And, so, we begin again.

Monday, June 12, 2006

I arrived here early yesterday evening and, as they say, hit the ground running. I literally threw my suitcases in my room, turned around and went right back out the door. I was due at an Integrity briefing at 6 PM - a brisk 15 minute walk away - and was already running 25 minutes late. More importantly, I knew "hot finger foods" would be served and I'm never one to pass up a free meal - or a glass of white wine.

Both of our seminarians were at the meeting - Megan is a legislative specialist following issues of stewardship and evangelism and Jon holds the same position, but in terms of issues concerning HIV/AIDS. They both had a kind of "deer in the headlights" look - which is really the only appropriate response at your first convention, much less your first Integrity briefing.

The Integrity "Nerve Center" is an amazing place - deputies, bishops and volunteers, sitting amidst boxes of papers, computers, fax machines, and Xerox machines. Our task here is pretty daunting, but we are well organized and bouyed by the competence and deep spirituality of our leadership.

Just as that was ending, I ran to my next meeting. "The Vebosians" (so named because we do tend to go on a bit) are a group of folk who are members of the listserv known as The House of Bishops and Deputies - HoB/D - or, as a term of entearment, "Hobdee".

We are the most unlikely group of folk to gather together under any set of circumstances, but we decided - in private conversations offline - that if there is any hope for this General Convention, it would come in the form of the group of us meeting regularly to pray and talk and be in relationship - for better or for worse.

And so, we gathered together - three women clergy and 12 men, about 8 of whom are clergy - and celebrated Eucharist together in a hotel meeting room. We then munched on some "Wyoming Fudge" (no good Anglican fudge being yet available), drank wine (someone actually brought a bottle of Maker's Mark bourbon) as we told a little something of ourselves and our journies in faith.

We are liberals, progressives, moderates, conservatives and those who consider their faith to be orthodox. We are evangelicals, anglo-catholics, straight-up-ain't-messin'-round-with-anything-other-than-what's-in-the-BCP Protestants, and everything else in between.

One of our members is a former Primate in an Anglican Church which left the Episcopal Church after the ordination of women. He has returned to the Episcopal church, a rector of a congregation, and is a member of the AAC (the arch-conservative American Anglican Council) and the Anglican Network - two organizations sworn to leave if we do not "repent" of our actions at General Convention 2003 - and, oh, by the way, ruin the Episcopal Church on their way out so they can be recognized as the "true branch of the true vine."

What we do agree on is that we love Jesus and the Episcopal Church, we are bold witnesses for power of God and the Holy Spirit working in our lives, and we want to stay, if at all possible, in the Anglican Communion (but, this is not a deal-breaker for some of us, not if it costs us our integrity).

That, we think, is enough to keep us together and have hope for our church - even when the archconservatives come to the floor of convention with their own ecclesiastical version of "deal or no deal."

That meeting ended around 11:30 and I found myself back in my room with the daunting task of unpacking my bags and organizing my room - which will be my "home away from home" for the next 10 days.

The night went by all too quickly as I began my day around 6 AM with some time for prayer (some of it spent on the treadmill in the hotel gym), and off to my first meeting on the Urban and Social Conserns Committee and the "Sexual Minority" (formerly Human Sexuality) Subcommittee from 8 AM to 12 noon.

At this point, we only have four resolutions to deal with, but not to worry: there will be more to come. This gave our subcommittee a chance to "mark" our territory - "spraying" the various positions on the appropriate areas/issues we considered "ours."

After that meeting, it took me exactly one hour to get from our meeting room to convention hall to "officially register" as a deputy. This is the part of convention I call "Our big fat Anglican wedding" - so many people to meet and greet.

It's all pretty amazing.

The legislative sessions of Convention begin tomorrow, so there's a bit of a break today. Various groups and organizations are meeting for dinner (I'm with the Episcopal Women's Caucus tonight), to share what we've learned, exchange information, and, of course, speculate endlessly on who might do or say what and how it will all turn out.

I'll be posting daily as events progress. Please do keep the church in your daily prayers - especially in this time and place in our history. I don't think we'll be able to come through with our faith intact without the prayers of the people we represent.