July 2006

From the General Convention….

What were the most important decisions made at the General Convention, which ended on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 in Columbus Ohio? Without a doubt the first place answer is the selection of the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori as our next Presiding Bishop. Of course, the fact that she is a woman has escaped no one.
However, I believe time will prove that it is her considerable talents, her perspective and her common sense that will make this an important decision for the Episcopal Church rather than her gender.

Beyond that election, the endorsed statement of mission priorities (in rank order: justice and peace, including support of the Millennium Development Goals); youth, young adults and children; reconciliation and evangelism; congregational transformation and partnerships) shows that a majority of our members recognize
that the conditions in the rest of our world should be the major concern of the church. In a sense we are responding to the call of the prophets—echoed by the words of Jesus Christ, that the hungry are fed, the good news is preached, those who are ostracized and in prison are set free, the blind receive sight and the lame shall walk.

The MDGs give the world a framework for healing and reconciliation. These tangible, achievable goals agreed to by the nations of the world in 2000 represent the most profound physical brokenness in the world today:
1) Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger;

2) Achieve universal primary education;

3) Promote gender equality and empower women;

4) Reduce child mortality;

5) Improve maternal health;

6) Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases;

7) Ensure environmental sustainability; and

8) Develop a global partnership for development. The 73rd and 74th General Convention and the Primates of the Anglican Communion have endorsed the MDGs.

Second, the reaffirming of the 20/20 initiative to double the average attendance of the Episcopal Church by the year 2020 might be as important if we really take it seriously. This resolution was originally introduced in Denver at the General Convention in 2000. However, our church membership and attendance has actually declined in the 6 years since that decision was made. Some may say that it was the decision of the 2003 convention to confirm the election of Bishop Gene Robinson, an admitted gay man, that has caused the decline. I would propose that it is the distraction from our call to evangelism and justice that has lead to our decline rather than the action in and of itself. If we were to demonstrate our concern for the least and lost of the world, we would probably attract many more new members than we do by our self-absorption about issues that do not concern the world at large.

I will admit that there are others who are concerned with the private relationships of homosexual people, including the religious right and the leaders of the third world Anglican churches. But I was struck by the answer of Bishop Jefferts Schori when a reporter asked “how the average Anglican who is a black woman
under 30, earns two dollars a day and is evangelical” might react to the news of her consecration and to her consent to Gene Robinson’s consecration, she responded, “If the average Anglican is as you describe, she is dealing with hunger, inadequate housing, unclean water and unavailability of education. Those are the
places I would start. The issue of sexuality comes along much higher on the hierarchy of needs.”

Hubris and humility. These two words play in my head as I think of the events of the past week and a half. Since I was only elected as the second alternate clergy deputy, with no guarantee of actually getting to the floor of the house with voice and vote, I spent most of the time on the side-lines, watching from the area set aside for alternates. It’s kind of being on the second string of a team, you get to suit up, but not necessarily to
play—unless the team is so far in front that you can do no harm. Those on the floor were so impressed with the importance of their arguments regarding the sexuality issues. But when I searched the news—both broadcast and printed— for reports of their decisions, they were largely missing. The suffering of war, floods and fires, the struggles of refugees throughout the world and in our own country, were far more important
to the viewers and readers. Our church is so convinced of our own importance, but we need to learn the humility of putting the needs of others first. Then we will make a difference in the church and in the world.

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