 At the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church meeting in Columbus, Ohio, June 13-21, 2006 |
East Tennessee
perspectives: Bishop vonRosenberg, members of the East Tennessee deputation and East Tennessee visitors to the General Convention used these pages throughout the convention to share with the "folks back home" their impressions, activities and insights: Settling in •
Day One • Day Two • Day
Three • Day Four
• East Tennessee photo gallery at the convention |
 Other pages related to the convention:
• Episcopal News Service convention coverage |
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The Rev. Maggie Zeller, alternate Received Tue 10:32 p.m. One and all, In order to talk about today, I need to return to yesterday evening. I wrote you that we left A161 hanging. This is the resolution that, without using this specific language, calls for a moratorium on electing bishops in same-sex relationships (our wording was "refrain from" and "bishops whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church"), agrees not to develop or authorize rites for same-sex blessings, affirms the need to be pastoral to gay and lesbian Christians and apologizes to them and their supporters who are hurt by these decisions. One of the most respected deputies - a senior deputy, having attended well more than five conventions - spoke in favor of the resolution even though it meant causing pain to her partner and herself. Lots more debate, and then we went home. At this morning's Eucharist, planned months ago, the psalm (86:7-13) said, "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other." The gospel was MT 5:43-48, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. ..." President Werner was the preacher, and he told us he threw out his prepared text last night and started over. I have notes all over my bulletin but here are two for you to chew on. I did not write down who originally said these, alas. "God takes truth and throws it to the ground." "Moses brought all the people to the promised land, not just the commandos." Werner's sermon is bound to show up on ENS or a General Convention site. It was deeply moving for those of us here in the midst of the "battle" for righteousness and peace. Bishop Godfrey from Tanzania, who sits at my worship table, urged us to be humble rather than proud and to come down the ladder to where our brothers are. We voted down A161. It was brought up for reconsideration and we voted that down, too. This evening, we concurred with the House of Bishops on two resolutions responding to Windsor. The first supports the process of the development of an Anglican Covenant that underscores our unity inter-Anglican consultation. The second reaffirms our commitment to the Anglican Communion and further talks. Prior to the vote on A161, we met as a deputation at lunch and discussed our own thoughts about it. Most of us are in conflict, as I'm sure some of you are. There is the desire to remain in communion but we do not want to cause more harm to our gay and lesbian friends. There is, for some of us, a sense that 2003's GC did the right thing. We began discussing Ft. Worth's response to the election of Jefferts Schori and the fact that they aren't really talking to anyone. Well, we had to admit we aren't exactly chomping at the bit to talk to them. In keeping with this morning's discussions on humility, peace and mercy, we decided to change that. The deputation, bearing cookies, went onto the floor and had a good conversation with three of the Ft. Worth deputies. We have agreed to talk more by e-mail. Essentially, their major problem with the Episcopal Church remains the ordination of women. I don't know where talks will lead but I am so glad our deputies took the first step to having conversation. It has been a long day but we did get some major work done. We concurred with the House of Bishops tonight on the revisions to Title III, the canon on ministry. As I think I said earlier, I won't bore you all with the details. COM members who might be reading this, you will definitely be getting all those details in the near future, I'm sure, as will the Standing Committee. Peace, love and mercy to all of you!
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The Rev. Matthew Dutton-Gillett, alternate Received Tue 11:04 p.m. I can't tell you how exciting it was to be present in the convention hall when the election of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the first female presiding bishop was announced. I was sitting in the alternates section a few minutes later when she and Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold entered from the back of our section to make their way to the podium to receive the greeting of the House of Deputies. I know that there will be people in our own Episcopal Church who will be concerned about the election of Bishop Jefferts Schori and the impact that might have on our relationships with our sister churches where the ordination of women has not yet become a reality. However, being present at General Convention for this historic moment, I must say that it certainly felt to me like the Holy Spirit was at work. At my worship table this morning, one of my colleagues remarked that it is unfortunate that General Convention gets so caught up in legislation and debate, rather than conversation. Perhaps some of the more difficult issues before us would be more easily handled if we did spend more time talking to each other, rather than debating at each other. But, General Convention is what it is, and debate was certainly the order of the day in the House of Deputies. A good part of yesterday afternoon and this morning was spent debating resolution A161, the resolution which urges those involved in electing bishops not to elect and consecrate as a bishop anyone whose "manner of life" would present difficulties to the larger church. This resolution was combined with another, which asked that rites for the blessing of same-sex unions not be developed by The Episcopal Church at this time. After much debate back and forth and failed attempts to amend the resolution, a vote by orders was taken (meaning the the clergy deputation and the lay deputation for each diocese votes separately). The resolution failed, meaning that this convention will likely adjourn with no response to the call of the Windsor Report for a moratorium on consecrating gay bishops who are in relationships and on blessing same-sex unions. I am sure that there will be those who view this as a serious failure on the part of the convention, but from my perspective, it is an authentic reflection of where our church is right now. Many of the dioceses cast divided votes, meaning that the deputations split their votes equally between Yes and No. In the House of Deputies, a divided vote is considered a No vote. Those divided votes speak to where we are right now: deeply divided as a church over what to say or do about these particular issues. Given this division, perhaps to say nothing in response to these aspects of the Windsor Report is the most honest thing to do. My hope is that the vote on this particular resolution will not overshadow what was done here in response to Windsor. Two resolutions have been passed thus far: A159 (amended), which reaffirms the value we attach to being a part of the Anglican Communion and A166 (amended), which supports a process to develop an Anglican covenant called for by Windsor and pledges The Episcopal Church to monitor and be involved in that process of development. Windsor has not been ignored here, and I believe that the General Convention has done as much as can be done at this moment to respond faithfully to it. As this convention draws to a close, I feel good about our church. We have taken the concerns raised within our own church and within the larger Anglican Communion seriously, but as the election of Bishop Jefferts Schori signifies, we have also been true to ourselves and to our unique identity as Episcopalians. And I believe that in the process, we have been faithful to the Holy Spirit. |
