An Alternate View: #GC78 The First Official Day of Convention!

Today marked the opening day of #GC78, the 78th Convention of The Episcopal Church!

I began with a short media briefing and I'm excited to say that Friday, the media group will visit the Cathedral Church of St. Mark where the election for the new presiding bishop will take place on Saturday morning. We will have a chance to take photos and hear about the history of building and the Episcopal presence in Salt Lake City.
Next, I attended the opening worship service where the Presiding Bishop celebrated. The program bulletin for the service is here and you can watch it online here. Each day, these 9:30 AM MDT services will be live-streamed via the Media Hub. Check out THIS link for daily worship bulletins and information!

video of verse of hymn coming soon!

My comments about the music are:

- I liked the selections and the cantor, nice soprano voice, good articulation

- I did not like the chants sung slowly with no word stress!

- I did love hearing so many people singing together in well-done harmonies!

(Lots of folks have been asking me if I am going to be doing anything with the music. I'll just say that I am unknown in the wider church and I'm quite sure there are a ton of connections and procedures through which to go before being selected for any liturgical or musical participation. I did look for volunteer opportunities in advance with this in mind, but I think it's safe to say that it is in great hands and that it takes looooooooong prep time and selection. Maybe next time!! I'd love to! :-)

The liturgy was in both English and Spanish. I liked the way they did communion with tons of stations. My station was made up of all young volunteers. 

After dropping by the media room for a little while, I decided to return to the Standing Committee on Prayer book, Liturgy & Music Legislative Committee session. IT WAS PACKED so I sat on the floor and listened to the testimonies for and against amendments to resolutions. I had my first iced coffee ever.....and enjoyed it!

The hearing ended early so I went downstairs where I met up with my one of my dearest friends, The Rev'd Dr. Canon Chuck Robertson, the Canon to the Ordinary. He introduced me to one of his close friends, The Rev'd Canon Michael Rusk, Team Rector for the Parish of St. Peter & St. Paul, Oadby in the diocese of Leicester. I also met the Episcopal Primate of Pakistan, The Most Revd Samuel Robert Azariah and his wife who is a prist in California. They are all amazing people! I would very much like to explore Pakistan one day and see historic ruins and documents and to meet the Anglicans there! We talked briefly about music and there is a remote possibility that we may chat again tomorrow or Friday.
I chatted with Rev'd Michael for about an hour and we shared our India experiences. It's was fabulous to meet someone else who shares a love for India and also music - here at GC! For the early afternoon, we decided to walk over to the Cathedral Church of St. Mark. It was a very, VERY hot walk. I think it may have only been 90 or 92 degrees, but the sun.....it was insanity.
Once there, we were met by two volunteers who welcomed us and then we had a chance to look around. It is a GORGEOUS cathedral!

                  

                               

This high altar contains two Tiffany windows

                   

                                  

In the chapel to the left of the chancel area, there is an exhibit featuring replicas of beautiful books of the Illuminated Saint John's Bible. The Saint John's Bible is holy scripture with illuminations, special lettering, special materials and it has unique works of art. It is actually the first illuminated Bible commissioned by a Benedictine Abbey in more than 500 years. It took fifteen years to create and used Chinese black ink with feather quills of goose, turkey, and swan. The books also contain writing in gold, silver, and platinum. One book, containing the psalms, has a digital voice print painted in squares. When played (and I'm not sure how), these markings form tunes to which some of the psalms can be sung. Mistakes are few, there are something like nine in the whole set of 15 books. Mistakes are shown by illustrated birds carrying parcels of text and arrows up to where the corrections should be placed. It's an absolutely lovely exhibit and I encourage all to view it if at St. Mark's.

Downstairs is another exhibit featuring selections from a major exhibit by artist Andrew Kosorok. His work is called 99 Most Beautiful Names of God. Here are the 99 names
Because of copyright, I didn't take photos of his pieces, but here is some info for you

                     

There is also a wonderful set of prints from the last International Olympic Committee showing religions of the worlds. The IOC was required to include religions of the world in the commission.
Everyone we met at St. Mark's was so friendly and they have a veritable army of hospitality volunteers!

The afternoon legislative session began with introductions of foreign dignitaries and distinguished guests. Next, the legislative process began with the report and proposed changes to the Rules of Order. Things got pretty "nitpicky" at times, but truly, minor details to some are major events for others. The debates regarding amendments to the usage of applause were very interesting. I was glad to see people discussing whether or not to allow applause from within the House after certain testimonies. It could in some cases be detrimental to following arguments and showing partiality. The Rules of Order have now been updated!

Tonight, I skipped dinner and came back to my hotel. We have a Deputation mtg at 9:00 PM. I will be typing up my interview with Rev'd Rusk Michael Rusk and posting it soon.

Thank you for reading!

Stay tuned :-)

Previous posts: 

1. #GC78 - An Alternate View: 'Twas the Night Before Synod

2. An Alternate View: Heading to #GC78

3. An Alternate View: Arrival Day - IT'S ALL GOOD

4. An Alternate View: Orientation and Presentations, June 24 at #GC78

An Alternate View: Orientation and Presentations, June 24 at #GC78

Hello everyone!

This morning, (the day before #GC78 officially begins), legislative committee sessions were held at 7:00 AM until 8:30. THIS "having to be awake AND functionally intelligent" thing - whoa....

Let us pray.

Let's just also say the word espresso.

I attended the committee meeting on Prayer Book & Liturgy. Here are the resolutions and amendments that committee is handling. As an alternate, my job is to step in as needed on the House of Deputies floor when one of our deputation needs a break or is sick or needs a whole day away. In addition, I studied three areas of interest:

1. Liturgy & Music

2. Mission

3. Communications & Evangelism (this is the one that led to my using some communications talents and social media to help get the word out about our diocese's experience here at General Convention.)

(media badge)

We opened the Prayer Book, Liturgy & Music Committee meeting with song (Hymn # 362 "Holy, Holy, Holy") and it was evident in verse one that few of us were "morning people", 

By the fourth verse, harmonies were fully present and it actually sounded good. This video is from verse #1. :-)
video (Won't upload from my phone, but will work on it)
Several amendments were presented, discussed, and a few passed.

After this, I headed downstairs to the House of Deputies. Excuse me, but WHAT A GIGANTIC ROOM! easily 800-900 people in here, slightly reminiscent of C-span, yet LOTS more interesting (in my opinion).

SO MANY PEOPLE! I took my place in the section for alternates and plugged in. 

The morning session was a presentation to GC from the Presiding bishop and Gay Clark Jennings (pres. of the HOD - House of Deputies). Presentations were a little bit of orientation and a little bit of procedure about what we have to work on during the convention, officially beginning tomorrow! (June 25-July 3). 

                     

I actually cannot imagine NOT being here a couple of days ahead to hear committees and hearings and to prep on matters at hand. Last night, I got to go to the airport with a friend and pick up a visitor from Korea. My friend has been here for several days and appeared already thoroughly exhausted.
It's certainly eye-opening to see the amount of work that the governing bodies must review, present, discuss, and vote upon.

After a break, an orientation to General Convention was held from 10-12. Alternates were asked to come and sit with their delegations. I found mind hard at work!

                   

                   

So began an introduction to GC followed by a "how-to" session on using the virtual binder. I can handle it. The GC could not pay for wifi for non-committee members in the legislative sessions so THAT was why I couldn't get to the resolutions and access my virtual binder this morning. I did use my phone to look up resolutions and amendments. Wifi is available in all hotels and throughout most of the Convention Center. That is a pretty amazing feat in itself so I am not complaining!

                    

After all the instructions, the parliamentarian showed us examples of secondary amendments. This got hilarious very quickly! It also included a description of what is considered to be "germane" when discussing amendments or secondary amendments. Things can indeed get bogged down when amending amendments, especially in a room of the sleep-deprived and dehydrated deputies :-)

                    

They also showed us how to use the voting devices. I'm glad they plan on reviewing it before every voting session.

                                 

At noon, I went over to the exhibits area in search of food since my breakfast was espresso and being an alternate is a hungry business!
Instead, I ended up watching a discussion by the fellows in mission, led by Canon Mark Stevenson who is the Domestic Poverty Missioner. The Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society, The Episcopal Church, featured four fellows discussing the inclusion of environmental responsibility and stewardship and care of creation in Christian formation. They also discussed issues such as homelessness and poverty, and what is being done to work towards solving these situations. As I am involved with mission work and lots of you are too, both locally and internationally, I was intensely interested in the conversation. I brought up a point about people who have been displaced and become homeless over a long decline after a natural disaster. A riveting discussion ensued. These fellows and heads of mission programming around the country are doing amazing work and from what I understand, doing it without a very big budget.

After this engaging presentation, I picked up an apple and a bagel and headed back into the HOD for a presentation by each of the four nominees for presiding bishops. 

                       

The nominees are:
The Rt. Rev. Thomas E. Breidenthal, Bishop of the Diocese of Southern Ohio
The Rt. Rev. Michael B. Curry, Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina
The Rt. Rev. Ian T. Douglas, Bishop of the Diocese of Connecticut
The Rt. Rev. Dabney T. Smith, Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida
We then listened to what the spirit was telling the church...

                             

Here is more info on the nominees
After opening videos, each gave his own personal statement to the joint session. Then, we waited a few moments and a big bowl was brought out. Inside the bowl were colorful pieces of paper with the categories pictured below. Each nominee chose a paper and called out the color and number which led to a question being read from someone on the floor. This session lasted a loooooooong time, BUT was extremely worth it with the diversity of the questions and the unique and fantastic answers from each nominee. It felt a wee bit like a game show, but I think some levity is good. Keep it light y'all.

We took another standing/stretching break and all said the Lord's Prayer Together. That was an especially moving moment. It's also what it's all about. It's about us being in community together without division even though we may have distinctions and varying opinions.
I was impressed with each candidate and his eloquence in answering each question given. All were impressive and each had his own moments of truly sharing his own style and way of speaking. If you'd like to know who I think the new PB will be, email me for my prediction or comment below!
After a few breaks and lots more questions, each nominee had two minutes to either return to a question they had been asked or to answer a question they had not been asked. Then, they each had time to give formal, final statements. The two-minute statements were a combination of thanks, gratitude, and love to the nominating committee, their families, to each other, and their dioceses. Such love! All four did well today.

When the session was over, I came back to the hotel for a little rest before this evening's legislative session from 7-8:30 PM. I am already wiped out. Not sure if I'll try to go to dinner, but since I still had delicious leftovers from last night's Beef Stroganoff (YUM), I'll eat some now to tide me over :-) I think the arid environment is also getting to me - I had a small nosebleed earlier today. I've been drinking water almost constantly, but I am simply not used to it being so dry! 

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you'll stay tuned :-)

Caroline

An Alternate View: Arrival Day - IT'S ALL GOOD!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Now I'm REAEEEEEEEEEEELLY excited!!!! Upon arrival and our hotel rooms not being available, I was able to grab a mocha frapp and a tasty sausage/egg/cheese sandwich at the Sheraton Starbuck's and head off to the Salt Palace which is Salt Lake City's Convention Center. WOOT!

Panorama of The Salt Palace

I checked in at registration as an alternate. What super-helpful and nice, friendly registration volunteers! There must be thousand (or at least many hundreds) of volunteers for a convention this size and I can only imagine what it must take to get all the details done to get to this final stage in such a large place! THANK YOU to all the many volunteers - those seen and unseen and for all of the preparations underway for the past few years, months, and now days! (I did ask before I took this photo and they said yes :-))

Tons of volunteers. Today, some were training to help legislative committees and groups in various rooms

Next, and got my Virtual Binder iPad. This is what all active floor deputies, chairs, and first alternates have and hold and it contains an amazing intranet with a few apps to examine the Convention Blue Book and amendments and documents. I can't even begin to imagine the undertaking to get such a large convention to the "almost entirely paperless" stage!

Hmmm, it's upside down. Let's just let it stay that way...

Then, I picked up my Media credentials and headed out into the lobby where I immediately met several FABULOUS PEOPLE including the marvelous Secretariat Kory Pacinyak who I follow on Twitter and does a ton of communications.Then, I attended the first #GC78 media briefing. 

Featured speakers were: Neva Rae Fox (Public Affairs Officer), Canon Michael Barlowe (Executive Officer of the General Convention of TEC), Gay Clark Jennings (President of the House of Deputies), and our Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Dr. Katharine Jefferts Schori.

ENS will put out information in tonight's Media Hub, but here are some very general highlights that I can mention:
- We are an international church and will hear many different languages here during GC
- We are a long way from our vision of wholeness
- Almost 900 in the House of Deputies in attendance (I hope I got that right)
- 200 plus in the House of Bishops
- Leaders from several other traditions will be here to share in the good work for the good of the whole that we are doing.
- We are coming together at a particularly tense moment in our nation's history. Deaths, Charleston (and let me insert that I cannot believe this is already a wikipedia link), and Bishops Against Gun Violence were all mentioned. The BAGV will be in a procession for peace this coming Sunday and I do intend to walk with them!
- God is calling us to work to dismantle issues of race and violence
- The PB answered someone's question about how she feels since we are about to elect her successor. She mentioned that it is an enormous undertaking and a privilege to see the church in action and a gift to see what the body decides and that it cannot be predicted in advance. Every time the church gathers, it is a new body and it's engaging new challenges while there will always be some changes that continue to get us - racial reconciliation, violence etc.
- Someone asked about alcohol at General Convention and what might be different or what might people want or expect to see in light of the recent Baltimore incident. Lots of good responses here. It was mentioned that there are always a wide range of responses regarding alcohol usage and there has been appointed a committee to examine policies about alcohol and drug abuse and how we as TEC handle it. There have been many studies, changes, and experiences in the field of addictions in the last 30 years. We want to examine what we do with regards to offering programs and help and how we might approach selection and recruitment and incidents etc.
Afterwards, I entered the exhibits and I'm saving the true run-through for tomorrow and some next week, BUT it looks ASTOUNDINGLY HUGE and I ran into six people I know so now I feel at ease. I also met several new people - I LOVE IT!!!!
Check it out: #EpiscoSwag collection has begun!

                   

Came back to the hotel, got bags, and did a couple of hours of work. This evening, there is an Episcopal Communicators reception, our deputation has dinner together at 8:00 PM and then I get to help pick up a Korean Anglican / Episcopal dignitary from the airport with a friend! :-)
I can't wait to see what tomorrow brings!
~ Caroline
PS. THANK YOU, THANK YOU. THANK YOU!! for reading :-)

An Alternate View: Heading to #GC78

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand... We're off! 

...into the wild Blue Book yonder... 

This is currently my view. Not too shabby.  I'm airborne, heading to the great Salt Lake City and contemplating all the things I'm going to learn about at the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church (DFMS). 

Salt Lake City's Salt Palace Convention Center         

I'll be completely honest: I'm SUPER EXCITED and a wee bit nervous too! 

I'm going as an alternate with my areas of selected interest being: Liturgy & Music, Communications, and Mission. My goal, wholeheartedly, is to serve as needed. 

I'll be taking tons of pictures for EDOLA (The Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana), running our church FB, IG, Pinterest, & Twitter, writing updates, and interviewing some very kind and gracious folks while I'm there. This makes me SO HAPPY!!!

I will also be walking in a procession with the Bishops Against Gun Violence event next Sunday. (More on this very soon.) Speaking of bishops, I thought I had gotten a bishop- free flight today...

Just kidding! :-) I absolutely adore our bishop (Rt. Rev'd Morris K. Thompson) so am quite happy to share the friendly skies. A few others from our deputation are also on this same flight! 

Why would I be nervous about #GC78? I think that I always am a little bit nervous before any convention. This time, it's a HUGE one and I'm not yet quite sure how everything works: from exchanging my media credentials for deputy creds, when I'll be stepping into a deputy role, where things are, social time, what all is expected of me, trying to see dear friends who are going to be even more busy, etc. etc. I'm quite sure I'll feel very at ease in a day though!

What's extremely important for me, personally, while I'm in SLC?

- Seeing my church in action in all of its areas: bishops, priests, deacons, lay ministers, volunteers, worship services, meetings, legislation, procedure. That might seem nerdy, but so be it. I'm curious as to these proceedings and I want to learn more!

- The election of our next Presiding Bishop! I will truly miss PB Katharine Jefferts-Schori. 
I think she has done an amazing job and have the highest respect for her. I love her sermons and speeches, her writings, her diplomacy, her international peace making. I think we have four truly wonderful people being considered for the next PB. 

- Liturgy

I'm carrying with me the hopes of many that this convention will further inclusion of new liturgies, discussion, and more regarding liturgical inclusivity people of all sexual orientations. 

- Discernment 

In my own discernment process, I continue to live into my calling in various ways. Attending #GC78 is a phenomenal opportunity for me to learn so much about the inner workings of The Episcopal Church, observe many varied worship services and the fact that at large gatherings such as this - worship dominates these conventions. This experience will also allow me to meet tons of people and to ask them about their chosen paths. I can't wait!!!!

Aaaaaaaaaaaand so, I'm off to SLC! Stay tuned! :-)

The Peace of Being

(from my travels in Tennessee and time at St. Mary's, Sewanee, June 2015)

My afternoon was the magic of sitting in clover and grass, breathing fresh air. My evening was watching the silent flicker of fireflies from a rocking chair. My night is the cool, soft breeze under a starry sky. Thank you God, for everything! 

GALAXIES!

I cannot get over this image. SO. MANY. GALAXIES. We are so small!!!

Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H.Teplitz and M.Rafelski (IPAC/Caltech),
A. Koekemoer (STScI), R. Windhorst(ASU), Z. Levay (STScI)

#GC78 - An Alternate View: 'Twas the Night Before Synod

'Twas the night before Synod and all through the house....
Was an air of excitement and actually some Strauss (Richard, not kidding)
As I laid out my jammies in my carry-on bag
I thought to myself, it's starting to sag...

Would there be room? I hoped it'd be so
For to Synod without it, I could not dare go
My GC ring binder, yes that big ole thing
It has to come with me, this new kind of bling.

So I made room and stuffed it, thank goodness it fits
And now, all checked in, on my sofa I sits.
Pondering GC, psyched for all things new
I plan on sharing An Alternate View :-) 

(and a-plenty of deplorably-written poetry)

It is indeed the evening before I head to my very first Province IV Synod meeting as I type this. I'm excited! Being from South Carolina and familiar with the North Carolina mountains and areas such as, Hendersonville, Asheville, Highlands, Cashiers, etc. it is amazing to be that I've never been to Kanuga. I decided to go up a day before the Province IV Synod meeting begins and have a look around, take some photos, and just chill out in the rainy mountain air. I'm very honored and excited to have the wonderful opportunity to be a first alternate for the Diocese of Louisiana (EDOLA) for the Episcopal General Convention 2015 ( #GC78 ) For the past three years, I've been involved at the diocesan level, representing St. Paul's Episcopal, New Orleans as a delegate for our diocesan convention. For two of those years, I've helped with the music and have been a member of the convention planning committee. I also had the great fortune to help out with photography and enjoyed tweeting the conventions. I have LOVED EVERY MINUTE OF IT! 
This year, we had an ordination at the opening convention Eucharist - wonderful!

Photo by Caroline Carson

Here's a link to a few of my EDOLA 2015 photos on Flickr
Here are some from EDOLA 2014

So how am I going to #GC78? Last year, at the last minute, my name was put in for an election of lay alternates to GC78. I wasn't elected, but I did get something like 16 votes, which was AMAZING. Rock on. The following day, there was some sort of run-off and I was not present, but my name ended up in the mix and I was elected to be a second alternate! This past January, a change in deputation allowed for me to move up to first alternate so I am ELATED to be able to go and work, officially! The money I had saved up last year to "go no matter what" is now being used to return to India on mission in Mungeli so I am truly TRULY blessed beyond belief in many ways!
The areas I chose to examine are Liturgy & Music and Communications. Because our diocesan communications officer is not able to go in person, she has media credentials off site and will be doing the bulk of the work from New Orleans. I am honored to help in anyway that I can, gathering "human interest" stories, tweeting, and taking tons of photographs. I'll also be blogging some of my photographs and moments from GC here.
I made sure to attend the Episcopal Communicators conference at The Claggett Center this April. It was truly fabulous and everyone I met has been both helpful and super friendly! I have a few interviews set up and will be interviewing our Bishop Morris K. Thompson while in NC at the Synod meeting! See? IT'S ALL EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!
Stay tuned...