Deputy Booker - Day One

Today (Thursday the 5^th of July) is the first official day of General Convention.  Austin has cooled down for the moment, maxing out at 92 instead of 102. 

This morning there was a worship service featuring a sermon by the Most Rev. Michael Curry.  If you’ve never heard him preach, drop everything and find one of his sermons online.  Say, right here: www.episcopalnewsservice.org/2018/07/05/presiding-bishop-urges-episcopalians-to-embrace-way-of-love-for-spiritual-growth/  He’s one of the great orators of our time, and it’s hard to imagine
someone more dynamic in the pulpit (which he leaves constantly). 

Most of the day was taken up with legislative meetings.  I’m an officer on the Legislative Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, and there’s been a lot to learn.  Today we talked about the Episcopal Church and its relationships with the Church of Sweden, the Bavarian Lutherans, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and the Church of Southern India.  Each church represents a different history and a different opportunity for ecumenical interconnection.  

In the late afternoon the House of Deputies went into session to discuss a few small items of business and one major one.  There was a video that I’m hoping to get a copy of where international guests to the General Convention were able of offer their greetings.  It was wonderful.  The major piece of legislation concerned paying the President of the House of Deputies for her work over the triennium (the three-year period between General Conventions).  There was some serious debate, but it passed 85%-15%.   That proposal now moves to the House of Bishops.

The most heated issues are still working their way through the committees, so it’ll be a bit before we get a chance to vote on them.  

After the session we (the deputation and friends) got together (as available) back to the hotel for snacks and a chance to chat. 

Tomorrow:  More committee meetings!