Of Things Episcopal

This week I am travelling to Camp Kanuga in North Carolina to prepare for the upcoming General Convention of the Episcopal Church at which I will be a deputy representing our diocese. The General Convention of the Episcopal Church meets every three years. It has since 1789. The General Convention is the legislative authority of what once was named the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, now known as the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The General Convention is custodian of our Book of Common Prayer. It has the authority to revise it or not. The General Convention decides on the rules of our common life, also known as the national canons. It supports financially mission operations around the world. It speaks collectively in the form of resolutions to the pressing issues of the day that affect the well being of our society. The General Convention is comprised of representatives from the roughly 130 dioceses of the Episcopal Church. Each diocese has eight representatives in the house of Deputies, four clergy, and four lay. The bishops of the church convene in a separate house called, appropriately enough, the House of Bishops, thereby making our government bicameral. Resolutions or Canons in order to be enacted must pass by a majority in both houses.

The word Episcopal literally means, “of bishops.” We are a church under the authority of bishops who supervise clergy, and act as the chief pastor of their respective diocese (region). They are also a symbol of apostolic succession. They represent the faith that is literally “handed down” from generation to generation, beginning, in theory, with the twelve apostles. The Episcopal Church is a direct descendant of the Roman Catholic Church, which is also under the authority of bishops. But in the wider Catholic tradition we are unique. Because our roots begin at the birth of this nation, we are decidedly democratic. Our polity mimics that of our national secular government. Bishops are not appointed as they are in the Roman Catholic Church, and in the Church of England. We elect our bishops by clergy and laypersons meeting in diocesan convention. The General Convention, as I mentioned earlier, has authority over the Book of Common Prayer, that is, over the means by which we worship. And yet bishops run the day to day operations of the church according to the venerable Catholic tradition from which we come.

As a priest of the church in this diocese I am under the supervisory authority of the bishop, and yet as a deputy of the General Convention I am by canon independent to vote my conscience on matters that affect our common life. This tension between hierarchy and democracy characterizes the polity of our denomination. We respect the apostolic hierarchy, and we respect the wisdom of the rank and file under the bishops’ charge.

Here are some of the issues we will be addressing In Austin this July: Revision of the Book of Common Prayer. With the advent of Marriage Equality the rite of Holy Matrimony in our Prayer book has become archaic. There is a debate as to whether the Book of Common Prayer should be revised or merely added to with supplemental resources; The “Me Too” movement: there will be resolutions considered to articulate the church’s solidarity with victims of sexual violence and harassment; Immigration: there will be resolutions considered to speak to the current administration about its immigration policies. There will be budgets to pass, and boards to be elected who serve the church; and we will worship within the glow of a great diversity that our small denomination has become in just a few decades.

I ask for your prayers during this time that I may effectively serve the greater mission of the gospel as it is articulated in our corner of Christendom, the marvel that is the Episcopal Church.