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General Convention Report
The Episcopal News, Diocese of Los Angeles
Reporting from Salt Lake City, Utah
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Marriage-equality resolutions
advance to House of Deputies
[Episcopal News Service - Salt Lake City] Four days after the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land, the House of Bishops approved two new marriage liturgies for trial use and a canonical change to remove references to marriage as being between a man and a woman. The resolutions now move to the House of Deputies for approval.
The deputies, meanwhile, gave final approval to Resolution A037, which continues the work of the Task Force on the Study of Marriage.
If the House of Deputies concurs with the House of Bishops-amended Resolution A054, the liturgies "The Witnessing and Blessing of a Marriage" and "The Celebration and Blessing of a Marriage 2" from "Liturgical Resources 1: I Will Bless You and You Will be a Blessing, Revised and Expanded 2015" from the supplemental Blue Book materials of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music will be available for trial use beginning this Advent. Those rites offer the option of using "wife," "husband," "person" or "spouse," thus making them applicable for both heterosexual and same-sex couples.
Read more here.
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Worship at General Convention
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Louie Crew Clay, left, founder of Integrity, an organization for GLBT Episcopalians, and his husband Ernest were honored at the Integrity Eucharist on June 29. Below right: Bishop Mary Glasspool preaches at the Integrity Eucharist.
 Integrity Eucharist honors founder
Louis Clay
Integrity, an organization that for 40 years has championed the cause of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians and their allies, honored its founder, Louis Crew Clay at the June 29 Integrity Eucharist, a tradition during General Convention since 1976.
It was the first time that the Integrity Eucharist was an official convention event, and the first time it was held in the convention's worship space.
House of Deputies President Gay Jennings presented to Clay the House of Deputies medal for his long service to the church as activist, deputy and Executive Council member. Clay, speaking to the congregation of about 800 people, praised the contributions of hundreds of other LGBT church members, commenting, "All I did was get in the way of the Holy Spirit -- and she is a fierce tornado."
Bishop Mary D. Glasspool of the Diocese of Los Angeles focused in her sermon on how Jesus redefined both 'home' and 'family.'
"For Jesus, 'family' was not as much a who as it was a whoever," said Glasspool. "'Family,' for Jesus, was whoever did the will of God: his disciples, present and future.
"Can we, the Church, really be Jesus' family?" Glasspool asked. "We need to understand that Jesus' family does not look like our own blood-related and adopted families. Jesus' family has all sorts of weird and wonderful, broken and diseased people in it. Jesus' family is born through the waters of baptism and nourished by Jesus' own blood. This family may not be what we expect."
Co-celebrants for the Eucharist were Bishop Marc Andrus of the Diocese of California and the Rev. Kimberly Jackson of the Diocese of Atlanta. Randy Kimmler, canon for vocations for the Diocese of Los Angeles, was on the team that designed the liturgy; other Los Angeles-based participants included Deacons Jamie Hammons, Guy Leemhuis, Joanne Leslie and Margaret McCauley. Susan Russell, alternate deputy from Los Angeles and past president of Integrity, also took part in the service and in honoring Clay.
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People at General Convention
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Bishop Diane Bruce, third from left, is seated next to Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori for a House of Bishops legislative session on June 29. Bruce is assistant secretary of the House, and for that session (and several others) served as secretary.
Deputies' debate
Above, Gary Commins, rector of St. Luke's Church, Long Beach, advocates for Resolution C005 on gun violence prevention, which was originally proposed by the Diocese of Los Angeles. Commins noted several violent incidents involving guns that occurred at churches he has served. The resolution, as amended by committee, calls for background checks, limitations on automatic weapons, gun safety training and more stringent controls on private gun sales and inheritance.
During debate in the House of Deputies, any member may speak to an issue, subject to the house rules, as enforced by President Gay Jennings, who runs the meetings with the firm hand required to keep order, but lightens the moods with occasional quips. ("The chair thanks the deputy for contributing to the sartorial splendor of the House," she remarked once after a man appeared at a microphone in an unusually colorful outfit of stripes and plaids.)
The House of Bishops and House of Deputies will meet June 30 in a joint session to further discuss possible restructuring of the church.
 GFS representatives attend Triennial meeting The Girls Friends Society in the Diocese of Los Angeles is represented at this year's General Convention by diocesan president Margaret Nolde; Aiyana Harris of St. Mark's, Upland; and Autumn Rycerz from Trinty, Covina. GFS members have been an active presence in the Triennial Meeting of the Episcopal Church Women.
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Today at General Convention
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On the schedule for Tuesday, June 30:
- Legislative committee hearings
- Community Eucharist, honoring James Weldon Johnson.
Bishop Wendell Gibbs of Michigan will celebrate. The Rev. Kimberly Jackson, chaplain and vicar of the Absalom Jones Episcopal Center, Emmaus House Chapel, will preach. - Joint Session Mission Conversation
- Legislative sessions
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Reports from Episcopal News Service
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Marriage-equality resolutions
advance to House of DeputiesFour days after the U.S. Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land, the House of Bishops approved two new marriage liturgies for trial use and a canonical change to remove references to marriage as being between a man and a woman. The resolutions now move to the House of Deputies for approval. The House of Deputies on June 29 re-elected Byron Rushing for a second term as vice president. He was unopposed. "There are times when the weight of our historic experience seems like it is unbearable," Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church in America said in his June 29 sermon to the 78th General Convention of The Episcopal Church. "And yet, it is precisely at such moments that Christ can become most powerfully present to us." As the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance (PB&F) nears its July 1 budget deadline, Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry on June 29 asked the members to craft a plan to help the church "put Jesus up front," share the good news and makes disciples. There was delight and excitement in the room as The Episcopal Church's Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry unexpected paid a call June 28 to thank international and ecumenical guests for coming to the church's General Convention in Salt Lake City. Steve Smith from the Diocese of California served for two years as a Young Adult Service Corps missionary in Grahamstown, South Africa, where he lived at the Mariya uMama weThemba Monastery and taught at Holy Cross School. Currently a student at Virginia Theological Seminary, Smith talks about the fruits of the YASC program and the importance of providing young Episcopalians with the opportunity to cross cultural boundaries, build partnerships, and engage in God's mission in the world.
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The Report will be emailed each day from the 78th meeting of General Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, June 25 - July 3.
Photos, except as noted, by Janet Kawamoto.
To subscribe to the Update list, click on the link below, or send a request to news@ladiocese.org
Janet Kawamoto, editor
The Rev. Pat McCaughan, correspondent
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