Saturday mornings are not what they used to be . . .

I believe I remember something about God resting on Saturday but the conveeners of this convention must have a different translation. Today, like every other of these 11 days, begins with committee meetings at 7:30 a.m., legislative sessions from 9 until 11, Eucharist from 11:30 until 12:45, legislative sessions from 2 until 6:00 p.m. and then meetings that go well into the night. Tonight there are no "business" meetings but the seminaries are all hosting dinners and Bishop Parsley will be speaking at the Sewanee dinner I will be attending.

I had the great privilege of sharing the Eucharist with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, in a strange and marvelous way on Thursday. I arrived a bit early (sort of a new experience for me!) to the joint meeting just prior to the daily Eucharist and a volunteer (they are everywhere in their bright yellow aprons and big, friendly smiles) was at the door holding a basket with small slips of paper. As I entered the room, she asked if I would like to serve communion that day and I readily agreed. There are several thousand people at each of these Eucharists with hundreds of loaves of bread, gallons of wine, and many, many receiving stations scattered all over the hall where we can take communion. The slip of paper I received listed "Station 7" on it and there were instructions that I was to go to station 7 at "The Peace," get a paten, stand on the purple X, and distribute communion.

At The Peace, I took my bright orange instruction sheet and headed for station 7. Because this operation is so huge with so many people involved, there is, by necessity, a great deal of "stage handling" that goes on. The folks who are managing the flow are good and they are subtle and mostly unseen but they wear headsets, give each other hand signals and, if you watch closely, it almost looks like the production of a TV show. As I was headed to my station, I passed a table loaded with pitchers of wine and baskets of bread. One of the headsetted stage directors saw my bright orange instruction sheet, grabbed my arm, asked what station I was assigned, and spoke into his microphone that he had a "Station 7." He shoved a pitcher of wine in my hand and the next thing I knew, I was standing with about twenty other people, wine or basket of bread in hand, waiting for the cue to "head to the stage" to place all the bounty on the altar where Archbishop Rowan Willams and Bishop Bruno, the bishop of Los Angeles, waited to consecrate it. We stood off to the side during the consecration then marched back on stage to gather it back up and take it back to the various stations for distribution. So, you know, me and Rowan . . .

Yesterday was my first experience with the choir and it is, I believe, going to be one of my favorite experiences of General Convention. The choir is a community I would not otherwise have had, we actually sound pretty good, and it is just a light, fun thing to be doing that is outside the serious business to which we attend all the other times.

And there is much serious business. Yesterday we had a wonderful presentation by the president of Episcopal Relief and Development. I hope to play his presentation for you when I return but know that we - WE - are doing extraordinary work in a hurting world. We have much to be proud of and much, much work to do.

As with many of the previous conventions, there is a great deal of discussion at this convention regarding the issue of homosexuality. As you undoubtedly know, in 2003, the Diocese of New Hampshire elected The Rev. V. Gene Robinson to be their bishop. Robinson is a gay man who had been in partnered relationship for many years. Because of some weird rules of this body, since his election happened within 60 days of General Convention, the entire convention had to consent to his election. (Normally, only the House of Bishops has to consent. We have already had to consent to three or four elections that happened within the past 120 days.) General Convention 2003 found that the election followed all the rules of a valid election and consented. I won't even attempt to give you a full history of what came next but you probably remember the uproar that followed.

The Anglican Consultative Council (the closest thing to a governing body the Anglican Communion has), following the Windsor Report commissioned by Archbishop Williams, asked that the Episcopal Church apologize for the damage we had caused the communion, refrain from ordaining any more gay bishops, and that we not bless same sex unions. That wording is not right but is the gist of their request.

At the 2006 General Convention, on the very last day of the convention, no resolution had been reached that even came close to answering any of those requests and the convention was about to come to an end. Presiding Bishop Griswold and newly elected Presiding Bishop Jefferts-Schori made the unusual request to request suspension of the rules of the House of Deputies, came to the floor of the House of Deputies, and strongly urged the House to pass a compromise resolution to give Bishop Katherine an opportunity to "stay at the table" for the next three years. Resolution B033 was the result in which "this Convention therefore call upon Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

Bishop Katherine has remained "at the table" and the bonds of the communion have healed significantly over these past three years. Many, many of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, however, feel they were the only ones asked to sacrifice - again - in that process. And many, many of them - and their straight counterparts - seem to feel now is the time to move past that resolution, and that we should begin to find ways to more publicly incorporate them and their families into the life of the church.

We are revisiting all these issues and much is up in the air about what will happen in the next few days. Testimony seems to be running about 5 to 1 in favor of developing rites for the blessing of same gender unions.

There is very little opposition at the microphones to "moving beyond B033" in consenting to the consecration of priests who are elected as bishops without the additional qualification of their marital or relationship status.

This issue is far to complex to try and discuss in a blog except to say this: I find myself deeply, deeply moved by the pain that is evident in our church over this issue. Devoted, Christian couples, vestry people, Altar Guild people, Sunday School teachers, who have been in dedicated relationships for 30 or 40 or 50 years want desperately for the church to recognize and bless their committed unions. Devoted, dedicated, good, decent people, strong Christians, can't understand how this "issue" has so consumed our church, are fearful that it will further divide us, and are honestly questioning if this is the right course for our church to take. There is much pain here and regardless of the direction this convention takes, a great many people are going to be hurt further, many of the repercussions of our decisions are unknown, and the way forward is murky at best.

I am finding this burden especially heavy as we move through these long days. I ask for your prayers for me, for the Alabama deputation, and for all the deputies and Bishops who are here trying to discern the will of God in this place.

Finally, I ask for your prayers for our dear Fran. I found out late last night that the doctors have discovered a tumor in Fran's brain and she will undergo a biopsy on Sunday. Please keep her deeply in your prayers and let her and her family know of your concern and your prayers.