76th General Convention

So, next week I will be off to Anaheim, CA, for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church. I will be there from July 7th through the 12th working for passage of Resolution A177 concerning denomination-wide heathcare benefits (the research project I’ve been working on these past three years). We shall see how it fairs. The situation with the economy might impact its passage, but all around this proposal saves the Church money!
I’m looking forward to listening to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, who will be giving an address. I’ve gone through several stages of feelings toward Rowan – from jubilation when he was made Archbishop (a real theologian as Archbishop of the Anglican Communion!), to frustration at want seemed to be ineffectual leadership concerning our Anglican troubles, to now thinking that he is one of the few in the midst of this ignoble fight that is acting like a real Anglican!
Since I’ve never been to L.A., I’m taking an extra day and a half to be a tourist – probably only enough time to do the standard stuff. I’m staying between Beverly Hills and Hollywood. Why not?

We must take time…

“We must take time, take pains, have a plan, form spiritual habits, if we are to keep our souls alive; and now is the time to begin. A man to whom religion is a reality, and who knows what is meant by “the practice of salvation,” keeps his balance, because the living center of his life is spiritual. He cannot be upset, not shaken. The same hard knocks come to him as to others, but he reacts to them by the central law of his life. He suffers deeply, but he does not sour. He knows frustration, but he goes right on in his kindness and faith. He sees his own shortcomings but he does not give up, because a power rises up from his spiritual center and urges him to the best.”
Joseph Fort Newton (1880 – 1950; Baptist minister and masonic author)
HatTip: Andrew Sullivan