 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. Matthew Dutton-Gillett, alternate Received Fri 10:50 p.m. I haven't written in a couple of days, mainly because by the time I had time to write, I didn't have the energy! General Convention is a marathon, and you have to pace yourself. Today was my first day to be an "official deputy," sitting with our deputation and voting. As an alternate deputy, I sit in with the deputation when one of the clergy deputies needs a day off. I suppose the most significant vote I participated in today was on a resolution from the Standing Commission on the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music asking that the Episcopal Church adopt the Revised Common Lectionary as our official lectionary. The main difference between the two seems to be in terms of the Old Testament readings that are used. Our current lectionary is rather heavily focused in the prophets, while the Revised lectionary brings in more of the classic Old Testament stories as well as material from lesser known books. The House of Bishops had already passed the resolution, and after much debate, the House of Deputies passed it as well. This means that no later than the First Sunday of Advent in 2010, congregations throughout the Episcopal Church will have to be using the Revised Common Lectionary (which has been in trial use in many congregations for several years now, and is also used by many other mainline churches). It will be interesting to see if congregations notice any difference! The other night, we attended a very large hearing - molre than 1,000 people - on the most controversial resolutions that are being offered in response to the Windsor Report. As I walked back to the hotel afterward, having listened to a long procession of speakers express their opinions and tell their stories, the impression that I was left with was the genuine humanity of everyone who spoke. Regardless of what opinion they expressed, each speaker's humanity and faith shone through. One of the themes that has come up at our morning worship table conversations has been the theme of friendship with God. And I don't think that we can truly be friends with God unless we can be friends in some sense with God's people - all of them, even the ones we don't agree with. After all, Jesus asks us to love our neighbors as ourselves. And he made it pretty clear that our neighbor is whoever is there, whoever needs us. And perhaps the secret is this: We all need each other. When you realize this, I think it becomes harder to look at those you disagree with as your enemy. And that makes it hard to be angry with or dismissive of them. That point was made very eloquently tonight by the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, the one who is, of course, in a sense, the eye of the storm in the Anglican Communion (perhaps you saw him on Larry King Live last night!). He preached at a eucharist I attended this evening, and his central message was the call that we all have to love our enemies. "Just love them," he said. His sermon was delivered with great emotion in places, and as I returned to the hotel, I was also struck by his genuine humanity. I can't imagine what it must have been like to be him over these past three years. No matter what our opinions on the issues of the day, we can't lose sight of each other's humanity. One of the great messages that General Convention has hit home for me is the fact that each of us is trying very hard to be faithful. We don't agree on what being faithful means. But we are each trying very hard to be faithful according to our own understanding. And maybe, in the end, that's the most important thing of all.
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The Rev. Maggie Zeller, alternate Received Fri 11:27 p.m. Today was another busy one. I went to hearings in the Social and Urban Affairs Committee and also Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music. The last one was the most interesting. The resolution being presented seems sensible - that the Bible is the Supreme Authority in Anglicanism and the Episcopal Church. This language is from the Windsor Report. The committee members, though, felt that it is more appropriate to say that God is the Supreme Authority and the Bible is the Word of God, containing all things necessary for salvation (this last is from ordination services). So, while it doesn't sound like a good idea to vote against a resolution promoting the importance of the Bible, we just might end up seeing that happen. The E3 youth from St. John's arrived at the Convention Center this morning. All of them attended hearings for a few hours, went to the morning Eucharist - today was really interesting contemporary music (you can't really call it rock since we sang two ancient hymns to very cool beats and weird nature-like percussion instruments) - and then I lost track of them as they went their way and I headed for the floor as a deputy. We have entered several new people into Lesser Feasts and Fasts for trial use, we decided that the Revised Common Lectionary should become *the* lectionary by 2010 and we made some changes to the canons and withdrew one we already passed because it doesn't currently say how we will handle the trial court for bishops for the next three years. We heard from Archdeacon Tae, who is retiring as the Anglican Observer to the UN. More and more, I am aware that we are a multi-lingual Church. Deputies from Puerto Rico and other places go to the microphones and most of us have no idea what they are saying. All around me at Eucharist, I hear people using the Spanish service printed on the right side of the page. In front of my table are the hearing impaired and their interpreters sit on the stage where many of us can watch them sign the service. One or two of them put heart and soul, body as well as hands into their work, and it is a beautiful thing to watch. We have French speakers, Japanese and many different Native American dialects present. I have two Bibles in my bookcase that contain four different translations across the page. The day is not too far into the future - in fact, it is probably here - when our Blue Books and pages of resolutions will have to look like that, too. Most of the legislation from the Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion is still to come. I went to their meeting this evening and know they are working very hard to do an extremely difficult job. At the same time, I think it is a job that will take all the time given to complete. Keep this dedicated group of people in your prayers. And the rest of us, too! Peace to all. |
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Mr. Jim Shearouse, deputy Received Sat 12:11 a.m. My committee assignment for this 75th General Convention once again places me on the House of Deputies Committee for the Dispatch of Business where I serve as the Legislative Secretary for the House of Deputies. The glory of this assignment lies in the title. My job gives me (and two assistants) the responsibility for seeing that every resolution presented to the convention is kept on track to be considered by the House of Deputies before the convention closes. You see, the job which I have been assigned is down here in the engine room. The ship will not go without it, and someone has to make the engine work. According to the House Rules, the chair and vice chair of Dispatch, and the two Secretaries - one for legislation and one for messages - must be elected deputies of the House. The other minions of the Secretariat are volunteers from all over the Episcopal Church, whose transportation, room and board are paid by the Episcopal Church. My job is a responsible job which must be filled, but it sometimes lacks the excitement of serving on a committee which deals with "hot button issues." I haven't missed any floor time this week when the legislative session was going on, but I've not made it to two of the four morning Eucharists because duty called. It's the kind of work which must be done if we are to function, so I guess it's merely a matter of doing a job when duty calls. I promise it's not boring.
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