Last week leaders from all over the Episcopal Church met in Louisville for the 81st General Convention.
You can see highlights of the General Convention, and read press releases about significant legislation passed, here.
The things I was most personally gratified to see were the approval of the first readings of a gender-neutral marriage rite, and an amendment to our Catechism defining marriage as a lifelong union between two people (rather than a man and woman) as part of the Book of Common Prayer. These were things I was working on the past two years on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music.
Other highlights included the reunification of the Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan into the Diocese of the Great Lakes; the reunification of the Dioceses of Milwaukee, Eau Claire, and Fond du Lac into the Diocese of Wisconsin; and the admission of the Episcopal Church in Navajoland as a Missionary Diocese of the Episcopal Church. In each case, these were the culmination of multi-year processes of prayer, listening, and discernment, and it was so good to celebrate with all their deputies, families, and bishops!
Finally, the election of our new Presiding Bishop, Sean Rowe, was a moment of joy and celebration for almost the whole convention. I believe Bishop Rowe is the right bishop to lead us in this moment, and in the nine years to come of his term. He is a gifted administrator and strategic thinker and put his vision into practice immediately by foregoing the usual service of transfer between Presiding Bishops at Washington National Cathedral in lieu of a smaller and more modest event at the chapel of the Episcopal Church offices in New York City. What work of the Gospel can the funds previously earmarked for that service do? I expect him to challenge us with that question soon.
His sermon at the Closing Eucharist of Convention set this tone:
“…What about our idolatry of structures and practices that exclude and diminish our witness? We have to get it together. That’s going to mean laying some things down. The struggle ahead will require a tolerance for uncertainty, and a willingness to make real sacrifices. We’ll actually need to let go of some of our grievances and hold more lightly our beliefs about how the church should work and who has a voice.
And we must learn to have hard conversations with each other, with love and respect, so that we’re all pulling in the same direction: the transformation of the world by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
You can read or watch Presiding Bishop-Elect Rowe’s full sermon here.
To see photos from the 81st General Convention, click HERE
To see more photos of our AZ Deputies at the General Convention, visit our Facebook page HERE