And it was evening...

Hello again:

 

The delegation is meeting now, discussing what committee meetings we might all want to attend this evening. Bishop Irish and Karen Cramer are on the Education committee, Adam Linton is on Ministry, and Lee Shaw is on Evangelism. Steve Hutchinson is, of course on, Canons. They promise me that they will provide some information about how the committee work is going.

 

This afternoon's program was very interesting to me, in my first time at Convention. The Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies addressed us first. I will post a separate entry about that later. The deputy orientation was funny and informative at the same time. If only our national Senate and House would do legislative deliberations like this! I'll have more detail as the legislative sessions get underway.

 

After orientation, Rev Rob Voyle (who was recently in the Diocese leading a workshop on Appreciative Inquiry) led the entire House of Deputies in an appreciative inquiry conversation as an exercise in building community. We are all assigned to tables for Eucharist, bible study, and group discussions like this. I enjoyed meeting folks from so many different dioceses, and I found it interesting that we were all either former Roman Catholics, Southern Baptists, or lifelong Episcopalians. We all have a similar hope for this Convention - that we are able to discuss important issues and stay in community, and that we are able to stand up and be the Church God is calling us to be. I also got a sense from those at my table that the issues getting the most press (ordination of lesbian and gay priests and bishops, for example) are just getting in the way of us doing mission. As one woman at my table put it - There are so many really important issues and concerns to address; let's just get on with it!

 

I am headed to the hearing on National and International Concerns. We'll be talking about torture and other fun things.

 

More later...