Halfway done, by Steve Keplinger, St. David's Page

Utah and Navajoland Deputations and youth meet for lunch

It's Sunday night and I'm watching the fireworks of Disneyland exploding just beyond our hotel room next to the Anaheim Convention Center.

Though we only had one legislative session on this Sunday, this has been a very momentous day at this Convention, and I dare say, in the history of The Episcopal Church.

It began with Eucharist in the gigantic hall of the Center. Our Presiding Bishop presided, but she was flanked by our last two Presiding Bishops, Frank Griswold and Edmund Browning. Perhaps our own Adrienne Gossard said it best when she, in her usual calm, understated fashion, said, "There are a few more people here than we usually have at a Sunday service.", as she looked out over the thousands and thousands of people. It was impossible to not be moved during that service.

Our Utah delegation then had lunch with our visiting youth. We had a great time together. Catlin and Kyle were extra crispy, as they described, but their sunburn occurred before they left Page. Caylee, Michaela, and Kristen are also having a blast with our other 40 kids in the diocese and from Navajoland. Tomorrow, they are off to Disneyland, where they will spend the day and then leave at midnight to drive back home. Jean will be making the ultimate sacrifice and go with the kids tomorrow, bringing Michaela and Kyle back here so they can fly out to meet up with the rest of the Poling family the next day.

Our delegation had planned days ago that Susan Wiltsey+ and I would be delegates today on The House of Deputies floor. I joked with our Canon, Dave Bailey+ that today would be the day that we would get the resolution in response to B033, the last second resolution at the 2006 General Convention that said we would "call upon Standing Committees and bishops with jurisdiction to exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion."

Well, amazingly, that is exactly what happened. It was high drama as we took up as a body D025, a very well crafted document that does not repeal B033, but states emphatically and clearly that we will participate fully in the Anglican Communion, but that we can not and will not bar gay and lesbian persons who are living in "lifelong commtted relationships" from participating fully in the life of the church and that such individuals can be called to any ordained ministry in The Episcopal Church.

The ensuing discussion was spirited, emotional, and respectful.

Immediately, the request was made that we vote by orders, (lay and clerics separately). There were also two attempts to divide the resolution by separating the resolves about our relationship with the Anglican Communion from the sections about gay and lesbians. There was also an attempt to amend the language and eliminate the parts about "lifelong committed relationships." But through it all, I had the feeling that as a House, we were no longer willing to put off full inclusion of our gay and lesbian sisters and brothers for another moment. The day before, we had all been very moved by Jenny Te Paa's words from the New Zealand church, who reminded us how much of the Anglican Communion wanted us to vote how we believed the Spirit was telling us.

We rejected all possible amendments and attempts to divide the resolution. When we finally got to vote on the resolution as it was written, the vote was overwhelming. In the lay order 77 dioceses voted unanimously for the resolution, while 31 voted no or split their vote. In the clerical order, it was 74 dioceses unanimously for and 34 split or against. Jean happened to be sitting in the observation area during the vote near The Right Rev. Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire, whose election started all this six years ago. Jean shook hands with him right after the vote.

Perhaps what moved me the most during this vote, was the tone of the discussion and the love that we had for each other during the process. I had no feeling that the people who genuinely felt it wrong to pass this resolution are going to pick up their marbles and go home. We need to remain THE church of diversity and it is my fervent prayer that all on both sides will continue to love and worship together. That was my sense during the whole process. The resolution now goes to The House of Bishops for their approval.

We also passed some other very important resolutions today of concern to St. David's. We recommitted as a mission priority responding to the Millennium Development Goals and said we would spend at least one percent of our budget on funding it. We passed a very well conceived strategic plan for growing Latino/Hispanic congregations and approved $ 3,500,000 for seed money to do so. We also passed a resolution to direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to put together materials to help us deal with Christian anti-Judaism expressed in some of our texts, especially those used in Holy Week and Easter liturgies. At St. David's, we have done this for years, and I was so excited that the greater church will be working on the same thing.

There is much more to come. The most difficult resolutions take the longest to hit the floor, so stay tuned. In addition to the resolutions that will get all the press, we are looking forward to a possible resolution regarding a season of Creation, as St. David's presently has and has been adopted by our diocese. We also have great hopes for Lee Shaw's+ liturgy for the loss of a companion animal, which I spoke about yesterday and you may have seen in the Episcopal Life article.

By the way, Adrienne and Kyle were in the background of the picture on the front page of the Daily Convention paper yesterday that included the story of the animal resolution. Our youth are everywhere! Many of them were also verbally accosted by some protestors yesterday, and they did a great job respectfully defending themselves and their church. This has been a great learning experience for them, though they have probably been exposed to way more than they would have preferred. We are all proud of the entire Utah and Navajoland youth delegation. Moms and Dads, you also need to know that multiple youth leaders have gone out of their way to tell me how much they have enjoyed their time with and getting to know your teens. They are such great ambassadors for St. David's and the entire Episcopal Church.

Blessings to all of you,
Steve+