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