Sometimes A Cigar

What are we not

            getting?

Is the universe murmuring in

            abstruse symbols

signifying we should do this or

            that?

But maybe there are no

            symbols.

Maybe stars, the flights of geese,

            serendipities, and wonders

are absolutely simple and infinitely

            mysterious

both at once, reality announcing soto voce,

            “Here I Am

                        I Am

                           I Am.”

Live From Indianapolis VII

Well, it’s over and we are heading home. Thanks be to God.

Looking back on General Convention as a whole, this is how I would sum it up:

Some good things happen here. A lot of good people gather for the purpose of doing good things, but the things done are not as good as the people. This legislative assembly is a piece of the Church, but it is not the main act. The main act plays out in congregations around the world – in churches large and small, in sacristies, kitchens, and fellowship halls, in hospital rooms, and homes, at food banks and in social ministries of justice and mercy. Having periodic conventions is a necessary support to all that, but the fact of the convention, the event, is not the same as the actions taken, the decisions made. Those actions and decisions are not insignificant, but their significance pales in comparison to the daily life of the Church lived in the midst of the world.

At this convention, the headline news is the approval of a provisional rite for blessing same gender relationships. Ironically, that creates a somewhat more restrictive situation in Nevada than we had before – but I think it is a good one. Until this week, acting on the basis of a Primates’ Communique, I have not formally authorized blessings but have informally assured priests they would not suffer any adverse consequences from doing them. I honestly don’t know what forms of blessing people may have been using. As of now, we have a prescribed rite and that is the one our priests will be required to use. From an Anglican perspective, it is good for us all to be on the same page.  We can keep our story straight about what we are doing. Of course, no one who opposes such blessings will be required to perform them. So for us, the practical effect of the change is subtle, but this formal authorization has an important symbolic value for the LGBT community. The importance of that symbol should not be gainsaid.

The other big issue was structural reform. Given all the paranoid accusations flying around before Convention, I was quite surprised and extremely pleased that the conversation was rational and the proposal passed unanimously in my committee, then in both houses. Regardless of how it all plays out in the future, that was good.

Will structural reform actually happen? The verdict is still out. We had several opportunities to initiate or clear the way for structural reform now. We turned down every single opportunity to open the window. The reason usually given is that we should not make changes piecemeal or incrementally, that we should entrust it all to the task force and do revolutionary things all at once in 3 years. Maybe. But in my experience, change happens incrementally and piecemeal – especially in the Episcopal Church. Deferring decisions by referring them to a not-yet-created task force may be just a way to give the appearance of change without actually doing anything. No one at this Convention had an ox gored except the three committees that are in charge of structure generally. Of the big decisions we did not make, I was actually in favor of only one of them. So I am not complaining that we did not act now. We may act more wisely and effectively in the future. But I am just noting a definite uncertainty about whether we will dare to make changes next time. If we would not do a few things now, will we really do many things then?

The overall impression I have of General Convention is that we are work very hard, excessively hard, in the belief that we are doing something important. We imitate the ways of important people in the world, people who are important because they exercise power. One of our translators noted, not of us in particular but of people in general, that we strive so hard to have a purpose – not realizing we already have a purpose. We lack repose. We lack serenity. We miss the opportunity to appreciate and enjoy each other because we are pushing so hard to make ourselves matter.

Business must be transacted. Decisions must be made. But our structure and our process, based as they are on governmental structures and processes, are not spiritually helpful. We have been confused about this ever since Constantine legalized us a good long while ago. I missed Indaba groups this time. I longed for a Circles of Trust conversation. I wanted to hear people’s stories. If we set the business in that context, as even some of our best business leadership theorists recommend, I believe we would have better decisions and we would become better people in the process.

Live From Indianapolis VI

Highlights from today:

Biggest news is that the House of Bishops followed the leadership of the House of Deputies in unanimously passing the resolution creating the independent task force on structural reform. I made an appeal to Bishop Katharine to include young adults early on in the process and she nodded reassuringly. I also made my appeal to the bishops to engage the whole church in a process of visionary prayer. The response to my appeal seemed positive. So I am hopeful that this process of renewal can be more than skin deep.

The Bishops also passed the new canon for dissolution of a bishop-diocese relationship. Needless to say, there was some anxiety around this one since we were setting up the process for our own demises. But it needed doing. At present, we can remove a bishop for misconduct through a disciplinary proceeding; but we have no way to deal with a situation where there is not a disciplinary violation but a broken relationship. The process we passed focuses on reconciliation but where that cannot be achieved, it provides for dissolution.

We discharged the resolution providing for the option of the Presiding Bishop also serving a diocese – not to reject the idea but to include it in the process of structural reform that the task force will be considering.

At lunch, I attended a delightful session with a dynamic demographic group in the Church, the NGLs – New Generation Latinos. Young adult and youth Latinos are for the most part English speaking and American born but steeped in the values and faith traditions of their parents and grandparents. They are a vital, excited, and exciting group blessed by and blessing our common life.

Yesterday over the lunch hour, I presented a workshop on liturgy, music, and preaching in small congregations. It was a small group, but that’s appropriate. Besides, small congregations are under-represented at General Convention. I recommended several helpful hints on making smallness an advantage – which it can be if we don’t try to imitate big church liturgies.

We passed the budget, though there was genuine regret about the non-funding or under-funding of important ministries.

We also passed so many other pieces of legislation, most if which will never make any real difference in the world, than my fogged brain can remember.