The status of B-033 is clearly becoming one of the major issues on the horizon. Another will be the disposition of resolutions regarding the blessing of same sex unions. Nearly all of those resolutions have been referred to the Committee on World Mission, largely because of the communion-wide impact of those issues. It has also been speculated that the World Mission Committee was chosen because legislation emanating from it is sent to the House of Deputies first. It has been further speculated – and I think accurately so – that the House of Deputies is much more amenable to these resolutions than the House of Bishops.

It is clear to me that the dynamics of the House of Deputies have changed. There is an absence of the very conservative voices which once were present in the former leadership of dioceses such as Pittsburgh and Fort Worth. I think this will mean a less contentious house, but also a house which is less restrained by a very conservative wing. This places more pressure on the House of Bishops to maintain some sense of balance.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

Now the Witch said nothing at all, but moved gently across the room, always keeping her face and eyes very steadily towards the Prince. When she had come to a little ark set in the wall not far from the fireplace, she opened it, and took out first a handful of a green powder. This she threw on the fire. It did not blaze much, but a very sweet and drowsy smell came from it. And all through the conversation which followed, that smell grew stronger, and filled the room, and made it harder to think. Secondly, she took out a musical instrument rather like a mandolin. She began to play it with her fingers -- a steady, monotonous thrumming that you didn't notice after a few minutes. But the less you noticed it, the more it got into your brain and your blood. This also made it hard to think. After she had thrummed for a time (and the sweet smell was now strong) she began speaking in a sweet, quiet voice.

"Narnia?" she said. "Narnia? I have often heard your Lordship utter that name in your ravings. Dear Prince, you are very sick. There is no land called Narnia."

"Yes, there is, though, Ma'am," said Puddleglum. "You see, I happen to have lived there all my life."

"Indeed," said the Witch. "Tell me, I pray you, where that country is?"

"Up there," said Puddleglum, stoutly, pointing overhead. "I -- I don't know exactly where."

"How?" said the Queen, with a kind, soft, musical laugh. "Is there a country up among the stones and mortar of the roof?"

----C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: Macmillan, 1953), chapter XII

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books

...whatever the Lady had intended by telling them about Harfang, the actual effect on the children was a bad one. They could think about nothing but beds and baths and hot meals and how lovely it would be to get indoors. They never talked about Aslan, or even about the lost prince, now. And Jill gave up her habit of repeating the signs over to herself every night and morning. She said to herself, at first, that she was too tired, but she soon forgot all about it. And though you might have expected that the idea of having a good time at Harfang would have made them more cheerful, it really made them more sorry for themselves and more grumpy and snappy with each other and with Puddleglum.

--C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: Macmillan, 1953), pp. 77-78.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books

The Archbishop of Canterbury was kept to a tight schedule of private meetings, photo opportunities, and two public addresses --- a 20-minute lecture on the world economic crisis on July 8, and his sermon the following day. Dr Williams took no questions from the press, nor mixed with the deputies, cocooned throughout his American stay.

The controlled and distant environment in Anaheim was far different from his last visit to the Episcopal Church. At the 2007 meeting of the House of Bishops Dr Williams was upbraided for his pusillanimity by the Bishop of New Hampshire and other supporters of the progress wing of the church, for having banned Bishop V Gene Robinson from Lambeth 2008, and for not having the courage of his convictions to act upon his published beliefs on sexual ethics.

The Anaheim trip however provided no opportunity for public expressions of censure, with the agenda confined to private meetings with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, the President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson and her Council of Advice, a youth delegation, and eight “gay” deputies to General Convention.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

When asked whether there is concern about The Episcopal Church accepting the consequences of General Convention possibly endorsing same sex unions or the consecration of more partnered gay bishops, Bishop Sauls says that Episcopal Church is ready to accept the consequences.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Bishops

Hello Canon Harmon,

I wanted to take a minute to say thank you for closing the comments on... [a certain thread]. I very much enjoy coming to the site to visit and find much of what I read by you and others enlightening, but the current state of affairs is such that passions are inflamed. The vitriol at times is breathtaking and depressing. One of the gifts of being a conservative is a certain amount of reserve when dealing with trying circumstances. That has been lost both in political and now church dialogue.

I thank you for trying to keep things at a level that is respectful but allows for a range of ideas and opinions to be expressed.

Yours in Christ,

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet

Day 3, Thursday was much a replay of the day before, beginning with hearings which blessedly began an half hour later, so my day started at 7:30 a.m. The night did not end much earlier although some from the night before, so a bit of a shorter day, but still exhausting. We celebrated Eucharist with Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles presiding and the Archbishop preaching. Bishop Bruno, since being consecrated, has always asked a youth to stand beside him at the altar. He has never celebrated a Eucharist where a youth was in the house that one of them did not stand with him. This happened today too. The music is good, and Dent Davidson, who many of you know and love, is leading us. I am singing in the choir, as is Nedi, and a few others from around Olympia.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Bishops

Go here and click on the live link.

Update: Jim Naughton is liveblogging it here.

Update: BabyBlue is keeping a tally on the speakers in terms of who is speaking for what.

Update: Matt Kennedy is now liveblogging here.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

Check it out (link to MP3 file)

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Bishops

The first thing to say is thank you. Thank you for the invitation to join you on this occasion and to share something of my mind with you; and so thank you too for your continuing willingness to engage with the wider life of our Communion. I do realise that this engagement has been and still is costly for different people in different ways: some feel impatient, some feel compromised, some feel harassed or undervalued, or that their good faith has been ungraciously received. I'm sorry; this has been hard and will not get much easier, I suspect. But it is something for which many of us genuinely are grateful to you and to God.

And it's related to the second thing. Of course I am coming here with hopes and anxieties – you know that and I shan't deny it. Along with many in the Communion, I hope and pray that there won't be decisions in the coming days that will push us further apart. But if people elsewhere in the Communion are concerned about this, it's because of a profound sense of what the Episcopal Church has given and can give to our fellowship worldwide. If we - if I – had felt that we could do perfectly well with out you, there wouldn't be a problem. But the bonds of relationship are deep, for me personally as for many others. And I'm tempted to adapt what St Paul says to the Corinthians in the middle of a set of tensions no less bitter than what we have been living through and in the wake of challenges from St Paul a good deal more savage than even the sharpest words from Primates or Councils: 'Why? Because we do not love you? God knows we do.'

Well: to business. Our readings put before us a vision of Christ's Church that is both simple and alarming.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

I attended, at Committee request, the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music public hearing from 2pm to 4pm. The hearing, held in a large hotel ball room, was on resolutions proposing same sex liturgies for holy matrimony, holy unions and blessings—eleven resolutions in all. I estimate attendance at somewhere between 150 and 200. Estimating numbers in crowds is not my strong suit so don’t bet any money on this. A total of thirty-six people testified in favor of the various resolutions ten testified against them. Testimony was straightforward and respectful. There was not the anger and acrimony on either side that was present in GC 2006.

The thrust of the proponents was that taking action will liberate the church to move on with mission, the Spirit is once again calling the Church through society as it did with the issues of women and Blacks to full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, the dreadful harm that has been inflicted through exclusion must stop and we need to move beyond the hypocrisy we have engaged in for such a long time.

The opponents had biblical objections, said the theological issues have not yet been worked through, said that same sex is not accepted by the majority in the greater Anglican Community nor with the majority in the U.S., and that we need to listen to the voices of the past and tradition.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

IN PRACTICE, how important is it to study and think about the Bible? In the Church of England, the standing committee of the House of Bishops recently seemed to indicate that it gives scripture a lower priority than is to be expected from bishops.

Last year, I suggested that on four Sundays in a year, the congregations in a deanery should be urged to come together, whatever their church tradition (Comment, 28 No­vem­ber). They should share a eu­charist, and listen to 20 minutes about the Bible, followed by an hour’s discussion of what it means now.

I argued that a brief homily during the parish communion is not enough. Nor is the extensive use of the scriptures offered in Common Worship to those uncommonly de­vout. Nor is a more substantial sermon if it is accompanied by strong music, but not by a free dis­cussion. In adult education outside TV, it is now taken for granted that people must digest the material by asking questions and hearing other people’s reactions.

Read it all--and I love the illustration!.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

I’m writing this as the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church gets ready to begin. We meet this year in Anaheim, California (next door to Disneyland, in fact), from July 7 through 17. One wag has already designed a General Convention logo that shows the Episcopal shield capped with Mickey Mouse ears!

General Convention is (so conventional wisdom says) the third largest convention in the nation, surpassed only by the quadrennial gatherings of the national political parties. Certainly the size is daunting. Some 10,000 Episcopalians will converge on Anaheim over the next eleven days. They will include not only those officially involved in legislation (about 840 deputies and 150 bishops), but also media personnel, volunteers, exhibitors, lobbyists in their thousands, and countless visitors. Our former canon to the ordinary, David Seger, is fond of calling it the Greatest Show on Earth, and not inappropriately. It is certainly an enormous family gathering, and that for me is one of General Convention’s great gifts. Every three years, General Convention provides me the opportunity to connect with brothers and sisters from all around the church. At General Convention it is impossible to walk a straight line: wherever you go, friends call out your name and draw you into conversation. The modern word is “networking,” but the experience is considerably more profound. It’s a reminder that “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthains 12:13), an indissoluble bond.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Bishops

[KIM] LAWTON: For decades, mainline denominations have been wrestling over issues surrounding homosexuality: whether to ordain gay clergy and whether to recognize–and bless same-sex unions. Now that six states have legalized gay marriage, those battles are taking on a new urgency. Some church members are pushing the denominations to re-assess their policies, while others are fighting to hold the line.

Mark Tooley is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an advocacy group that supports conservative positions within mainline denominations.

MARK TOOLEY: The church shouldn’t just go along with what the wider society demands of it. But the church is ideally supposed to be faithful to timeless teachings that have been presented to the church through its Scripture and through its traditions.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

There was much anticipation Thursday morning as the time approached for the daily Eucharist; the Archbishop was scheduled to preach. Would there be any new word about how he felt and what he thought, personally, about the Episcopal Church and the actions we have taken in past Conventions? He was much more personal, expressing gratitude for the role the American Church has taken, even apologizing for actions taken by Churches outside the United States. His sentiments were heartfelt and, at least by me, welcome. Then, as has happened so often in the past, the Archbishop said, “I hope you take no actions that will push us further apart.”

Push us further apart? It is not universally accepted that anything the Episcopal Church did is what broke us apart. Some of us chose to move away from the rest of us. This is a very old and tired argument. It’s time for us, while we have the opportunity at this Convention, to move forward, beyond the arguments and justifications. It is the time for bold and powerful leadership; may God send it now.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

Our meditation was by The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop began with a preamble. He first said "thank you" for our invitation to him and for our willingness to engage in conversation within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It is hard conversation, and many feel impatient, compromised, harassed, etc. It won't get easier. Secondly, he wanted to be open and self-defining about his own hopes and anxieties. He said that he hoped the Convention would not make decisions which would push the communion further apart. He said that the Communion is deeply concerned because the Anglican Communion values what the Episcopal Church can give to the rest of the Church and he hopes the bonds of relationship will be deepened. Quoting St. Paul to the Corinthians, "God knows we love you."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

Today has been a mixture of highs and lows for me at General Convention. An upside was our Public Narrative for Mission session. Those of you who know me well, know that I do not enjoy the 'sharing our story' exercises that we often use in the Church for 'getting to know' one another. That being said, I was highly suspicious of the Public Narrative format. And yet I was surprised how well it worked.

We met in our own deputations and each of us simply related a story - story of self -that helped define our understanding of leadership in the Church. Most of the stories had common themes, especially the importance of mentors who noticed a particular talent or gift and encouraged the development of that talent or gift.

We are still learning the Leadership Art of Public Narrative and I can see its potential value for leadership development in a Church or secular setting. Look for more as a we learn more during General Convention.

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

The political deadlock in New York's legislature has been resolved. For the last month, the state Senate in Albany has been unable to pass bills or even meet. Republicans and Democrats were bickering over who was in charge. On Thursday, a renegade Democrat rejoined his party and returned control of the Senate to Democrats.

I caught this this morning on the way to an appointment. The summary of what has occurred is mind boggling. Locked doors. Sneaking keys. Bringing more than one gavel. Screaming matches. My goodness

Listen to it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • State Government

What is a mancession, you ask? It's not this. It's a recession that hurts men much more than women, and we are allegedly in the worst mancession in recent history. Eighty percent of job losses in the last two years were among men, said AEI scholar Christina Hoff Summers, and it could get worse.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Men • Women • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

Connecticut Bishop Andrew Smith, the vice chair of PBF, predicted the constrained budget and asked witnesses to tell the members why their program should be included in the church-wide budget rather than being funded at another level of the church and how it fits into the proposed ministry priorities for the 2010-2012 period.

Those priorities are: networking the members of the body of Christ; alleviating poverty and injustice; claiming our identity; growing congregations and the next generations of faith; and strengthening governance and foundations for ministry. The House of Deputies has approved the list and the bishops are considering the resolution.

The committee, along with close to 275 observers, joined in listening to nearly 50 people spend two minutes each trying to answer the committee's questions and convince them of the importance of their programs. The first two witnesses, David Early and Steve Holst, used sign language to ask the committee to continue the church's support of the Episcopal Conference of the Deaf. Other Spanish-speaking witnesses addressed the committee through interpreters.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

Check it out.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • Windsor Report / Process

The House of Bishops voted to reconsider its endorsement of Resolution A069: Funding the Mission Funding Office. At the close of the business session today during General Convention in Anaheim, the Rt. Rev. Robert C. Johnson, retired Bishop of Western North Carolina, asked the house to reconsider its July 9 vote endorsing the multi-year $5 million program to create a major fund development program for The Episcopal Church.

The Rt. Rev. John W. Howe, Bishop of Central Florida, added that there had been no debate when the resolution was adopted the previous day. Prudence required that a “massive fundraising project needed some discussion.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • TEC Bishops • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship

Archbishop Williams said two clear things to The Episcopal Church on Thursday morning: Thank you for your engagement with the Anglican Communion, and the Anglican Communion loves you. The warm words included some implicit exhortation, however.

“Of course I am coming here with hopes and anxieties. You know that and I shan’t deny it. Along with many in the communion, I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that could push us further apart,” he said. “But if people elsewhere in the Communion are concerned about this, it’s because of a profound sense of what The Episcopal Church has given and can give to our fellowship worldwide. If we, if I, had felt that we could do perfectly well without you, there wouldn’t be a problem.”

The bulk of the archbishop’s meditation focused on Christians being called forth from nothingness.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009

The primary reason for the impatience, though, was the conversation that was set to ensue, the topic of B033. B033 was a resolution passed at the last minute at the 2006 General Convention implementing a moratorium on the election of non-celibate homosexual persons to the Episcopacy. Two sessions have been set aside for discussion on this matter to determine the “mind of the house”. A vote of some sort in which one of several actions may be taken is likely, at least in the House of Deputies. The Bishops, not known for their bravery, will probably duck the issue (a number of them are worried that if they vote their conscience it will cost them in the offering plate, sad, but true) thereby consigning the church to three more years of hand-wringing and disingenuous behavior.

To begin our conversation we were instructed to find someone we don’t know (bad) and have a 30 minute conversation with them (worse) about these three questions:

1. What is your story with respect to B033?
2. What is our story as a church with respect to B033?
3. What is God calling us to do now?

What’s missing from the framework? How about God’s story? How about God’s self-revelation through Scripture? How about God’s revelation through history to His church?

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • * South Carolina

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • * South Carolina

A majority of bishops, deputies, visitors and others who testified before a World Mission Committee public hearing July 9 indicated they hope the Episcopal Church will move beyond resolution B033.

As many as a thousand people attended the two-hour hearing which began at 8 p.m. in the Pacific Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel. A total of 51 people testified; 41 said they hoped the church could move beyond B033, a moratorium on the consecration of bishops whose manner of life presented a challenge to the wider church. Ten others indicated they wanted to retain B033.

Following the hearing, Bishop Gene Robinson -— who was among those testifying -— said his "spirit is buoyed" despite stories of pain. "I was overjoyed at the hope and reconciliation people have found in our church. Someone mentioned being a beacon of light. That is a ministry we can reclaim."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • Instruments of Unity • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • Windsor Report / Process

It's grown men in brightly colored underwear on bikes.

--Neil Everett of ESPN's SportsCenter describing the Tour De France

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Sports

More than 50 people testified on a collection of resolutions requesting marriage equality or rites for same-gender blessings, with a vast majority speaking in favor of the resolutions, in hearings before the joint Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee on July 9.

Four resolutions proposed canonical changes, while seven recommended developing rites for same-gender blessings or marriage. Witnesses supporting the resolutions varied in age, gender, sexual orientation and marital status, including one newly engaged visitor planning a same-gender wedding for 2011 who told the committee, "I am counting on you." Retired Utah Bishop Otis Charles and his partner Felipe Sanchez Paris each testified, while the Rev. Reid Farrell, Vermont alternate deputy, testified with Dale Willard, his partner of 20 years, at his side.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention 2009 • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings