The Lord's Day
The Rev. Stephen E. Moore
Clergy Deputy to General Convention
On this day in 1989, Vincent W. Warner was consecrated the Bishop of Olympia. +Vincent is the bishop who ordained me to both the diaconate and the priesthood. I offer thanks for his confidence in me and prayers for his well-being. He is not attending GC77.
This morning was the big big big Convention Eucharist at which the Presiding Bishop preached and the Episcopal Church Women offered the United Thank Offering for worthwhile projects all around the church.
It was also Indiana Day at convention but the event was held outdoors in Victory Stadium -- the downtown baseball field -- so we stayed in our air-conditioned hotel room and watched Federer beat Murray at Wimbledon.
Today was also the day on which everyone involved in any Episcopal summer camping programme was invited to wear their camp tee shirt to the floor of the House of Deputies. Several folks from the Diocese of Olympia complied and we looked splendid!
The afternoon legislative session was messy, interrupted, contentious and altogether typical of what happens when the community of faith impersonates a legislature.
The whole mess about authorized translations of Holy Scripture (about which I whined yesterday), returned briefly to the floor before being referred back to a legislative committee for "perfection." The Episcopal Church is good at euphemism.
We heard the second reading of a constitutional amendment to eliminate the provision whereby elections of new bishops which occur within 120 days before General Convention are affirmed by the convention rather than through the normal consent process which involves bishops and lay leaders around the church communicating by mail. The vote was by orders, which means the lay deputies vote and the clergy deputies vote. The Diocese of Olympia made me proud by splitting our votes 2-2 in both orders. There is no mindless uniformity in our diocese! The resolution passed and the constitution is amended. Thus there will be no Committee on the Consecration of Bishops -- the committee to which I have served as liaison this year -- at the next General Convention.
We elected both lay and clerical members to the Disciplinary Board for Bishops -- a sort of trial court for bishops accused of misconduct.
And then the rains came. Nobody cheers when it rains in Seattle but everyone in Indianapolis welcomed the raindrops which caused the temperature to drop twenty degrees in only a few minutes. Like good Washingtonians, we walked back to the hotel in the rain without complaint.
There was a quick meeting of the delegates from Province VIII -- the Episcopal dioceses in the Western United States -- to nominate people to be elected to the committee to nominate the next presiding bishop in 2015. The province did not have the wisdom to nominate Katrina Hamilton, 'tho she offered herself to this ministry, which is the church's loss.
We ended the day with the Diocesan Dinner at the Webber Grill. Dede found this rather remarkable restaurant at which most everything is cooked on large Webber grills. A jolly group of 24 attended incuding Bob Moore and Bishop Nedi Rivera, who are "members" emeritus of the Diocese of Olympia in perpetuity. All of the food was good; the meatloaf was truly memorable. They bake it, then smoke it, then grill it for service with a barbecue sauce. This I gotta try at home!
