Where I am

Dear Lord,
I'm tired. Not just physically tired, shoot that's probably the least of this tiredness I feel. I'm tired from feeling like my world is resting on my shoulders. Tired of feeling like I can't afford to let anyone down. Tired of being the responsible one. Tired of the challenges of job and ministry, of bills, of health issues, of all the terrible problems that may exist or may only be in my head. I'm tired of the burdens of my own brokeness.

My heart is tired, my mind is tired, my spirit is tired. I feel like Sisyphus constantly pushing that stupid rock up that stupid hill. Never to get there, always to have it roll back down the hill, right over top of me most times. Sisyphus was given that task as a punishment for trickery. Am I being punished for something? That's not what I understand our relationship to be so I don't think that's it but it's the way I feel sometimes. Sisyphus was given a pointless task to do and an awful lot of what I'm doing feels pointless to me too.

This is a hard thing you've tasked me with, this youth ministry thing. The image of the garden comes up in scripture all the time. It seems like this is the part of the garden where everything grows fast including the weeds. I can spend all day fighting the weeds and never have a moment to feed and water the things I'm supposed to be growing. When particularly clinging weeds gather round what you want me to tend actually RESENTS my pulling those weeds away! And it's likely I'm never going to see the full bloom of the work you have me doing. They're still growing and immature when they leave my care. Am I making any difference at all?

Of course I'm still growing too. And some of those clinging weeds I've become rather partial too as well. I try to remember that you've given me a good place to grow and surrounded me with wonderful resources to help me in that growth. The saying goes that you never give someone more than they can bear. Feels like you've got a pretty high opinion of me somedays! I have to admit that deep down in my heart that feels good, even when it seems like maybe, just maybe, this time you over estimated just a teensy bit.

I'm still tired but I feel a little better now. I know that getting that stupid rock up that stupid hill is still my job. But do you think you could hold it here for just a moment? Just long enough to catch my breath and ready myself again for the push.

Thanks, that was great.

Love you man.

Peace

Yeah, that's a miracle!

I'm still frazzled from the summer and having a little trouble getting myself re-oriented to "real" life. Of course having my only daughter going off to college the day after tomorrow, my lady wife going into surgery in a week and having to move from one house to another while still trying to do my job is probably effecting the overall confusion too! I literally had to stop and think what day it was as I rode into work today.

Of course things could be worse. Walt Mueller is the man behind the Center for Parent/Youth Understanding CPYU, a very cool resource site for stats and info on the world our young people have to traverse. Walt went into work early one day this week and was narrowly missed when a car crashed through his office wall! Photos He was on the phone with his son (who ended up hearing the whole accident)and managed to step just far enough out of the way that he suffered nothing more than some scrapes from the whole thing!

My prayers go out to Walt and the driver (who was basically OK too it appears).

Makes me glad I'm on the second floor.

Peace

A Lightning strike of truth

Every once in a while I come across a blog posting from someone that just smacks me between the eyes with its truth and love. A fair number of those come from the man known as Real Live Preacher. I've commended him to you before in general but the posting today just struck me as amazing and appropriate for those of us who work with youth. The question posed is one we get asked many many times and I intend to hang on to this wisdom for my future use.

You'll find a link to the post in the title and Here

Wow. And I stand by my comment on that post. This man has touched me in amazing ways through his writing. I hope that my blog may become half of what his is in wisdom and faith.

Peace

Still here

No I haven't died, gotten lost or whatever It's simply been such a busy summer that I'm having trouble getting the energy to sit down and write. It's been a busy, busy summer and I'll share about it soon. But for the moment I'm just trying to struggle along.

Peace

Thoughts from the weekend

Sorry I've been a bit lax but it's still a busy time of the year for me. Got lots of family and friends coming in for the weekend. Celebrating the daughter's graduation from HS (I think the first school bill arrived today. If I'm lucky it's just her room/roommate assignment)plus a second memorial service for my mom. More thoughts on that later.

Something struck me over the weekend. First I was doing something that I generally DON'T do. I was watching golf on TV. I play golf (badly) and enjoy the frustration and triumphs of the game. But I find golf on TV to be just about terminally boring. Because they bounce around from player to player and stroke to stroke I get no feel for any one round. It took me a while to realize that Sergio Garcia was Tiger Woods' partner. The only reason I watched was:
1: It was a major
2: It was almost over (I tuned in when Tiger was on the 14th hole)
3: I'd heard that Tiger wasn't blowing away the field.

Let me be perfectly honest. I don't want Tiger to win. Quite simply I'm tired of Tiger winning all the time (which he hasn't done in the last couple years). This has nothing to do with Tiger himself. It's just that when the same person or team wins all the time I get bored. Dynasties are dull and overall aren't good for the game after about the fourth year in a row IMO. And when you win the Tiger often does, by blowing the rest of the tourney into the weeds early then coasting to the trophy it makes watching on TV even MORE boring.

So Tiger is only a couple strokes ahead and Chris DeMarco (yes I was rooting for DeMarco) was doing all he could to keep the heat on. You know what? It was still boring.

What finally grabbed my attention was what happened after Tiger finished the 18th hole.

He burst into tears.

And my opinion of Tiger jumped through the roof. Because we'd never seen this kind of emotional outburst from him before. Because having lost BOTH my parents in the last six years (and Mom only 9 months ago) I felt his pain. Because he didn't try to hide it. Much to the surprise of his caddy it looked like, LOL. Then again when he hugged his wife.

This was the moment he'd always shared with his dad who died a couple months ago. Another major title, the only ones that count for Tiger, another big hug from the man who had put Tiger on the path to greatness. And the final smack of reality when it was no longer something he could just ignore. His dad wasn't there waiting for him. Would not EVER again be there to hug him after a win. And Tiger broke down and cried.

And so did I. Because my Mom won't ever call me to harass me about something she thinks I should be doing, or telling me a story for the third time because she'd forgotten which of her sons she'd already told it to. Because I can't call my dad and talk about the sweet new cars that are coming out or how the latest Formula One race finished. That neither of them will see thier eldest granddaughter debut on the college stage, or see any of their other grandkids graduate or play football or whatever. That I lost the advice and comfort of my parents.

And it sucks. That's what hit Tiger so hard on the 18th green. So he cried and hung onto his friends and wife. Which is entirely cool and proper.

In that instant I felt like Tiger (the greatest golfer in the world) and I (not so much) came a little closer. My prayers are with Tiger. Heck I hope he wipes up a few more majors this year.

Peace

A Community theme

I mentioned the theme for Senior High (actually for all our camps this summer) and that we'd had some success with the teaching. The theme was simply "Community". I try for simple concept themes that will allow the director and staff of each camp to interpret it as they see fit for their age group. (Last year was "Beloved"). I did some research and didn't find anything that I really liked, so I borrowed some ideas and built a course around them.

My approach was simple. We talked about what community means in the light of a life in faith. For the overall concept I took John 13:34-35 because I think that (the new commandment love another as I have loved you) is central to our understanding of how we create a community. It's not enough to love one another but we are to do it as Jesus loved us. Lots tougher. We talked about what constituted a community, the good, the bad, the communities they belonged to and the responsibilities that go along with it.

Each day had an individual scripture story that went with the day and some activity/discussion for them to hash out what we were talking about (each session lasted an hour) The central focus was on a pair of concepts:

Confess/Forgive
Serve/Accept
Encourage/Admonish

Then on Friday we talked about "Taking it Home". Each of the pairs had to be defined first, then we looked at the stories from scripture and discussed them. I enjoyed all the sessions and the kids could repeat back to me the concepts we'd discussed the days before and put them in context so I was getting through too which was pretty cool. Friday's session kind of had me stumped. How to get it through, at the end of the week and without sounding preachy? I had really wanted to use some music from Isaac Everett (mentioned in a previous post) and as I listened to one cut (don't have the CD here so I can't tell you the name, it's cut 4 off his brand new disc) there was a line that just kept coming back to me "Lead me to Jerusalem to die" (that's close if not perfect). It wasn't until I was up in front of the class with the music playing (pretty hard rock sound to it, so it's pounding and the kids are sitting there with their heads bobbing) when it struck me. I went over to the chalkboard and wrote "Go to Jerusalem and DIE!" then walked away till the song ended. In the silence that followed I talked about the community of believers that went before us, and how they would go on pilgrimage. I spoke of our own lifelong pilgrimage to the Holy City and how as people of faith we are called there to die to our selves. All of the concepts we discussed were about setting aside our selves to love one another. It is in doing that, just as Jesus did, that we truly fulfill the new commandment and create a faith based and faith filled community. I'd only used up about 20 minutes of the hour but it felt like time to wrap it up. So I sent them on their way to their Jerusalems.

You never know about how well the seeds been planted with young people. They seemed interested and open and involved. I'm not sure I get to ask for any more than that. The adults seemed to really like it. One suggested I needed to do that as a workshop for adults throughout the diocese and the bishop suggested that me teaching needed to be a regular part of conference. (Blush)

By the end of the week we'd had a beach party (with rubber duckies for everyone! Those were a major hit), a dance, a talent show, game night, workshops on Anglican Prayer beads, General Convention (with one of our former youth who had been part of the Official Youth Presence in Columbus)and done a Morning worship that drew from traditions all around the world (mostly Anglican plus Iona) and prayed for folks from the diocese and the world wide Communion. Some of the kids liked the morning prayer enough that they took me up on taking a copy home with them. Maybe they'll even use it!

It's tiring me out just thinking back on the week. It's a conference I feel really good about. It wasn't perfect (next year! lol)but it went very well.

Onward to the next task...

Peace

OK let's do some talking here

End of a long hot day, here in the world's tiniest office with no air conditioning. Let me take a stab at just a few memories from Senior High Conference.

It's always HOT. But not this year. Warm mostly with rain the first couple days. The rain was lots of fun the day the electronic entrance locks all died. With the entire conference outside! It also made our class time interesting since we're normally out doors. But we survived.

The kids decided to translate my name into Spanish. For no apparent reason. So I became Jota for most of the week. I'm usually pretty easy about this kind of stuff but they insisted on shouting it out every time they saw me. Which wore thin REAL fast. Finally I quietly asked one of them to drop it since it was starting to bug me (and we have a community rule that says we refer to people they way they prefer). No big deal, just a quiet request which I planned to repeat individually over the next couple days till it died out. Well the next morning at the big teaching session one of the girls greets me with a big "Jota!" and the youth I'd spoken with last night tells her not to do that since I had "yelled" at him the night before! Please be assured there is no way what I did could be construed as yelling. If only because it was last thing of the day and I was exhausted! So I quietly explained to the whole conference that I preferred the name my momma gave me and explained how much of our identities were tied up in our names. They told me that I'd said I liked the nickname (sorry, no) and got a little upset with me. I stood my ground and the "Jota" thing died out mostly. Not the way I wanted to handle it but it got the job done. Sheesh.

It's funny when I was a kid I thought my name was dopey. There weren't that many Jays out there (in elementary school there was one other, a really cute red headed girl! I'm not sure there were more than three of us in high school) In the end however it is my name and I should have called them on the name rule earlier rather than let it slide. I guess it's especially important to me because I'm NOT clergy. Most of the staff are, so they're Father John Paul, or Bishop Michael or Mother Ellen. I discourage the use of Mom or Pop (titles for adults working with our Happening movement. I do qualify for that) because not everyone has done Happening (or will) and that should remain part of that community. I know other adults who feel differently and I let them do their thing (again the name rule). So what I DO have is the name the Captain and his lady gave me almost 50 years ago. It's mine and it means ME. I don't know who the hell Jota is but I wish him well.

Of course that was the biggest problem we had (OK we had some organizational problems with the college and the whole electronic lock thing). And that's a very good thing.

I was very excited about the theme for this year and the program I led. I'll share some more about that soon.

Peace

Getting back into the swing

Yeah, I know, I've been gone awhile. The whole General Convention, Senior High Conference, daughter graduating from HS, summer time thing has just completely worn me out. I promise starting next week more posts. In the meantime my thanks to Mykel Pickens (I'd say my friend Mykel but I'm not sure we know each other well enough. We've hung out at times on the same boards and lists. So I'll settle on my brother in Christ) who posted this and I really like it. Think about it.

FOR WHOM DID CHRIST DIE?

HE DIED . . .

1. For all (1 Tim. 2:6; Isa. 53:6).
2. For every man (Heb. 2:9).
3. For the world (John 3:16).
4. For the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).
5. For the ungodly (Rom. 5:6).
6. For false teachers (2 Peter 2:1).
7. For many (Matt. 20:28).
8. For Israel (John 11:50-51).
9. For the Church (Eph. 5:25).
10. For "me" (Gal. 2:20).

Peace

Wow, I'm tired

Sorry that there's been such a gap in my posting but the computer system at the college where we hold Senior High Conference apparently has some new level of security that wouldn't allow me to log onto any of my usual sites. I could read anything I wanted but couldn't post anything, anywhere. In the end it was probably a good thing since it focused my limited attention span on the tasks at hand.

I'm still exhausted. Prior to July 1 I had been at home three days in three weeks. I still feel jet-lagged and not at all ready to face my office.

Oh my office! Stacked with boxes from camp, back mail, hundreds of back e-mails (OK those are only "virtually" stacked!), expense reports to finish, camp bills to be paid, money to be submitted, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

The good news is that conference, while small, went well. I got some rave reviews of my teaching bits from people who have no need nor reason to butter me up. I'll share the stories and ideas over the next couple weeks as I continue to catch up.

Meanwhile there are several projects screaming for my attention and there's all this chaos to be tidied...

Peace

How did I miss this one!

I just went over my notes from GC and saw I had completely overlooked the one OUTSTANDING music at worship we had during the week. I meant to write about him but could never remember his last name when I sat down to type. So mark this down

ISAAC EVERETT


The link to his web site is in the title of this post (just click on it) you can even hear some of his music. Which he describes as post modern worship. It blew GC away, sold 100 CDs in about a half an hour plus a whole bunch more when they sent out for more later in the week.

On top of that he seems to be a pretty humble guy with an immense gift.

After all the whining I did how could I forget to tell you about the one I loved?

Yeesh.

I'm home

And very very tired. Senior High camp begins on Sunday and I'm not fully prepared. I did some work as I could at GC but there's still lots to do. So I'm trying to wrap up my GC experience today so I can dedicate tomorrow and Saturday to camp work.

GC Overall - As with three years ago I'm struck with the civility of what went on from all sides. We spoke passionately but not in anger. Hard decisions were made, some of which disturb me deeply. We elected a female PB and I wept with joy. I worked with an amazing group of youth and adults and watched the young people grow into future leaders. I saw an amazing movie Traces of the Trade which I commend to everyone. I will take all of what happened there and pray about it and trust that God is leading us where we need to go.

Worship - I've whined enough about this I suppose but while well done it was boring and exhibited little of the diversity we can possess. I hope for better in three years. The Jazz Worship was good as was the young man who played Isaac....can't remember! I bought his CD and have enjoyed what I've heard so far.

The Official Youth Presence - I love these young people and was proud to serve them for ten days. They spoke passionately and intelligently, they attended committee meetings and made the voice of young people heard. I look forward to seeing them return as deputies (both lay and clergy) and someday as bishops perhaps.

The Host city - Columbus is an attractive city with a variety of architecture and opportunities. Some great restaurants including Due Amici, Brownstone on Main and BD's Mongolian barbecue (which is a chain that we should get here in WNY!) Also kudos to the North Market with it's wonderful Farmer's Market feel and good (and varied) meal offerings. I would visit Columbus again without a doubt.

Travel adventures - You knew I would have at least one! We flew puddle-jumpers both ways, including a turboprop! On the way home we flew into LaGuardia (don't ask me the logic of flying to NYC if you're going from Ohio to WNY) The plane was over sold by four seats and I would have taken the free ticket if the next flight hadn't have gotten me into Buffalo at nearly midnight. When we boarded we were informed that we were either 26 or 29 in the line to take off (turbo prop cabins are noisy!) and that the flight crew had no idea what the hold up was. So we sat for about an hour slowly inching our way forward.

I come away from GC invigorated and exhausted, exhilarated and disturbed. I hold my church close in my heart and will pray as we move forward. I pray for PB elect Schori and all the friends I made there.

We now return to our regularly scheduled madness.
Peace

Last day at GC

I'm running late so I'll just try and hit the high points.

Walking has slowed down, yesterday was 13,458 steps so about 6.5 miles. Too much time listening to endless technical debate in the House of Deputies.

Defeat of the moratorium resolution. Don't know how you imagine the "debate" but it was long, tedious, repetitive and utterly, utterly civil. Not a single raised voice, no shouting, no displays of anger. Of sadness yes, of anger, not a lick. By the way, it's not over. We're told to expect the issue to be re-opened this morning. The idea is to create a compromise version to give the new PB something to carry with her to her first meetings later in the year and in the future.


Approval of the election of Canon Beisner as next bishop of N. Calif. Again much sadness expressed but all very civil and sane.

Once the Windsor stuff was done the tempo of action increased, which was nice.

Music at worship continues to disappoint. Well performed but very standard and very dull. We did a piece of service music that used a Jamaican folk tune as the melody and it was played at dirge tempo. I can only hope it'll be better in '09 in Anaheim.
George Wirner preached yesterday. He was brief but very good.

Not taking a lot of stuff home this time (had to buy a new piece of luggage last time!) A couple of CDs of music and a book on prayer plus some "useful" hand outs. Turned out that my Associate rector (Susan Anslow Williams) was doing some cartoons for one of the GC daily publications. And the Youth presence got parodied by one of them.
Well I'm running late. I'll fill in the details when I get back.
Peace

Down the stretch we come!

Lots still going on even as time begins to run out...

Walking update - Sunday 11,056, Monday 13,420. Not quite sure why it's dropped off. We did ride on the shuttle bus on Sunday a couple times and with the exciting business I've been staying in the gallery to listen.

Forgot to mention the Jazz worship on Sunday. Liked it a LOT! The musicians were delayed by storms and their instruments didn't make it in time for the service so they were playing with rented instruments. VERY impressive. Music on Monday was from Elisabeth Von Trapp also very beautiful.

More reaction the election of the new PB. The GC newspaper noted that a lot of the international visitors who are here reacted very positively. At my worship table is a bishop from a small non-continental diocese (I'm being vague because I don't want to presume and I like this bishop) and he commented very favorably about the PB elect saying that he believes she will be a better reconciler than ++Griswold.

Joint meeting between the houses for the discussion of the budget. I'm happy to report that GC has lived up to its commitment to youth ministry as a priority.

GC began discussion of the Windsor report resolutions. They began with the "Expression of regret" one which drew an interesting and respectful debate with some excellent points made by both sides. The young people have spoke quite passionately and several more of them plan to speak as more of the resolutions come to the floor. I've been very proud and impressed by their thoughts. No votes announced as yet even as the debate has moved on to the resolution concerning future ordinations of gay and lesbian persons. Keep praying for the church.

Moment of humor. A female deputy with her very small baby came to the microphone. She introduced herself then added her baby's name adding that the child was a member of the "unofficial infant presence" Got a nice laugh.

Still lots of business to do, lots of pain still to be felt. These discussions are not easy for anyone and we're watching the church work its way through the pain. I remain proud of my denomination.

Peace

And history made

What an astounding day.

Quite simply the announcement of our new Presiding Bishop Catherine Jefferts Schori came as a huge surprise yesterday. The gallery and deputies broke discipline and cheered briefly following the announcement then just looked at one another in utter shock. I'm lucky enough to know one of the people who served on the committee to select the initial four candidates. She told me that she had been very impressed by the bishop of Nevada during the process and called her a "uniter". The process moved very quickly at first, the bishops had done three ballots by lunch time then didn't have a decision till between three and four. The confirmation by the Deputies was overwhelming. There were about 220 potential voting deputations (lay and clergy vote separately from each diocese) and 196 voted yes.

It's amazing to have watched history being made twice here at GC. It was interesting trying to call St. Luke's (I utterly forgot it was Sunday and couldn't figure out why no one was in the office. Being at GC is a lot like entering the Twilight Zone) and home. Even with a very strong signal I couldn't make a connection probably due to the massive amount of traffic at that time. EVERYONE was on their cell phones.

As yet we haven't seen anyone walking off the floor in protest but I expect to see that today as we begin working through the Windsor Report resolutions. It's very sad to realize that this will finally bring about the break that we've worried about for the last three years. At the same time there's almost a sense of relief. Of course it's going to be incredibly painful and there will be lots of angry words and court battles. Pray for our church.

Other news - I forgot to mention that Adam (one of the GCOYP) addressed the E3 group (an event that brings some 200 young people to GC to learn more about how our church works). He did a great job despite being pretty nervous. He followed the bishop of Colombia who was a candidate to be the next PB. Adam is also a Formula One racing fan so he and I have something to bond over. He's a major McLaren fan.

Seeing more Anglican nuns than normal (come on how many Episcopal nuns do YOU see on the average day? lol) Interesting note: there seems to be a height restriction since the average nun is about 4 feet 10 inches tall!

Met a "celebrity" yesterday -Brad Drell a conservative Episcopal blogger (Drell's Descants). I almost always disagree with him but he's articulate and intelligent. I see on his blog that he's also leaving the Episcopal church because of the election. My prayers will go with him. He was personable and very nice during our conversation in line to get lunch. He's also a Happener!

Today the legislation kicks into high gear. We did have one small victory yesterday on legislation. A resolution to encourage more young people into leadership roles had set the ages as "18-30" Several young people pointed out that the canonical standard for adulthood is 16. There was some discussion and in the end the amendment was approved as was the overall resolution. Now it has to go back to the House of Bishops. I hope they approve the change quickly. I'm very excited.

The rest of our day was a bit of a mess. The schedule (through no fault of ours or anyone's really) came apart after the election. People just weren't available etc. So we scrambled to cover things like dinner. Remember that dinner is for a group of 30! Makes planning a little complicated. Special thanks to Brown Stone on main here in Columbus. They stayed open late, kept staff on, fed us some fabulous food and all for a very reasonable price. If you're ever in Columbus I recommend it whole heartedly. They were a gift from God.

This has been an amazing event, one I will never forget. But I'm ready to come home. I miss you all.

Peace

Saturday and I'm "famous"!

Wow.

One of my friends here tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to the morning GC newspaper (Oh yes there is a daily paper put out AND a TV newscast.) Your humble servant was quoted on the front page! I mentioned how impressed I am with the movie "Traces of the Trade". I had made some comments in the Q and A after the showing and been interviewed by ENS. I had thought it was bound for the TV newscast (my hotel doesn't carry it so I don't know if I made that) but was quoted in the paper. Very cool.

Walking update - 16,352 steps. So again about 8 miles. Very good. Although I seem to have pulled a muscle in my right hip. Aleve seems to help. I put in 16,202 on Friday.

The schedule is starting to take it's toll on the GCOYP. They were getting snappish on Friday night. So I had the Wednesday night at camp talk. If you do camp you probably know what I'm talking about. Right around mid week the kids will get nuts, then get over it and everything will be good. Yesterday we ended up with a half an hour suddenly free. The House of Deputies were in "visiting guest speech mode" and the event we were supposed to be attending ended early! So we hung out at the Food Court and watched Team USA tie Italy 1-1 at the World Cup. It was very good for the group. Plus last night we went to the Hispanic festival event, lots of dancing and music. So I think it was a great day to help get everyone's head back on straight.

And for the record I did my white boy best to dance.

Big Eucharist yesterday. Two hours long with a 30-40 minute sermon by the Rev. Jenny Te Paa from New Zealand. It was very good even with the length. Not sure the conservative brothers and sisters would be thrilled with the message of inclusivness and against "breaking up" the church. Music was very well done but "cathedral standard" to my ear. I really do miss the musical diversity of '03. Today is supposed to be a Jazz service so maybe I'll be happier.

Quiet day on the floor of Deputies. They did elect a new VP and it's another friend of mine! The Rev. Brian Prior is the Province VIII youth coordinator (and rector and former Exec. Council member. He's a big wheel) So that's really cool. Haven't seen him yet to kiss his ring or whatever one does for the veep. The youth are very excited about today because they are planning on speaking to a variety of issues.

Today they get their 15 minutes with the PB. That's always a cool moment. Last night was the special recognition night for ++Griswold. Bishops Rosskum and Curry (Hope I spelled both those names correctly!) were pretty funny playing Regis and Cathy Lee. Friends of the Groom were very funny as always. The four valedictory speeches in between? Yawn. But on the whole a pretty neat night.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there.

Yr man at GC
Peace

Catching Up Part I

Sorry that I haven't blogged in a while but it has been BUSY! I'll break this into two entries so that you don't feel like you're trapped reading the whole thing.

First two things that need top of the list attention:

U2charist – This was an amazing service wrapped around the music of the Irish rock band U2. The liturgy is straight out of the BCP but music and videos are woven through out everything. Much like the Hip Hop Mass I saw at EYE last summer I wouldn't want a steady diet of it but it was an amazing, profound and spirit filled event. The crowd was surprisingly age diverse ranging from 2 year olds to a good many white haired elders of the community. And pretty much everyone seemed to have a good time. It ended with the Eucharist which was pretty cool as well. Sadly I got there late and missed Bishop Michael Curry preaching. Very upsetting. +Curry is worth listening to. I swear I'd listen to him read a shopping list.

Traces of the Trade – This is a powerful movie about a young Episcopal woman who discovers her families deep dark secret, that their wealth and standing is based on the slave trade. The documentary follows her and several of her relatives as they explore what that really means and what their ancestors (the largest slave traders in American history) did. There is still only a rough cut at the moment but it moved me to tears several times. Several of the folks in the film are here and were with us at the viewing. The final version should be available in the next year and I strongly urge everyone to see, to have their congregations see it, that everyone see it. I hope to use it as part of the diversity discussions we have at our camp program. Look for this title.

Oh update on my walking- Wednesday was 15,996 steps so that was about 8 miles. Yesterday was my day as group “leader” (we rotate this “honor”) so I had to do a bit more sitting so I only logged 15,148 steps or about 7.5 miles. I'm getting my workouts in.

Worship notes – The worship has been good. Readings are done in a variety of languages (with written translations) So far it's been English, Spanish, Italian and Japanese (I think) along with the sign language. I love watching the readings being signed. The music has not been as adventurous as three years ago. The woodwind trio yesterday (or Weds?) was very nice and we've gotten a little bit from Sandra Montes who has one of God's really great voices doing some Spanish language songs. There's a band from Hispanic ministries that usually greets us at the door to the Convention center each morning. That'll get your blood flowing.

Voting remotes - I've noted before that the deputies are having trouble with the electronic voting “doo hickeys” (that was the term one of the deputies used) Other terms include TV remote and automatic garage door opener. The latest report from the dais is that the deputies are actually getting it right about 98% of the time. Early on though people were making multiple mistakes. It has been suggested (by some very cynical person...who could that be?) that we should move to a Quaker model. Ten days of silence.

Dispatch of Business – That's a person, in this case a man named Gregory Straub. Greg is the archetypal old line Episcopalian. Tall, silver hair, deep voice with just a touch of Oxford to it and dry, dry, dry humor. A deputy had inquired as to what happened to the money placed in the UTO boxes each day, since they were empty each morning. When Greg supplied the answer the following day he made some reference to “evil tooth fairies” who might be making off with the funds. Turns out that there are properly “deputed people” (his words) who are clearing the boxes.

OK,that's enough for part one. I'll give you the rest in part two (below)

Yr man at GC
Peace

Catching up Part II

Ok let's get this caught up.

It was great looking up at the pulpit the other day and seeing a friend preaching to GC. Not just someone I know but someone I truly call my friend. Miguelina D'Espina is a priest from the Dominican and a former provincial youth ministry coordinator. She is a wonderful person and deep in her faith. And she fired up for her sermon! It was fabulous. The other sermons have been good but it's just so wonderful to hear someone you care for speaking to the entire church.

Speaking of speeches - the young people have been doing a great job addressing various bodies here at GC. Alexa from the Dominican addressed ECW, David from SE Florida addressed the Bishops (second GC in a row that a young man from that diocese has addressed the Bishops!) Jessica from Central PA addressed the Deputies and Ernie from N. Dakota addressed the UTO dinner. Great reviews on all of them. It's amazing the insight that they've found.

Funding priorities gave a bit of a fight. Youth had been given the #1 spot last time and had dropped to #2 this time behind Peace and Justice. So the battle began, youth, Peace and Justice, or Evangelism/Reconciliation. Round and round and round. I can't argue with any of them and actually the theologically based arguments for Evang/Reconc were fairly convincing. But the Roberts Rules circus was in full flight. In the end nothing changed. For the youth ministry we just hope that the needed funding is still there.

Lots of folks from WNY here, visiting, volunteering, attending various other related events (like E3 for youth Deacon Cathy Basile and Ryan Cinque from my home congregation of St. Luke's are here) and a bunch of folks from all over Province II as well. Oh and maybe we'll get a real insider working in youth ministry in the Province. Don Carlson from CNY is running for Executive Council! Yes, I'm having LOTS of fun yanking his chain about that!

I'm working on about 6 hours of sleep a night so my tail is really dragging. Yesterday was my day in charge so I was on the bounce from 6 AM till 11:30 PM. I'm glad someone else is in charge today.

Tonight the youth are meeting with the previous Official Youth Presence. A LOT of that group were elected as deputies or alternates this time. It's great to see more young people moving into leadership roles.

OK that's most of the news from here. I'm seeing lots of folks I've met before and lots of friends. I bought a present for my lady wife but she may check in here so I can't tell you what it is. But it's something beautiful for a beautiful lady.

Put one in the books

Steps total for Tuesday - 17,992 (almost 9 miles)

Yesterday was mostly about getting your feet under you. Lots of adjustments to make. There's a new computerized voting system that is giving folks some fits. I must confess to making a rather unkind comment. Given the average age of deputies I suggested they should have brought along a grandchild to help them with their technology problems.

I know, I'm bad. Mea culpa.

Wandered in the exhibition hall. Several hundred vendors there, everything from church bells to Amish fudge. Don't ask me why. Biggest problem? Not walking into someone while you're trying to look in all four directions at the same time!

The Archbishop of York addressed the House. He was very funny and very on point. He brought along a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury. Most of which was pretty perfunctory. One line jumped out at me where the ABC said that the Windsor report is not the end of the line or process. Interesting.

USA Today had a big article about us and the Presbyterian (also in convention right now). As usual they made it sound as if the ONLY thing going on were issues of sexuality. Stupid.

Longest discussion was on whether to send a resolution back to committee. Took over a half an hour. Wasn't even a terribly important one, mostly about future consideration of topics.

Great line - The deputies hadn't used their electronic voting stuff for a while so the person in charge of voting told them (direct quote) Since your keypads have been resting, let's wake them up"

My "best" moment? I'm trying to use my VERY limited spanish with our spanish speaking young people. While trying to explain feta cheese at dinner I glitched and instead of saying the spanish word for "goat" I ended up with "snake". The look I got from the young lady was priceless. Generally regarded as the high moment of the day by the Youth Presence.

At least I'm good for comic relief.

Our days begin by leaving the hotel at 6:45 AM so the youth can get to committee meetings and sign up to speak. We ended last night at 11:30.

This is going to be a LOOOOONG convention.

I've included the link to the GC news website in the title.

Peace

And we're here!

Regular readers here will know that I often have travel "adventures". I'm happy to report that it was very boring flying in to Columbus. It was two of the little planes that my dad used to refer to as "puddle jumpers", including one with propellers! But no big adventures.

Was interesting when I checked in as the USAirways agent noted I was from the southern tier and began to quiz me about how difficult it was to get from Buffalo to Jamestown. Seems she has relatives down there (Hello Panebiancos!) and didn't visit them because she was afraid she'd get lost. I reassured her that it was dead simple. So maybe I helped get some family together.

Speaking of family leaving yesterday carried a little bit of heaviness for me. First because my cousin Scott died of a heart attack late last week. Scott was a cousin that I'd really gotten to know and like as an adult over the last 10 years or so (I'm the oldest in my generation so I was "grown up" while a lot of my cousins were still kids). Scott was a good guy struggling with some hard times. His death was a shock. It was an additional shock knowing that I'd almost certainly miss his funeral. Please pray for his family.

It's also tough because yesterday was my wedding anniversary, our 24th. I'm blessed to be married to one of God's best example of womanhood. My lady wife is truly amazing and has supported me in my previous career and in my ministry today. I can't imagine what life would be like without her. I love you beautiful.

Yesterday was mostly a setting up day, not much exciting. The youth are already at their first committee meetings as I write this (7:30AM). That will set the pattern for the rest of the convention. We try to wrap up the day by 10:30 and lights out at 11. Still a LONG day.

Oh and to start the "walking" total I walked 8,211 steps yesterday or just over 4 miles. That's a pretty normal day for me so we'll see how today goes.

Your man at GC

Closer and closer

Well I'm into my usual pre-trip frenzy. Trying to remember to pack everything, what do I need, how many? I'll pack and unpack at least once.

I took my own advice and went back and looked at the posts from last time. Among the notes was that I averaged about 8 miles a day in Minneapolis. That would be 16,000 steps! We'll see how I do. My hotel is a little way away from the Convention Center so I'll get a minimum amount of walking in any way.

Back to being the White Rabbit...

Peace