Thursday morning (I think!) in Columbus

Good morning!  It’s kind of hard to believe that it’s only “Day 3” here in Columbus – it must have something to do with the fact that hearings begin at 7:30 a.m. and the day continues until about 11 at night (if not longer…)  I’m not complaining, though – the days are energizing and spirit filled.

 

To pick up where I left off yesterday….and go back to “Day 1” – Tuesday.  After the morning hearings (which I don’t remember what was discussed at this point) we went to the daily Eucharist.  We have been assigned to tables where we sit every morning for Eucharist.  At Table 101, we have the Bishops of Oklahoma and of Venezuela, and deputies from New York, Western North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa and women attending the ECW (Episcopal Church Women) Triennial.  After the sermon – preached by the Presiding Bishop on the opening day, we have 10 minutes for table conversation and response on what we heard.  These morning times were one of the my favorite things from the last General Convention – people who may differ theologically and politically come together in this time and space and build community.  I see it happening already here. 

 

Our morning session – our first – in the House of Deputies was all that organizing “stuff” you do when you first gather.  Again, it’s wonderful how community is built – Newark is next to the deputation from Easton (Maryland) – behind Central Florida, and in front of Wyoming.  And trust me, after 10 days together, 6 hours a day, community gets build!  Again, no matter how we differ politically and theologically, relationships are built.  And we have had lots of laughter already!

 

For lunchtime I walked with Lyn Headley-Deavours to Trinity Church (about ½ miles away – just behind the Capitol) for the lunch and presentation of the Economic Justice Network.  Geoff Curtiss (rector of All Saints, Hoboken) is the past chair of this national network.  Wonderful people doing wonderful work – and we were fortunate to hear from the Rev. Richard Gilette speak from his new book on Globalization and how Christians can respond.  The Network has just published a training module on economic justice – I am hoping parishes will use it! 

 

As many of you know, I have been involved with the Anglican Women’s Empowerment (AWE) where we bring women from all the Anglican provinces to New York for the annual two week UN Commission on the Status of Women meeting…and are building a network of women from all over the world.  Phoebe Griswold, wife of the Presiding Bishop, has thrown everything she has into this work and I joined her as she was making a presentation to the bishops’ spouses.  This is a group that has its own identify and relationships and meets together during the Convention.  Mostly women (!!) – although a few men were certainly present – were very responsive to what Phoebe had to say.  Already several wives of bishops are actively involved – Karen Sisk (New York), Karen Chane (Washington, DC), Kate Smith (Connecticut), Marcie Lipscomb (Southwest Florida), Susanne Watson Epting (whose husband is Ecumenical Officer of the Church).  By the way,  I am so reluctant to use the term “wives of bishops”  because these women bring their own professional and personal experience to the work but the fact remains that sometimes being partnered to the bishop can give greater visibility to the work.  It’s just the reality of our church.  By the way, the Rev. Nancy Roth (who many of you have met at St. George’s since her son and his family lives in Maplewood) is chaplain to the bishops’ spouses.  It was lovely to see her and we are going to have lunch today (Thursday).

 

I know this is detailed, but it’s so helpful for me to write down what’s happening so I can reflect back.  But I want to say at this time that with the underlining tensions that may be at this convention – with some of the decisions we need to make later – there is also such a sense of hope and spirit.  First of all, there are young adults everywhere.  There is an official youth presence in the House of Deputies and they are testifying at several opportunities.  They are at the hearings, in the hallways, everywhere – and bring hope to me.  Second, although there is focus on our Convention about what decisions we will make and the future of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, the presence of other work in the Anglican Communion that is happening at the grass roots level – like the women’s work I talked about above – and many of the Anglican bishops I have met here – show me that the Anglican Communion is also something different than around the issue of sexuality.  And third, everyone you go, there is a focus on “MDGs” – Millennium Development Goals and our church’s commitment to eradicating poverty. More on that later, because it really has become a very important theme here and the priority of our churches witness in the world.

 

We returned to the House of Deputies Tuesday afternoon around 4:00 and one of the folks who spoke to us was the Archbishop of York, who brought greetings from the Archbishop of Canterbury, and also added his own wonderful comments.  Uganda-born, he was lively, provocative and full of the Holy Spirit.  Again, more hope for our Communion being in relationship with each other.  After we recessed around 6:00, we were able to go to Bishop Croneberger’s suite – the “hospitality suite” to debrief.  Although the Bishop was still not feeling 100% by any means, he wanted to have the opportunity to hear what was happening and see all of us – it was our first time of gathering.  It was so good to see him up and about. 

 

And now, I must sign off – it’s time for our daily 9:30 Eucharist – more later (will I ever catch up to real time???)

Faithfully,

 

Martha Gardner