Among the highlights of the day are a “Gi-Normous Musical Chairs Contest” in stadium seats at 1:15 p.m. and an attempt to set a Guinness record for most people dancing Samba (in honor of the church’s Brazilian guests) at 1:30 p.m.
A dozen bishops, led by the Rt. Rev. Thomas Ely of Vermont, have filed a resolution calling on the Program, Budget and Finance Committee to submit a budget to the General Convention that reduces to 15 percent the percentage of diocesan revenue to be committed to the budget of the wider church in 2016-18. I had previously reported that the bishops wanted the asking cut to 15 percent for the 2013-2015 triennium as well. This is incorrect.
Psalms [120,] 121, 122, 123 (Morning) Psalms 124, 125, 126, [127] (Evening) Numbers 22:21-38 Romans 7:1-12 Matthew 21:23-32 So Balaam got up in the morning,
I am not too good for General Convention. I don’t believe that the whole thing is such a mess that I have to stand at an ironic distance and make comments that demonstrate my superior intellect and my more refined sensibility—tempting as those activities may be.
I don’t entirely know what to expect at this convention, but I suspect that people may arrive in a state of some agitation and find that there is little immediate legislative reason to be so stirred up.
Readings for the feast day of Walter Rauschenbusch, Washington Gladden, and Jacob Riis, Prophetic Witnesses, July 2: Psalm 72:12-17 Isaiah 46:8-11 James 2:14-18 Matthew 7:7-12
Reading the 2012 General Convention Blue Book does not make me optimistic about the probability of genuine renewal. Overcoming institutional inertia is incredibly difficult. Congregations more frequently die rather than reinvent themselves. In the next few decades, denominations, probably including TEC, will die, refusing to reinvent themselves.
My principal concern was to not leave unchallenged the assertion that the Episcopal Church is a unitary hierarchical organism at all levels, and that the dioceses are entirely creatures of General Convention. I viewed signing the amicus brief as consistent with my vow to uphold the doctrine and discipline of the Episcopal Church.
Psalm 118 (Morning) Psalm 145 (Evening) Num. 21:4-9,21-35 Acts 17:(12-21)22-34 Luke 13:10-17 Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the sabbath. And
Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, ‘Thus says your brother Israel: You know all the adversity that has befallen us: how