Day 1
Monday, June 12, 2006. The day dawned crisp and bright. It is about 60 here in Columbus (it was 100 the last week in Texas) and our hotel is located across the street from the Convention Center. The first day at these events is always a time of figuring out where you are, where you need to be and how to get there. In other words, you are lost most of the day. Registration went smoothly and hundreds of volunteers line the corridors in their red caps and red aprons. Their knowledge is limited, but every attempt is made to be helpful. At 2:00 PM, the doors opened for the Welcome and hundreds of Deputies and Bishops flooded into the worship area for the first time. Each deputy and bishop is assigned to a Scripture Discussion group and you are supposed to sit at that table when you are in this room. Press were segmented to a side area with visitors.
A large platform dominates the front of the area, with pulpits, an organ, many chairs and sound equipment. This is the dais from which Convention Eucharist will occur. Deputation meetings begin at breakfast at 7:30, Eucharist is at 8:30 and the day rolls on from there. Tonight, the deputation from Dallas will meet and discuss tomorrow’s agenda. There are piles of paper to read, in addition to the Convention “Blue Book” (yes, this year it is green) of already proposed legislation. It truly is a monumental undertaking.
As much as is possible, I will describe each day’s events and the outcomes of the hearings and the votes in this, the General Convention Daily Email. My notes/comments are inside brackets, in italics.
Monday, June 12, 2006 2:00 PM Presiding Bishop’s Welcome
“Welcome to the 75th General Convention of the Episcopal Church of the USA. We have worked very hard for the last calendar year to prepare for your arrival at this meeting and are grateful that you have come.
“As I commissioned hundreds of volunteers yesterday and today, I told them that, “The inner disposition of those serving the meeting will have a lot to do with the meetings’ character. Anxiety will produce disorder; calm will produce grace and truth. The courtesy and respect we accord to one another will determine the character of the meeting.
“We are part of the Anglican Communion and we determine the meaning of the Gospel in very different ways, but we still are in common mission. [Ed Note: The PB is still hedging on all of us working with one accord of the Scriptures and that being the basis of our Communion.] I trust the guidance of the Spirit,[Griswold never specifies WHICH spirit he is talking about] and the people in our Houses of Deputies and Bishops, confidant that they will make wise and careful decisions about a church that will restore all people to Christ.
My first General Convention was as a deputy from Pennsylvania in 1976. [Ed. Note: this is the General Convention that “regularized” women’s ordination after women were ordained in rogue ceremonies in New York and Philadelphia.] I was selected Sergeant of Arms to discipline unruly members. Was that a foreboding to my current job? I have been at every Convention since then, either as a deputy or a bishop.
“Some decisions have been costly and have involved difficult choices. But, the work of reconciliation is also costly. After all, it cost Jesus his life. [Jesus’ work on the Cross was reconciliation of man to God and God to man; the PB talks about personal reconciliation, man to man not man to God.]
“Our time in Columbus is an opportunity for God’s love to break loose afresh among us. God is un-comprehensible. [God revealed himself in both his son, Jesus Christ and in the Scriptures. “If you have seen me, you have seen the father. He very much wants us to see him and recognize his work in the world.] Over time the Spirit reveals more and more. [The Revelation of God is not partial or evolving.]
“Truth is discovered in communion. Seeking the truth is a communal enterprise. We have come to seek the truth together. Christ’s truth is embodied in paths straight and crooked as Scripture tells us.
“We all have prejudices that keep us safe and secure. Unawareness is the root of all evil, because people like ourselves hold onto their partial truths and refuse to surrender their limited understandings.
“In my travels these past 8 years, I have learned much. There are very many different images of what the church is and should be. This is not new. Conflict in the life of the church across the ages has to do with clashes in images of groups that see themselves as faithful to the gospel. In such cases we become insular, defensive and closed off from the Spirit of Truth.
“The clash of images is very apparent when we speak of holiness and justice. Some emphasize the holiness of the church while others talk of the church as an agent of justice. Neither role can be denied. But they are not something we can construct on our own. Not to be set against each other but working together. Set by tradition but remember that any one image of the church by those who possess it, is incomplete. The church is always under construction. It is always under renovation, growing towards the work of Christ among us. Our responses are to be animated by the Spirit and we are to be renewed by the Spirit of reconciliation in Christ. We do not do this in our own strength or by our own will, but through the work of Christ in us. [OK, this is a goodly dose of Gris-speak. Those of us who do not believe the Bible requires revision are always being portrayed by Griswold as unaware, insular and defiant to the will of the spirit (which he never capitalizes). This is clearly not conventional Christian teaching.]
“Two items are of particular importance at this Convention: the election next Sunday of 26th PB and the response to Windsor Process. All of this must be considered in the framework of Communion. A body cannot be whole without differences and distinctions among its members. The eye cannot say, ‘I have no need of you to the hand.’ Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury says, ‘through baptism, we are caught up in solidarities not of our own choosing.’
“What does it mean for the sake of the world to live in communion?
“How are we being called to grow up into Christ?
“And then the evil memory of slavery in our own past and our communal shame at using the Scriptures to defend that practice. [This is the new battle cry of the liberal folks. Scriptures were used to defend and continue Slavery in the United States. We are now ashamed of this. We will look back in 30years and be equally ashamed at the way Scriptures were used to keep homosexuals from full participation in the Church.]
“I pray that in the days ahead, we will not curl up in the type of hedgehogs, quills out; or look to ourselves as the model of God’s blessing to the world.”
The Rev. Dean George Werner, President of the House of Deputies, spoke next. He began his remarks by saying that today is, “a day of many thanks. It is a privilege to find out the fascinating and wonderful stories of those who love Jesus Christ and whose lives are changed by that love. I spent last 6 years visiting around the Episcopal Church, hearing the many stories about how people’s lives have been changed by Jesus Christ. It has been such a thrill. [The Very Rev. George Werner was the Dean of the Cathedral, Pittsburgh, prior to his election. He unashamedly uses the name of Jesus and freely quotes Scripture in most of his presentations.]
“This is the most international of the provinces in Anglican communion. Fifteen sovereign countries make up this province. And each is unique and has their own agenda.
“Today I come before you in a moment of God’s history that we share. Fear, hatred and anger are not gospel values.
“The stories of this church are phenomenal and we are not telling them. I want you all to know that this is a tough moment in God’s history but the stories are phenomenal. We must tell people our stories and how we found Jesus Christ .
“Are we sitting around the campfire terrified that some pagan wind will blow out God’s light? We are walling it in and talking only about our own sovereignty. The problem is our reconciliation system. We have a tendency to say ‘I will not walk with you until you understand that I am right.’ We should say, ‘just walk with me.’
“If we remember that this convention is for a reason and the reason is to get better at witness and mission. Not just one attitude must prevail, but all of us walking together hand in hand. Like the disciples on the road to Emmaus did.
“Jesus is our peace and has broken down the walls of hostility. This world is hungry for the peace that passes all understanding and we are the wounded hands of God that need to go out and touch that world in His name.
“Thank you for taking the time out of your busy lives and coming to this Convention. May God bless our work together here.”
Presiding Bishop Griswold closed the session with this prayer:
“God of all creation in whom we live and move and have our being, be with us. May the spirit of love and truth dwell in our hearts and grow us up in Christ. Inform us with your wisdom. We repent of our sinfulness. Fill us with courage and hope and widen our vision so that we can see and hope like Christ who stretched out his arms on the cross to embrace the whole world. AMEN”
It’s 5:30 PM now and Orientation for Deputies and Bishops is over. The rules have been explained; the building explored and everyone is off for the only free evening in the next 2 weeks. Pray for us! It has begun in earnest. Cherie Wetzel for Anglicans United & Latimer Press.
