Almost Done, but Just Getting Started

I have to admit that I am pretty beat. Nine days of legislation, one day before all of that for training and whatnot, and the day I actually got here. That is a lot of days to be gone and it sure is a lot of days to be here. There is just so much going on all the time that it is really just exhausting.

There is so much to do, and the only way to get through it is to have long days. But we have fun too. Today when the President of the House of Deputies gave us a contest. She's done this for a few days now, but this is the only one I have actually participated in. It is a Twitter contest called #RulesofDisorder and we are to come up with a Rule of Disorder instead of the standard Rules of Order, cause that's way more fun! I had two ideas, and I hope I win. I'll find out tomorrow. But I said....s "@HODPlatform At any time, any three Deputations may call for a vote by either a thumb war or rock-paper-scissors #gc78 #rulesofdisorder" and "@HODPlatform queue order will be determined by arm wrestling #gc78 #rulesofdisorder"  We'll see what happens. 

Just as in all the days past The Episcopal Church had made some strong statements about social justice. Importantly, today the Deputation from Honduras stood to read a statement from their Bishop and other regarding the actions to make marriage available to all of God's children. You can see the statement here http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/07/02/18-bishops-sign-minority-report-on-marriage-equality/

It is so important to the life and mission of the Church as a whole to allow the voices of the monitory to be heard. It is only though love and tolerance that we get to stay together as a Body of Chirst.

The Bishops have also crafted a response to that previous statement. Read it here http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/2015/07/02/mind-of-the-house-of-bishops-statement-communion-across-difference/

It is clear to me that we have to hang together. It is not about agreement, because clearly that is not exactly a hallmark of The Episcopal Church, but it is about Jesus and being united in love for one another. That, we can accomplish. I for one am grateful for the presence of folks in the House of Deputies who have opinions different from mine. They challenge me to think about my beliefs and either support them rationally or abandon them. 

Our Chaplain in the House of Deputies, Rev. Lester Mackenzie, has lead us in an amazing musical prayer on an almost daily basis that reminds us that "we are one together!" Even today, the entire House gathered close together in the front and sang it prayerfully together. That is what this whole thing is about! 

Please allow me to also share with you some of the photos I took at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral during he lunch break. Currently, they are showing an illuminated hand written bible commisioned by the Benedictine Abbey, St Johns in Minnesota. Wow were they beautiful!!

What We Believe

There is so much legislation rolling around out there and what it all comes down to is what we, as The Episcopal Church believe in. I am really not any kind of ecclesiastical authority, but I know what I've seen here at General Convention. I know that we elected a man to be our next Presiding Bishop who is totally committed and enthusiastic about evangelism. Yeah. I said evangelism. This is not something that the Episcopal Church is historically known for, but here we are. We want to share the amazing Good News of Jesus Christ with the brothers and sisters we don't know yet. We want to get the word out there! What a strange and wonderful thing.

We also believe in Mission. Specifically the 5 Marks of Mission (see here for more information: http://www.anglicancommunion.org/identity/marks-of-mission.aspx). These are the things that the whole Anglican Communion has committed to! What a cool thing! We agreed on something! But seriously, our budget is formatted around these Marks of Mission, and so is everything else really. Everything we do as Episcopalians flows from these 5 ideas. Particularly from what I see, the Third and Fourth Marks of Mission.

I can tell we believe in those two because we have passed resolutions that align The Episcopal Church in a particular direction, that being against a culture of racism, against gun violence (and toward some common ground about legislation in regards to military type weapons and background checks), against a mass incarceration system, and against the death penalty. Maybe it's more important to say that we believe in Baptism and how we are all called to live out the call of Christ in our own lives by respecting the dignity of every human being. We can't do that if we are okay with people facing squalor, oppression, or death. It's impossible to be in favor of the death penalty and preach a Gospel of life and transformation. They are diametrically opposed to one another and The Episcopal Church has mysteriously figured that out.

Today we proved that we have figured something else out too. If we are to respect the dignity of every human being we must also mean our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. And if we are truly being respectful, we cannot exclude them from anything. Including marriage!  Today we agreed resoundingly as a Church that if you love someone and you are willing to swear before God and your neighbors that you will love that person forever, then you can use the same rite of marriage as everyone else! No more separate but equal. There was near consensus on the issue with 94/108 clergy orders (aka dioceses) and 90/106 lay orders voting in favor. That is a pretty clear choice. There were arguments that this decision would further fracture our relationship with the Anglican Communion, but we have taken a Christ-like approach and allied ourselves with the disadvantaged and have stood up to the world and declared that everyone is deserving.

We also clearly said that we need to look farther into this issue of marriage and see what is going on for people like me who live with their life partners outside of marriage. That is not marriage, but what is it? The church as made no statement about that living arrangement whatsoever. We are clear about the fact that there is so much more progress to be made and we are not even nearly there.

We also believe that if we streamline out polity and government, we will have more money to achieve these 5 Marks of Mission and we have resoundingly decided that we will allow the leadership to identify areas of need and create Task Forces to address them rather than having a cumbersome 75 Standing Committees that indefinitely exist regardless of the needs of the world. Now we will have more money to run Task Forces that will be more able to address what the world is calling for.

We believe in Christ and trying to be like Him. We believe in Justice. We believe in Equality. We believe in Sustainability. We believe in Service. But most shocking of all we believe in Evangelism.

Lost in Translation

I am really loving that we have Eucharist ever morning. I was talking to a new friend from the Diocese of Olympia and she said that she finds Eucharist to be an activity. I find Eucharist to be an experience. I think that make a big difference. When I wake up and I get to go to Eucharist and have a spiritual experience and then go about my day trying to hear the Holy Spirit in the commas and verbiage, I find that She is a bit louder. What a cool way to start the day. I don't think I could keep it up, unless my place of employment started doing a daily Eucharist with world class preachers.... Yeah, not likely to happen. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. It is really easy to pray here. That's probably a good thing because I would probably be making a huge mess if I was running on my own will here. Instead, I get to tap into God's power and discern His will and try to take actions in that direction.

Eucharist this morning was totally a portal to the divine. We had a gospel choir and the music made this traditional Episcopalian want to put her hands in the air in an attempt to be that much closer to the God that I know loves me. I've been know to put my arms up in praise, not often, but sometimes. It feels like I am both, reaching for God and shielding my eyes from the brightness. Oddly, I usually close my eyes too, like the Spirit is too much for my eyes, I need to shut off that sense. That is how I felt this morning in worship. I really love Jesus. I really really do.

Then we got down to business and we voted on some stuff about alcohol. I said a few days ago that there have been a few resolutions about alcohol and the culture of The Episcopal Church in relation to it. Well today, there was more. Today, we voted on a policy that will take effect for General Convention and is encouraged for parishes and dioceses. It is very prescriptive to the point that you can't advertise and event as having alcohol, like "Beer and Burgers" that we almost did at All Saints would not have been allowed if the Diocese of Nevada adopted these rules. Also, St. Peter's, Carson City, would not be allowed to participate in the Downtown Wine Walk, where they have become a local favorite because of the conversations had and activities at the church on those days. I was going to propose and amendment to the resolution, but someone else beat me to it and proposed and amendment that did almost exactly what I was going to suggest (only less so) and it was voted down, so I didn't put mine forward. I tired to speak up in support of the other amendment, but someone moved to end debate and vote immediately. That was frustrating, but I dropped it. I still voted against the resolution.

I did for a few reasons. First and foremost, because I thought that the suggestions were too strict and would restrict the evangelistic opportunities available to the Church, especially in a place like Nevada, were Las Vegas regularly advertises liquor as the main attraction. Secondly, because I don't think that not having alcohol around will help alcoholics all that much. Part of recovery is learning how to live in a world where alcohol is a reality. Sure, the attitude of the people needs to change to be more accepting of human frailty in the realm of addiction, but that cannot be repaired with a resolution. Finally, I just thought it was too reactionary to a terrible incident that happened with Heather Cook (see a previous post of a link to an article to explain). I would love to see The Episcopal Church consider these things more carefully before just suggesting sweeping policies like these.

That was really all we could get to, because we had a translation issue. We were just about to start debate in the structure of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society (previously knows as the National Church). We had a nice question and answer session, and I was really starting to gain some clarity on what was being requested, but..... for the first time probably ever, the General Convention is ahead of schedule... WHAT? How did that even happen? It's amazing really. Well, because we are ahead of schedule the translators have not been able to translate material for the Spanish speakers among us, so we had to stop out legislative session and we will resume tomorrow. Isn't that awesome, that we can see that language is a barrier and instead of ignoring it, we stop and come together as a Church in hopes of full inclusion. I love being Episcopalian. I really do.

So I got to go the Episcopal Service Corps presentation this evening. That was so amazing to hear 3 domestic missionaries who are living out their Baptismal Covenant in real and tangible ways. Their stories were not just honest and human, but they were calls to action by young people. I found myself really wishing that things had landed differently in my life so I could have go to Atlanta with Episcopal Service Corp in 2012 like I had planned. God had different ideas, so I have nothing to regret, but I am grateful that there were missionaries who went out there and had experiences to enrich their lives as well as the people around them. Now they are a prophetic voice to preach the Gospel of Christ. I can only hope to be half of powerful as they are. I love Jesus and I just want everyone else to know that healing love.

Reconciliation

I am on the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations. We thought our work was done when we reported on a resolution to continue the ecumenical relationship with the Church of Sweden, who we have a long standing relationship with. We also dealt with a resolution to reinforce the need for dioceses, parishes and all levels of Church to engage in interreligious education. The reasoning is simple, we are the little "c" catholic church. We believe that God exists most fully when we are in relationship with one another. So, we are hoping to reduce the Islamaphobia and Anti-Semitism because it is a disgrace to the Kingdom of God it spit hate at our brothers and sisters. Jesus died for everyone, not the ones who agree with us.

So we did all that, and we thought we were off the hook.... Little did we know...

We got a resolution that aimed to provide a quick route home for the folks who have left The Episcopal Church in the last 15 years or so. They have gone for ideological differences and have caused a lot of legal and spiritual heartache for those left behind. Unfortunately, there isn't really an easy way to come back. That is terribly sad in my opinion. We had to change the resolution to make it so that dioceses around The Episcopal Church weren't harmed in their ongoing litigation. How horrible is that? We have to work around the breaking off of Christ's Body so that we can protect ourselves? From what....? It all felt prideful, but in some ways I guess we have to survive in the world that the world created. So, the heart and soul of the resolution was to welcome members back into The Episcopal Church, but they will have to pay the toll. At least it is a step toward reconciliation.

I also attended the Integrity Eucharist. If you are not familiar with Integrity, you should be. Get acquainted here (http://www.integrityusa.org/). They are basically a group started by Louis Crew, a gay man, who moved to California in the 70s with his husband in hopes of finding an Episcopal Church that would accept them. That's not what he found, so he founded Integrity which has worked tirelessly for 40 years (Wow! 40 years!) towards full integration and acceptance of the LGBTQ community in The Episcopal Church.

This week, we are voting to change the Canons so that Marriage is understood as a union between two people rather than and man and a woman. When that happens, the official marriage rite will be accessible for LGBTQ folks. This is the first of 2 consecutive Convention votes that are required for a Canonical change, but it's going to happen! Really it is!! The people who oppose it have already left in the aforementioned break off. It's sad that they have chosen to leave, but the result is a more tolerant and accepting Episcopal Church that is actually, really, fully allowing that anyone who pledges love to a partner can have that marriage recognized in the eyes of the church.

That is what reconciliation is all about and that is what the Eucharist tonight was all about. It was a celebration of 40 years of hard work! It was an acknowledgment of the work still yet to come. There is so much that is required to really be the most inclusive church there is, but we have come so far in 40 years. The President of the House of Deputies, Gay Jennings, acknowledged that there are some (like me) who have never known a world without Integrity. What a beautiful reality I have been born into! And get to live into. That's the important part.

Seeking Common Ground

This morning, I woke up groggy and unsure if I was prepared for the day, but I knew that today was the day that the Episcopal Church would march around Salt Lake City seeking common ground against gun violence, so I got up. I barely made it down there when the speaker began. We heard several stories, one from a bishop who has survived a gun shot injury. He shared about how he watched his father age before his eyes as he recovered in his hospital bed. Another from a former police officer who had dedicated her life to trying to protect the citizens, but watching as gun violence wreaked havoc on her community. She shared that today she lives in a gun free home and finds herself in arguments with responsible gun owners about the need for guns in everyday life. She stated that we are both seeking the same end. We all want safety, one seeks to do that by protecting themselves; the other aims to eliminate access to the tool of human destruction. But the end goal is the same.

Out last speaker, Carolyn Tuft, told us about the day that her daughter was shot dead in front of her own eyes. She and her daughter had gone to the mall to buy a greeting card and only minutes after entering the store, a man wielding a shot gun shot her daughter in the back and then in the head at point blank range and her in the abdomen and shoulder. She survived, but at great personal expense. She lost everything, not to mention her sweet 15 year old daughter.

The group was motivated to walk because of the unheard of level of violence that is plaguing out country. Bishop Sutton spoke of and unholy trinity of poverty, racism and gun violence. He acknowledged that the only solution is the Holy Trinity. Only God can combat that kind of injustice in the world. You can read a story about the march here at this link. (http://www.sltrib.com/news/2674376-155/the-word-of-god-is-my)

What is going on in our country is unacceptable and one of the points Carolyn Tuft made was that if we put things in place that prevent gun violence, we won't know whose lives it will save, because we will still be here. What a message.

The issues of injustice do not stop there, of course. The unholy trinity has far reaching implications and today the House of Deputies voted on an issue that is very near to my heart, criminal justice. I have always thought that term was pretty ridiculous, because no justice is being served in that system. Not in my opinion. We had a resolution today that address most of the issues and "encouraged" advocacy actions on the parts of each diocese and parish. The list included putting a stop to the mass incarceration system (through advocacy at every possible level), advocating for alternative sentencing for people addicted and suffering from mental illness, advocating for appropriate assistance for people with disabilities, advocating for job training in and outside the prison walls that will actually lead to employment, the repealing of mandatory minimum sentencing laws, eliminating "three strikes" legislation, working together to initiate or maintain "Ban the Box" laws, reforming bail bonds systems that work at the detriment to the poor and disadvantaged, advocating for felons to have the right to participation in society through their right to vote, and advocating to transform juvenile justice systems to be more reformative rather than punitive. Quite a list to be sure, and every single one of them is of utmost importance to me! I have a huge heart for the felons of the world. Probably because my father was one and I fell in love with one. Tomorrow is a hearing on a resolution that Canon Catherine and I wrote. I will be there to testify and demand that our church takes a stand. not only by talking about it while we are here at convention, but out in the real world. It is so much easier to talk, but are we walking the walk?

We walked this morning, but we have to keep walking. This is not the end. Our job as people of Christ is so much bigger than that! We have to stand up and prevent injustice, not just speak out against it. We need to DO justice, DO peace, DO mercy. Join with me as we work toward actual change.

Presiding Bishop Elect Michael Curry and Diversity

This morning in Eucharist, our preacher was from Navajoland. She told us about her call from God in the form of her father's voice telling her to come to the aid of His people. She shared that she does not relinquish her Navajo spirituality to be an Episcopalian, she can be both. I was moved by her conviction. Our music was provided by another Native woman who played a Native flute. It was the kind of music that fills your ears and your soul responds in a very earthly and natural way. I just sat there with my eyes closed. I wanted to absorb that music and Holy Spirit and visual distractions were preventing my openness... so I removed them. At the end of the service the Bishops departed to deliberate about their choice of Presiding Bishop. The flute played as they walked out of the worship space and I prayed that the will of God be fulfilled. God already knew who our next Presiding Bishop would be, we just needed to be open to hear it. (have I mentioned that you can live stream the worship services online? Well I commend this to you http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/gc/ )

Then, the whole ordeal of finding out who they had decided on went on. The House of Deputies declined a lunch break in hopes of getting to know the PB sooner. So we stayed and starved. But then we found out who it was! Bishop Michael Curry! Praise be to God. You can read the Twitter stream at #GC78. Someone even started the hashtag #purplesmoke which I thought was just delightful.

Bishop Curry was the only non-white nominee. He was the only one who talked about Jesus in a way that was so compelling that there you couldn't help be get excited about his Jesus, our Jesus. There was really no decision. It can be shown in the fact that the Bishops decided on only one ballot where he received 121 votes. The next closest was 21 votes. The Holy Spirit spoke loud and clear! She demands that we are inclusive and take a stand in support of diversity! It is time for a Presiding Bishop of color. Can you even believe that he will be the first?



The House of Deputies kept breaking into musical prayer singing, "We are one together, yo yo yo. We are one together, yo yo yo!" It was spontaneous prayer and it came from our inner most parts. We are one! We are Navajo and we worship the work of Mother Earth. We are Black and we cry for our brothers and sister who suffer racism. We are young and old and liberal and conservative. We are traditional and new age. We are every color of the rainbow anywhere on the spectrum between man and woman and gay and straight. We are here and we are together! I am so excited for Bishop Curry to march at the head of our Church into the future without shame or embarrassment of our point of view and desire to be ever more inclusive. The love of Christ does not discriminate and we will not either. I would gladly give up my lunch for the opportunity to be a part of the Body of Christ. That is what I am here for.

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togeder today

Of course I must talk about marriage. I would start by saying that I am so grateful for the Holy Spirit and Her ability to reach into the hearts of the Supreme Court Justices. Praise be to God! Welcome to a new world where everyone in America can marry whoever they love. It is a beautiful thing. I am here at General Convention and I am struck by the Episcopal Church and the people therein whose hearts have shifted so significantly from 6 years ago when the atmosphere around marriage felt somewhat dangerous. Yesterday, I went to the Marriage Committee hearings in the evening and heard.... I heard, consensus. We are in agreement. There were a few people who disagree and I would classify them as the "old guard." But I have to ask... what is the "old guard" guarding exactly?

The reservations are all still fear based. They are afraid of change and new things, but in the hours of testimony I was blessed to listen to, I only heard 2 or 3 people who disagree. I am so excited about the direction our Church is headed. My heart sings with joy. The only issue I generally have with the resolutions is that it puts the State law ahead of the relationship with God and one another. That is a pretty mute point at this time, but it sets an uncomfortable precedent that the law of the land comes before the actions of the Church. Why not is the Church the one leading the way and allowing people to become closer to God, whether or not the rest of society allows for equality. But truly you can see that marriage has brought us together as a society and as a people of Christ today. We are no longer separate, just equal. I look forward to a vote on the resolutions about marriage here. All people deserve access to an actual marriage rite, and that is so close to happening I can taste it!

I also went to a hearing about Structure today. The Church is considering a new way of doing things and one of the things we are talking about is doing away with the 2 house system and having just one house composed of Bishops, Lay and Clergy. The testimony was that this would maybe stifle the voices of Lay and Clergy. My thought is this. We elect the Bishops that we do because they are excellent leaders. That is a great thing, but there is the possibility of the Lay and Clergy becoming superfluous. Even today, the Bishops came to the House of Deputies and we had a kind of round table discussion. Although our voices were heard, everything that Bishop Dan said was affirmed by the people at my table. That is not a bad thing, but it just shows that Bishops hold a kind of special authority in the Episcopal Church. The new resolutions would also call from smaller Deputations. In the hearing, I heard something really loud and clear. If that happens, the minorities would be excluded by default. That not only means people of color, but it means young people, Spanish speakers and all sorts of other folks. I was the Deputy this time with the least number of votes who did not end up being an Alternate. I would not be able to go if the new rule goes into effect. That is a travesty because I am the youngest Deputy from Nevada by decades. Decades... no offense to my more Senior Deputies. You are valuable too, but a new young voice is important in the life and future of this work. Not to mention diversity in general. We need people from all walks of life to be included in the decision making process.

I am still praying that my heart and voting voice is guided in the right direction. I am seeking a big T Truth here and I have to say that today I forgot that a little bit. I got a little wrapped up in some perceived power. Canon Catherine and I wrote a resolution today and got it in just before the filing deadline, and it made me feel empowered. Being empowered is a wonderful thing, but in this case I think it made me forget why I'm here. I am not here to make myself look better. I am here to serve justice and peace. Tomorrow will be better. I need to be revived by the Spirit and get some rest, so I will leave you until tomorrow.