The Rev. John Talbird
Yesterday I took the day off. I slept in until 6 AM. This was the first day (other than last Sunday) that we on the World Mission Committee did not have a 7:30 AM hour and a half committee meeting, preceding the two hour legislative session. I did exercise which I have done all but one day to keep my heart going and my heart and head in the long discussions and parliamentary maneuverings.
Our committee (World Mission) got one final resolution on the floor on Wednesday. It was rewritten by the House of Bishops and brought back to the floor on Thursday and was adopted. D075 was a resolution that a deputy from Southern Virginia and I worked on late Tuesday night. Since our committee had dealt with some 42 resolutions, we felt like the one which we wrote and then argued through committee was an important piece to sum up the overall tenor of this convention: The “theme” was not sex, as it has seemed in the past, but mission. Resolution, D075, is titled, Mission: the Heartbeat of the Church. We used a phrase the Presiding Bishop had used in a sermon.
As missioner for ECSET, I am excited and heartened by her statements on mission, the overall tenor of the convention, and a spirit of collegiality even in disagreement. All of this was done in the face of a greatly reduced budget. The budget we passed is not focused on business as usual, but on mission. The MDG’s were put back in as budget items. Increases were made for the 75 missionaries of the Episcopal Church including those serving in the Youth Corps. Mission is not the same as outreach. Nor is it anything the church is doing. Mission is the crossing of boundaries; especially the boundaries of our own comfort zones. Mission is stretching beyond ourselves for the sake of Christ.
In her sermon at the opening Eucharist, the Presiding Bishop preached on the text from Ezekiel: “a new heart and a new spirit.” She said, “(This) is still our mission work – taking good news and rebirth and offering heart transplants to the languishing. The heart of this church will slowly turn to stone if we think our primary mission work is to those already in the pews inside our beautiful churches, or to those at other altars. We are in cardiac crisis if we think we can close the doors, swing our incense and sing our hymns, and all will be right with the world. The heart of this body is mission – domestic and foreign mission …” She concluded her sermon with these words, “So, how will this heart push more lifeblood out into a languishing world? Can you hear the heartbeat? Mission, Mission, Mission …”
As one who is engaged in mission both in Haiti and with young adults in Chattanooga who are doing exciting and creative things trying to make a difference in the world, but not particularly engaged in the church, I leave this General Convention with a new heart and a new spirit. I have a new heart because I don’t think we are leaving angry with one another. There was plenty to disagree upon, but the spirit was not a mean spirit. It may not have been a “sweet spirit,” but it was also not a mean spirit.
I was one of the “coaches” for the public narrative project. We were helping people tell their own stories that had called them into passion and action in the church; tell how they were connected to one another; and say what the urgent call was at the present. I was assigned a table from a diocese that didn’t agree with almost anything that went on in the legislation. We found ourselves agreeing on very little other than the fact that we all felt a passionate call into the mission and ministry of Jesus Christ. We developed a mutual respect for one another and agreed that we needed each other. Our church would be less without all our passionate opinions and actions. Today as we left, I saw most of the group I had served as coach. We hugged one another and wished God’s blessing upon one another. To know we need each other is the spirit of Ubuntu. That is enough for me to take away from Anaheim.