General Convention - 4

Thursday is the Big Eucharist -- the Archbishop of Canterbury is preaching. We get to the Conv. Center about 10, and it is to start at 11:30. I hitch up with Jamie Callaway from Trinity Church, New York, and we try to make our way in early for a decent seat. Either he or I are accosted at every point by friends. I must really work on patience and disengagement, because I find my usual anxieties about fulfilling my prior agenda rather than responding to the moment coming to the fore. We find a table with some folks from Minnesota and North Dakota. But then Jamie goes off to find someone else he has hoped to sit with.

Jon Bruno, the Bishop of Los Angeles, is presiding. I had forgotten how big a presence he is -- large physically (even with his foot problems, which make him hobble), his booming voice, his habit of injecting comments into the liturgy. He always has a young person beside him at the altar. It is very clear that although he wants the eucharist to be inclusive, he remains the center of it.

Rowan Williams' meditation is magnificent. He begins by saying he wants to speak frankly, and he does. He thanks the Episcopal Church for hanging in there with the Anglican Communion, in a way that makes it clear that he is responsible for the whole Communion and not just our corner of it. And he says clearly that he hopes the EC does not decide to do certain things, which he does not specify, but which I suppose means repealing B033, same sex unions, the Windsor report response, and the rest of that raft of agendas. Then he gives a most wonderful meditation on facing up to what is not real, to nothingness and death. Here's the link to the text on his site.

After his words and during some of the music and prayers, before the eucharistic action, I find myself tearing up. I don't know exactly why. Perhaps anxiety mixed with joy. I have not spent much energy here so far thinking about the issues, because, frankly, I am tired of them and think that the church's over-energetic preoccupation with sex and who's more orthodox or in the progressive spirit or whatever is a devil's trick to destroy this part of the Body. The major issues are all important, and I have my opinions on all of them, of course. I am generally on board with the mainstream agenda of the Episcopal Church. What bothers me is a passion for being right and don't count the cost, on every side of every issue. My anxiety is there, because these 990-plus people can actually move this boat in the water, and it isn't clear yet what they will do. And since it is They who have the power, and the Rest Of Us really don't, there is a sense of detachment for me, just watching as Whatever slouches into view. Joy because of the magnificent voicing of the truth of the Christian faith at a fundamental level this morning by the leader of the Communion, who has taken time to be here and tell us his concerns and lead us, for a moment at least, out of the legislative lowlands into something very profound.

There are more people today in the exhibit hall, and more good conversations. I sit down at a lunch table with Carmen Guerrero, who was the multi-cultural staff person in LA when I was there and then went to 815 to run Jubilee Ministries, and is now in Arizona working on those issues. She tells me of a large Sudanese congregation in Phoenix that has organized itself. At our table is the Rector of Sitka, Alaska, who tells of the ministry of his church to the marginalized there, where addiction issues are huge, and the expense and difficulty of their Standing Committee, which can't afford to gather very often. There is an older woman from New Hampshire who tells of doing Vacation Bible School in Alaskan villages in the 50's, and is very moving.

David Bryan Hoopes and Tom Schultz arrive in the afternoon. Clark Trafton and Lew Kerman have brought David from Palm Springs, where he had a little R&R with them. See the picture of them with Don Anderson above.

Tom brings news of injuries to Jeff Bullock, the Rector of All Saints, Montecito, the husband of Nancy, who is the administrator for our ministry in Santa Barbara, and a dear friend of mine from seminary. He had a bad fall from his mountain bike. A little later I see Jim Burns, Rector of Heavenly Rest in NYC, who is returning this evening to be with his wife Nancy for major surgery. Please pray for them all.

Good chats with Fred and Barbara Borsch (formerly Los Angeles and CDSP), Ward and Jennie Ewing (General Seminary), Steve Huber (National Cathedral), and many others. If you read this and I have not mentioned your name, mea culpa. Everyone is a joy, every conversation a treasure. Really.

The day wears on. 5pm comes. Evening prayer, then taking DB, Tom and Lister Tonge back to the motel to get ready for dinner. Clark and Lew take us to the Anaheim White House, which maintains its high culinary standards (as I remember them from my days here) in an over-the-top decorating mode (it represents the School of Creative Fabric Use: covered chairs, ceilings, etc.). In the next room is a little party for Ed Browning attended by Frank Griswold and Carl Gerdau, among others. Frank and Carl say hello on the way in.

And so to bed.