Monday, July 13th, General Convention

Good morning from Anaheim. It's about 7 a.m. I've been up since 6 doing laundry. This is a huge hotel, but it only has four washing machines. I suspect they don't have too many guests who stay for two weeks and have need of doing laundry.

Yesterday was a bit of a slower pace. Afterall, even General Convention needs Sabbath time. The day began with Eucharist at 10 a.m. It was a wonderful service. Drummers began the procession, followed by liturgical dancers with flowing satiny banners. Next came all the bishops decked in rochet and chimeres. Bringing up the back of the procession were former presiding bishops Edmund Browning and Frank Griswold and Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. This service was the UTO engathering. Representatives from each of the 100+ dioceses were announced as they walked across the chancel area and presented their diocese's offering.

The afternoon legislative session was an important milestone in the Church's life. The House of Deputies debated Resolution D025 which reaffirmed continued participation in the Anglican Communion; encouraged all entities of the Church to participate to the fullest extent possible in the Anglican Communion; reaffirmed our financial commitment to the Anglican Communion; affirmed the value of listening to the experience of homosexual persons and acknowledged that through that process, the Church has come to recognize that the baptized membership of The Episcopal Church includes same-sex couples living in lifelong commited relationships; recognized that gay and lesbian persons who are part of such relatioships have responded to God's call and have exercised various ministries in and on behalf of God's church; affirmed that God has called and may call such individuals to any ordained ministry in the Churdch through discernment processes in accordance with church canons; and acknowledged that members of the church and the Anglican Communion are not of one mind and disagree on some of these matters. This is a paraphrase of the resolution, so be sure to read it for yourself on line. After much political manuevering, the resolution passed in its entirety. It remains to be seen what the House of Bishops will do with this resolution, so stay tuned.

The day ended for the Cheney's with a lovely dinner with Ron DelBene who was in town to conduct a workshop for the ECW, and Dr. Fredricka Thompsett, who was with us at Diocesan Convention last March. All in all, a momentous day.

I must be off to laundry land right now then on to my volunteer job in print distribution. So fo now, I wish all of you in West Tennessee a good day.

Stephanie