Bishops on social media

Does evangelism make you nervous? Then check out this terrific short video from Presiding Bishop-elect Curry. You might find out that it's easier than you think - and maybe you're already doing it.

The Right Reverend W. Nicholas Knisely, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island, and the Right Reverend Michael Curry, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina and Presiding Bishop-elect, discuss the importance of social media to the church and encourage everyone at General Convention to get their Twitter on.

Marriage equality advances to the House of Deputies

Four days after the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land, the House of Bishops approved two new marriage liturgies for trial use and a canonical change to remove references to marriage as being between a man and a woman. The resolutions now move to the House of Deputies for approval.

The deputies, meanwhile, gave final approval to Resolution A037 which continues the work of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage.

If the House of Deputies concurs with the House of Bishops-amended Resolution A054 the liturgies “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Marriage” and “The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage 2” from “Liturgical Resources 1: I Will Bless You and You Will be a Blessing, Revised and Expanded 2015” from the supplemental Blue Book materials of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music will be available for trial use beginning this Advent. Those rites offer the option of using “wife,” “husband,” “person” or “spouse,” thus making them applicable for both heterosexual and same-sex couples.

The bishops eliminated a third proposed liturgy from the resolution, “The Form of Solemnization of Matrimony.”

All three liturgies can be found on pages 2-151 from the materials provided to convention by the standing commission, found here.

Presiding Bishop-elect tells PB&F to “put Jesus up front”

Photo by Mary Frances Schjonberg

As the Joint Standing Committee on Program Budget and Finance (PB&F) nears its July 1 budget deadline, Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry on June 29 asked the members to craft a plan to help the church “put Jesus up front,” share the good news and makes disciples.

“I talk of the Jesus movement, of evangelism, of making disciples and our witness through public service and public advocacy,” Curry told the committee during a brief conversation during a 7:30 a.m. meeting. “That can sound like rhetoric that has no actual consequence, but let me assure you … we are talking about the church moving forth, taking evangelism seriously – in the Episcopal way but taking them for real because there is good news to share. There really is.” Personal service and public witness and advocacy “is what we do; that’s the Jesus movement,” Curry said.

The presiding bishop-elect, who reminded the committee that his term does not begin until Nov. 1, said PB&F is doing God’s work. He likened the members’ job to that of Peter and Paul, whose feast day the church celebrates on June 29, saying that as word of Jesus spread out from Jerusalem to Rome and then to the known world at that time, the leaders had to organize themselves and decide how they would share their resources.

“They had to have their own PB&F to figure out how their distributions and their funds would be used to change the world,” Curry said. “The work they did in the first century is the work you’re doing in the 21^st century. God bless you.”

Curry said the committee has the tough job of figuring out how the Jesus movement can “translate into concrete, practical reality in terms of the budget.”

“Put Jesus up front. Put sharing that good news in front. Put forming our people as followers of Jesus – as disciples for real – at the front of it,” he suggested. “And then put inspiring and enabling them to serve in their personal lives, and for us to witness in the public square in the front. That’s the church; that’s the movement. I know full well that movements can float off into the air if they are not incarnated in reality.”

Fun facts about the House of Deputies

Some fun facts about the 78th General Convention's House of Deputies:

• Most common last name is Johnson
• Oldest Deputy is 90 years old
• Youngest Deputy is 17
• Under 30 age group is the largest representation of Deputies

June 28 sermon by Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori

“Talitha, cum.  Get up, girl – and boy, and woman, and man – get up and dance!” Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told the gathering in her June 28 sermon to the 78^th General Convention of The Episcopal Church.

“Talitha, cum.”  Get up, girl, you’re not dead yet.  Jesus might just as well be speaking to this church... Can we hear these remarkable healing stories as speaking to the body of Christ often called Mother church?"

Click here for the full sermon.

Bishops United Against Gun Violence holds prayerful procession through Salt Lake City

Bishops United Against Gun Violence, a group of more than 60 Episcopal bishops, sponsored a prayerful procession through the streets of Salt Lake City this morning. In spite of the heat and the early hour, almost 2000 people took part in the very powerful event. Click here to watch video.

 The gathering, Claiming Common Ground Against Gun Violence, urged people of faith to seek common ground in efforts to curtail gun violence. It began at 7:15 a.m. this morning outside the Salt Palace Convention Center. The service and walk lasted about 90 minutes and covered a one-mile route. It included opening prayers, a stop for testimony in nearby Pioneer Park, and concluding prayers outside the Salt Palace.

Bishop Scott Hayashi of Utah, who survived a gunshot wound as a young man, and Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry were among the speakers. Bishop Jeff Lee of Chicago, Dent Davidson, music chaplain for the House of Bishops, and the Rev. Lester Mackenzie, chaplain to the House of Deputies, led prayers and music during the procession.

Bishop Hollerith participates in the walk.

“The debate over gun violence in our country has become polarized, but it need not be that way,” Beckwith said. “There is broad agreement among people who own guns and people who don’t that universal background checks and other common sense measure save lives while protecting the right of law-abiding citizens to bear arms. We want to focus the attention of our church and the broader public on these common sense reforms, and muster the political will to see them enacted.”

Beckwith convenes Bishops United with Bishops Ian Douglas of Connecticut and Eugene Sutton of Maryland. The group formed after mass shootings at a Sikh Temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012.

Bishops United supports:

• Expanding the federal background checks system to cover gun shows, internet and commercial sales
• Making gun trafficking a federal crime
• Encouraging the development of “smart gun” technology to reduce accidental shootings—especially among children
• Requiring that guns be stored safely
• Improving access to mental healthcare for all Americans.

Bishops United Against Gun Violence is an ad hoc group of nearly 60 Episcopal bishops who have come together to explore means of reducing the appalling levels of gun violence in our society, and to advocate for policies and legislation that save lives. Bishops United works against gun violence by forming relationships and coalitions with interfaith colleagues, fellow advocates, and families whose lives have been touched by gun violence; giving voice to voiceless gun violence victims through public liturgy, advocacy, and prayer; and supporting each another in efforts to end gun violence in local communities.

Click here to learn more.

House of Deputies celebrates its 230th birthday

With noisemakers and applause, party hat-wearing General Convention deputies celebrated the 230^th birthday of the House of Deputies on June 27. While members of the House of Bishops met in sequestration at St. Mark’s Episcopal Cathedral a few blocks away to elect the next Episcopal Church presiding bishop, members of the first house of General Convention took time out from legislative debate to celebrate its history and honor several of its former leaders.

Read more here.

Photo: The Rev. Willis Foster (St. Stephen's, Petersburg) and the Rev. Dale Custer (St. John's, Chester)

Camp Day at GC

June 26 was Camp Day in the House of Bishops and House of Deputies. Everyone wore their diocesan camp or conference center gear. Our own deputation was fully decked out in Chanco wear.

L to R: Alice Webley (All Saints, VB); Bishop Hollerith and Sam Webster (Ascension, Norfolk); the Rev. Samantha Vincent Alexander (St. John's, Hampton)

The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry elected Presiding Bishop

The Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, 62, Diocese of North Carolina, has been elected the 27th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. He will be the first African-American to serve as presiding bishop.

"This is a good and wonderful church. We are good and wonderful people. I thank God to be one of the baptized among you," Curry said as he greeted the convention following his election. "Nothing can stop the movement of God's love in this world."
   

Curry was the rector of St. James' Episcopal Church, Baltimore, Maryland, when he was elected on February 11, 2000, to be the 11th bishop of North Carolina. He was ordained and consecrated on June 17, 2000.  

BCP and church structure top topics for GC yesterday

PB Nominations made official

The Joint Nominating Committee for the Election of the Presiding Bishop formally nominated four bishops as candidates to become the 27^th presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church during a joint session of the houses of Deputies and Bishops at General Convention yesterday, June 26. The nominations were accepted without comment from the floor.

On June 27, the House of Bishops will gather at St. Mark’s Cathedral here to elect the next presiding bishop. The candidates are Diocese of Southern Ohio Bishop Thomas Breidenthal, Diocese of North Carolina Bishop Michael Curry, Diocese of Connecticut Bishop Ian Douglas and Diocese of Southwest Florida Bishop Dabney Smith.

After the election Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori will send a delegation to House of Deputies President the Rev. Gay Clark Jennings to inform her.

Jennings will refer the bishop’s name to the House of Deputies legislative committee on the Confirmation of the Presiding Bishop without announcing the name to the full house. That committee will recommend to the House of Deputies whether or not to confirm the election, and the deputies immediately will vote on the recommendation. Jennings then will appoint a delegation of deputies to notify the House of Bishops of the action taken, and the presiding bishop-elect will come to the House of Deputies.

Prayer Book revision planning proposed

The Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music Committee has filed a resolution asking General Convention to “Direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to prepare a plan for the comprehensive revision of the current Book of Common Prayer” and present it to the next convention. The committee asks for a $30,000 allocation to fund this work.

The resolution directs that the plan to “utilize the riches of our church’s liturgical, cultural, racial, generational, linguistic, gender and ethnic diversity in order to share common worship.” The funding would allow consultation on the plan for revision with members of various cultural and ethnic groups across the church, said the Rev. Devon Anderson, deputies committee chair. “It’s about bringing those communities in very early on.”

Talking about the structure of the church

Deputies discuss structure

Deputies and bishops met in a special joint session yesterday for an hour-long conversation about The Episcopal Church’s structure and governance and how it can best support and enable mission at all levels.

“Structure, governance, polity, canons, rules of order – most people’s eyes glaze over when they hear these words,” Diocese of Minnesota Deputy Sally Johnson said in her opening remarks, made with Diocese of Pennsylvania Bishop Clifton Daniel. They are deputy and bishop chairs of the Legislative Committee on Governance and Structure, which is in the process of hearing testimony on numerous restructuring proposals.

“What do rules and structure have to do with what God is doing in the world, and our place in it as individual followers of Jesus, or as The Episcopal Church, this particular incarnation of the body of Christ?” Johnson asked.

She and Daniel gave a brief historical overview of how The Episcopal Church’s polity and governance came into being, noting that the way the church organizes itself for mission has been evolving since the adoption in 1789 of its original constitution and canons.

“The great thing about The Episcopal Church is that we decide all these things for ourselves. And if we don’t like our previous choices, or they don’t serve us anymore, we can change them,” Johnson said. “It has never been static, it has continuously changed and evolved and so too, today, the goal of our considerations is how we might best change our structures and governance to give greater viability to our congregations and ministries.”

“Governance is about our identity and our mission,” Daniel said. “Who are we? What do we care about? What are we going to spend our time, talent and treasures on? Who decides and how will we decide?”

They asked diocesan deputations to split up into small groups with deputations seated nearby and discuss the structures, programs and activities of the church at all levels that support or enable their congregations and dioceses to more fully participate in God’s mission. The groups also discussed what changes in those same structures, programs and activities would better serve congregations and dioceses in mission.

They were invited to tweet their responses using the hashtag #gcgas