Deputy Booker - Day Zero

Tomorrow (July 5^th) is the first official day of the 79^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, but things have already started yesterday and today.  I was a visitor six years ago in Indianapolis, and an official deputy three years ago in Salt Lake City.  This time around, General Convention is in Austin, Texas, and I’m a deputy and also secretary to the Legislative Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations.

Being an officer on a legislative committee means that I’m part of a group of 26 people who are
reviewing proposed legislation on issues relating to our topic.  That includes resolutions relating to discussions with the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and with the Church of Sweden.  Each case is distinctive, and so there’s a lot to learn.  Other legislative committees are working at the same time on other issues, some much more controversial like Book of Common Prayer Revision.

On Tuesday I was sworn in as a committee officer by the Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Michael Curry, and by the Rev. Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies.  It was actually a quite moving little ceremony.

Today (the 4^th of July) we had meetings including the orientation given to all deputies.  A lot of innovations, like the Virtual Binder, were introduced in 2015 and are being continued this year.  In 2012, we went through 1.3 million pieces of paper (!); now, we’re trying to go fully paperless.   We’re also doing electronic real-time voting, which worked brilliantly last time.

Tomorrow, as I said, is the first official day.  The committees will be hosting hearings on their legislation, and then they will process the resolutions as needed so that they can come in from of the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops.  Until that work gets done, there’s nothing much for those houses to vote on.

A few thoughts on Austin:  The downtown, where we are, has a crazy number of restaurants and bars.  There are also a lot of homeless.  It’s been hot most days, topping out at 102 degrees so far.  The hotel being used by the Diocese is just across the street from the Convention Center, but other locations involve a lot of walking.

If you’re taking the time to read this post, I’d ask you to please pray for the entire deputation and for Bishop Smith.  We are going to need a lot of holy wisdom over the next week and a half, and my reserves are already tapped out.