Wrapping up 4th Legislative Day

General Convention is exhilirating, and exhausting. Every night I return to my room full of ideas I need to address in my blog posting, but I end up searching all the multimedia on http://gchub.episcopalchurch.org/ .

I highly encourage anyone who happens to read this blog to visit the site and keep up-to-date on the actions of Convention.

Some ideas I will address when I have a moment to compose myself and my thoughts:
1. The polity and structure of the Episcopal Church is unique in the world. From its beginnings in post-Revolution America, the joint work of a democratically elected House of Deputies - both clergy and lay - and House of Bishops is unprecedented in the rest of the Anglican Communion. My vote has AS MUCH significance as the vote of a bishop. This is radical, and at its origin in the late 18th century, it was entirely ahead of its time. What an amazing institution - still fallible, but trusting and progressive in its constitution.
2. Given the unique constitution of the Episcopal Church, our polity is alien in the rest of the Communion. This has been made clear by the Archbishop of Canterbury and many invited and honorable international guests from the Global South. I raised the question to our diocesan caucus last night: is there any official discourse on the fact that we are struggling to maintain relationships with provincial churches whose structure is so much more hierarchical, and whose dictates are mandated from the top and trickle down to those clergy and then finally to the lowly lay people at the bottom of the chain? How the business of our church is started in a grassroots way, from the bottom and moving up to the top? It seems that this fundamental difference in our structure is the greatest impediment to understanding and maintaining strong relationships across the Communion. (Further - another thought: that until democracy is the federal system in the countries in which the Anglican Church is operative, and the people feel their own efficacy and work for change, the Anglican Church in such provinces cannot be governed democratically. Until democracy is the operative system of governance, the rest of the Anglican Communion will not understand our Episcopal Church).
3. The Episcopalians for Traditional Faith. Hmm. Difficult little buggers. (The frozen chosen, perhaps?) I picked up a folder of information left by this lobby/organization in the back of the Hilton Lobby tonight, and I've been reading - with wide-eyed amazement - the publication What's the Difference?: How the Episcopal Church Changed Its Own Religion. A layman's view of the differences between the 1928 and 1979 Books of Common Prayer. A few choice excerpts:
"The Divine Birth of Christ

1928 BCP:
Our traditional Prayer Book unequivocally affirms the divine birth of Christ: "I believe in...Jesus Christ... Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost..." -Apostles' Creed

...

1979 BCP
Contains revised versions of the creeds which allow the possibility that a third and human agency was involved in the birth of Christ:

"He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit." -revised Apostles' Creed.

Comment: Substituting "by the power of the Holy Spirit" for 1928 BCP's "by the Holy Ghost" teaches that the role of the Holy Ghost was only an indirect one. This opens the door to the belief that St. Joseph, empowered by the Holy Ghost, was the human progenitor of Jesus. It does away with the divine nature of Christ and destroys one of the basic tenets of the Christian faith."
[these are the people I have to deal with?]

"Bible Passages
1928 BCP: The passages from the Bible appointed to be read for each Sunday and special holy days are printed in the 1928 Prayer Book.
1979 BCP: There are no Bible passages at all printed in the 1979 Prayer Book.

Comment: It comes to mind that this failure to include Bible passages in the 1979 Prayer Book is an unwitting symbol of the lessened regard for Holy Scripture on the part of today's Church."

[A point of clarification: this is misinformation. The Lectionary - both daily (Year 1, Year 2), and for Sundays (Year A, Year B, and Year C) are included in the Prayer Book].

There are far more ridiculous things in the book (particularly a section on the Baptismal Covenant, which derides the church for urging political and legislative leaders to 'remove obstacles to hospice and palliative care,' and 'support[ing] hate crimes legislation'). I don't quite understand the bent of the 1928 Prayer Books devotees, but I do understand why their church probably isn't very alive and mobile - full of the life and enthusiasm of young people. What 16 year old wants to spend his time in that environment?


For now, off to bed. I love Convention - I wish so many people from home could be here with me.