 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 Mon 10:52 p.m. I think the overall sense for the day was frustration. We were late getting started this morning because the worship ran over for musical reasons. Then there was more prayer at the beginning of the session, followed by a faith story (also known as a sermon) and then endless debate about how we are going to conduct debate from now on given that we have tons of things to do and very little time. Then it was time for noonday prayers which reallly did include another sermon - we had three today! - and finally we got down to business half an hour before lunch. This afternoon we did some elections and the presentation of the budget. The Program, Budget and Finance committee accomplished amazing feats of magic, fitting back into the budget monies for historical black colleges and universities, Appalachian ministries and several other items that had been left out. All this without affecting the funding for the Anglican Consultative Council! Then we began debating Windsor legislation. Now I have to tell you that this is the kind of stuff that really doesn't work well as legislation. Imagine gathering your family together to vote on whether Aunt Maude is due an apology - I'll leave you to decide what you've done to offend her - and just how that apology should be worded. Should you simply say you are sorry, or do you need to express regret or repentance and then ask for forgiveness? What will it take to make all familly members, especially those who don't think they should apologize to Auntie anyway, happy? You see the problem, I trust. Now imagine having to pass your carefully worded apology/expression of regret through a second layer of family before Aunt Maude is actually apologized to. I know the House of Bishops is eagerly awaiting our resolution but, because this is so late in the convention, there is really no way they can make changes and expect us to get it back onto the floor before Wednesday evening at 6. Do pray even harder for your deputies and bishops in these next 48 hours. We did adopt an expression of regret but have not managed to get the second resolution through the debate stage. We didn't finish until 7:30 tonight, an hour and a half past our usual end of day. East Tennessee went to lunch and dinner together today and those meals - due to the company - were the highlight of the day. We have a good family of deputies, bishop, ECW delegates and supporting visitors and spouses. We laugh together, eat together and pray for one another. I think Aunt Maude would be pleased to call us family.
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Mr. Henry Lodge, deputy Received Mon 11:10 p.m. I just realized how many days it has been since I made a record of my thoughts about this General Convention. The time on the floor of the convention has been going by very slowly, and at the same time, the days have been going by very quickly. Starting each morning no later than 9:30 for the Eucharist and going until at least 6 pm on the legislative floor has my body rhythm out of whack. By the time we have dinner and a bit of time to unwind and relax, it is usually 10 p.m. or later. I am used to being up at 6 a.m., at work at 7 and back home between 6 and 7 p.m. and in bed by 9-10 p.m. The convention schedule by comparison seems like it should be a leisurely pace. The big difference is that, until today, sitting on the floor of the convention was like time moved in slow motion. The pace seems to be somewhat slower that a snail race. That alone becomes mentally tiring. We have done almost nothing other than welcome visitors, pass mostly perfunctory legislation and have a few elections for things like the Pension Fund Group and General Seminary Board. Yesterday, as I am sure you know by now, we did have an opportunity to approve the House of Bishops election of the first woman primate in the Anglican Communion. As you can imagine, that event precipitated much celebration in many quarters and some increased consternation in others. So for most of the day, we did little else. The budget for the next three years was presented today. The good news for many of us in East Tennessee is that the proposed budget not only reinstated the money for Appalachian Ministries but also included what I think is new funding for Appalachian Initiatives. For the moment, I am not sure what the second part is about. We have begun today to work on the second and third resolutions coming from the Special Committee working on our response to the Windsor Report. The convention, by a roughly 2-1 margin, approved a resolution expressing regret for the effect that the actions taken in 2003 had on other parts of the Anglican Communion. We recessed tonight in the middle of the discussion on another resolution, which as currently worded, will in effect place a moratorium on the election of an openly gay bishop and on the blessing of same-gender unions. I am impressed by the depth of feeling on both sides of these issues and the respect with which opposing views have been expressed. These are not easy issues with which to deal. Time is running out to do the remaining business that we need to do. I suspect that we may be in session until late in the evening tomorrow. The great news is that there are hundreds of committed Christians here, whose witness to each other and commitment to mission should be a source of hope for the future of The Episcopal Church. Please continue to keep us all in your prayers. |
