An Alternate View: Being #GC78 Tired

I'm not just tired.....I'm #GC78 tired (but in a great way!)
Today began at 6:50, running to swap credentials at the Salt Palace, followed by delicious quiche at Eva's Boulangerie with lay deputy Edgar Stearns and the chair of our EDOLA deputation Rev'd Sharon Alexander. I was able to meet up again with Brother Jim Woodrum from SSJE for some coffee and conversation and then I made my way to the Media Room. I will probably step into worship a little later, but for now, I can hear the music in the Media area so am content. I'm also not quite ready to throw out my coffee. Today, I'll be an alternate so have a very full day. In fact, I hear from many that we will probably go until 9:00 PM. YIKES!
I had an involved twitter conversation this morning about the decision to leave out the names of performing ensembles and groups in the convention worship bulletins. The music at each service has been excellent and quite varied so that there has been something for everyone, but no names of performers have been given. Each bulletin is a PDF so looks easy to update/alter. Some comments that I received included that
- It is not the Standing Committee on Liturgy & Music's job and that they have no connections with the music planning for worship (I did not know that!)
- Sometimes you can catch the info on the Media Hub
- The SCLM only does work tasked to them by GC resolutions (ok, that makes sense) and their scope is limited
- Some arrangers have been thanked and some copyright info on pieces listed, so there is some info.
Ah, anyway, I can simply point it out and discuss it. I am quite sure that the info is somewhere, but I cannot find it.
I ran into Bishop Michael Curry, our newly-elected presiding bishop, in the hallway and managed to snag a big hug! :-)

                                

I spent the day on the House of Deputies Floor and it was super interesting, but VERY lengthy. Some of the highlights include:
- Heated debate in favor of church planting
- Legislature does tend to run in circles sometimes. There was this issue which took almost 30-45 minutes to solve with several cues from the Parliamentarian.

- Passing the proposed budget for The Episcopal Church (!!!)
See my twitter stream for more! @Conductor222
This evening, I went to a fun restaurant called Wasatch and tomorrow is the final day of convention. I'm trying to steer my thoughts a little bit back to the rest of what's been going on in the world and also look ahead to next Tuesday when I leave for India!!!
Thanks for reading!
Caroline :-)

An Alternate View: A Day of WOW in #GC78

Today was amazing!! The highlights were that I got to catch up with a good friend - a brother in the SSJE (Society of St. John the Evangelist) who I hadn't seen since the 1990's), I had lunch with one of my best friends at one of my favorite restaurants, and the sermon at the morning worship service was outstanding!
Sermon by Becca Stevens - link 
Brother Jim and me 

I'm way too tired (lazy?) to write much more at this hour, but I'll simply let others do the work for me :-) I'll add that I never imagined my tweet would be quoted in Mashable and Buzzfeed, but I think that's pretty cool! In each case, I waited until the last vestiges of the president of the house's voice sounded as she read the voting results in each case BEFORE I pressed send.

I gave a play-by-play tweeting that several folks said had them on the edges of their seats. It was riveting and a bit stressful too. I'm not able to type with two hands yet on my iPhone and since wifi was off, I had to make sure I was ready with the important tweets and correct with numbers of amendments and resolutions. Super fun work though :-)

After attending a portion of the "Utah Night" event at the Salt Lake City Tabernacle, I checked my phone and it was blowing up with folks letting me know I had been quoted in these articles. Nice surprise! Here are the two small articles.

1. Mashable article
2. Buzzfeed article
While I am personally very, VERY happy with the way today's voting turned out, I am conscious of the fact that not everyone was rejoicing in the House of Deputies, among my colleagues and friends, and among members of the Anglican Communion.With that in mind, I am extremely proud of our church for being able to discuss both sides of any issue, for being able to center decisions and discernment in prayer, for reaching out to all even though all may not agree on something, and for taking risks, albeit slow risks. I'm very proud to be an Episcopalian all the time, but maybe a portion more today.
Here's a photo of our Diocese of Louisiana Deputation and then some scenes from around the Tabernacle area. Salt Lake City is very pretty and also extremely clean.

EDOLA deputation (not pictured: Edgar Stearns and me :-)