Did you happen to read the Daily Office this morning?

 1 Do not fret because of evil men
       or be envious of those who do wrong;
 2 for like the grass they will soon wither,
       like green plants they will soon die away.
 3 Trust in the Lord and do good;
       dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
 4 Delight yourself in the Lord
       and he will give you the desires of your heart.
 5 Commit your way to the Lord;
       trust in him and he will do this:
 6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn,
       the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
 7 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him;
       do not fret when men succeed in their ways,
       when they carry out their wicked schemes.
8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
       do not fret—it leads only to evil.
                                                                  Psalm 37: 1-8

Your SC delegates begin with a special meeting this morning talking about the future.
There IS a future, and Bishop Lawrence did a great job of reassuring us in it.

While we we meeting on the patio this morning, a lone fellow across the way performed his "motions."

      (Taken with 12x zoom)

I have no idea. We are, after all, in California...

The bishop joined with about 20 others in reading a statement in the HOB this afternoon that I encourage you to read here. I know, I know - you have already read it!

A personal note - For the past ten days or so I’ve been attempting to provide you with a reflectional report on what I am experiencing here at General Convention. As I said here, this is not a blog. It is not political in nature, because there are hundreds of blogs out there that will scratch that itch for you and I don’t feel there is need to add to the number.

If this report has been to be too upbeat for your tastes, I apologize for not depressing you sufficiently. It could be said that the writer of this report tends toward optimism. I do not apologize for that. I would rather be known as a Barnabas to my local church and to my beloved diocese.  It better suits my personality.

All this is said to give a context to the statement I made in an earlier report when I said that this convention does not reflect reality back home in South Carolina. I still stand by that statement.

Yes, all this putrid stuff that happened this week DID happen and it yes, happened to us in the sense that we all actually experienced it and it will have global ramifications.

That’s not what I meant when I said this is not reality. I am astonished that anyone could even think that I don’t understand the gravity of the situation. The combined result of what the HOD did Tuesday and what the HOB did Wednesday may very well result in actual Anglican schism. Raise your hand if you didn’t know that.

I personally prefer to take the tone Ruth Gledhill of the London Times set in this article, but time will tell. Time will tell.   

But the actions of this Convention are not going to change the mission of my parish, Holy Cross. The actions of this Convention will not affect the gospel truth preached from our pulpit, nor will the words or deeds of the Convention affect any of our ministries – locally, nationally or internationally. Our missionaries, Paul and Pam Cooper sent an email to remind me that Holy Cross is alive and well in Mexico and our work for Jesus Christ goes on there as well!

I believe that my diocese, the Diocese of South Carolina will solidly, firmly, completely, wholeheartedly unreservedly (I’m running out of adverbs) reject the actions of this Convention, just as we did in 2003. But even if we didn’t, what happened here will not play in Peoria (as the old saying goes).

It won’t sell on Sullivan’s Island; it will be denied on Daniel Island; and it will be ignored in I’on.

It just isn’t reality. It isn’t my reality, or that of my parish.

If you want it to be yours, my plea to be not disheartened will certainly fall on deaf ears.  But as for me and my house, we are going to be just fine, thank you.

And with Mark Lawrence as our bishop, I am firmly convinced that our diocese will also be just fine.  God knows what He (God) is doing and I refuse to fret.
I’m getting on with life.  

We are not they. More importantly, we will not ever be “they” no matter how many resolutions they pass. I will not allow this General Convention to become my reality. I have decided to follow Jesus and there is no turning back.  No turning back.

Bottom line – I will not fret because of evil men.  I will Joy!

Now - on to today’s musings..

We spent Thursday morning debating the budget, trying to get stuff added back that had been cut. Rearranging deck chairs…

Gregory was a bit subdued today.

We didn’t finish at our lunch break time and we took it back up when we reconvened at 2:00 for the afternoon session.  Finished the budget at 2:45 and voted to pass it. 

The budget is a drastic cut over the past one. The budget is 23 million dollars smaller than three years ago.  But hey – all is well! All is well!

Went back to resolutions known as “National and International Concerns.”
We began with Universal Health Care.

Dan Martins said we already have enough divisions and he urged us to defeat this resolution and any other that attempts to influence public policy.

This guy said it would be rare that he agreed with Dan Martins but in this case he does – believes it is arrogant to try to tell congress how legislate for America.

It passed by six votes. Six votes! Mercy!

C023 –Calls on all Episcopalians oppose defense of marriage statutes all over the country. 
Central Florida moved to vote by orders. 

Speakers pro spoke of justice and civil rights
Speakers against reminded that these kind of resolutions are tearing us apart, and please consider minority here – this resolution calls on all Episcopalians to oppose. Leaves conservatives no options.

Minnie was for it.

After debate ended, Lydia suggested to the house that a vote by order would give those who could not speak a voice.  That, it would.  

While we waited for the results of the vote by orders, we went back to more national and international concerns stuff.
Condemnation of torture – passed.
Hope for justice in Honduras - passed
On and on it goes... where it all stops, nobody knows.

We took a break.

During the break, the new San Joaquin came to us and expressed a feeling of solidarity.

Said they had observed that we were pretty much alone in voting “no” on most occasions. They said they felt solidarity with us.   
 
I did get to see our old pal Kempton Baldridge! 
Kempton was ordained in SC, served in Orangeburg in the 80’s, and has served in Europe for the past 10 years or more.  Kempton wanted me to pass on that he has set up a Facebook page for folks who were guests in the Skilton Hilton.  

Next up, B096 - Domestic violence
Zoe took her ears off so everyone could see she was serious about passing this one.

 I don’t wish to denigrate the subject myself, but was she not serious when she spoke on all the others motions every single day of this Convention?

The matter passed with no heard “nays.”

Nigel Renten was in the visitors section today.
Nigel was known at many conventions as “The Terminator.” He consistently – almost exclusively - called for the question.

Next we moved to privilege and courtesy resolutions – all 20 or 30 passed.

B026 was one of these – it commended the “reforming dioceses” and their provisional bishops.

Scott Quinn of the “Continuing” Diocese of Pittsburgh asked to put the word “continuing” back in the resolutions where it had been taken out, for legal purposes. It was. After the passing of the commendation, the house applauded the continuing dioceses. It was a standing ovation.

Next we looked at a structure resolution – d066 – It would give the official youth presence (ages 16 to 18) vote as well as seat and voice (which they now have). 

Zach, our Upper SC buddy, spoke in favor of it.

The difficulty to me about this is that it adds 18 unelected members to the house.  Deputies are currently chosen - elected - by their diocese, and represent all the church, not a particular demography. It also means that 18 dioceses will have an additional vote the others do not. 

Believe it or not, we actually voted NOT to bestow a “right.” The matter was discharged to a committee for further study.  Mercy!

Results of vote by order on C023 There were a lot of no's, but the motion carried.

There was a motion to reconsider by a Mass. deputy.

He said it was clear where he stood, but he felt bad about the minority being forced to take a stand they are not in favor of.  I wonder if he felt bad about out flashing Gregory today...

There were some questions raised about whether the vote was accurate, and we went back to other considerations while they recounted.

After about 10 more courtesy resolutions someone moved that we consider all of the others as one block. We voted do to it.

Tony Clark dropped by to say goodbye. He leaves tomorrow.

Went to day seven supplemental #2 –

Passed, passed, passed, -- I’m passing out!

Brought back B015 and voted for it – passed.

This was actually said today by the Chair of the Committee: “The Committee on World Mission is excited to present a resolution on world mission.” Probably because most of their resolutions dealt with LGBT rights.

6:02 – c023 – results given: – still passed.
We still have a motion to reconsider tomorrow.  Nope – it was withdrawn. Sigh...

This a shot of my Convention notebook. This how many resolutions we have considered:

Did you know we actually talked about matters other than sex?

And speaking of these matters, your SC delegation is on record:

These are the carbons of the votes by order.

Whew! 6:18, and the president calls for the Chaplain to pray us out of here for tonight!

Tomorrow is the last day - scheduled to end at noon, and not a one of our SC delegation will be able to attend the final festivities in the HOD. Due to airport regulations and flight times, we all have to get to the airport while Convention is still going on. You can be sure that Kendall and others will be reporting from the floor. We just won't have pictures.

Update at 2:50 hometime 11:50 here - Steve Wood emailed me and said he's still there!

I'll have one more report for you tomorrow, featuring a lot of pictures I haven't used yet. I'll also have a photo montage of our dapper secretary, and pictures of airports...

But I'm going home! I am ready to see my wife and daughter and my cat. I'm ready to be back in humidity and sanity. If you'd like to pray for safe travel for our deputies, I know we would all appreciate it.

I'm going home! Home!! Home!!! Mercy!

One final peak.

Good night from Anaheim!