If It's Wednesday, I've Adjusted To Eastern Time

After three days of taking it easy and doing next to nothing, I think my body is back on Eastern Daylight time. I must also be recovering from 15 days of go-go-go because I'm beginning to think about things I have to do over the next couple of days. Yes, the To Do List is rearing its ugly head:

• Laundry
• Grocery Shopping
• Birthday Present Shopping
• Make Phone Calls
• Finish Unpacking
• Copy the new apartment keys so people have spares
• Balance the Checkbook
• Update the parish web site

Well, I did go for a walk today.

Toward the end of General Convention I realized that it is a lot like Dance Camp only less often, a lot longer, and not as renewing. It is a community that comes together periodically and creates its own time bubble. It is a place where I see people I haven't seen in a while and pick up pretty much where we left off the last time.

It's also a lot different. We Episcopalians have not learned to live together with our differences. We don't do a good job of supporting and nurturing those with whom we disagree or have little in common with other than the fact that we call ourselves Episcopalian. And decisions at General Convention impact peoples' jobs and vocations.

After seven years of involvement in the institutional church at a "higher level," I once again find myself asking, "Why is it that I want/need/could possibly tolerate that white plastic band around my neck?"

Peace,
Jeff

Home And [Sort Of] Rested

Yesterday we left the hotel at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, 11:00 a.m. Eastern. We ate breakfast in Orange County, California and lunch in Phoenix, Arizona. I arrived home this morning at 1:00 Eastern Daylight Time, 10:00 p.m. Sunday Pacific. Fourteen hours on the road and in the air.

I was finally able to go to bed sometime after 3:00 a.m. and woke up at 6:30 a.m. and9:15 a.m., and finally got out of bed at about 10:30 a.m. I didn't do much but unpack and check email.

Rachel stopped by to give me the new keys for my apartment, and I gave her the Pirate Mouse Ears I brought from Disneyland as a thank you gift for picking up my mail and keeping an eye on my apartment. We went out for a bite to eat and catch up.

Still adjusting to Eastern Daylight Time. Still processing the events of General Convention and what it means for our work at the Episcopal Church Center. But first I have six sabbath days, including today, to take before returning to the office. We'll deal with the aftermath and fallout then. The only thing I have to do tomorrow is laundry.

Peace,
Jeff

Post Convention - Day 1 (Saturday) DISNEYLAND!

Saturday morning, Convention over, and we still had to get up early. Susan Bek of the Diocese of Los Angeles, with whom we worked to plan, design, and implement the Children's, Infants', and Toddlers' programs, arranged for everyone involved in the those programs and the Discovery Center to have breakfast at Club 33 and a Park Hopper ticket for the day. We gathered outside of Guest Relations beginning at 7:30 and were escorted into Disneyland, down Main Street, through Adventure Land, the French Quarter, and into Club 33 for a wonderful breakfast in a private dining room.

Here are Ruth-Ann, MerLynne, me and Kathy on the balcony of the dining room:


Followed by the obligatory outside the front door shot:


The four of us spent our day with Trudy and Joe Ardizzone, who worked tirelessly on the Discovery Center. Joe played tour guide. We got a fast pass for the Indiana Jones ride and then went here for our first ride of the day:


After years of seeing the ride on TV, beginning with the Wonderful World of Disney as a kid, I finally got to experience the Pirates of the Caribbean in person. Lots of fun, and the only ride on which we managed to get wet. From here we went to the Jungle River Cruise, which was fun mostly for the boat driver's corny jokes. Then Indiana Jones! Three rides in an hour, not bad for a sunny summer Saturday.

Then it was on to Tomorrowland for Star Tours and Astro Blasters, followed by a trip on the Monorail. And what visit to Disneyland would be complete without a visit to, yes, It's A Small World:


After a stop for Mickey ears (you thought after 49 1/2 years before getting to Disneyland I'd come home without hears?) and lunch, we exited Disneyland and went across to the plaza to California Adventure, which is built where Disney's parking lots used to be. An aborted trip to the Ferris wheel and then the California Screamin' roller coaster. By that time I was getting hot and a little crowd-weary, but we had fast passes for Soarin' over California. That was great! It also refreshed us. We had ice cream (no sugar added butter pecan for me) while watching the Pixar parade.

Back to Disneyland for the Finding Nemo submarine ride (which used to be 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), and then our final ride for the day, the Haunted Mansion:


We were planning to leave before the fireworks, but shopping took longer than we expected, so we stayed to watch Tinkerbell and Dumbo flying over the castle along with the fireworks.

I can't believe I stayed the whole day and enjoyed it! I figured that by lunch I'd be ready to pack it in. But I really had a good time. I could go back.

Oh, one more button for the collection:


Peace,
Jeff

General Convention - Day 11 Finally Over?

Today was the final day of legislation and the closing Eucharist, which was celebrated in three languages--French, Spanish, and English. Katharine moved fluidly between all three. I nodded off during her sermon, which was both a reflection of her sermon as well as how tired I was.

The major legislative news was the passage of C056 by the House of Deputies today. Deputies speaking against it on the floor were pretty much the same as those who spoke against D025. And we heard many of the same tired arguments. However, the whole tone of the debate was much more civil than at previous conventions. That is primarily because so many of the most raucous conservatives have departed the church.

The Discovery Center and the Children's Program are packed up. I am about half packed. I packed my box of stuff to be shipped first thing this morning so that it could go on the Discovery Center pallet going back to New York. Most of my clothes are packed, so tomorrow I only have a few things to pack. I didn't want to wait, since we will be spending the day at Disneyland, and I will probably be tired when we return.

We continue to hear things that let us know that we have not seen the last of the damage Suzanne Watson did to the ministry of the Evangelism & Congregational Life Center during her 13 month tenure as Center Director. In fact, we are learning that many of the Center's budget issues are a direct result of her inability to think strategically for the whole Center. Many of us in the Center are extremely grateful for the presence of Bob Honeychurch, who has been acting Center Director since may. His gentle presence has been healing as we have learned what it is to work in healthy (as healthy as working for the Church can be) environment.

As of Wednesday, I have worked at the Church Center for seven years. Even though my job is secure for now, I don't know if I'll be around to see eight.

As Scarlett O'Hara said, "Tomorrow is another day."

Peace,
Jeff

General Convention - Day 10 The Day After

We continue to learn which of our colleagues are affected by the budget cuts. The tapes of yesterday's talk with the Presiding Bishop, and, I think, some of the other budget discussions we had, were shown to the staff who are not at General Convention. Some of them called their managers asking if they were affected. If they asked, they were told. Pretty rotten being told over the phone, but sitting and not knowing until Tuesday really wasn't a decent option either.

We don't understand some of the cuts being made, given what is still in the budget and plans going forward. Others make sense. Either way, it's hard. Most of our soon-to-be-departing colleagues are more devastated by work that will no longer be carried out than they are about losing their jobs. Some have continued their work here at convention, and others have withdrawn into angry isolation. I understand both actions.

There’s an old quote attributed to an anonymous author that I'm seriously thinking about having printed and framed for my office:

We the unwilling, led by the unknowing are doing the impossible, for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

That pretty much sums it up.

I was not impressed by Brian McLaren's so-called sermon at worship today. I found it particularly inappropriate given the immediacy of the staff cuts.

Both Houses passed the budget without amendment, though not for lack of trying in the House of Deputies. Three times supporters of Bonnie Anderson, President of the House of Deputies, tried to amend the budget to take funds from the office of the Chief Operating Officer to provide her with two full-time staff people for the triennium rather than one-and-a-half. It failed all three times. There was also an attempt to take money from the General Convention Office to fund a study about moving the Church Center out of New York City. However, many deputies rose to speak against any amendments, pointing out that PB&,F had put in a lot of time and effort--not to mention tears--into the proposed budget, and that it was the best that could be done at this time given projected revenue.

There are other resolutions of importance, but I just haven't had the energy to track them. I spent the afternoon going through email and returning phone calls.

The Exhibit Hall closed at 2:00 this afternoon, and our staff office at 6:00 this evening. Here are a couple of pictures of the staff's "sanctuary" here at Convention for the past two weeks:



This has been the convention of Tote Bags. Here are five that I collected over the course of my time here. The large blue one is from the Children's Program, the red and black one from the Virginia Theological Seminary dinner, the tan from the Episcopal Church Center, the purple from the Episcopal seminaries, and the black from the Diocese of Los Angeles:

And these are the last of the buttons I collected at Convention. The large one with Convention's Ubuntu logo is for the Lifelong Formation Charter, which Ruth-Ann and I were able to start wearing yesterday (or was it Tuesday? Days run together...) once the charter had been passed by both houses. Before that it would have been seen as advocating, something staff is not supposed to do.

Peace,

Jeff

General Convention - Day 9 In The Depths

Pray for the members of the Episcopal Church Center Staff.

Today the joint committee on Program, Budget, and Finance (PB&F) presented their proposed budget to a joint session of General Convention. Although we knew things were bad, it was still devastating. As a result of the drastically reduced budget, 30 staff positions have been cut. Most of the affected employees who are here in Anaheim were told before we saw printed copies of the budget. One employee found out her job was being eliminated when a deputy asked a question after the main budget presentation.

The Presiding Bishop met with the staff at 2:00 this afternoon before the joint session. She pulled no punches. She thanked us all for our hard work and told us that the improved atmosphere at this Convention was largely due to our work over the current triennium. Then she told us that cuts would be deep, and that they would probably affect every department at the Church Center. She told us at least twice that any cuts were not a reflection of our work nor something we should take personally. She took care to look as many people as possible in the eye as she spoke. It could not have been easy, and it was clear that she was close to tears as she talked to us.

The joint session began at 2:30, and we had the choice of going down to the House of Deputies to watch, or to watch the live feed in the staff office. A number of us stayed in the staff office. I did not want to be in the gallery of the House when this news came, so I stayed in the office. After the presentation and a short question and answer session, Pan Adams, the chair, and Bishop Drew Smith, the vice chair, of PB&F came to talk to us. It was clear that they were also in a lot of pain over the cuts. They, too, said that it was not personal, that all of us had done good work.

As of today, my job is secure, and in fact, they increased my budget by 10%. What will happen as the Church Center is reorganized yet again, I don't know. Valued colleagues have lost their jobs. Important programs have been cut entirely. It still isn't over. Staff who did not come to Convention still have not been informed as to the status of their jobs. It is likely that they will have to stew over the weekend, as all of the Directors are here in Anaheim, and it would be wrong to give the affected employees the news over the phone. Some departments still have to make the decisions about which staff positions will be cut. And the Presiding Bishop was quite clear that the layoffs would be before the end of the year, even though the budget is for the next triennium.

About halfway through this evening I thought, "And after we put all that work into the web site, we still aren't going to be able to finish it. And I don't give a g** d****."

Those of us who still have jobs are shell shocked, experiencing survivor's guilt, and are upset and angry. There are still two days of Convention left, and we have to present as positive a face as possible to Convention. Anything less would be disrespectful to our colleagues' work, the work of PB&F, and of the bishops and deputies who still have to pass the budget and complete the other legislative work of Convention.

No pictures or other Convention news tonight.

Pray for those who have lost their jobs, and for those of us still employed.

Peace,
Jeff

Convention - Day 7

Pray for the Diocese of Ecuador Central. The diocese has been served by appointed interim bishops since the deposition and removal of Bishop Larea a number of years ago. Bishop Ramos, formerly of Connecticut, was the last of these. Bishop Ramos has worked hard to prepare the diocese to elect their own bishop. A small but vocal faction of the diocesan clergy have been advocating for an Ecuadorian bishop over the past few years. The recent election called a Colombian priest, and this small faction has contested the election. The election came before General Convention and was ratified by the House of Bishops.

Ratification in the House of Deputies, however, was contested. The Deputation from Central Ecuador is split, and those who want an Ecuadorian bishop gathered some support in that house. I will not go into all the details. I have worked with all of the Ecuadorians involved and have come to love and respect all of them. People I care about are hurting. The diocese is hurting. They, and their new bishop, need our prayers.

In Legislative news:

• D085, Ministry of the Child, came to the Education Committee and was passed without discussion.
• The subcommittee working on Do64, the Young Adult event in Europe, submitted a substitute resolution, which passed unanimously. However, a later motion to reconsider was made, and the committee will deliberate further on this.
• D077, a resolution to commend the Office of Young Adult and Campus Ministry, was passed with a recommendation to Dispatch that it be put on the Consent Calendar. Putting a resolution on the Consent Calendar means that it is one the committee feels will need no discussion or input by the House of first action (in this case, the House of Deputies), and it is put on a list of resolutions that is voted on as a block.
• D096, Prevention of Domestic Violence, is scheduled for a hearing tomorrow morning
• D062, Implementation of Sexual Abuse Misconduct Prevention Training, was amended by the House of Deputies. Essentially, it took out the whole focus on children, which was the point of the resolution. You can see the change here.
• In the House of Bishops there was an attempt to amend A082, the Lifelong Formation Charter. However, the Presiding Bishop pointed out that if they amended it, the resolution would have to go back to the House of Deputies where it would probably die because the deputies would not be able to take it up again before Convention ended. That effectively ended the amendment.
• The House of Bishops made a couple of minor changes to D025 and sent it back to the House of Deputies, which will probably take it up quickly and concur with the bishops' changes.
  

This evening the Evangelism & Congregational Life Center hosted a reception. This was the brainchild of Suzanne Watson when she was still our Center Director. Since she had committed the Center to a time and space contract, we had to go ahead with it. While it was not as well attended as we might have hoped, given all the other receptions that were held this evening, most of us felt that people who did attend had a good time, and we made some good connections.

And here we are in Salon F:

Here is the Japanese Reconciliation Tea Ceremony that was held several times throughout the evening. Most of our guests spent time here:

We also had Nathan, a Vietnamese comedian who also did magic tricks. He arrived late after getting stuck in traffic, and he performed for a small but enthusiastic audience. Ruth-Ann took him over to the Young Adult Festival when our event was over, as he would have the chance to perform for a larger audience there.

Here's Nathan showing us the magic rings:

Only one button today:


Peace,
Jeff

Convention - Day 6

Today's biggest news is that the Children's Program made the front cover of today's issue of The Daily and had a feature story on page three. The Province IX curriculum is featured on page 11 in the "Perspectivas Latinas" section. Be sure to check out the photo credit on the cover picture!

I skipped the United Thank Offering (UTO) Ingathering Eucharist this morning. The women (primarily) involved in the UTO do wonderful work, and the money they raise goes to all sorts of projects throughout the church. However, I did not need to sit through 110 women being called to the stage by their dioceses' names and being applauded. Sleeping in made much more sense.

My first stop of the morning was the Discovery Center, which had a familiar visitor:


Ruth-Ann asked me to take a picture of her and one of the chaplains who helped with Praying Across project for military personnel and their families.


Here are today's buttons:


After lunch at Tiffy's with Ruth-Ann and Kathy Monson Lutes, I went to the staff office to print out some paperwork. As I finished, the House of Deputies session began. We have monitors in the office, so we can watch the live feed from both houses. We watched debate on C025, which is the resolution the committee that received all B033 related resolutions chose to be the resolution to put forward. They spent a lot of time rewriting it before sending it on to the House of Deputies. Procedural matters and working through C025 took most of this afternoon's session. The entire process took even longer, because a vote by orders was called for. That mean the lay deputies voted separately from the clerical deputies, and even though they voted electronically, the votes had to be verified against paper tally sheets from each deputation. In the end, the House passed the resolution as submitted by the committee.

I left the Convention Center before we learned what the final vote was. We took shuttles to St. Michael's for the New Communities Gathering sponsored by the Ethnic offices of the Episcopal Church Center. We had a variety of participants, food, and entertainment.

Sarah Eagle Heart, Program Officer for Native Ministries, introduced a troupe of Native American dancers:


Some of the dancers:

And a picture of me with Robyn Szoke, who hired me as the Program Assistant for Children's Ministries and Christian Education at the Episcopal Church Center seven years ago.


Tomorrow morning at 7:30 the Education Committee holds a hearing on D085: Ministry of the Child. There are also many resolutions that have yet to make it to the floor of either house. This has serious implications for any resolution with funding requests included, because they should all be to Program, Budget, and Finance by tomorrow so that the proposed budget can be presented to a joint meeting of the Houses on Wednesday.


Peace,
Jeff

Convention - Day 5

Schedule-wise today was a light day but also a long day.

We began with an Education Committee meeting at 7:30 a.m. They heard testimony on D064 (Young Adult Gathering in Europe). In comparison with the Youth who have testified over the course of convention, the young adults who spoke to this resolution were ill prepared and poor speakers. The committee also called on Douglas Fenton, the Program Officer for Young Adult and Campus Ministries, who was not much more clear then the young adults. The committee offered several suggestions about how to strengthen the resolution, but there seemed to be little willingness to work with the committee. The resolution was referred to a subcomittee, and we will probably hear their report on Monday.

Two subcommittees brought their reports to this morning's meeting. First, the subcommittee on C014 (Theological Study of Marriage) reported that they were working on a substitute resolution. The subcommittee on B013 (Equipping the Baptized for Ministry in TEC) brought an amendment to the resolution, which the committee spent 15 minutes or so discussing. Finally, they passed the resolution, and it's on its way to the House of Deputies.

This morning we also hear that when the House of Deputies was debating A082 (Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation) an amendment was proposed to remove the word "Episcopal" from it. The amendment was defeated.

Ray Suarez, senior Washington, D.C.-based correspondent for PBS's News Hour, gave the sermon at today's Eucharist. It was the best one I've heard at Convention so far. You can find a copy of it here, and a copy of the ENS story here. He really challenged the conservatives and the "middle-of-the-roaders."

This afternoon I went to the Church Publishing booth to pick up a copy of The Prayer Book Guide to Christian Education (Third Edition) and had it signed by the authors Sharon Pearson and Robyn Szoke. Robyn was my first boss at the Church Center. Actually, all seven people I have reported to during my seven years at the Church Center are here at Convention: Robyn, Thom Chu, Kesha Brennom, Ruth-Ann Collins, Suzanne Watkins, Bob Honeychurch, and Bronwyn Skov.

Also this afternoon, I spent some time with the Chidren's Program. Susan wanted to touch base with MerLynne and me on several issues. And we wanted to see how things were going. The Chaplain Susan scheduled for today was Christine, a deaf priest in the diocese. Susan is also a sign language interpreter, and she interpreted most of the conversations. The more time I spent with them, the more I found myself using sign--at least those signs I remember--as we talked. It surprised me at how quickly it started to come back. Maybe I need to be thinking of taking classes again.

This evening Ruth-Ann and I attended the Virginia Theological Seminary dinner. The seminary had sent invitations to the Church Center and asked specifically for them to be given to lay employees. Both of us decided to attend for political reasons, and I wasn't sure I really wanted to go. However, there were several people there I know, and Kesha, who is a 2009 graduate, and I sat next to each other, which gave us some time to catch up with each other. After the dinner, we took a cab over to Saint Michael's to stop by the Latino/Hispanic reception. It was winding down, but Anthony was glad to see us. We observed a stereotype being broken wide open. Anthony dances like a white guy.

When we returned to the hotel we ended up joining some friends in the hotel bar, so I have been up longer than I originally intended.

Something I forgot to write about yesterday. At yesterday's Eucharist, I stopped to say hello to my friend Ann. She introduced me to her friend, who is the famous Grandmere Mimi.

No buttons today, and no legislative committee meetings tomorrow.

Peace,
Jeff

Convention - If It's Day 4, It Must Be Friday

Good news this morning. The Education received three new resolutions for consideration:

• D044 - Title IV Training


• D062 - Sexual Misconduct: Implementation of Sexual Abuse Misconduct Prevention Training


• D064 - Youth Meeting in Europe

D044 asked to provide training on the Title IV (the disciplinary canon) revisions that have not yet been approved by Convention. The committee approved this but will hold on to it until the revisions pass, if they pass. If the revisions do not pass, they will not release this.

D062 was written by the Education networks that work with my office and proposed by a deputy who is a member of the Education Committee. She spoke to the resolution, and when she pointed out the line item in the proposed Triennial Budget was approximately $24,000 per year, the committee gasped audibly. The committee passed the resolution with a minor change that corrected a wording problem. After they passed the resolution came some discussion about the online training that is available. I was called upon by the Bishops' Chair, Bishop John Rabb. I explained that yes, there is an online program for Safeguarding God's Children, but as a trainer and someone who has worked with survivors of abuse, it was not a good idea to use the online version for a first time training.

D064 calls for a Young Adult gathering in Geneva for the Churches in Europe. The title of the resolution is Youth Meeting in Europe, but the body of the resolution speaks of a Young Adult gathering and the Office of Young Adult Ministry. Later this morning I spoke with Jason, the Associate Program Officer for Young Adult and Campus Ministries. He told me that in Europe "youth" means "young adult." I let him know that the language would not be understood people here.

The major issue I and many of the educators here at Convention have with D064 is that they are asking for $50,000 for scholarships for a one-time event. That is half of my entire budget for the triennium and a quarter of the Adult Formation budget for the triennium. Tomorrow morning's meeting should be interesting.

The rest of today was light in terms of schedule. I spent most of the morning in the Church Center Staff Office on the second floor of the Convention Center. I checked email and filed off a bunch of email read over the past few days, since we can access the Church Center public drives from the computers set up in the office. I attended the daily Center Director Check-In, which is open to any staff free/available when it is held.

I went down to the worship hall early to assist with the arrival of the children. The movement of the Children's Program participants from place to place is much easier now that we've had a few days under our belts.

After lunch I dropped by the Discovery Center and had a chance to spend some time with Robyn Szoke who hired me at the Church Center seven years ago this month. It was good to catch up with her, and we're hoping to have some more time together while she's here.

The Children's Program came to the Discovery Center at 3:00 for story time with Nancy Tennyson and learned about bishops. Stephanie Wight assisted with the demonstration of a bishops' vestments. Here are two future bishops:

One of the great blessings to the Children's Program is the presence of staff from Camp Wrightwood. They adjusted their Summer Camp schedules and brought four of their young leaders to assist with the program. The directors have participated in the planning of the program from the beginning. The diocese is lucky to have these folks as part of their organization. Here is one of the young leaders in the tee shirt they all wear in various versions:


Good rules of the road for almost any situation, don't you think?

In other legislative news, A082, the Lifelong Formation Charter passed the House of Deputies with some minor changes. You can find the current version here. A084, Continued Development of A Province IX Curriculum, is also on its way to the House of Bishops. Resolution A085, Ministry of the Child, has been filed, but it has not yet been assigned to a committee.

I collected lots of buttons today, but not as many as the daughter of one of our volunteers. Emma Li had covered her hat with them and then filled it half-full with more. Her mother figures she will go home with one of every single button available at Convention. Three of these buttons are part of the series of four produced by the Older Adult Ministries network. I picked up the first one--a child's hand holding an older adult's hand--a couple of days ago. And I couldn't escape the EfM booth without one of their buttons.

Two of these buttons are from the organization pushing for 1% of the Episcopal Church's budget to go toward the Millennium Development Goals. Devon Anderson, executive director of Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation and a deputy to General Convention, is the daughter of House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson. My favorite of this group is the one from Heifer International that says "Love a Llama."

And here is the last of today's collection:

As a member of the Church Center Staff, I have to be very careful about buttons, etc., because it could be seen as advocating for something. This is especially important when it comes to any organization promoting anything that might be related to the work of my office. So I am not even wearing the Evangelism & Congregational Life button I have.

Joe and Trudy invited me to have dinner with them this evening. I had planned on attending the Integrity Eucharist, but after a week of ever increasing crowds, the last place I wanted to be was at one of the most heavily attended events of convention. We went to a Red Lobster not too far from the Convention Center, but far enough away that there were no other identifiable Episcopalians in sight during our meal. Time away with a couple of good friends was the perfect way to end my first week in Anaheim.

Even though tomorrow is Saturday, it is a work day. First up will be the 7:30 a.m. Education Committee meeting.

Peace,
Jeff

Convention - Day 3

I keep a daily schedule that fits in my name badge holder. It starts out as one sheet of paper:

And is still one sheet of paper when I'm finished with it:

Go to http://www.pocketmod.com/ if you want to see how this works.

Two more views of the Discovery Center, so you can see what it looks like up and running:



This morning's legislative committee meetings began at 7:00 a.m. The Education Committee held hearings on D014, B013, C014, and A068. The resolution we thought might bring in a crowd was C014, which asks for a committee to develop a theology of Christian marriage. Only one persons testified, the deputy from the Diocese of El Camino Real who wrote the resolution. I think the committee may "kill" it. The rest of the meeting was spent deliberating on D014, a resolution on Environmental Justice.

During today's Eucharist, the Archbishop of Canterbury offered a meditation. I literally almost fell off my chair because I dozed off during the meditation. I was not the only one. Most of the people I spoke with were not impressed by the Archbishop.

This afternoon, since I was not needed in the Education Committee, I attended the Prayer Book and Liturgy Committee meeting where they were holding hearings on C019, C025, C041, C042, C004, C009, Co17, C028, C031, Co56, and D043, all of which dealt with same sex marriage or blessings. Testimony was less rancorous than in the past, fewer people than in the past signed up to testify, and everyone who signed up was able to testify. What really surprised me was that there were fewer con witnesses than pro. Most likely, these 11 resolutions will be merged into two--one addressing the Canons and one the issue of marriage.

Ruth-Ann attended the Education hearing where they deliberated on the Charter for Lifelong Formation. In the end, the committee changed four words before passing it and sending it on to the House of Deputies.

The final hearing of the day was this evening's Program, Budget, and Finance committee hearing on spending. I was disappointed in the way the chair handled the people who signed up to testify. To begin with, witnesses were not called in the order in which they signed up. She claimed she was trying to get a variety of issues in each group of 10 called. That was clearly not the case, as speakers for the Four Supported Dioceses (Native dioceses) outnumbered those on any other topic. Only two deputies who signed up to speak on formation issues were called. No visitors or guests were called.

My major disappointment so far is that children were dropped for the priorities. The priority where they should have been included states "youth and young adults." People you talk to say that "youth" includes all age groups under adults in their thinking. However, the way the Church Center offices are structured, "youth" does not include people under the age of 12.

Here are today's buttons. There are two batches. The second group is a set of buttons with faces of LBGTQ folks from around the world. Each button comes attached to a card with the person's story on it.



Peace,
Jeff

Convention - Day 2

In spite of the fact that today was the second day of General Convention, we had our Opening Eucharist this morning. The children are in the Hilton, one of two hotels right by the Convention Center, so they processed from the lobby of the Hilton and into the worship hall. Here they are entering the Convention Center.

Here they are entering the worship hall:


Everywhere they go, the children become a photo op. Great. Let's show them off, but then they disappear from everyone's radar screen. It's kind of like those churches where the kids are in Sunday School while their parents are in church, except for one Sunday a month where they get brought up to the front of the church for the "children's homily." Given the proposed budget for the next triennium, there won't be a lot of work coming out of the Children's Formation Office, and most of the budget for 2012 will go to the Children's Program at the 77th General Convention, where once again they will become a photo op.

We had our first protesters today--three men shouting at convention participants. When I passed by they were yelling something about the "adulterer Clinton." Some of the local people we spoke to said this bunch are local crazies that picket just about every kind of church, no matter what their political or theological point of view.

I attended two hearings of the Education Committee. They cancelled the evening hearing so people could go hear the Archbishop of Canterbury speak. Quite frankly, there was no reason for me to be at the hearings. None of the resolutions assigned to the committee deal with children. In fact, no proposed resolutions deal with concern children or the work of my office. The committee called on Ruth-Ann several times to provide information on resolutions they were deliberating upon. Most of their discussion dealt with Resolution A082, the Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation. When the broke into sub committees, Ruth-Ann and Keane, vice chair of the Standing Commission on Lifelong Christian Education and Formation, remained to serve as resources for them.

MerLynne and I went to the Exhibit Hall and wandered around. We stopped by the St. Nicholas Center booth and picked up a bunch of information. At Forward Movement we picked up some samples that we can pass on to folks at home. We looked at a variety of arts and crafts. Here is today's collection of buttons:


This evening I had dinner with the Children's Program Staff. A local parish, the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Placentia, hosted us for lasagna, salad, wine, coffee and soy sorbet. It was a treat for the staff to sit at a real table and eat from real dishes with real stainless utensils.

Tomorrow's hearing begins at 7:00 a.m., so I'm off to bed.

Peace,
Jeff

Convention Day 1

Convention has begun, although it is still gearing up. My day started with the first Education Committee hearing at 8:00 this morning. The committee--as most committees are--is a cognate committee. Officially, there are two separate committees meeting in the room, one for the House of Bishops and one for the House of Deputies. However, they operate as one committee except when it comes to voting. The morning session was devoted to introductions, explanation of procedures and scheduling. Scott Evenbek, the Deputies Chair, asked the committee members and visitors to spend time in pairs discussing with each other the following question:

What was the most powerful event in your Christian Formation?

Each member of the pair introduced the other to the entire group, including we visitors. After introductions, John Rabb, the Bishops Chair, ran through the nuts and bolts of how things worked. That was followed by a discussion of the Resolutions assigned to the committee and developing a hearing schedule.

At one point during the meeting a runner came in with a message, which he handed to John, who handed it to Scott. Scott then read it to the committee. "Committees can ask for only one power strip."

The hearing schedule is as follows (as amended at this evening's hearing):

Tuesday July 7 - 7:00 p.m.

• A161: AIDS Education and Resources
• A182: Continue Forward Movement
• A163: AIDS Education Materials (I don't have the full name handy)

Wednesday July 8 - 11:00 a.m.

• A082: Charter for Lifelong Christian Formation
• A083: Directive for Dioceses to Formulate a Strategy for Lifelong Christian Formation in the Next Triennium
• B003: Camping Ministries

Wednesday July 8 - 2:00 p.m.

• C014: Theological Study of Christian Marriage (this could be a hot topic one)
• A068: Reconciliation Training

Thursday July 9 - 7:00 a.m.

• D014: Environmental Justice
• B013: Equipping the Baptized for Ministry in TEC

The hearing ended just before 11:30, about half an hour early. I headed up to the Church Center Staff Office to print some documents and make copies before going to the Discovery Center for the opening of the Exhibit Hall. The "opening act" as it were, was a troupe of young Korean Drumming Troupe. Korean Drumming, multicultural kids. Here are some pictures of them coming up an aisle near the Discovery Center.





And here is the Discovery Center fully together and just before the Native American Smudging Ceremony opening the Center. Pictures were not allowed during the sacred ceremony.

Ruth-Ann and I had to leave after the first portion of the ceremony to run upstairs to the Program, Budget, and Finance Committee hearing. This was an important hearing because it was the meeting where the committee asked for input regarding the priorities of the Episcopal Church for the next triennium. It was clear that the Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation were once again well organized to push for continuation of the Millennium Development Goals as a top priority. Two speakers did speak to the inclusion of Formation, but were far outnumbered. We can only wait and see what comes out of the committee later this week.

I had half an hour for lunch and decided to eat at the concession in the Exhibit Hall. The food was actually pretty good and not all that expensive. The short lunch period was due to my shift at the Church Center booth from 2:00 to 4:00. It wasn't very busy, because there was a legislative session.

I went from the booth to the Children's Program to check in and see how things were going. I also spent a few minutes with the toddlers who were having a grand time in their room.

And, of course, what would convention be without the collecting of STUFF. Here is my first day's accumulation of buttons:

Today shouldn't be as busy, but one never knows what can happen in committees or legislative sessions.

Peace,
Jeff

Pre-Convention - Day 2

Many of us play multiple roles at Convention. I have three name badges, which allow me access to various parts of Convention for the several roles I have. The green Exhibitor badge allows me into the Exhibit Hall during "set up" hours when the hall is closed to the general public. The blue bordered one with the Ubuntu logo in the corner comes from the Children's Program and lets folks know I am officially part of the Children's Program Staff. The third badge tells everyone that I am an employee of the Episcopal Church Center and gets me into the Church Center Office where we have access to computers, printers, a copier, coffee, snacks, mailboxes, etc.

Today was the first day of the Children's Program. We had more children than we expected--five school-age children, and one toddler. We're still working out some of the kinks, but it's going well. Susan Bek and her team are to be commended for all their hard work preparing for the program. They took the hotel meeting rooms assigned to the program by the General Convention Office and transformed them into much more child friendly spaces.

Here's the nursery:

The Toddler's room:



The Atrium, which incorporates both Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Godly Play:


The Art room:


The Staff room, with staff:



They had bags made for participants and staff. The children will each get a bag with their name on it to hold their personal items. The bags will be kept in a box that is easily accessible. They are large bags like the eco-friendly bags you can get in many stores these days. Here is the bag:

I hook mine over the handle of my rolling bag so that it drapes across the case, visible for all to see--a rolling billboard!

Work continues on the Discovery Center. This is what it looked like at the end of today:


This evening I attended the Native American/Indigenous Ministries Reception at St. Michael's church. St. Michael's is hosting several receptions and other programs over the course of General Convention. After the reception some of us came back to the hotel to attend a work-related meeting. And after the meeting, a handful of us gathered for a light supper and drinks. I probably should have gone up to my room and gone to bed after the meeting, but I actually felt better after having eaten and spent time with colleagues in an informal setting.

This is what makes our days as long as they are. Convention isn't just about the legislative process for the Episcopal Church. Many liken it to a big family reunion.

It's late, and I'm tired, so I'm off to bed.

Peace,
Jeff

Pre-Convention - Day 1

I got up at 6:00 this morning and met Joe in the lobby of the hotel. We walked over to the International House of Pancakes for breakfast. Once again we learned just what it means to be in a resort area. My breakfast was $20, including tip. After dinner this evening, a couple of us made a quick trip the the nearby 7-11, which also had outrageous prices, so we had something for our breakfasts in our rooms. A pre-packaged bowl of Special K and 12 oz of milk was $2.98.

It turned out that the Children's Program can't get into the meeting rooms in the Hilton until 6:30 tomorrow morning, so I spent all day helping with setting up the Discovery Center in the Exhibit Hall. For lunch we took orders and sent two of the team to Subway. Lunch for 10 was approximately $51.

Here are my friends Joe and Trudy standing in the eight booth spaces rented for the Center:

The frame was waiting for us on a pallet when we arrived:

The frame ready to be raised:

It takes two forklifts to raise the frame:

The fully assembled frame:

Curtains up, signs hung, and carpet laid:

And the furniture goes in:

Four of us went to dinner at a barbecue place at the Sheraton. The prices weren't outrageous, and the food was good. After dinner, and the stop at the 7-11, we found the whirlpool and sat for a bit soaking our feet. After a day on concrete floors, it felt really good. Then we set up shop in my room to work on some of the ongoing projects that need to be done during the course of Convention.

And here is my oasis of calm in the midst of Convention madness:

I'm hoping that by tomorrow my body clock will have finished readjusting so that I can sleep through the night. We shall see.

The Children's Program starts tomorrow, and General Convention officially begins on Tuesday

On your mark...

Peace,
Jeff