House of Bishops Blog: Day 6--HOB

In these meetings there always comes a day when your physical body begins to rebel against sitting in a windowless room for so many days. Yesterday was the day. I have had such difficulty getting my body on the time difference (3 hours) that I just have adopted a monastic sleep cycle. I go to be early and get up early. Yesterday (Saturday) I went to the fitness center at 5:00 am only to discover 5 other people in there--all from the East Coast. Even a very nice hotel gets old. It's a good thing we are going into the Diocese of Arizona today to see the world outside the hotel.

To give you a sense of how we work, this is the meeting room with the tables for our small groups and my table:

Yesterday we heard a report from the Standing Commission on Liturgy an Music about collecting rites for same sex blessings to present to General Convention in 2012. The process from that point is not clear. However, their intention is to solicit input from every diocese and every Province of The Episcopal Church as well as the wider Anglican Communion. We heard from two bishops: one who lives in a state that recognizes the legal status of same sex unions and one from a conservative state that is a long way from such a position. I appreciated our acknowledgement of the wide diversity in the Church and our struggle to find a way that allows us to live together. The Standing Commission has been thorough in their process although there is much work left to do. Like all our work, the process is open and we are eager to hear all voices because The Episcopal Church has always been a big tent because God's Table is large enough for everyone.

We had a "Town Hall Meeting" with a series of topics. We talked about raising money for Haiti--the goal mentioned was $10 million. It is clear that the Episcopal Church is doing amazing work in that devastated country and it is especially important for us to remember that they are part of the Episcopal Church. Their bishop comes to The House of Bishops because he is a bishop in our Church. We also discussed the General Ordination Exam, and I would expect some reforms to come to General Convention.

We dealt with some internal matters which I will write about at the appropriate time.

It is clear that we will issue two pastoral letters: one on the environment and one on immigration. Sometimes people ask me why the House of Bishops stirs things up. My response is, "Talk to God---God's stirring things up and we are just trying to keep up." Our Church believes in One God who created One World and is in all of it. There is not a divide between the secular and the sacred--as we sang as children, "He's got the whole world in His hands." That means, the Church's business is not private piety or matters of worship, but how we might work with God as God's instruments to enable God to bring God's kingdom near. We cannot ignore the major issues of our day and be faithful. What we have not done well is explain the theological basis for every position, nor taught everyone how we do theology in our daily lives.

In the evening we visited the Heard Museum which has a large collection of Native American Art.

Today we go off to different locations for church. I am going to St. Peter's Casa Grande which is about a hour south of Phoenix. I wanted to see what life is like the the average parish in Arizona.

Keep us in your prayers as I keep you in mine.