Today I was back at work, and people remarked that I looked awfully poorly rested after a ten-day vacation. And I was. I worked long days...five hour morning shifts in the print shop followed by five hour evening shifts as a page in the House of Deputies. Then I came home and wrote this blog, or went to Acts 8 meetings, or went to July 4th barbeques, or who knows what else. I didn't sleep much.
So why on earth was I there? For me General Convention is a good example of a pilgrimage for a restless mind. A pilgrimage, as opposed to a mission, is an opportunity simply to renew one's faith. And while the usual picture of a pilgrimage is to the Holy Land or some cathedral or cave somewhere, the convention center did it for me. Each work session opened with prayer, and I occupied myself with simple tasks and attentiveness to the needs of others. I barely checked work e-mail, and was only distantly aware of the news. I spent a fair amount of time studying the Bible as I wrote this blog.
There were also lots of opportunities to connect with people in unusual ways. In the print shop in particular there were opportunities during downtime to share stories of faith and the communities we serve. I'm particularly grateful for the time I had to connect with other priests and laypeople within the Diocese of Indianapolis. While we have an annual diocesan convention, we wind up in busy, mostly meaningless legislative sessions and manufactured service projects with little time for personal connections. The ridiculous length of General Convention provides the breathing space for long conversations and relational development. As General Convention gets shorter, which it inevitably will, this is something I'll miss.
That said, in 2015, General Convention is getting longer. I kid you not. On the final day the House of Deputies concurred with the House of Bishops and bizarrely reinstated the 10-day long convention by passing A093. This is nuts. It may be subverted by the budget process. But for folks like me, who just want to get away from the world into an all-consuming parallel universe governed by parliamentary procedure and occasionally prayer, what's not to like?
So why on earth was I there? For me General Convention is a good example of a pilgrimage for a restless mind. A pilgrimage, as opposed to a mission, is an opportunity simply to renew one's faith. And while the usual picture of a pilgrimage is to the Holy Land or some cathedral or cave somewhere, the convention center did it for me. Each work session opened with prayer, and I occupied myself with simple tasks and attentiveness to the needs of others. I barely checked work e-mail, and was only distantly aware of the news. I spent a fair amount of time studying the Bible as I wrote this blog.
There were also lots of opportunities to connect with people in unusual ways. In the print shop in particular there were opportunities during downtime to share stories of faith and the communities we serve. I'm particularly grateful for the time I had to connect with other priests and laypeople within the Diocese of Indianapolis. While we have an annual diocesan convention, we wind up in busy, mostly meaningless legislative sessions and manufactured service projects with little time for personal connections. The ridiculous length of General Convention provides the breathing space for long conversations and relational development. As General Convention gets shorter, which it inevitably will, this is something I'll miss.
That said, in 2015, General Convention is getting longer. I kid you not. On the final day the House of Deputies concurred with the House of Bishops and bizarrely reinstated the 10-day long convention by passing A093. This is nuts. It may be subverted by the budget process. But for folks like me, who just want to get away from the world into an all-consuming parallel universe governed by parliamentary procedure and occasionally prayer, what's not to like?
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