Obviously, the highlight of the first week of General Convention was the election of Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry yesterday. Our Southern Ohio deputation felt a mix of emotions when the election was announced-excitement over the election of Bishop Curry, who will be the first African-American Presiding Bishop in the Episcopal Church, disappointment that our own Bishop Breidenthal was not elected, great joy that we get to bring Bishop Breidenthal home with us, and much pride in his faithfulness to God and the Church.
Worship has been moving and meaningful each day, and each day the service has been different. On Friday, the Theodicy Jazz Collective provided the music. I heard them last year in Cincinnati, and they are incredible. Yesterday, Native American drums and flutes brought joy and calm to the service. This morning, ++Katharine will be the preacher and celebrant.
Early this morning, a thousand or so Episcopalians walked through the streets of downtown Salt Lake City as part of the "Bishops against Gun Violence" initiative. We heard from the Bishop of Utah, who was a victim of gun violence some years ago, and he spoke of the toll that took on both him and his family.
Don has been hard at work on the Marriage Committee, which will bring legislation before the convention sometime this week. You can read all about his work at www.opensourcetheology.blogspot.com. The Supreme Court decision brought great joy to many people here, and deep sadness to others.
I will write again soon. I am posting photos on the Christ Church Facebook page as photo ops happen.
Blessings,
Charlotte
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Wednesday, June 24, 2015
General Convention Day 1
June 23
This morning General Convention began with opening remarks from the Presiding Bishop, who, among other things, called us to "be fearless but not foolish." She reminded us of our "edgy DNA" as Episcopalians and her closing statement was "Jesus sends us on the only journey worth our lives." Like our own bishop, ++Katharine Jefferts Schori calls us to be out in our neighborhoods, taking the good news out of the church and into the world.
This afternoon, we met the four nominees for Presiding Bishop. Each nominee had made a short (2 minute) video to introduce themselves to the Convention. I think the videos can be found on the General Convention website: www.generalconvention.org. They are definitely worth watching. Then each nominee had two minutes for prepared introductory remarks. The next two hours (!) were spent asking the nominees a variety of questions that had been submitted by people from around the Episcopal Church. The nominees had not seen those questions in advance and all did a remarkable job with some very tough questions on issues ranging from full inclusion to open communion to issues of divestment to issues around the restructuring of the church.
The Presiding Bishop is elected by the House of Bishops and that election is confirmed by the House of Deputies. The Southern Ohio deputation attended a meeting later this afternoon for the four deputations whose bishops are nominees so we could hear the schedule for Saturday, the day of the election. The process that day is long and intense, so we may not know the results until late in the afternoon, Mountain Time.
Salt Lake City is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains. The temperatures are in the mid-90's each afternoon, but the heat is very dry so it doesn't feel nearly so hot as it does in Ohio when the temperatures are this high. The people here are very friendly and I have been stopped twice on the street and asked what kind of convention I am attending.
I will post more soon. At this point, no actions have been taken by General Convention, but I wanted to get a post up before the Newsnote goes out tomorrow (telling you that I would have posted). There are photos on the Christ Church Facebook page of our bishop at the nominee forum this afternoon.
Blessings,
Charlotte
This morning General Convention began with opening remarks from the Presiding Bishop, who, among other things, called us to "be fearless but not foolish." She reminded us of our "edgy DNA" as Episcopalians and her closing statement was "Jesus sends us on the only journey worth our lives." Like our own bishop, ++Katharine Jefferts Schori calls us to be out in our neighborhoods, taking the good news out of the church and into the world.
This afternoon, we met the four nominees for Presiding Bishop. Each nominee had made a short (2 minute) video to introduce themselves to the Convention. I think the videos can be found on the General Convention website: www.generalconvention.org. They are definitely worth watching. Then each nominee had two minutes for prepared introductory remarks. The next two hours (!) were spent asking the nominees a variety of questions that had been submitted by people from around the Episcopal Church. The nominees had not seen those questions in advance and all did a remarkable job with some very tough questions on issues ranging from full inclusion to open communion to issues of divestment to issues around the restructuring of the church.
The Presiding Bishop is elected by the House of Bishops and that election is confirmed by the House of Deputies. The Southern Ohio deputation attended a meeting later this afternoon for the four deputations whose bishops are nominees so we could hear the schedule for Saturday, the day of the election. The process that day is long and intense, so we may not know the results until late in the afternoon, Mountain Time.
Salt Lake City is a beautiful city, surrounded by mountains. The temperatures are in the mid-90's each afternoon, but the heat is very dry so it doesn't feel nearly so hot as it does in Ohio when the temperatures are this high. The people here are very friendly and I have been stopped twice on the street and asked what kind of convention I am attending.
I will post more soon. At this point, no actions have been taken by General Convention, but I wanted to get a post up before the Newsnote goes out tomorrow (telling you that I would have posted). There are photos on the Christ Church Facebook page of our bishop at the nominee forum this afternoon.
Blessings,
Charlotte
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