Long Day

We started our day as usual with Eucharist, and then began our day with an announcement that we would be going late into the evening, as we are behind schedule. Not a surprise. We have an ambitious schedule as to resolutions for this gathering.

Perhaps the most contentious legislation is the response to the Windsor Report. Three of those pieces of legislation were voted on today. The first one being a leftover from debate the day before. It was one that was brought before us that attempted to put several subjects into one resolution. The topics being discussed were:

Ordination of Bishops

Same Sex Unions

Apology for the pain the resolution causes to our Gay and Lesbian members for the pain that the resolution might cause.

For many those subjects were the focus of this convention. The resolution that was put before us combined too many subjects, and was ambiguous at best in many ways.

With regard to Ordination of Bishops, it did not clearly state anything that would be acceptible to either side. In fact, all of the resolutions with in the overall legislation had that ambiguity.

It was something that was debated for several hours, and when it came time to vote on it, it was soundly defeated by both of the sides on this issue. When the dioceses of Fort Worth and Newark agree on anything it shows that the legislation was not acceptible to those who felt strongly on both sides. The middle of the road people voted for it, however the combination of the people on both sides (and some of the middle ground) combined to defeat it.

Two other resolutions on windsor were accepted as written. We have one last full day ahead of us, and I am looking forward to returning home to Nebraska. Truly this week was an example of how the Ostrich is an animal built by committee.

The reality is that this is a very complex issue for our church, and an inadequate response can and will cause more damage to our church than taking the time to make it right.

We finally finished our business at 9:30 ET and are resting up for the whirlwind of the last day.

More tomorrow,

Grant