For those of you who have been living under a rock, and don’t know, Father Jack and I have spent the past two weeks in Minneapolis, attending :clears throat: The 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
And for someone watching from the outside, these lines, modified from Eucharistic Prayer C which we will use later today, truly did describe the goings on of convention~ in a polite, reasonable, skillful, Anglican way, there was a lot of tension and grief. But, the more I think about it, we may have turned against one another, but, not one person intentionally turned against God… in every single hearing, people were passionate, because, they were trying to figure out what it is that God wants… no one wanted their own glory, and no one meant to betray God’s trust, and even with the strife, prayer and worship, everyone together, were daily happenings.
Indeed, we celebrated the Eucharist everyday at convention, and this truly showed how close to God we strive to be. Why, The main convention Eucharist on Sunday morning, was amazing! I remember looking around, and seeing over 5,000 Episcopalians in lines, receiving communion, the body and blood of our Lord. All the disagreements and hurt melted away, the fact that bishop-elect Gene Robinson’s fate would be decided in a few short hours didn’t matter. We were all Episcopalians, who for the record, agreed on most pieces of important legislation. Through this mass, there was a present reminder, that, as I said before, all the arguing was about God, about securing what She wants for us. Tears were streaming down my face as I looked with awe at the praise and love for the creator of all of us.
As we sang “I am the bread of life” after communion, a thousand voices rang, truly believing the words, waiting, as the chorus keeps shouting, waiting to be risen up, everyone, many whose voices are mediocre at best, singing, praising our Lord,~~ as the hymn says, thanking him, that we will be risen up, and that we shall live forever, and I realized, that this my friends, this is the church, and quoting The Rev. Michael Hopkins, the president of Integrity, which is the Episcopal organization of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transsexual people of the Episcopal church, quoting the Rt. Rev. Barbara Harris, right then , and that moment, the church said, Amen!
This past Thursday night Integrity had a mass at a local church to thank their volunteers and in exorbitant jubilation over their victories that were passed, and in sadness for those were not joyful with these pieces of legislation.
Fr. Jack, another priest from the diocese and I, as well as many, many others joined for a night of singing, worship and prayer. The spirit of the night was empowering, as was the sermon, by Integrity president Michael Hopkins. And I have never seen that many people clappin’ and yellin’ and whoopin’ and hollerin’ and screamin' and stompin’ when a white man is preachin’ to a predominantly white congregation. To quote Fr. Hopkins again, when the church says Amen, amen to freedom, amen to loving, amen, it be so! It was glorious!
The spirit that filled those masses, God in action is so evident in the WORKINGS of this parish. People truly going out for other people, and I’ll miss that most about this parish when I leave for college, how the Spirit evidently flows through everyone, and how warm that feels! But when it comes to masses, well, the mass can easily become monotonous- but we must strive to have it not become the Sunday “ordinary”, but the Sunday, and everyday EXTRAORDINARY! The spirit can fill even the tensest moments, God can actively be felt in worship, if we let ourselves go, let ourselves be taken over by the powerful spirit, think of the energy that could be in this church every Sunday, think of the beauty that occurs when the church, not turning away from God, and betraying Her, but turning to God, says Amen. Amen to adequate insurance for church staffs, amen to diversity, amen to medical research, and amen to youth ministries. When the church, when all of US, caring for those who grieve and who are joyous, conservative, or liberal, gay, straight, black, white, purple, blue, yes when the whole church in its debating, disagreeing, caring, loving, God-given glory, says one loud AMEN!
