Loading...This time three years ago, I was actively preparing for the 77th General Convention in Indianapolis.
Not really knowing what to expect, my mood was one of excitement and anxiousness - mixed with a deep sense of honor and privilege to be serving the Diocese of East Tennessee. That GC was my first. I am now preparing for my second General Convention, which will be held in Salt Lake City, UT from June 25 – July 3, having been elected as a lay deputy in February 2014 at the annual convention of the Diocese of East Tennessee. The anxiousness I felt the first time around has given way to great anticipation and no small measure of wonderment. It is amazing what a group of Episcopalians from all over the world can accomplish in 10 days.
Good Samaritan will be well represented at GC; Fr. Cal will also be heading to Salt Lake City as a clergy deputy, this being his third trip to General Convention. Our diocese (as does every diocese in the Episcopal Church) sends 4 clerical and 4 lay deputies to GC. With 52 parishes in our diocese, Good Sam is sending ¼ of the deputies from the Diocese of East Tennessee to Salt Lake City! Yet, we don’t just represent Good Sam. We don’t just represent our diocese. We represent all of God’s people. “The role of a deputy for each diocese differs from that of a delegate at diocesan convention in that each deputy is elected to represent their community but is able to discern and vote as he or she sees fit, whereas delegates are elected to represent the views of a community and vote as an extension of the collective interests of that community.”1
While in Salt Lake City, the East Tennessee deputation will caucus daily and discuss the individual resolutions that will come before the House of Deputies (HoD). However, each deputy votes individually on all resolutions and matters that are discussed throughout the week, according to his or her own conscience and judgment of what is right and proper to do. Only during a vote by orders, a vote in which each order in each diocese submits one vote, do deputations collaborate and put in a single “yes,” “no,” or “divided” vote.
I am acutely aware that I am a Good Samaritan, a member of this community for the past 30 years. We are a diverse parish with varying opinions and ideas about our church and the world we live in. While Fr. Cal and I are mindful of where we come from, we – as are all deputies – charged with voting our conscience. We are expected to read, study, discern and pray…then read, study, discern and pray some more. There is much work to be done in Salt Lake City and with God’s help, we’ll come out the other side of convention a stronger, leaner, healthier, and more just body, better equipped to spread the loving Gospel of Jesus to all people, in all corners of God’s glorious world.
Several important issues and resolutions will come before the House of Deputies and House of Bishop’s during the course of the 78th General Convention. (In 2012, well over 450 resolutions were published in convention materials to be considered by the HoB and the HoD). One of the most important topics at this 78th GC will be about the work of the Task Force for Reimagining the Episcopal Church (TREC). TREC was charged by the 77th General Convention of the Episcopal Church to create a plan for reforming the
Church’s structures, governance, and administration. An explanation of the task before this committee reads in part:
The administrative and governance structures of The Episcopal Church have grown over the years so that they now comprise approximately 47% of the churchwide budget and sometimes hinder rather than further this Church’s engagement in God’s mission.2
I am hopeful that with prayerful discussion, debate and resolution, The Episcopal Church can begin to function as a leaner, tighter structure better able to spend its resources to further the Five Marks of Mission that guide our church. To learn more about the Reimagining of the Episcopal Church, go to //reimaginetec.org/about/.
At the 77th GC in 2012, resolution A049 passed approving the blessing of same gender couples. Out of the intense, yet productive debate and discussion came a couple of resolutions that directed the Presiding Bishop to form a task force to further study the topic of marriage. With the passage of A049 in 2012, many questions surfaced – What makes a marriage Christian? What is the relationship between the Church’s blessing of a relationship, whether different-gender or same-gender, and a union, “marriage” or otherwise, created by civil law? Is the blessing of a same – gender relationship equivalent to the marriage of a different-gender couple, and if so, should this liturgy be called “marriage”? At the upcoming GC in June, we’ll hear back from this task force and will most certainly receive new resolutions on the topic of blessings and marriage within The Episcopal Church.
Perhaps the most exciting event at GC will be the election of a new Presiding Bishop. The Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori has served a 9-year term and the House of Bishop’s will elect a new PB on Saturday, June 27. The House of Deputies must then consent to the election. There are four wonderful, highly qualified candidates running. The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio, The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina, The Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, Episcopal Church in Connecticut, The Rt. Rev. Dabney Smith, Episcopal Diocese of Southwest Florida. You may read more about all the nominees at https://extranet.generalconvention.org/staff/files/dow nload/13096.pdf.
While at GC, I plan to send daily email updates, post to our Good Sam Facebook page, and for those of you who are on Twitter, I will be tweeting some of the proceedings. Look for more information about this later in the month. Please keep Fr. Cal and me in your prayers as we travel to Salt Lake City. I assure you, you will be in my prayers as well.
1 Text from the Diocese of Spokane - The Role of the Deputy
2 The Bluebook of the 78th General Convention of TEC
