no more bedhead

Although I had my nose buried in the Blue Book, and my head swimming in resolutions and reports, for most of the day today, I did “come up for air” a couple of times. Two things came across my radar during those times.

The first was a prayer. On Twitter, someone tweeted that they were having difficulty figuring out how to pray for General Convention, but that they had finally hit upon something. The prayer is this:

Jesus, protect delegates from spiritual darkness which they are about to enter. Surround them with your glory. In His name I pray. Amen.

Now, as I read this, it struck me that I didn't consider General Convention to be a “spiritual darkness”, and I started to reflect on that. I considered the possibility that it might be.

When we gather together next week, there will be lots of discussion about some issues that are pretty fundamental theologically. It is possible that some of the discussion could be heated. It is also possible that the discussions will be very polarized/polarizing. In that sense I suppose one could interpret us as descending into the “darkness”.

I believe differently, though. I believe that we will be in exactly the opposite of “spiritual darkness”. I believe that we will be living in the midst of the Holy Spirit, who will be guiding our actions and leading us toward where we are to supposed to go. I am not a Biblical scholar, but I think this passage says it best:

I still have many things to tell you, but you can't handle them now. But when the Friend comes, the Spirit of the Truth, he will take you by the hand and guide you into all the truth there is. (John 16:12-13)

In the time of Jesus, we (humans) were not ready to hear the “whole truth”. (Think of that scene in Dogma, where anyone who hears the voice of God will explode.) I believe that the truth is constantly being revealed to us, and perhaps that is what we are experiencing with the debates that the Episcopal Church is going through right now.

I won't say much about the person who tweeted this, except that he is a priest. Based on his other tweets, and a quick overview of his blog, I think that “spiritual darkness” at convention is not the only thing on which he and I disagree.

The second thing I came across was a blog posting by Kristy Harding. In it she talks about Ubuntu (I am because We are) which is the theme of General Convention. It is also a flavor of Linux, the open source operating system. And that is where she starts drawing the comparison of General Convention being open source. She suggests that if the church were open source, the church would be accessible:

• Anyone who wants to can get at the church
  
• Access to theology and spirituality
  
• New work would be acessible
  
• Education would be accessible
  

and, the one that struck a chord in me:

• we would have more bazaars and fewer cathedrals
  

It is that image that I see when I look at the upcoming convention. It is truly a bazaar in the “marketplace”, but figuratively I think the House of Deputies (and to a lesser extent the House of Bishops) is a bazaar. When I think of a bazaar, I see in my minds eye wall to wall fabric topped booths that are explosions of color. Different colors and patterns, different state of repair, some things faded, some brand new, all contributing to the tapestry of the marketplace. That to me is the Episcopal Church. We are made up of individuals from different locations, with different experiences, different expectations, and at different places on our spiritual journey. All are welcome. ALL are welcome. Each one of us a different color or pattern, each in a different state of repair, some faded, some brand new.

Jesus sent the apostles out in pairs. Together. Each had a different viewpoint. Did they walk into a “spiritual darkness” or into a “bazaar”?