A Difficult Day

Today was a hard day at Convention, as the realities of tough economic times set in.  At 2:30 this afternoon, the bishops joined the House of Deputies for a special joint session on the budget.  It was exciting as the bishops arrived in their purple shirts, and we all stood and clapped and watched them march in - after we invited them, of course, since even a bishop can't walk onto the floor of the House of Deputies without an invitation!  But then they sat down with their deputations, and the mood suddenly turned very grim as we got down to business - the budget presentation.  

We knew already that the Program, Budget and Finance committee was going to have to work very hard to cut $23 million out of the budget over the next three years.  It turns out that they are doing this by cutting a lot of dead weight out of the budget, such as meeting and travel expenses, which is a good thing.  But they are also eliminating 30 jobs at the Church Center (out of 180 people who worked there).  It was a sad day as the news sank in of good people who will be out of work.  As the budget was passed out, Nick Knisely+, my fellow deputy from Arizona, whispered to me that in prior years, it had always been passed out to lively Beatles  or Rolling Stones tunes (I Ain't Got No Money, You Can't Always Get What You Want, etc.).  This time it was passed out to the solemn tones of the hymn "God of Grace and God of Glory," played at a dirge-like pace, which includes the memorable line, "Grant us wisdom, grant us courage, for the facing of this hour."  I know many of us will be humming that tune as we work toward budget approval tomorrow.  

In other news today, the House of Bishops took up two resolutions on the subject of same-sex blessings.  They rejected the more radical one, which would have called for immediate authorization of blessings.  They passed a more moderate resolution, which does not authorize same-sex blessings, but calls for a project of collecting them in order to assess them for possible use in the future.  No doubt this will be reported in the press as a far more radical decision than it was.  No decision has actually been made on same-sex blessings; this was simply an agreement to collect liturgies that are already in use.  Whatever the official position of our church on same-sex blessings (they have not been officially authorized), the fact is that we are actually on a "local-option" system, for all practical purposes.  In some dioceses, same-sex blessings have been happening for years; in others, they won't be happening anytime in my lifetime.  It all depends on what the local bishop has allowed.  Some bishops have not seen any particular reason to wait for the national church to make a pronouncement, but have gone ahead with blessings.  The resolution the bishops passed today calls for these liturgies to be collected and assessed for possible future official use.  The resolution will probably come to the House of Deputies tomorrow.  

In other news, we have approved a denominational health plan to assure that any church employee who works more than 3/4 time has access to health insurance (though they can opt out if covered by another plan, such as a spouse's plan).  We have also approved a lay employee pension plan that will take effect by 2012.  These will be expensive to local churches, but they were important for justice to our employees.  

At our noon Eucharist today, we concentrated on the earth and the environment.  Bishop Steven Charleston, a Native American, preached a breathtaking sermon on saving the earth.  What an inspiration!  Tonight the Diocese of Los Angeles put on an event for us called "Genesis: From Breath to Wonder."  It featured prayer, video, art, dance and music, all woven together in a beautiful tapestry of sensory and spiritual wonder.  It was a beautiful ending to a difficult day.