California Dreamin'

The General Convention of the Episcopal Church affects me in a similar way that our liturgy does. Both are at once a celebration of who we are, of our life and labor together, of shared ministry and mission; but they are also imaginative speculations as to what we might become, or perhaps more rightly said, what we are in truth becoming.

Our liturgy is an enacted dream, an intentional speculation of what our world is intended to be, prophetic utterance speaking the future into being. At General Convention we imagined how the world would be healed via the millennium development goals, by tearing down the wall between Israel and the West Bank, by advocating steps to environmental sustainability, by addressing global warming, demanding just wages and worker justice, by decrying racism. We left California dreaming of a world intended by our God as best we could discern it: a just world of mutuality and compassionate interdependence.

Our liturgy is the way from week to week we Episcopal Christians imagine, dream of God's promised future. We recount who we are in the word of God. We remember that God acts among us, calling us forever into relationship. We remind ourselves that it is God's intention to heal and clothe and feed and dignify. We gather at God's table as equals who are all made in God's image, reminding ourselves that life begins at table together. We are reminded that it is our common life that feeds us and empowers us for this future dream that trembles into being as we speak; and then we are sent into the world as waking dream acting as if it were true. Dreams are not fantasy, but artifacts from the future, grounded in profound reality. If we but look we will see evidence of their already becoming, taking root in our world and in our lives. The dawn is coming, perhaps sooner than we know, when we will awake and find our dream, which is God's dream, to be true.

Of What's Going to Happen

It is clear that once again the issue around which the General Convention's energy is centered is the issue of human sexuality. Some would say, "why don't we get about the mission of the church, and get past matters pertaining to sex. There is a part of me that agrees, but we will not as a church ever get about robust ministry of bearing kindness and justice to our world until we deal with matters of kindness and justice in our own house.

In this convention we have a golden opportunity to move past the so-called Anglican Communion imposed moratorium on Episcopal elections of persons "whose manner of life" causes grief among some in the communion. There is an overwhelming mood in the House of Deputies, and among visitors who have testified in hearings, that favor full inclusion of all the baptized in the full sacramental life of the church, including the eligibility of our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers to be elected to the Episcopate. The resolution calling for the full inclusion of all the Baptized relative to ordinations, including gay and lesbian persons, (D025) passed overwhelmingly, 68%, in the House of Deputies. I proudly cast my vote for this resolution. We are not a church of moratorium; we are a church of inclusion, hospitality and blessing.

In spite of such inclusive sentiment, the bishops as a whole seem to be balking. They fear moving too fast, the acute matters of justice in our midst notwithstanding. They, many of them but certainly not all, say that we need more time for the Anglican Communion to catch up with the reality that homosexual persons are not perverse, but human beings like you and me, who have great gifts to offer the church. The reality in truth is that we already have moved on in the church. Homosexual persons are already serving with distinction as deacons, priests and bishops, and that will continue. Part of the overwhelming support stems from the wish that we name what already is the truth. The support was diverse: men and women, youth and older adults, people of color, from dioceses north and south. It is high time. The bishops will most likely take up this matter on Tuesday.

What will happen? The resolution could be rejected approved or amended, but no matter, the church will continue on its road to justice and welcome and inclusion, and we will continue to get healthier because of it, and we will become more relevant and empowered to speak the truth of the Gospel, because we will be practicing what we have been preaching. All people, all people are made in God's image, and we now have a golden moment in time to hold up this truth outwardly and visibly. That is what will happen, now or later.

Of Polity and Poetry

I feel like I've been in Anaheim a week, but I've only been here just three days. It's been that busy: Legislative committee meetings, deputy orientation, countless briefings. It's all been a little disorienting. Just stepping off the plane into forty five per cent humidity makes me feel like I've landed on another planet (I'm not complaining)....sixty foot tall palm trees everywhere. Katharine and I aren't seeing much of each other because of the tight convention schedule.



There are incredibly diverse interests represented at General Convention both among deputations and the various interest groups that come and make their case to the church. Media are everywhere: Integrity USA, a national organization of Episcopalians (of which All Saints is a member), who argue for the equal inclusion in the church, have a large and highly organized presence; We will in a few days vote on a resolution regarding the full inclusion in the sacramental life of the church of all the baptized (without discrimination or moratorium regarding sexual orientation); lobbyists for Native American justice issues are here; activists for racial reconciliation; advocates for the rights of refugees; worker unions; brochures and advocacy papers covering just about every cause abound. It's all very much overwhelming. Getting physically acclimated is quite enough without the myriad human issues that press all around us. Such is the polity of a church that is very much alive in its witness, a church called to bear justice to our world, a church living into the imperitive of the Gospel.



But this morning I was yet again reminded of what truly makes us Episcopalian Christians... and that's the way we worship. The opening Eucharist yet again showed me the beauty and the power and the peace that our liturgy embodies. At the end of the service my anxieties were quieted; I felt grounded and renewed for the work ahead. The music included classic Episcopal hymns as well as Hispanic and African music. We are no longer a national church culturally, but a global one, and the diverse artistic expressions in the service showed that we are authentic about our diversity.



Our call as a community of faith in mission and ministry for those beyond our doors is what our polity serves...Our polity, the infrastructure, as it were, of mission and ministry...our mission and ministry our story told in prose. Our worship is our story told in poetry...a beautiful speculation as to what we are becoming...what God wishes God's beloved and God's world to be. It is between the now and the not yet that we live the life of the church...the sacred ground upon which we stand..amid the poetry and prose of life telling a life story, God's story and our story still becoming in poetry and prose that beginning now, just as it always has begun, will redeem all in all.