On the brink

Three days and counting until GC 2009. Bishop Miller's funeral yesterday gave me pause and reminded me that the contributions we make and the things we do in our families, in our communities, in our churches, at events like General Convention - are parts of an ongoing drama that continues long after our performance in this life is finished. I keep hearing Bishop Miller's laughter and remembering the advice Archbishop George Carey gave us in a surprise visit to Sewanee my first week of seminary "not to take ourselves too seriously." Bishop Miller lived a life dedicated to his family and his church, to proclaiming the Gospel, and to enjoying the gifts God gave him. I can't imagine a better eulogy and will try to remember the "fun" part of that as I enter the serious business of General Convention on Tuesday.

There have been literally hundreds of resolutions pre-filed and many more will be brought to the floor of the convention. I have read many (but not all yet!) of the resolutions and many of them are procedural, simply attempting to make the system work a little more smoothly.

After all the hot-button issues, the big media storms of previous conventions, it appears that the controversial issue this year is whether or not to have a mandated, church-wide health insurance plan. (I jokingly told someone recently that I spent twenty years in insurance and now that I am finally getting to go to General Convention, all we're going to talk about is INSURANCE!) There is also a lay-employee pension program that seems to be getting a lot of attention.

There is a long-overdue revision to Lesser Feasts and Fasts (the book with all the Saints in it) that will likely be adopted for trial use at this convention and final approval at the next convention and there are several new and beautiful liturgical options being proposed.

At our diocesan forum last week, Bishop Parsley said he would not be surprised to see a resolution adopted that instructs the Committee for Liturgy and Music to begin studying a rite for the blessing of same gender relationships. He is very doubtful that there will be any kind of mandate that the church implement any kind of blessing yet but thinks (rightly so in my mind) that if there is the possibility that future conventions might propose that, the Liturgy and Music Committee should have at least been looking at and studying the issue beforehand.

The Millennium Development Goals were listed as our top missional priority at the last General Convention. Although the overall budget provides for a significant amount of giving to MDG causes, the specific MDG category has been removed as a line-item from the budge this year. My guess is that there will be some controversy over that.

One of the exciting things about this is that no one really knows yet what the most controversial and energy-garnering issue will be at this convention. It may be a quiet and uneventful meeting for the purpose of doing the business of the church, or it may be a Spirit-filled, media circus where amazing and marvelous new events unfold. Either way, I am looking forward with great anticipation to being there, to seeing the inner workings of our marvelous church, and to sharing this adventure with you in the days to come. JM+