It has been humbling and exhilarating to be the chaplain to the young adults from the Diocese of Newark who attended General Convention. As I posted earlier, they have given me much hope for the future of the church and the world. This was my first General Convention (and I hope not my last), and while the schedule was exhausting, my spirit was filled.
I heard sermons that inspired me, witness that moved me, and conversations that engaged me. It was a week filled with the Holy Spirit at work. I listened to impassioned testimony on A049 (Same Sex Blessing Liturgy) that both lifted and wounded my spirit. I think the most wonderful thing of all was the silence...the silence that followed the announcement of the vote on A049 in the House of Bishops (our group left before the vote in the House of Deputies). The silence seemed to me a most Christian thing to live into, as there were no winners or losers, but there were people deeply hurt and overwhelmingly filled with joy. In the silence I prayed that we will be able to listen to where God is leading us, and to begin to heal the wounds we have inflicted upon one another.
In the midst of it all, there was time spent with old friends and new ones as we moved about from place to place (feeling a bit like gerbils in the interconnected walkways that led us to/from different venues), new dreams for the future of the church beginning to take shape, and much laughter. You have to love a church that would play "Can't Buy Me Love" just before the budget presentation!
But perhaps one of most wonderful moments for me as a chaplain was when the youth participants were gathered for lunch just before the daily diocesan briefing (the young adults had gone to a presentation on the School to Prison Pipeline). They had been in the House of Bishops where apparently they had witnessed a bit of a smackdown regarding the small number of women bishops and a general lack of respect given to our current Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori. They wondered what all the fuss was about, and so I told them about the long road for women toward ordination and to the episcopate, telling them about the "Philadelphia 11," and the treatment of our Presiding Bishop at Lambeth. They were surprised that the church wouldn't see women on equal footing with men. They asked a lot of questions, and like their young adult counterparts, their desire to know more, and their reactions to what they were hearing, leads me to know that our church has a bright future.
As for me, I feel blessed for having had this experience, and I hope to keep this week in my heart as I move forward, God willing and Church consenting, to the priesthood this December.
Yours in Christ,
Diana
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