General Convention 2022

This convention, shorter and more constrained than usual, was to do only ‘necessary’ business. But everyone thinks that means what they suppose is important! Hence we had 400plus resolutions packed into four grueling days, leaving limited time for deliberation.

On the most consequential issue of prayer book revision, the constitutional groundwork was done, though the canonical implications for 2024 are as yet unclear. More fundamental questions about the nature and role of the BCP were asked. We as Communion Partners expressed our thoughts and concerns about the process. The 2018 memorialization of the 1979 book still stands.

A matter of interest to us is the approval of the reunion of the ‘Diocese in North Texas’ (formerly Episcopal Fort Worth) back into the Diocese of Texas. We pray for God’s blessing on them.

The convention created a racial equity fund with a tithe of national church endowed funds. There were also many resolutions about contemporary political issues. While I was sympathetic with a number, I voted against those advocating abortion with no limits, and gender transition treatment with no age threshold.

Of course the Church in this post-pandemic period has enormous challenges, though one would have been hard-pressed to sense these in the gathering. Perhaps there were a few telltale signs, e.g. the folding of General Seminary into Virginia and greater ease in merging dioceses.

Finally, in the House of Bishops there was an earnest effort to give voice to the ecologically and politically perilous moment in our national life in a ‘mind of the house’ statement.

On a more personal note, I am grateful to our delegation, led by Mother Victoria Heard, for its faithfulness and good humor. Steph and I enjoyed buying the Navajo delegation dinner.

Come Holy Spirit renew us, send us, and use us as You would,

Peace,
+GRS

"Lord Make Us Instruments of Your Peace"

June 16, 2022

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Greetings in our crucified and risen Lord Jesus. All shootings are evil, insane, tragic; we feel sadness for the dead and empathy for the aggrieved. But a fatal shooting in an Episcopal Church at a ‘boomers’ potluck’ brings this string of tragedies very close to home. The mystery of inquity drives us back to the One in whose stripes we are healed.

This Sunday let us add these common intercessions:

Light perpetual for the three who have died, as for all recent victims of violence,

Consolation for their families, and

Encouragement for all the people of St. Stephen’s, Vestavia Hills, of the Diocese of Alabama,

Wisdom and fortitude for our nation amidst this rash of such incidents,

Judgment upon and forgiveness of the sins of the perpetrators.

Let us pray, in these words written by a saint who discovered the peace of Christ in a time as violent and anxious as our own:

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is
hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where
there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where
there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to
be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is
in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we
are born to eternal life. Amen.

The peace and comfort of Christ,

+GRS

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