Tuesday, July 7th.
The church or at least a significant portion of it has gathered in Southern California. There are two main hotels used by convention, and the folks from Missouri are in the Hilton, a massive place with around 1,300 rooms. All the deputies arrived safely with a few minor delays.
We expect the ECW delegates today. Hopefully their flights will be as good.
There will be a lot of walking or the use of cabs out here. I went shopping yesterday at Target which is about a mile from the hotel. Glad I brought a backpack, so I could walk back with everything on my back. A ton of restaurants to choose from, but most are at least six or seven blocks.
The office staff put together all the materials for a functioning office here at the hotel, and the deputies have found it quite helpful.
The feeling really is that the church has gathered. Last night and this morning you see a lot of greeting going on. There is laughter, good cheer, and joy among many and yet as you look carefully, you see small knots of people already looking seriously engaged in the business of convention. I hope they can take a walk in the California sunshine and relax a little, but suspect that many will not. This morning committee meetings started. They go from 8 until 12. The afternoon is spent with a welcome from the presiding bishop, an introduction to the public narrative project and orientation. This all leaves me with not a lot to do. I am still exploring so that I can tell people where things are. The deputation will begin their nightly debriefing meetings at 6, before they go off to still more meetings from 7 until 9.
Wednesday, July 8th
Legislative committees are up and running. The House of Bishops and the House of Deputies have begun their work. Already a few votes taken including the consent for several Bishops. Today has been taken up with committee meetings; the Bishop’s committee (Liturgy, Prayerbook, and Music) will meet for a total of about five hours today in three sessions. Most are on a similar schedule.
The ECW triennial started today. I have not seen them yet, but I hear that everyone made it to Anaheim successfully.
Convention must have officially started because we have a few protesters around. Two older guys, one with a Mohawk and no shirt holding rather repugnant signs. As far as I can tell, everyone is simply walking on by. Disney employees are also on the ground hoping to gather support for some benefits that the company is trying to remove.
The church was at its best when it is in worship and worship this morning was really good; I participated by being at a communion station and the Bishop sang in the choir. That’s it for now. Pretty mundane, but things are already picking up. Tomorrow and Friday are big open hearings on the budget. Tonight the Bishop’s committee has an open hearing on the Holy Women, Holy Men, the multi-year project rewriting lesser feasts and fasts. (See Bishop Smith’s article in this month’s Seek.) Some are concerned that the new saints are not “vetted” and some would like to vote on individuals. In the area of the ridiculous someone suggested adding Michael Jackson, but most seem to think it was done tongue in cheek.
We think of you daily, hope all is going well. Write questions if you have them and I will try to answer.
Tags: General Convention, Media
