General Convention 2009

Several youth have joined the Southern Virginia Diocese at General Convention. We will include in our blogs some entries from them which are quite interesting .................

I arrived here only yesterday, on Friday July 10th, and I had no idea what this convention was going to be about, or how anything worked, and what exactly would happen. So far I’ve been to the exhibits, and only some meetings. The exhibits were my absolute favorite, because I met new and interesting people, and actually learned a lot of interesting facts. In the exhibits I read and heard a lot of stories which touched my heart so much that it actually gave me goose bumps, and everyone greeted everyone with a smile, it seemed as if everyone accepted everyone as they were. One thing that I found absolutely amazing was how nice people actually were. I’ve never been surrounded by that many polite people in one place, and I was just completely amazed by it.

On Saturday, July 11th we sat in on the ECW Triennial Meeting and listed to a speaker that I found amazing, Phyllis Tickle. I loved how she brought her speech to life, as she was talking about and trying to define grace. Everyone knows that a speaker can be boring, no matter how much you’re interested in the subject, or even if what their telling you is interesting, if they’re dull, you’re going to be bored for about an hour. Phyllis Tickle didn’t do that, she spoke with emotion and even jokes, which made every one give her their undivided attention.

Then I experienced it, the protestors. I mean, it’s one thing to protest something you don’t think is right or whatever they were doing, but they weren’t just doing that, they started insulting people individually, and telling people to get run over by a car. Which makes me think it’s extremely ironic that they call themselves Christians.

The protestors didn’t ruin my time; I’m absolutely enjoying what I’m learning. Over all, I think I’m the one that has learned the most out of my group, only because I was just recently baptized which also includes me extremely new to this whole religion thing, because I don’t necessarily come from a religious family. I’m seeing how the Episcopal Churches work, I think this was an amazing opportunity for me, seeming I’m so new to it, this convention helped me learn a lot about how everything works, and I’m fascinated by the things that I’ve found out, and the people I’ve met.

April Overton is a rising senior at Appomattox High School, and was baptized this past May at St. Anne’s Church, Appomattox.