The Episcopal Church in Connecticut just wrapped up its 242nd annual convention, and I came home hopeful. I’m not saying that because everything went smoothly or because every question got answered. I’m saying it because of what we were willing to put on the table.
This is our second year with the theme “Growing in Faith, Living in Hope, and Serving in Love,” and hope sits in the middle, which feels about right. Delegates took up resolutions on young adults, clergy compensation, clean energy, and reparations, along with several others. None of those are easy. Some touch money, some touch history, and all of them touch us in our pews and extend past our church doors.
What impressed me was how carefully we talked about them. We spent a lot of time on the language itself, asking whether the words in a resolution said what we meant and honored the intention behind them. That work can feel slow and nitpicky in a room where some folks would rather be out in the exhibition lobby with the delicious snacks. But words shape how we see a problem, and that shapes what we’re willing to do about it.
The language wasn’t always perfect, either in the resolutions or at the mic. Some wording needed another pass, and some people said things in the moment that they’d phrase differently on a second try. I’ll admit I’m a Robert’s Rules nerd, so it made me happy to hear people who knew how to call the question or ask for a counted vote. I know those rules work in the secular world, and it was refreshing to see them work just as well in the business of our church. We held on to the spirit of what was being offered and kept working on the details of how to put it into action.
In the Baptismal Covenant, we promise to respect the dignity of every human being. Convention gave us a chance to practice what that promise looks like when it meets a pay scale, creation care, and a painful chapter of our own history. Practice is the right word, since none of us has it perfected.
These topics shape who we are, and I mean that beyond our tradition. They shape who we are as a community living in our neighborhoods and affecting the society around us. Because we’re willing to take on these topics and to stay in the room while we work out the details, I feel confident I can live in hope.
Nicely written and a wonderful share