General Convention 2009

Wednesday, June 8, 2009

........It is 5:00 pm, PDT, and I am taking a few minutes to reflect on the Convention so far before attending the 6:00 panel discussion on the Church’s response to the world economic crisis. The keynoter for this meeting will be the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams. The Archbishop is here at the General Convention to meet with youth, deputies, the Presiding Bishop’s council of advice, and the interim bishops who are covering the Episcopal remnants of dioceses whose Bishops and conventions have left the Episcopal Church. Presently, the Rt. Rev. Bob Johnson is overseeing Pittsburgh; the Rt. Rev. John Buchanan is overseeing Springfield; the Rt. Rev. Edwin “Ted” Gulick is overseeing Ft. Worth; and the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb is overseeing San Joaquin. Interestingly, three of the four bishops who have stepped in to care for the remnants of these dioceses have been associate with Southern Virginia – Bishops Johnson and Buchanan as interim bishops in our diocese, and Bishop Gulick as Rector of St. Stephen’s, Newport News. I ran into both Bishop Johnson and Buchanan who send their love to all of you who are part of the Diocese of Southern Virginia.

Last night I attended a legislative committee hearing on ministry to small congregations. . This committee is working on a resolution encouraging the next General Convention to have a special focus on ministry in our smaller congregations. Specifically, the committee added the amendment: “In partnership with the Office of Congregational Vitality, raise awareness and publish information about effective ministry practices for small congregations.” There was expressed concern that smaller congregations do not feel that the “national Church” pays enough attention to the effective and powerful ministries that take place. Someone pointed out that the “National Church” is in fact General Convention.

Later in the evening, a somewhat jet-lagged group from Southern Virginia gathered with our Bishop to touch base. Here were deputies, alternates, representatives from the ECW of the diocese, representatives from St. Paul’s College, and others. Also here, is a group from the Mission of the Holy Spirit in Norfolk and their chaperons – but they had a once in a lifetime trip to Disneyland yesterday. You may recall that their exquisite banners of the Millennium Development Goals are on display here at General Convention. What a wonderful opportunity for these young people who have faced great challenges to be exposed to the larger and diverse community of the Church.

Beginning tomorrow, we will gather for breakfast each morning at 6:30 am to touch base, debrief, and look ahead to the work of the day. Deputies, bishops, staff, ECW leaders, and others who are here work very hard to make the most of the time. Days begin early and end late.

This morning we attended the opening Eucharist celebrated by our Presiding Bishop in English and Spanish.

Her sermon was galvanizing. Addressing the prophet Ezekiel’s powerful image of a new heart and a new spirit, Bishop Jefferts Schori used the image of a heart transplant to talk about the new way of understanding and acting that comes through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. We receive a new heart from an organ donor who gave his life on the cross. Bishop Jefferts Schori went on to say that the Good News of Jesus Christ offers heart transplants to “those whose hearts are languishing… The heart of this body is mission – foreign and domestic…How will this heart pour life blood out into a languishing world? Can you hear the heartbeat? Mission… Mission… Mission.”