One of the recent iPhone upgrades included a new feature for the camera on the phones: time-lapse photography. Time lapse is an interesting way to capture development, change, or motion over a long period of time. Video of an event might be too long to be useful. Just as it does in person, you don't notice the changes as they happen smoothly. The incremental nature of time lapse is that it is readily apparent how something is changing because it moves in small leaps and jerks.
To test (ok, play with) this new feature I recently used it to record the inflation of some very large beach balls that we used for the Mister Greg's Concert at the beginning of the month. I set the camera up for time lapse and pointed it at the deflated beach ball. I turned on the air pump we were using and hit record. Sure enough, I got a fun little video that showed the beach ball growing larger and larger - and every once in awhile a close up of my assistant who would put his face in front of the camera from time to time (thanks Gavin!). I don't know how useful a video of a beach ball is, but it was interesting, nonetheless.
Time lapse works in other ways, camera or not. When we don't see children for long periods of time, their growth and development becomes much more noticeable than when we see them every day. Stopping by a construction site every few weeks highlights the progress on the build, more than when you watch it out your kitchen window several times every day. Even our Church works that way. Certainly, in one manner of thinking, our denomination works on a time lapse system, with snapshots coming three years apart when we gather for General Convention. Few of us are able to keep the pulse of the gradual and shifting changes of an international church, apart from the conventions that make headlines, when we gather for deliberation and debate on any number of issues.
Every General Convention is an occasion for joy and also, for many, a time to worry. What will the church do NOW? When we don't see the developing conversations among theologians, or follow the blogs of active Episcopal thinkers, or listen to the sermons and speeches of our denominational leaders, it is easy to lose track of what we're up to as a body. In many ways, what happens at the international level doesn't affect us in the parish, so we don't pay attention. It is only when we gather for these triennial conventions that most pew sitters look up and wonder when we changed our hairstyle or grew so tall. Admittedly, we're talking about things that are more serious than hair cuts and the way the church "looks", which is why we tend to become anxious.
Many parents have that age they don't want their children to outgrow, and many church members have an equally favorite "time" in the church. To wonder what we'll find on the other side of a convention is natural. It can seem like we take huge leaps and jumps and run ahead of ourselves. In some ways, I think that we do. In others, I think the church is always progressing; we just aren't paying attention to it. It's these occasional meetings that highlight how the progress of the church doesn't ever really stop. It is always moving, adapting, changing, and every once in awhile we reach a point of taking stock and noting the development of her being, thinking, and function.
THE hot button issue of this convention is the debate over same gender marriage. There's a reason we are talking about it. There's a reason that every other mainline denomination is talking about it. There's a reason the supreme court is about to issue a ruling about it from the secular side of things. The church has always, and will continue to address the movements and opportunities of the culture around it. We cannot avoid conversations that make us uncomfortable, or decide not to pay attention to it simply because we don't want to hear or even think about it. The Church will always contain those who do, and who will have that conversation with or without us.
Among the things our Bishop noted in a published article in The Living Church recently, is that there is a need for more conversation, deep conversation, around issues such as these. To some that sounds like a dismissive way to stall a process they don't approve of. But I 'm not sure that's fair. I think it highlights a reality that we have not fully dealt with yet in the Church - some folks have been talking and debating and working on theology for many years, while others have not. Not having the conversation cannot be allowed to indefinitely stall a process, and yet it must be measured for validity before moving forward. Is the lack of conversation an intentional tactic to stop progress, or is it the result of a truly conflicted people who do not yet know how to have the conversation?
If you are anxious about this particular topic at this year's General Convention, can you identify the source of your anxiety? Are you able to articulate what you think, and base what you think and feel on anything objective, and with specific reasons? Or are you simply certain that it is the way it is, whatever "it" is? We do not have the luxury of ignoring a call to discernment, debate, learning, listening, and conversation with others who think differently than we do. We each encounter God's movement through the Spirit differently, and all of our experiences are valid. We can come to understand each other only through sharing ourselves and being open to receive what others share with us.
When I did the session on the General Convention on Sunday, one of our parishioners, remarking on this topic, said, "It's not a question of if the church will do this, but when. I recognize that." I tend to think he's correct. The Episcopal Church will eventually create some sort of formalized process for the full sacramental union between two people of the same gender, just like all the other mainline denominations who don't already, one day will. I cannot say if this Convention will be that time. If it is not, I can assure you the conversation will not end with this Convention. And if it does not, we will each have to take seriously the invitation to learn and study about this issue.
If you have not done much study, or you are not sure how we got to this point in the Church, I encourage you to read the report from the Task Force on Marriage that the last General Convention called together to address this issue. You can find it here. There are a series of essays that are helpful to read. You might also like the page that the Deputation from the Diocese of Milwaukee has put together for the major legislation, noting different perspectives from all sides. Again, it's a helpful read. You can find their website here.
It may seem like we're moving in fits and starts, taking large leaps between conventions, but that is not the whole story. As the essays above will show, there is progress, gradual and slow. That does not necessarily mean we will be okay with final outcomes, but it might help us to understand what is going on.
My last word for now on this is a plea. Since I don't know what this Convention will do about marriage moving forward, I want to ask for your patience and your openness to staying in conversation, particularly if you find yourself upset by the actions of this Convention. One of my great sadnesses is the way in which our wonderful Church has been battered and bruised and fractured in recent decades. We've lost the ability to stay together under the big tent. That tent was once big enough to allow us to be in community with one another despite the wide chasm between our dueling catholic and protestant traditions. Those historical differences were MUCH greater than what we disagree on now, and yet we can't seem to stay in relationship if we don't agree on every last detail and doctrine. There are more Christian denominations in this country than anywhere in the world and at any other time in history. And that's not a good thing for those who followed a Lord that called them to unity. Jesus never said we had to agree with one another, just that we had to remain as one. Besides, when every Church is having the same conversations, we cannot hide from them forever.
We will gather at Christ Church later this summer to discuss and debrief whatever happens at General Convention, and I hope all of us will be in that conversation. Until that time, please keep your deputation, your bishop, the Convention, and the Church in your prayers. They are needed, to be sure. God is doing something. We need to be able to listen to it and try to understand it.
I am sitting in the airport on my way to Salt Lake City. Please watch the Diocesan webpage and news outlets for Deputation news. I'll also send some updates of my own. See you all soon!
Tom+
Almighty and everlasting Father, you have given the Holy Spirit to abide with us for ever: Bless, we pray, with his grace and presence, the bishops and other clergy and the laity assembled in your Name, that your Church, being preserved in true faith and godly discipline, may fulfill all the mind of him who loved it and gave himself for it, your Son Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.