Provost Kelvin Holdsworth, St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow remarks on Gen Con 2009

"What’s going on in America?" Kelvin Holdsworth inquires...well, he is the Provost of St Mary's Cathedral in Glasgow, Scotland. And he is part of the Scottish Episcopal Church, our brothers and sisters in arms, as it were, in the Anglican Communion. Did you know that the first clergyman in the Episcopal Church USA was ordained by a bishop of the Scottish church, and hence we have Seabury because it was Seabury who was ordained for us, to send us on the road we now find ourselves on. Delightful, the Scottish Church, doing that for us Episcopalians. Do read the following commentary and observations of the good Provost. You will also want to visit his blog called What Is In Kelvin's Head?

There is quite a lot going on in the Anglican world this week. The Church of England Synod was meeting, but did not make much headline news, with the exception that they decided not to shift power from committees and boards to bishops. (ie from laity, clergy and episcopacy to episcopacy).

More interesting is what is going on in the States, where the General Convention of the Episcopal Church is taking place. It only happens every three years and is their great decision making body.

The General Convention has passed a resolution which is getting a lot of press at the moment, Resolution D025. It is worth reading what it actually says and not simply relying on other people’s interpretation. (Including mine!)

The American church seems to have decided that honesty is the best policy. They say simply where they are at with events which have become so toxic within Anglicana. They say that they remain fully committed to the Anglican Communion and also that their methods of selecting bishops remain those of their constitution and canons. This means that those who must consent to Episcopal elections must apply their own conscience when giving consents. The Anglican world cannot simply assume that the American church will reject a bishop who happens to be gay, just because Rowan Williams (or anyone else) asks them to...

Go to Kelvin's blog to read the rest of his narrative regarding General Convention. It's a definite good read.

The Bishop of Kentucky / New Fort Worth on the 76th General Convention

Bishop "Ted" Gulick Jr is the Bishop of Kentucky and appointed Interim Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth Reorganized. Here is his report on Convention from his standpoint and that of his deputations from Kentucky and from New Fort Worth:

A high point of Convention happened on Wednesday, July 14. ... when the House of Deputies ended its morning session with prayers sung in Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions, all three of which trace their roots to Abraham. ... all of whom were part of a group of ecumenical and interreligious guests at General Convention. Each of the singers in turn sang a prayer and then combined their voices into what was called "a sung Abrahamic blessing to this house." As the individual voices soared and then blended together in the vast space of the House of Deputies, it became holy space, blessed space, and everyone in that space was changed, connected with one another in a new way.

Read his entire report.

I'd also like to point out that for the first time in the history of the Diocese of Fort Worth, reorganized or otherwise, that women are coming into their own at last, a privilege denied them by the former and now dissident bishop who has left The Episcopal Church for another Province.

One of the biggest deals was that women were in the deputation and one of them was Katie Sherrod of the blog Desert's Child. When you visit her blog you will meet her and be able to read in her archive the pain and grief of being denied her baptismal rights as a woman in that former diocese. I am happy and proud to say that Katie was elected to Executive Council this Convention...how sweet it is!

The Bishop of Nevada shares his thoughts on Convention

The Right Reverend Dan Thomas Edwards, 10th Bishop of Nevada, was keeping a blog I didn't know about until today when he posted about it on Facebook. His message is directed toward those in his diocese of course, but really, it's to all of us in the Episcopal Church. He discusses and explains exactly what issues dominated Convention and what Do25 and Co56 really mean to all of us and to those whom it will most greatly effect.

I met +Dan when I was researching Celtic Eucharistic services for my priest--by email--and at the time he was the rector of a parish in THE South ;-). As it turns out he and his wife have on occasion come to Ashland on vacation to attend the Oregon Shakespearean Festival. He said he would try to come again. Of course he was still a parish rector at the time before, less than a month later, he was elected the then new bishop of Nevada, taking the place of ++Katharine who had been elected PB in 2006.

I give to you a preview with a link to the blog itself and his letter to his diocese. And if you continue reading beyond the letter, you will find blog diaries of Convention from said bishop:

"Brothers and sisters in Christ, the 76th Convention of the Episcopal Church is drawing to a close. It has been a benchmark in our common life, the beginning of an exciting new stage in our mission. So many things were accomplished.

Among the most important were: The adoption of the Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation. This charter gives structure and encouragement for our efforts in the Frensdorff School. It marks the Christian life as one of ongoing learning and commits the church to being a learning community.

We endorsed parish partnerships with local schools. Nevada’s developing partnership with Communities in Schools puts us on this track already. It is not acceptable that only 44% of our Nevada children graduate from high school. We can do better.

Several bold steps were taken to strengthen evangelism. The most important for Nevada is a process for training and licensing lay evangelists. I hope every Nevada congregation will have a licensed lay evangelist soon and that they will form a dynamic network for sharing the gospel of Jesus with our neighbors.

We formed a Provincial Partnership with the Church in Brazil, set up a plan for shared mission projects with Anglican churches in the Americas, and strengthened the program of companion diocese relationships. Nevada presently does not have such a relationship but we are negotiating a partnership with the Diocese of Santiago in the Philippines. This is a more important way of being a Communion than formal mechanisms and institutional structures that do not have the human ties of diocese to diocese and parish to parish bonds.

We provided pensions for lay employees, reduced our health insurance costs, reformed the disciplinary process, and passed a budget against all odds.

We had some opportunities to depart from the traditional faith of the church. There were resolutions deleting the word “virgin” from descriptions of Mary in our prayers and authorizing alternative forms of the Baptismal Covenant. We did not do these things. The bishops and deputies were emphatically orthodox..."

Please read the rest of his blog post at Bishop Dan's Blog.

Anaheim, Ca., July 17, 2009--The Chicago Consultation released this statement from its co-convener, Ruth Meyers, at the close of the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Anaheim, California. Meyers is a deputy from the Diocese of Chicago and is the Hodges Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific:

During the past ten days, the General Convention of the Episcopal Church has worshiped, prayed, and worked to discern God's will for our common life. Our time together has been filled with generosity, honesty, and the blessings of the Holy Spirit.

The Chicago Consultation is particularly grateful to the four Anglican primates who attended the meeting as our guests: The Most Rev. Philip Aspinall, Primate of Australia; the Most. Rev. Solomon Jongmo Yoon, Primate of Korea; the Most Rev. Idris Jones, Primus of Scotland (retired); and the Most Rev. Nathaniel Makoto Uematsu, Primate of Japan. We are also thankful
for the Convention's many international visitors, guests of House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson, who participated in Chicago Consultation events.

At this General Convention, we have both advanced mission relationships in the Anglican Communion and opened the way for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion to realize fully the promises of their baptism. We celebrate the progress we have made toward full inclusion of all baptized people in God's church and pray that the Spirit will continue to bless the Episcopal Church's mission and relationships across the Anglican Communion.

Now the work begins. Thanks to two key General Convention resolutions, D025 and C056, the Episcopal Church has a fresh opportunity to strengthen Anglican Communion relationships, deepen our understanding of the discernment process by which God calls us all to ministry, and explore together how we can enrich our common life by blessing same-gender unions.

We pray that all Episcopalians, no matter their opinions on specific legislation or issues, will go forward from Anaheim in the spirit of our time together and use the opportunities presented by this General Convention to unite our church in a renewed commitment to Gospel mission.

The Chicago Consultation, a group of Episcopal and Anglican bishops, clergy and lay people, supports the full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Christians in the Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican Communion. We believe that our baptismal covenant requires this.

The Chicago Consultation believes that, like the church's historic discrimination against people of color and women, excluding GLBT people from the sacramental life of the church is a sin. Through study, prayer and conversation, we seek to provide clergy and laypeople across The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion with biblical and theological perspectives that will rid the church of this sin.

Contact: Rebecca S. Wilson, 330-524-2067, rebeccaswilson@sbcglobal.net

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A New Episcopal Mystery is Afoot... [And it has nothing to do with Convention!]

There is a new Episcopal [that's right] mysteries series afoot. [low groan from readers]. The hat tip goes to those wonderful clergy women and their friends at The Reverend Gal Blog Pals webpage. This site can lead you to wonderful and beautiful places, excellent writing and godly inspiration, as well as laughter, joy and compassion.

Here is a series I had not heard of. Sure I had heard of and have read most of the crime mystery series involving women Episcopal priests by Michelle Blake and Julia Spencer-Fleming, but this new series will prove "hilarious" and a good read. Here is what the RGBP's had to say about the first book in the series "The Alto Wore Tweed".

And we all need a fun and engaging read during these Convention and Dog Days of summer!

On the last Monday of this month, the RGBP [Reverend Gal Blog Pals] Book Pals will be discussing The Alto Wore Tweed by Mark Schweizer. This is the first in his hilarious Liturgical Mysteries series which includes The Bass Wore Scales, The Soprano Wore Falsettos, The Tenor Wore Tapshoes, etc.

The Alto Wore Tweed introduces you to St. Germaine, North Carolina and Hayden Konig--chief of police and choirmaster extraordinare of St. Barnabus Episcopal Church. He is also a big fan of mystery writer Raymond Chandler, who he tries to imitate. The author is also a church musician and his send-ups of the follies of church life are spot-on. And funny!

How can you resist a book that features a Christmas pageant entitled 'The Penguin of Bethlehem" set amidst the town's Nativity Feud between the Kiwanians and the Rotarians. Or the author's setting of The Moldy Cheese Madrigal?

For extra credit, go to the publisher's website here and you can download the music to the Moldy Cheese Madrigal ("some milk and moldy cheeses we give to the Holy Jesus. Fa-la-la-la etc.") or listen to a performance of it.

Catherine

I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use. -- Galileo --

"Not Angels, but Anglicans" : Diana Butler Bass

Christian Episcopal author and speaker, Diana Butler Bass, has posted her thoughts and commentary on The Episcopal Church's General Convention 2009 on her blog Progressive Revival at beliefnet.com. It is a good read as well as a clear perspective on our Church and its' future.

Some readers have asked if I have blogged about DO25 and CO56 yet. Don't know what those are? I highly recommend you find out here what the excitement is about, if you don't already know. You may have to backtrack as developments are constantly happening ALL the time.

If you want a running live commentary and reaction from deputies and attendees at Convention, sign onto Twitter and join the "Twub" at #ecgc, to get second by second reporting from the floor of Convention along with pictures and video clips.

Catherine

General Convention News and Resources

The other night I had been working on a blog post that would have proven useful and informative but Blogger had other ideas...like obliterate the post Catherine has been working on for over an hour, creating hyperlinks and that sort of thing to help her local church family as well as bloggers and readers across the globe understand and experience what is taking place in Anaheim.

Well, Blogger did not save as its supposed to every so many minutes or seconds and the whole thing--yet unfinished--went poof and was no more. Imagine my chagrin and exasperation...well, that's ok if you can't but it was still there and though I grumped about it earlier today, I am ready to make another attempt using the auto post email address for my blog so that I can write the article as an email and then send it to Blogger for me edit and format for posting. Safer. Less crazy-making for me.

So we begin. Resources and news information sites that will aid and albeit the understanding and knowledge of the mystery of General Convention and what is going on there...

Official and semi-official Episcopal Church pages for news and updates:

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church Official homepage

Episcopal Life Online

Episcopal Cafe, starring The Lead

epiScope

TEC Media Hub//General Convention 2009

Oregon at General Convention 2009

Integrity's Resolution Home Portal: How it's all panning out page

The Daily, a daily Convention newspaper with in-depth stories on all kinds of issues, provided by the Diocese of California. PDF versions are available here.

Episcopal bloggers, both clergy and lay, who are reporting or commenting somewhat daily from GenCon, adding a unique perspective to developments there:

Canterbury Tales from the Fringe by Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire

What the Tide Brings In by The Rev. Ann Fontaine of Wyoming

Telling Secrets by The Rev Elizabeth Kaeton of New Jersey

An Inch at At Time by The Rev. Susan Russell, President of Integrity USA

My Manner of Life by Lisa Fox, writing from Jefferson City, Missouri

Preludium by The Rev Canon Mark Harris from the Diocese of Delaware

The Living Church site

IntegriTV, a video source by Integrity USA

The "New" Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth

The Episcopal Church on Facebook

Entangled States by The Rev. Nicholas Knisely and Friends

Walking With Integrity, homepage for Integrity USA with great coverage of votes

The Episcopal Diocese of California.

...and I am sure there are many more truly reliable blogs and sites to peruse. You can easily find more places to explore for information if you go to the blog's sidebar where the author has listed worthwhile blogs to read.

This is a tense yet exciting time for the Church. Remember to pray without ceasing as every deputy, bishop, all youth, all the baptized need our prayers for wisdom and that above all, God's will be done, in the holy and loving name of our Lord Jesus Christ...

Do I hear an AMEN?

"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use." -- Galileo--