention and a member of the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee I am participating first-hand in the making of laws for The Episcopal Church. The process isn't always tidy. Sometimes it's downright tedious as we haggle over what sometimes seem like inconsequential details. But the focus on the minutiae is a direct result of the care that my fellow Deputies and our Bishops bring to the task at hand.

That being said, our committee spent quite a bit of time considering again a resolution to provide Holy Communion for communities that lack a clergy presence. As part of our deliberation, a substitute resolution was considered, amended, and eventually rejected. Another member offered a new substitute amendment, much shorter version that was passed. Here it is:

Resolved, The House of  Deputies concurring, That the 78th General Convention direct the ecclesiastical authority in each Diocese to discern and implement ways in which small congregations within their Diocese who are without benefit of clergy may receive Communion on a regular basis.

This will go first to the House of Bishops for debate and possible amendment, so our conversation on this resolution is hardly over. But we spent a great deal of time on an issue about which many witnesses testified with great passion, identifying an issue that demanded a gracious response. I do hope the Bishops accept this opportunity to exercise the discretion offered in this resolution as they deal with the particulars of their own circumstances.

Oh, and above in today's title I said something about "triumph." General Convention is considering issues related to marriage. It is fitting that in midst of our preliminary discussions (as yet still in the process of being considered by a special committee and thus not yet on the floor of either House) that today the Supreme Court announced that marriage is a constitutional right that extends to same-sex couples. While not everyone sees this as a good thing, many (and probably most) of us at Convention do. And we are working diligently and faithfully to ensure that all couples seeking the sacrament of marriage may do so in our church.

God bless all those whose lives will be forever blessed by today's ruling. God bless all those who celebrate today's news. God bless all those who mourn today's news. May we never fail to see each other with God's eyes of love and grace.

And so it begins...

Worship at General Convention. No bulletins
were printed. Instead, we all used our iPads.

Everything on Tuesday and Wednesday was just prelude. Today the House of Deputies met for the first time to consider and act on resolutions. For those unfamiliar with General Convention, every matter brought to Convention is in the form of a Resolution. Every resolution is considered by one or more appropriate Legislative Committees before being brought into either the House of Bishops or the House of Deputies with a recommendation from a Legislative Committee such as: Pass, Pass as Amended, Do Not Pass, or Forget This One -- We Dealt With This Issue Elsewhere (OK, that last one isn't in the right language, but you get the point.)

The House then debates, perhaps amends, then, if passed, sends the resolution to the other House for its consideration. If a Resolution passes both Houses with identical language, then it becomes binding. Yeah, it's quite a process. A bit ponderous at time (particularly when the amendments start flying!), and made even more so as the House of Deputies includes some 875 members who are all entitled to be heard on any given issue.

Anyway, we finally starting considering resolutions. Our first substantive one was a major revision of the rules that will guide our debates. We spent well over an hour an that one, considering and eventually rejecting a string of attempted amendments. We also unanimously passed a resolution entitled "Letter of Condolence to Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, SC" which you can read here. This will go next to the House of Bishops for their consideration.

The committee on which I serve -- Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music -- met twice today to receive testimony on a number of resolutions and then to discuss some of them. Our biggest logistical challenge has been to sort out a resolution related to the calendar of those whose lives we commemorate. I could try and describe our discussion, debate, and decision, but the telling of that tale would be quite tedious indeed -- even more so than my rambling description of the legislative process in the first two paragraphs above.

We also heard from a number of witnesses on a resolution whose title references the centrality of Holy Eucharist and seeks to allow bishops to license lay persons to distribute previously consecrated bread and wine in congregations without access to ordained clergy. The concern is genuine; too many small and/or remove congregations go weeks and even months without receiving Holy Eucharist. Is this, however, the best solution? What real questions does this resolution raise, and are we seeking the right answers? While we've received testimony, we haven't yet discussed this in committee. I'm eager to hear what the lay deputies, clergy deputies, and the bishops on the committee have to say.

Thanks for reading, and please keep the Bishops and Deputies gathered here in Salt Lake City in your prayers that we may be guided by the Father's creativity, the Son's love, and the Holy Spirit's wisdom.