General Convention - Final Report

It's hard to believe that my 9 days are over here in Indianapolis.  It also seems like I've been here forever.  I am definitely ready to go home.

Yesterday was another slower walking day with only 8,865 steps recorded.  So just shy of 4.5 miles.

More important legislation rolled through.  A budget was approved.  A resolution having to do with what's called the Open Table was approved but no one is quite sure what it really changes.  There is a discussion going on in our denomination about what to do about folks who are not baptized but who wish to receive Communion.  Traditionally that is something for those who have joined our community in faith.  On the other side is the argument that if they truly wish to receive and the Holy Spirit leads them to the rail should we refuse?  The resolution brought that issue much more out in the open and recognizes that we are living in that tension.  It is intended to clear the way for a pastoral response but it is deeply disturbing to many folks.

I'm very proud of one resolution that was passed.  Having to do with what is known as the DREAM Act it concerns young people who have been raised in our country but are not properly document immigrants.  The resolution was originated by a member of the GCOYP and received the support of deputies to be brought to the floor where it passed.  It was a proud moment for all of us involved with this group of young people.  Several of us were in tears as the vote was taken.

I leave GC77 knowing that our church is facing more change.  We took the first steps towards determining what we will look like in the future.  That is a scary concept for some in our tradition.  To be honest it is a difficult and challenging path that lays in front of all of us.  My hope is that we will work together, pray together, stay together on that journey.  I am not particularly interested in a church that is "purified" so that we can continue to struggle, to remain in tension with our faith and the issues that our faith raises.

There were many good, faithful people here who I believe are holding onto that same dream, that same vision for the future of the Episcopal Church.

Time to finish packing and take my last turn around this city.  Then hop on the shuttle bus and head off to the airport, to the arms of my loved ones and finally home.

Peace.

General Convention Day Seven

My walking numbers continue to decline.  Only 6,665 on this day.  Two reasons for that.  Fewer meetings being held so I don't have to walk to them PLUS the weather has gotten much cooler (down into the 80s) so I can take the direct path outdoors rather than the very circuitous path through the gerbil tubes.  It's been really pleasant the last couple days after starting off in the 100+ temperatures.

I've mentioned how tired I've been.  It finally caught up with me.  I woke up at 9:45 AM after sleeping the better part of 11 hours.  Guess I needed the sleep.  At this point the group is being given permission to care for ourselves so my tardiness was met with good humor.

Today was an interesting day.  As GC winds down there are still many resolutions waiting to be dealt with and some of them are important like the budget.  A resolution that would have changed the selection process of the GCOYP was sent back to committee who deleted the section that we disliked (and lots of others agreed it was wrong) and the clean version passed.  The budget was presented and is a much better version than the first one we saw.  For those of us in youth ministry and formation it is a huge improvement.  H-U-G-E.  The vote on that is still to come but everyone seems comfortable with the work done by the committee.  The most inspiring moment was when the new plan for re-organizing our denomination based on the Anglican Communnion's Five Marks of Mission passed unanimously.  Not a single no vote.  The House of Deputies was given permission to applaud and gave the vote a standing ovation.

This was also a hard day in our church.  Resolutions confirming this denomination's belief in equality for LGBT members, including a blessing service for same sex unions, passed.  While seen as a victory by most of our church it was a bitter moment for as much at 25% of the Deputies.  The passage was greeted with respectful silence but I know more than a few theologically conservative Deputies were reduced to tears by the action.  What I have learned over my three trips to GC is that it is filled with passionate, faith filled people who attempt to do their best for God even while disagreeing.  It was a bittersweet moment for many on the "winning" side because we love and respect all our brothers and sisters.  The fact is that we relieved pain for some and created pain for others.  Please pray for all the Deputies and Bishops as they prepare to return home.

Day 8 is our final full day here.  The young people have done a wonderful job and humbled me by their passion and dedication.  They are a joyful, faith filled, glorious hope for our future.  And I will miss them all.  I hop on my plane on Thursday.  It will be good to be home.

General Convention Day Six

Things are starting to slow down here at General Convention.  Committees have largely wrapped up their work so the days focus more on the legislative sessions.

My walking for Monday was "only"  10,455 steps or right about 5 miles.

It was back to a pretty straightforward day.  No special events or anything.  Worship in the morning was wonderful featuring Native American language readings and music.  Really enjoyed that quite a lot.  I could follow along with where they were in the printed reading material for all the languages except the Dineh.

The biggest challenge facing us today was tiredness.  Several of the young people are feeling under the weather still but most of us, adults and youth, are just flat tired.  I also talked to some of the WNY delegation who noted that they were tired as well.  We're trying to care for one another, letting folks grab naps, go to bed early, skip unnecessary meetings and things like that to help us get to the finish line.

The one exciting thing is that one of our youth has written a resolution that was then sponsored by a deputy (the GCOYP can't sponsor legislation) that has passed the committee process and we hope will reach the floor before GC ends.  Check out the link HERE to see one of the GCOYP testifying on the DREAM Act Resolution.

You can find more photos and interviews and videos about GCOYP  at the EpiscoYouth blog

General Convention Day 5

Sunday is a slow day at GC.  We got to sleep in!  First event is the United Thank Offering in gathering for the whole church which is always impressive.  The service was very good with some Taize chant added in so it was better.  After that it was a free event at the ballpark.  Everything was free, food, games, various kinds of "stuff".  You could make a donation or several donations and all the money went to three dioceses - Haiti, one in Brazil and one in Africa.  It was actually a lot of fun.

Still had a good walking day - 15,672 steps so just over 7.5 miles.  I'm happy to report that my feet and legs are holding up well.

The weather remains hot but it's dropped down into the high 80s more often so that makes it a bit more bearable.

After the fun outside it was back inside for a single legislative session.  So an easy day as far as the work goes.  Afterwards various dioceses and provinces had evening parties.  I went with the Province II youth to the provincial dinner.  Introduced them to various folks until they were tired out (took about an hour) and then we went home.

I was so tired I was sent to bed.  I complied.

One of the things that folks don't realize about GC is that it is both long and hard.  The days start at 7 AM with committee meetings many days and can go until 10 PM.  For a couple days that's fine but for 9 days in a row it's just brutal.  There is a real need to pace yourself but even then by Monday or Tuesday people really begin to drag.  If you're not careful you can even get sick.  We've had a variety of folks have exactly that problem at the convention so far.  For the Deputies if they really start to drag they can have an alternate take their place on the floor.  The GCOYP don't have alternates so we adults try to keep our eyes and ears open for when they need a break.  The young people are pretty good about admitting when they need to stand down.

By the way the performance not only of GCOYP but of the young adult deputies this year has been tremendous.  Articulate, prepared and confident they are taking their place as leaders early.  And that is great news.

General Convention - Day Four

A quick addition to yesterday – favorite quote from the floor came during the discussion about selling the building at 815 Second Ave in NY (which is where the Church Center is).  Noting that the building represents a remnant of the historic understanding of church as a center of temporal power the speaker said,

                “Constantine has left the building.  It also seems that Constantine has left the building”

A brilliant summation I thought.

Lots of walking today too.  Final count - 14,318.  It dropped off today because I spent most of the evening sitting outside a committee meeting while one of our youth did their work.  Some quality reading time though!

Having grumbled about worship yesterday I need to note that today was better.   We had music before  and after (and a bit at Communion) from a steel drum band from a parish in Brooklyn.  The rest of the music was largely from Wonder, Love and Praise and Lift Every Voice which was fine.  The real high point however was the sermon by Bishop Michael Curry from North Carolina.  If you’ve ever seen Bishop  Curry preach you know that he rocks!  And he did it again today.  Calling us all to be Crazy Christians he had the hall enthralled.  I hope that his sermon is/will be available online.  Take the time and see it.

The OYP got a real close look at what the legislation process can look like.  A resolution that included some wording affecting how future OYPs would be chosen came up and went through some major wrangling.  Amendments and amendments to amendments and procedural points and the whole thing being interrupted in the middle of the process for other items.  At the end of about an hour’s worth of work the whole thing was sent back to committee to be fixed.  It can be incredibly frustrating but it is part of the whole process of how we govern ourselves.

Meals for a group this are a challenge.  We have to get out meals out in the public just like all the other folks here.  Which means places get full fast and they don’t necessarily want to see a group of 30 folks walk through the door!  Kudos to the folks at Panera Bread and Buco di Beppo who handled it beautifully. Dinner was pizza with the folks from the Young Adult Festival.

Got a chance to wander through the Exhibition Hall some more.  Ran into a youth group from the Diocese of New Jersey led by their diocesan staff person Deacon Debi Clark.  Also saw a former GCOYP member Rich Hogue who is working at the Episcopal Service Corps table.  Spoke with Tracey Herzer the boss lady at Leader Resources (she sent me away with a new idea for formation and ministry with young people in smaller congregations or even at the Deanery level.  Don’t let me forget that I have that to share when I get back!)  So a pretty typical day.  Lots of friends and acquaintances floating around.

Will tell you this - we are all, youth and adult, very tired.  Lots of punchy giggling going on.  Fortunately  Sunday is a slower day on the schedule.

General Convention Day Three

(A note on the irrgular posting of these updates.  Because I have to be where the young people need me and many of those places don't have WiFi I can't post as quickly as I'd like.  So these are running later than I'd prefer.  I hope to get caught up tomorrow morning.  We'll see if I can stay there)

Well I said the days would get busier!  Day three saw 12,000+ steps overall.  I was just shy of that number at 4:30 today!  Final count?  17,575 or just under 9 miles. More committee meetings and that kept  me moving.    Some quick thoughts from the day:

So far I’ve been disappointed in the worship.  It has been extremely well done don’t get me wrong.  But it has been very “Episcopal Standard”.  Some music from Lift Every Voice and some Taize chant.  Sermons by the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies were both solid as per usual.  But I remember much more adventurous worship in 2003 with a much wider variety of music.  I know that some folks get antsy when we do something that isn’t “mainstream” but we need to  deal with the reality that the “mainstream” has moved from where an awful lot of us assume it is.

It has been a tough day for Bonnie Anderson the President of the House of Deputies (PHoD).  She stumbled moving away the pulpit following the sermon and had an ongoing rough day running the Convention.  Fortunately both she and the House had a great sense of humor about it all.

It was a momentous day for me.  I actually got to walk onto the floor of the House!  The House was in recess at the time so I was not struck dead on the spot.  PHoD invited two of our young people address the House today.  I got to go with them for the audio check and give them the last bits of advice that I could offer.  In the afternoon they did a great job and got a standing ovation for their efforts.

I have now (in my lifetime) had 5 different opportunities to meet the current Presiding Bishop.  I missed the first one because of my stroke and have found one thing after another standing in my way.  It seemed like GC would be a great opportunity.  So far the PB has met with the OYP twice.  And I’ve been otherwise occupied both times.  Sigh.  On the other hand I’ve bumped into and spoken with PHoD multiple times.  Still freaks me out  a little that she seems to know who I am.  LOL.

The Exhibition Hall!  One of my favorite parts of GC is the central bazaar known as the Exhibition Hall.  Things to buy, information to gather, people to meet.  It goes on for most of the time of GC and is just an amazing place.  It fills a HUGE room and I finally got the chance to get in.  My practice is to cruise through the first time just to see what’s there, and then explore in detail over the remaining days.  Well I got in there twice today and still haven’t seen everything!  

General Convention Day Two

Well I told you that the days would get busier.  My step total for Thursday was 12,300+ so just over 6 miles!  The hotels  surrounding the Convention Center here are all connected to one another and the Center as well.  That is very convenient to avoid going outside into the 100 degree heat.  Even the locals agree this is really hot weather.  The problem is that what’s created is the world’s largest gerbil cage.  So I spent most of yesterday trying to get the map of the areas where we will spend most of our time.  Fortunately the youth have been here several days longer than I have and already know their way around. 

Ah the young people!  Every GCOYP I’ve worked with have been great and these young people fit in beautifully.  They spent the first day testifying at a variety of committees and have gotten lots and lots of rave reviews.  If you follow Twitter check out the hashtag #GC77.  There have been lots of chatter every time some member of the OYP speaks.  Part of what I do here is to help them with their testimony and comments.  My job is not to shape their thoughts but to help them make sure that they have stated their ideas clearly.  So they write their speeches out, bring them back to the adults sitting in the visitor’s gallery and we go over them quickly.  Very often there is very little time for that review so we are forced to speed read.  Usually the hardest part is reading the handwriting because they’ve written very quickly.  In whatever small way I’ve been able to help the GCOYP has done wonderfully.

Quick note on Lis Engle from St Matthias who is a member of the GCOYP – She is doing a great job and has taken particular interest in legislation centered on smaller congregations.  If you know Lis then you’ll be familiar with her bright smile and energetic personality.  She is representing herself, her parish, her diocese and province very, very well.

The day itself was pretty straight forward divided between legislative sessions and committee meetings.  This means I tag along and sit in the gallery while they do whatever they need to do.

Lunch was fun.  Bp. Stacey Sauls the Chief Operating Officer of TEC joined us in the suite that we use as our meeting space.  Bp. Stacey is very personable and answered any all questions the young people had.  Mostly it was concerned with budget issues which is probably the biggest controversy facing the Convention this year.  There are other issues that will generate their own heat but nothing compares with the budget.  It was a great time and wonderful that the bishop was willing to take time out of a very busy time to be with us.

The meetings went on into the evening.  The good news is that we managed to wrap up a little earlier so I was back in my room just before 11 PM.  Even better I wasn’t needed to be an early riser the next day so I had a nice long sleep period available.

And we all know that’s a good thing.  Tomorrow I finally visit the Exhibition Hall!!

Day 1 at General Convention

I'm going to try and give you an idea of  what my day to day life at General Convention.  My first day was Wednesday July 4 and it was a doozy.  I have been the Master of Ceremonies at the Independence Day Parade in Mayville NY for 25 years.  The idea was that I would do the parade with my daughter  as co-MC.  So I got up that morning, finished packing, tossed my bags into the car and headed to Mayville.  So far so good.  Unfortunately once the parade began the sky grew darker and darker .  A rumble of thunder.  A distant flash of lightning.  A NOT so distant flash of lightning.  And then the heavens opened.  The downpour sent the crowds flocking to cover and e announcers to do likewise.

Amazingly a fair number of the units kept right on marching so we kept on announcing.  It was a lot of fun while being utterly uncomfortable the whole way along.  Our notes were drenched, units were out of order so it was a bit of a challenge.  But everyone was great about it and it will be a parade that will be talked about for years.

The problem was that I had planned to go directly to the airport after the parade.  But I was soaking wet!  So home quickly, clothes into the dryer and THEN off to the airport.  Gladly there were no adventures on either flights (Erie to Detroit, then Detroit to Indy).  It was kind of interesting that at one point I had people next to me speaking Norwegian, folks one row up speaking in French, and folks a row back speaking in German.  Very cool.

A quick ride from the airport to the hotel with a surprise at the end.  Indianapolis is the home of the AAA minor league team for my beloved (and at the moment fabulously successful) Pittsburgh Pirates.  I got a text saying that the General Convention Official Youth Presence (GCOYP) was at the game and there was an extra ticket with my name on it!  The game started early so it was the 7th inning by the time I got there.  It was big time hot but it was great time and the Indians won!  Even saw a home run!

We finished the day in a meeting and had fireworks right outside the hotel windows.  I finally got back to my room about 11:30 to unpack.  My lights finally went out at midnight.  Long day.

I have a step counting pedometer with me so I'll keep you up to date about how much walking I get in.  With airport walking and the like I had a fairly average day for me - 8,857 steps.  So that's about 4 miles.  I have no doubt it will be my easiest day for a while.