An Alternate View: Salmon, Deputizing, and Baseball at #GC78

Monday, Day #5 of #GC78

"Who eats salmon for breakfast?!" my bishop asks as he swiftly walks by on the way to his legislative committee. I'm not really a morning person. If it were 9:00 instead of 7:00 and I had a coffee, I might have been able to think of a comeback. I have a vague notion that lots of people eat salmon for breakfast. I love my bishop, so I'll let him have this one....this time :-)

The General Convention has a tough schedule. One has to be fully coherent and functional by 7:00 AM and ready for a looooong day of work. Today was my first day as a Deputy on the floor of the House of Deputies so I had to be here to register and change credentials at 7:00 AM. I'm used to complaining about ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) reading sessions at 8:00 AM! Let me tell you, those sessions now seem like cake. 
CAKE I tell you.

(Solely for the purposes of this blog, I got a cake-like item in the afternoon and enjoyed eating it ....)
- No legislative committee session for me this morning so I took some time and chatted with friends.
- Community Eucharist at 9:30 I'm glad to see that most people attend these services. The Media Hub is fantastic so I hope you're occasionally watching from home.

The Lux Singers from Salt Lake City sand beautifully this morning. The Pilgrim's Hymn (Paulus), O Magnum Mysterium (Victoria), and Bogoroditse Devo from Rachmaninov's All Night Vigil were a few of their selections. It was nice!

                                  

The Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in America preached and afterwards congratulated Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry. 

Also recognized was the 100th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide and The Episcopal Church's hospitality to Armenian refugees who came to the US. The Archbishop was wearing an amazing pectoral cross.

                 

- 11:00 my first legislative session as a Deputy! :-)
View from the table with MARTY the crawfish and Jacques the Duck

Today was my first time going to bunch w/ the deputation. We went to Café Molise 

                 

- 2:15 session until 6:00

It was exciting to follow the legislative procedure from the floor and to track the many amendments. I got to vote several times today! I reached a point where the language and rhythm felt a easier to gauge and predict and I could usually tell who was coming up for what. There were a lot of people who just came up to speak and hear themselves. There were also times of robust testimony from both sides of an argument. 
- Here's my Twitter stream again in case you want to see my play-by-play of the proceedings. I ran over to the House of Bishops as soon as we had recess and came in to hear someone testifying against a canonical resolution. He was reading the Bible and calling for members of the LGBT community to know and to prayerfully abstain from mutual sexual gratification. As soon as he finished, I had to leave, but at the end of the day, we got news that the House of Bishops DID pass key resolutions!!!! Check out my friend Melodies Woerman's Deputy News post!

Now, for a bit of fun, members of the Diocesan deputations from Louisiana, Western Louisiana, Tennessee, and Western North Carolina all went to the Salt Lake City Bees vs. Albuquerque Isotopes baseball game! I'm sure there are tons more #GC78 folks here too!

It was SO HOT! but is now starting to cool off. FINALLY, a breeze! I sat next to Bill Bryant from the Diocese of Western Louisiana. He is a priest who was formerly a chemist so of course we exchanged jokes about isotopes and chemistry! :-) FUN!

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned,
Caroline :-)

An Alternate View: Fantastic History Made in The Episcopal Church Today at #GC78

WOW!

That word describes today the best! Hope, happiness, excitement, friendship, history, persistence, LOVE, and WOW!

Bishop Michael Curry has been elected as our 27th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church! Excellent ENS (Episcopal News Service) articles HERE

Today was INCREDIBLY exciting! I found myself giving a play-by-play of the activity in the House of Deputies as we went back and forth from resolutions, consent calendar, and presiding bishop election procedures. 

To see the tweets I sent out today, click HERE. It gets pretty exciting in the middle! :-)

Here is some video from when Bishop Curry and his family arrived at the House of Deputies after the election. Full video can be found on the General Convention website.

A little more video from the singing that spontaneously broke out when he was announced at the podium by Katharine Jefferts Schori.

My day:
- Legislative hearing on Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music Commission resolutions A169, C010, and C023. Some very heated debate on both sides of the "Open Table" resolution and its amendments.

- Here's my view as the lovely Native American (Ute Indian I think) music is being played as a meditation. It is so lovely, I hope you've gotten a chance to hear the service.

- The bishops were assembled into St. Mark's Cathedral after worship and began the election process with prayer around 11:30

- I moved to the House of Deputies into the Alternate section and began in legislative session

- I answered questions from blog, Facebook, and Twitter followers about the election process. It's been super nice to know that I can actually provide useful information and that the world of Episcopal social media was also paying attention! I have been a veritable "tweetstorm" here and it has been appreciated by several dioceses, priests, inquirers, Episcopal staff, and organizations, and many more. I can say that it feels really great to be able to speak in this language! :-) I'm blessed and quite grateful for the opportunity!

- Play-by-play coverage of the election of the 27th Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church. It was beyond words. What an historic session and whole day! The collective tension was incredible and the HOD reached a point of defiance. NO ONE wanted to leave the room to wait on the delegation from the House of Bishops to arrive. A while later, when Committee 19 was still deliberating, we were told to break for lunch, and then to break, and then recess, and then to stand at ease. The voice of the people spoke over and the chair of the House wasn't too excited about it, but it was handled well, everyone stayed, and we were in it all together. 

- I attended the first Press conference with PB-elect, Michael Curry in the Canyon Room at the Hilton. It lasted about 35 minutes and can be found at the Media Hub

- Had coffee with Barry, the runner of @iamepiscopalian and many other elements of TEC social media. SUCH a nice person!

                     

- FABULOUS reception for Episcopal Relief and Development for their 75th anniversary! They gave us a gigantic party with wine, delicious foods, a stellar band, happiness, free pins and ---> CHOCOLATE <---

                                           

I'm exhausted after all of this, but as I was walking home.....wait I mean THE SHERATON. As I was walking back to the Sheraton, I thought about all that transpired today, Day # 3 of the General Convention. The first African-American presiding bishop of The Episcopal Church was elected in vast majority on first ballot by both the HOB and the HOD following the first woman presiding bishop. It's the first time two consecutive bishops were elected from the same bishop's class. 

That's simply pure awesomeness. 

I'm so honored to be a part of this historic day in our church!!!

I was so moved by the applause when presiding bishop-elect Curry and his family walked into the House with his family. I was tearing up when the room broke out singing and again when the bishops cheered to show their supportive presence in the back of the House. As I wrote yesterday, there is such love here among this gathering. As Bishop Curry said in his press conference "The truth is: we all come from the same source. We are all brothers and sisters". He spoke a great deal about relationships and emerging connections. He said that when Katharine Jefferts Schori was elected, he said that he (and many) had felt "a movement of the Holy Spirit". He said the he felt that today. I also felt that and I think that most people here today did as well. 

Plenty has been said in the past several days at #GC78 about being a people of love and being connected and supportive, both of humanity and being stewards of God's creation. Today, Bishop Curry said "we are in the business of true love". I believe this and that a part of our job is to reach our neighbor, to be a proactive presence in forming relationships of peace. 

I looked up from my walk and saw this gorgeous view. I had almost forgotten we are surrounded by beautiful mountains, the Wasatch Range. When we're mostly inside buildings and solving the world's issues while walking between said buildings, we sometimes lose site of the actual world around our world. People here are right, we need a shot in the arm of evangelism, of proactiveness (I'm making that a new word), and of ZEST. I have great hope for the coming years in TEC. I hope the Anglican Communion itself will also see this as a movement of hope! I hope we stop to look up and decide to join the beauty of risk, of relationship, and of the movement of the Holy Spirit!

So I made it to my home-away-from-home and am about to happily take a cold shower and eat chocolate! The bar I got is organic, fairly-traded milk chocolate with a hint of hazelnut. I tweeted so much today that I daresay I deserve it :-)

Rest well ye people!

Thank you for reading! Stay tuned,

Caroline

PS - This evening's moon over Salt Lake City!

An Alternate View: #GC78 The First Official Day of Convention!

Today marked the opening day of #GC78, the 78th Convention of The Episcopal Church!

I began with a short media briefing and I'm excited to say that Friday, the media group will visit the Cathedral Church of St. Mark where the election for the new presiding bishop will take place on Saturday morning. We will have a chance to take photos and hear about the history of building and the Episcopal presence in Salt Lake City.
Next, I attended the opening worship service where the Presiding Bishop celebrated. The program bulletin for the service is here and you can watch it online here. Each day, these 9:30 AM MDT services will be live-streamed via the Media Hub. Check out THIS link for daily worship bulletins and information!

video of verse of hymn coming soon!

My comments about the music are:

- I liked the selections and the cantor, nice soprano voice, good articulation

- I did not like the chants sung slowly with no word stress!

- I did love hearing so many people singing together in well-done harmonies!

(Lots of folks have been asking me if I am going to be doing anything with the music. I'll just say that I am unknown in the wider church and I'm quite sure there are a ton of connections and procedures through which to go before being selected for any liturgical or musical participation. I did look for volunteer opportunities in advance with this in mind, but I think it's safe to say that it is in great hands and that it takes looooooooong prep time and selection. Maybe next time!! I'd love to! :-)

The liturgy was in both English and Spanish. I liked the way they did communion with tons of stations. My station was made up of all young volunteers. 

After dropping by the media room for a little while, I decided to return to the Standing Committee on Prayer book, Liturgy & Music Legislative Committee session. IT WAS PACKED so I sat on the floor and listened to the testimonies for and against amendments to resolutions. I had my first iced coffee ever.....and enjoyed it!

The hearing ended early so I went downstairs where I met up with my one of my dearest friends, The Rev'd Dr. Canon Chuck Robertson, the Canon to the Ordinary. He introduced me to one of his close friends, The Rev'd Canon Michael Rusk, Team Rector for the Parish of St. Peter & St. Paul, Oadby in the diocese of Leicester. I also met the Episcopal Primate of Pakistan, The Most Revd Samuel Robert Azariah and his wife who is a prist in California. They are all amazing people! I would very much like to explore Pakistan one day and see historic ruins and documents and to meet the Anglicans there! We talked briefly about music and there is a remote possibility that we may chat again tomorrow or Friday.
I chatted with Rev'd Michael for about an hour and we shared our India experiences. It's was fabulous to meet someone else who shares a love for India and also music - here at GC! For the early afternoon, we decided to walk over to the Cathedral Church of St. Mark. It was a very, VERY hot walk. I think it may have only been 90 or 92 degrees, but the sun.....it was insanity.
Once there, we were met by two volunteers who welcomed us and then we had a chance to look around. It is a GORGEOUS cathedral!

                  

                               

This high altar contains two Tiffany windows

                   

                                  

In the chapel to the left of the chancel area, there is an exhibit featuring replicas of beautiful books of the Illuminated Saint John's Bible. The Saint John's Bible is holy scripture with illuminations, special lettering, special materials and it has unique works of art. It is actually the first illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey in more than 500 years. It took fifteen years to create and used Chinese black ink with feather quills of goose, turkey, and swan. The books also contain writing in gold, silver, and platinum. One book, containing the psalms, has a digital voice print painted in squares. When played (and I'm not sure how), these markings form tunes to which some of the psalms can be sung. Mistakes are few, there are something like nine in the whole set of 15 books. Mistakes are shown by illustrated birds carrying parcels of text and arrows up to where the corrections should be placed. It's an absolutely lovely exhibit and I encourage all to view it if at St. Mark's.

Downstairs is another exhibit featuring selections from a major exhibit by artist Andrew Kosorok. His work is called 99 Most Beautiful Names of God. Here are the 99 names
Because of copyright, I didn't take photos of his pieces, but here is some info for you

                     

There is also a wonderful set of prints from the last International Olympic Committee showing religions of the worlds. The IOC was required to include religions of the world in the commission.
Everyone we met at St. Mark's was so friendly and they have a veritable army of hospitality volunteers!

The afternoon legislative session began with introductions of foreign dignitaries and distinguished guests. Next, the legislative process began with the report and proposed changes to the Rules of Order. Things got pretty "nitpicky" at times, but truly, minor details to some are major events for others. The debates regarding amendments to the usage of applause were very interesting. I was glad to see people discussing whether or not to allow applause from within the House after certain testimonies. It could in some cases be detrimental to following arguments and showing partiality. The Rules of Order have now been updated!

Tonight, I skipped dinner and came back to my hotel. We have a Deputation mtg at 9:00 PM. I will be typing up my interview with Rev'd Rusk Michael Rusk and posting it soon.

Thank you for reading!

Stay tuned :-)

Previous posts: 

1. #GC78 - An Alternate View: 'Twas the Night Before Synod

2. An Alternate View: Heading to #GC78

3. An Alternate View: Arrival Day - IT'S ALL GOOD

4. An Alternate View: Orientation and Presentations, June 24 at #GC78

An Alternate View: Heading to #GC78

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand... We're off! 

...into the wild Blue Book yonder... 

This is currently my view. Not too shabby.  I'm airborne, heading to the great Salt Lake City and contemplating all the things I'm going to learn about at the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church (DFMS). 

Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Convention Center         

I'll be completely honest: I'm SUPER EXCITED and a wee bit nervous too! 

I'm going as an alternate with my areas of selected interest being: Liturgy & Music, Communications, and Mission. My goal, wholeheartedly, is to serve as needed. 

I'll be taking tons of pictures for EDOLA (The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana), running our church FB, IG, Pinterest, & Twitter, writing updates, and interviewing some very kind and gracious folks while I'm there. This makes me SO HAPPY!!!

I will also be walking in a procession with the Bishops Against Gun Violence event next Sunday. (More on this very soon.) Speaking of bishops, I thought I had gotten a bishop- free flight today...

Just kidding! :-) I absolutely adore our bishop (Rt. Rev'd Morris K. Thompson) so am quite happy to share the friendly skies. A few others from our deputation are also on this same flight! 

Why would I be nervous about #GC78? I think that I always am a little bit nervous before any convention. This time, it's a HUGE one and I'm not yet quite sure how everything works: from exchanging my media credentials for deputy creds, when I'll be stepping into a deputy role, where things are, social time, what all is expected of me, trying to see dear friends who are going to be even more busy, etc. etc. I'm quite sure I'll feel very at ease in a day though!

What's extremely important for me, personally, while I'm in SLC?

- Seeing my church in action in all of its areas: bishops, priests, deacons, lay ministers, volunteers, worship services, meetings, legislation, procedure. That might seem nerdy, but so be it. I'm curious as to these proceedings and I want to learn more!

- The election of our next Presiding Bishop! I will truly miss PB Katharine Jefferts-Schori. 
I think she has done an amazing job and have the highest respect for her. I love her sermons and speeches, her writings, her diplomacy, her international peace making. I think we have four truly wonderful people being considered for the next PB. 

- Liturgy

I'm carrying with me the hopes of many that this convention will further inclusion of new liturgies, discussion, and more regarding liturgical inclusivity people of all sexual orientations. 

- Discernment 

In my own discernment process, I continue to live into my calling in various ways. Attending #GC78 is a phenomenal opportunity for me to learn so much about the inner workings of The Episcopal Church, observe many varied worship services and the fact that at large gatherings such as this - worship dominates these conventions. This experience will also allow me to meet tons of people and to ask them about their chosen paths. I can't wait!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaand so, I'm off to SLC! Stay tuned! :-)

On the way to Salt Lake City!

I'm on my way to Salt Lake City this morning to attend the national ACDA Leadership conference. I'm thrilled to get to go! As president-elect for the state of Louisiana, there is MUCH I have to learn! This training will address some things I've needed to learn for a while now and be helpful forever! Things like meeting organization, bylaws, procedures, etc. Then, there's all the "choral-ness" and meeting new people which is always awesome! I bought the Gogo airplane internet day pass because I'm actually NOT sleepy today.....yet. :-) I also wanted to try out blogging from my iPhone and it looks like I'll have to add links and tags later as it's not user-friendly ----> if one can even do it from the Blogger app. I'm trying to blog more lately. I love it very much, but during the year it's hard to keep up. I have SO many thoughts to write down though, so expect to see many, and varied, posts! 

Here's my current view: "I've looked at clouds from both sides now..." HA!   

I had some tea which made up for the airport PJs not having coffee this morning. Initial descent into Dallas DFW so gotta go, but more from SLC!