Report from General Convention

Dateline: Columbus, Ohio, June 2006

I found Him in the shining of the stars, I marked Him in the flowering of His fields,     
But in His ways with men I find Him not.  I waged His wars, and now I pass and die.    
 O me!  for why is all around us here as if some lesser god had made the world,            
 But had not force to shape it as he would, Till the High God behold it from beyond,    
And enter it, and make it beautiful?                                                        (Tennyson, Idyls of the King)

Actually, Tennyson did not have King Arthur say these word in Columbus, but most of us felt like saying them when we were there.  We left with a curious mixture of combat fatigue, elation, and befuddlement that the Church could be so diverted by really small, virtually meaningless things.  Meaningless things are, of course, in the eye of the beholder, but it is clear that a solid majority of those meeting at the triennial gathering of the  Episcopal Church find that the problems that cause parishes and dioceses to leave, or distance themselves from the American Church are not problems; rather, they are evidence of the transforming love of Christ.  If you trace this predicament against the areas of repression and war that occupy so much of the world and the news, your will find that the similarities are, to say the least, disconcerting.  Perhaps we are "children of a lesser God."

Or else as if the world were wholly fair, but that these eyes of men are dense and dim,      
And have not power to see it as it is: perchance, because we see not to the close . . . .

We were faced with a choice: conform to the discomfiture of the wider Church or press on with what we think is right and enjoin the world to deal with it.  The outcome, as usual, happened in the in-between.  There was a rumor circulated prior to the Convention, by a prelate of the English Church, that if a female were to be elected Presiding Bishop, this would constitute the final rent in the fabric that binds the Anglican Communion; schism would be a fait accompli.  We elected Katharine Jefferts Shori; the Communion still lives with no pronouncements of the final doom.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that we passed a resolution, at the urging of our bishops, that calls for restraint in the selection of bishops whose pattern of life might cause concern in other parts of the communion.  This is bad in that it is a slight retrenchment from our policy of full inclusion.  The fate of the resolution was in doubt until our Presiding Bishop-elect asked for this tool to use when talking with the rest of the Communion.  Without it they may not talk to her; with it they may not talk to her.  A good question then is, Why talk?  One possible flaw in the foreign policy of the United States is the fact that we have a great list of countries to whom we won't talk for fear of rewarding bad behavior.  Bishop Jefferts Shori feels that it might be short sided not to talk to folks even if they are really bad apples.  The House of Deputies agreed and passed the resolution.  One other reason to stay in touch as officially and constructively as we can with the Third World (most of whose church leaders disapprove of what we are doing big time) is that a statistical percentage of that world are gay and lesbian, have Aids, or for a myriad of reasons need our help.  No talk; no help.  There is a real sense that the new PB will use this tool wisely and tell us quickly if it is not working.  She starts work on November 1, 2006.

For the most part, the rest of the work done during the ten days was more important than the above, but it is boring and would not likely titillate even the refined palate of a member of St. Paul's Church.  We worked hard, had quite a few laughs, cost the Church a lot of money, made and renewed friendships, made the news off and on, were often moved to tears of joy and of sadness.  Was it worth it?  It depends on the price you are willing to pay to save an institution that sometimes seems bent on self-destruction.

For I, being simple, thought to work His will, and have but stricken with the sword in vain;
And all whereon I leaned in wife and friend is traitor to my peace, and all my realm       
 Reels back into the beast, and is no more.
 My God, thou hast forgotten me in my death;  
Nay God my Christ  I pass but shall not die.

To paraphrase T. S. Elliot: We are no longer comfortable in the old dispensations with an intrenched people clutching their gods.  We are not children of a lesser god, but of the "High God."  Who, in His or Her own good time will enter us and make us beautiful.

James Noah Wilson