Day Eight

Sunday Morning! We’re able to sleep a little later, as there isn’t an

8 a.m.

service. Reflecting that it is Sunday, however, Deputies changed from the casual wear to more formal Sunday attire, such as suits or at least (for the men) jacket and tie. And the dress was appropriate, for the Eucharist was impressive. A band of drummers led the procession of the Bishops (virtually all of the Bishops who are in attendance) followed by Presiding Bishop Schori and her two predecessors, Edmund Browning and Frank Griswold. A group of young dancers, carrying silken flags, celebrated in dance to music from the volunteer choir. A music feast permeated the service. Traditional hymns (Holy, Holy Holy, Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation, Let us Break Bread Together), a Gospel processional based on a Ghanian work song, music from the pen of Hildegarde von Bingen (1179 a.d.) and contemporary music written and sung by Elisabeth von Trapp. At the Communion the choir sang my favorite Mozart piece, Ave Verum Corpus. This service was also the United Thank Offering ingathering. In all a two-hour service that flew by!

 

The afternoon’s three-hour legislative session focused on Resolution D025 presented by the Committee on World Missions. The debate took place under a “Special Order”, a parliamentary term for a process different from the normal conduct of business, that spelled out the amount of time to be spent on the debate, insured that those for or against the Resolution had equal time to speak and placed restraints on maneuvering. The vote was by orders (lay and clerical deputies voted separately) and was passed overwhelmingly. The measure now goes to the House of Bishops. I was somewhat surprised that this measure did not generate the strident, heated debate that was expected, and that neither cheers nor groans greeted the results of the voting. I suspect that there was a sense that this Resolution, if passed by the House of Bishops, may well lead to a deepening of the divide between the Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican Communion.

 

By the way, you may have noticed that I include very little of the actual texts of resolutions and speeches. For those of you who are interested there are a number of web sites you can go to for the full texts.

 

www.episcopalchurch.org/elife

http://gchub.episcopalchurch.org

www.episcopal church.org/107145 ENG HTM.htm

 

One final note: if you were to guess that the average member (demographically) of the Anglican Communion was an African woman, you’d be correct.