Young Adult Festival 2

Sorry, it took longer to get back to this than I expected.


On Thursday I got up early to get to a meeting of Committee 26 (the one responding to the Windsor Report). They heard a little testimony and then began discussing what sort of principles and ideas they wanted incorporated in the resolution before they sent it to the houses. When they wrapped up for the morning it was time to go to Eucharist. This Eucharist's music had a more classical sound to it, and Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold preached on Evelyn Underhill. After eucharist I went up to the HoB and listened while they approved Eucharistic sharing with the United Methodists. After that the house heard from a bishop from northern Uganda about the genocide and terror griping that part of the world. After this I went to lunch, and then went back to the exhibit hall, eventually making my way back the the CAROA booth. At around 3pm I wandered over to the HoD and listened while they passed a resolution from Committee 26 as amended by that committee. When the deputies moved on to other resolutions I moved on to the HoB where they also passed a resolution from Committee 26 as amended. They also concurred with 2 things from the deputies including on the budget priorities. The bishops finished their business quickly and I moved on to the deputation meeting where I heard about the local ministries bishop's spouses were engaging with. We also talked about the status of Title IV and the work of Committee 26. Next I headed over to a young adults reception for dinner and chatting before going to the PB's forum on reconciliation. The forum's speakers were John Danforth, former senator, former US ambassador to the UN, and Episcopal priest, Jenny Te Paa, ahorangi of Te Rau Kahikatea (dean of the College of St. John the Evangelist to all of us who don't speak Maori), Malaika Kamunanwire, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications for ERD, Alex Baumgarten, who works in the Office of Government Relations and the Episcopal Public Policy Network, and the Rt. Rev. Thomas Shaw, SSJE. Danforth commended to us the work of reconciliation and holding together as a sing to a fracturing world that it is possible to hold together inspite of deep disaggreements. I'm not sure he knew anything about the work for the MDGs the convention had already done. Jenny Te Paa encouraged us to create a truly inclusive public square. Malaika Kamunanwire and Alex Baumgarten praised to us the work for the MDGs their organizations were and are doing. Before Bishop Shaw got a chance to speak the PB gave a bit of a closing since he (the PB) had to run to go be on Larry King that evening. Bishop Shaw finished the evening out by telling stories about his trips to Africa and how that work for the MDGs helped people both in Africa and Massachucetts grow in their faith. After the forum finished up I headed back to the hotel. On the way I saw a bit of Larry King, but it looked like it was almost exclusively focused on homosexuality issues and schism in the church, so I didn't stick around to see the whole thing. When I got back to the hotel I stayed up talking about Title IV, Baptism as Full Initiation, the nature of the Anglican Communion, and hearing a variety of strange and funny stories.

On Friday I began my day with breakfast followed by Eucharist. The music for Eucharist sounded a lot like a sort of Rock and Roll praise band. From Eucharist I went over to the HoD. The first thing they did was to consider, and reject, a motion to remove GC from the consent process for bishops. Then they moved on to things that didn't particularly interest me, so I wandered off to lunch at the YAF. During that lunch a couple of people from Sabeel talked to us about the situation in the Holy Land and the work they do on justice for Palistinians and peace in the region. After lunch I went back over to the exhibit hall, grabbed a little dessert at the Affirming Catholicism booth and chatted with them for a little while before going over to the CAROA booth to hang out. Eventually I headed up to the HoB and hung out until ~6pm. Dinner was at a Theology on Tap session on the topic of Marriage. The other big event that evening was the Integrity eucharist which drew about 1000 people according to the reports I heard. The AAC also had a eucharist that night, but reports only give them an attendance of 80. After Theology on Tap I went back to the hotel to hear the legislative briefing and see what resolutions had been acted on so far. Then I went to bed.

On Saturday I had breakfast and went to eucharist again. This time the eucharist was a sort of symbol of the diversity within TEC. The readings were in Chinese and French and the songs were also from an assortment of different cultures. The PB also kept switching the language he was reading the prayers in from one piece to the next. The sermon was a very interesting one by Jenny Te Paa, which you can find here. It was a very nice service and a really wonderful sermon. After eucharist I went out to lunch with about 20 people from Magdalen (the e-mail list serve). The chatting there was lots of fun, and it was great to be able to connect names and faces. By the time I got back from lunch the PB candidates had been formally nominated so I wandered back to the CAROA booth to make another rosary. After the exhibit hall closed I went out to dinner with a young lady in the discernment process in N. Indiana. Then I went to PB Griswold's going away party which was alternatively funny and boring. That rounded out the night.

On Sunday I started my day early with the EWC breakfast before the Sunday eucharist. That eucharist was a jazz eucharist. Immediately after Eucharist the bishops all went off to Trinity by the Capitol building and elected the next PB. It was a closed meeting (think the election of Pope Benedict minus the white smoke in a smaller church) so I wandered over to the CAROA booth and then went to off to have lunch. I listened to the HoD for a while after lunch but they weren't talking about anything interesting compared with what everyone was waiting to hear about. I got bored and walked over to the exhibit hall, but as soon as I got there I ran into the young lady who had been providing the nightly briefings for the YAF, Mary, and heard that the bishops had made their decision and a group of deputies was going out to officially receive word and anounce the choice to the HoD and everyone else who was waiting with bated breath. We wound up waiting for what seemed like forever before it was announced that Bishop Jefferts Schori had been elected. Then a whole bunch of the Deputies got up to say how wonderful it was. In the half hour they talked only a few people rose to speak against the election. Finally the question got called and she was handily confirmed as the new PB. I headed over to the hotel to have some ice cream and fill out evaluation forms. Then I went over to the exhibit hall and hung around at the CAROA booth until the exhibit hall closed. After that I wandered around for a while and eventually made my way to the committee 26 meeting in which they discussed how resolution A161 should read. Then I headed back to the hotel. On my way I ran into Mary and shared a cab with her rather than walk back to the hotel. After the legislative breifing I talked with Mary about her work with EPPN in the Washington office and made my way over to compline. Then I went back to the hotel and hung out in the hotel bar talking about church politics stuff and sports (since a basketball game was on).

On Monday I checked out and went to eucharist. The vocalist at this eucharist was a grand-daughter of the von Trapp family of "Sound of Music" fame. The music was quite beautiful and reminded me a bit of the song at the end of "The Return of the King." Again I spent most of the day, other than a trip out to get lunch, at the CAROA booth. When it came around to closing time I headed for home.

Coming up next "Who was at Convention" and what happened with the things I mentioned as important going into the Convention.

Jon