Surrounded by a Cloud of Witnesses

By The Rev. Linda Spiers

Amid the flurry of General Convention resolutions and legislative committee meetings and evening offerings is the profound call to pray in and through all things. Day 7 (July 1) was a good example when we remembered Hiram Hisanori Kano at our daily Eucharist. I had already attended my early morning Ecumenical and Interreligious Committee meeting which began with prayer. I then headed to the enormous worship space to claim seats for Paul Carling, Thom Peters, and me, for the three of us have generally sat together each morning.

Imagine worshiping with 1,500+ people each day. Paul, Thom and I sit close to the front, just behind seating for the deaf where we witness that community signing the prayers and hymns with their fingers dancing the words. The altar and baptismal font are both gigantic and are also right in front of us.

Hiram Hisanori Kano was a Japanese missionary priest serving in Nebraska and was incarcerated with other Japanese immigrants after the Pearl Harbor attack. Check out his courageous story in this related article. In his honor the Kenshin Taiko Drummers brought Japanese culture into our daily Eucharist with their powerful and spirit-filled drumming. The Rev. Becca Stevens, founder of Thistle Farms, preached. Her ministry helps support survivors of trafficking, addiction and violence. Through her own courageous story she invited us to see and live into the ways that love heals.

Our House of Deputies (HOD) chaplain originates from South Africa and has us singing and moving with inclusive prayer that reminds us continually that we are all one. Our HOD sessions begin with prayer. Our July 1 deliberations regarding the two marriage equality resolutions (A054 and A036) were thoughtful and respectful of the other. Before votes were taken prayer centered us.

The day ended with the Utah Showcase when the Kenshin Taiko Drummers returned as part of an evening of music at the Salt Lake Tabernacle. That night of fun began and ended with prayer. We are indeed praying in and through all things and reminded daily that an enormous cloud of witnesses surrounds us.

A first look at the data from our Structure Conversation

On Friday morning we held a joint session of the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies to have a conversation on the structure of our Church. It was a conversation on what structures (at all levels of The Episcopal Church) best enable our parishes and dioceses to more fully participate in the Mission of God and what structures should be changed in order to enable parishes and dioceses. 

Since I am serving as the assistant secretary for the Committee on Governance and Structure, I did not actually participate in the conversation. I was running the Powerpoint slides of the presentation and trying to keep track of the output from the conversation. We invited people to tweet and email their responses. This resulted in over 50 emails and over 1400 tweets on what people care about in The Episcopal Church. We have taken an initial look at the data that we have received, and I can say it is interesting and inspiring to read what people had to say. Here are the word clouds of the top 50 words in each category of "change" and "keep." While there is much to do with the data (and these word clouds are not perfect), they are a good indicator of where the energy is around our structures and governance. 

KEEP

CHANGE

As you can see, there is a great deal of energy and interest around networking/collaboration, around keeping resources at local level when possible, about diocesan camps, youth, and increasing communication at all levels. This raises the important questions of how we can modify and create structures to enable more relationship building in our communities and across the church and to enable people to be out in the neighborhood using our resources to more fully be about the holy work of restoration and reconciliation. There is also clearly great passion about keeping much of our traditions and structures that bind us together as The Episcopal Church.

As we go about our work today at this General Convention, I trust that that conversation on Friday, and its output will inform our work together. There is clearly energy for transformation and change across the Church. May we also all be inspired and open to the possibilities for transformation in our Church and in our own lives.