Episcopal Church General Convention - Day 4

With last night's hearing out of the way, today was a day to consolidate our energies a bit.  At the Eucharist this morning (commemorating Harriet Beecher Stowe, in accordance with the experimental TEC calendar Holy Women, Holy Men) we heard a powerful sermon from North Carolina Bishop Michael Curry.  Note that the sermon text at the link simply doesn't capture the power of the man's oratory. (UPDATE: h/t Ann Fontaine for a link to the video of Bishop Curry's sermon.)

We need some crazy Christians. Sane, sanitized Christianity is killing us. That may have worked once upon a time, but it won’t carry the Gospel anymore. We need some crazy Christians like Mary Magdalene and Harriet Beecher Stowe. Christians crazy enough to believe that God is real and that Jesus lives. Crazy enough to follow the radical way of the Gospel. Crazy enough to believe that the love of God is greater than all the powers of evil and death.

After the Eucharist, it was back to our table to answer questions, distribute literature and hand out buttons.  We had any number of interesting visitors past the booth, including the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Most Revd David Chillingworth.  Scotland, you may recall, gave the Anglican Covenant a resounding no just a month ago (6 in favour, 112 against, 13 abstentions).  Obviously the Primus was not here to campaign, but he feels responsible to explain his Church's position on the matter.

In non-Covenant news, I met a couple of Episcopal icons.

Louis Crew was one of the early adopters of online communications to advance ecclesiastical discussion, and his Unofficial Anglican Pages are still a great source of information and insight.

I also met the Revd Emily Bloemker, an associate priest at Trinity, Wall Street in New York.  Of course, Emily is more famous for her star turn on TLC's What Not To Wear.

Finally, with an additional gift today, Lionel and I still fall a few hundred dollars short of covering our expenses for this trip.  The money collected to date will cover all but two nights of our stay in Indianapolis.  We'll be picking up our own travel and meals.  Some of you will have already contributed.  If anyone else cares to, every little bit helps.  Plus, for gifts of $25 or more, you get a lovely "Yes to Communion, No to Covenant" pin for your very own.