Episcopal Church Foundation Vestry Papers - for leading congregations

We had our elections for General Convention deputies at our diocesan convention this weekend; I was chosen to go to Indianapolis in 2012. The head of our deputation is Katrina Hamilton, the first layperson elected. This will be her third convention which is amazing since she is only 25 years old. She is the perfect choice to be our leader – young and idealistic enough to push us to new horizons and now politically experienced enough to actually see some victories that won’t be merely symbolic.

There are winners and losers at each General Convention; it is insincere to think otherwise. The future course of our church is decided on yes or no votes. The biggest matter to come before us in 2012 will be the Anglican Covenant and a no vote will have serious consequences. Up until now, people have been trying to kick us out of the Anglican Communion. If the Anglican Covenant arrives in our laps in two years in a form that has passed muster with the rest of the Communion and we vote no, we will be taking our own leave.

I know for many, many people the legislative process is like dental work. And that more resent that the General Convention and its Robert’s Rules of Order holds authority over our church.

I have a different view.

If we are truly a church that maintains a balance of authority in the tension of a three-legged stool of scripture, tradition, and reason, how is human reason operationalized in the life of the church? In a church founded in the same year, by the same people, as the United States of America, the democratic process has emerged as the process we use. It has a long-standing history and, as messy as it is this method honors our theology of incarnation.

Did God oppose the ordination of women in 1967, 1970 and 1973 and then have a mind change in 1976 at that year’s General Convention in Minneapolis? No, but our incarnational understanding of God’s will moved over time and as agents of the Holy Spirit we changed, and the church changed, in order to be faithful to the revelation of God as we receive it.

God-given reason enacted in church conventions can be a maddening experience. But if we truly believe human reason is a holy gift from God that holds authority for our faith, it is important that we exercise that reason in a disciplined and time-honored way.