Bob Griffith of the Imago Dei Initiative writes about the generational issues which should be considered in the Communion Without Baptism conversation which will come before the Episcopal Church's General Convention this summer.
"Millennials are seeking something that is not bound by the chaos of constant change. Those who are truly trying to find God and develop a spiritual understanding of life are seeking examples of real alternatives to the morass of prevailing culture among people who claim this enduring Faith. They are seeking something that is not trite or superficial and something that proves to be profoundly consequential.
In his book on Christian leadership, In the Name of Jesus, Henri Nouwen paraphrases from the Gospel of John: "The world says, "When you were young we were dependent and could not go where you wanted, but when you grown old you will be able to make your own decisions, go your own way, and control your own destiny." (81) He then comments on the challenge of letting go and following Jesus:
"But Jesus has a different vision of maturity: It is the ability and willingness to be led where you would rather not go. Immediately after Peter has been commissioned to be a leader of his sheep, Jesus confronts him with the hard truth that the servant-leader is the leader is the leader who is being led to unknown, undesirable, and painful places. The way of the Christian leader is not the way of upward mobility in which our world has invested so much, but the way of downward mobility ending on the cross. This might sound morbid and masochistic, but for those who have heard the voice of the first love and said yes to it, the downward-moving way of Jesus is the way to the joy and the peace of God, a joy and peace that is not of this world.
Here we touch the most important quality of Christian leadership in the future. It is not a leadership of power and control, but a leadership of powerlessness and humility in which the suffereing servant of God, Jesus Christ, is made manifest." (81-83)
Nouwen continues, saying that true spiritual leadership is leadership in which power is constantly abandoned in favor of love. "Powerlessness and humility in the spiritual life do not refer to people who have no spine and who let everyone else make decisions for them. They refer to people who are so deeply in love with Jesus that they are ready to follow him wherever he guides them, always trusting that, with him, they will find life and find it abundantly." (83-84)
From President Anderson on June 4th, 2009:
• Deputies may use personal computers on the floor of the HOD provided the volume is turned off.
• In order to give full attention to the work of the House, The President of the House of Deputies requests that electronic devices not be used for communication purposes.
• There will be times during the course of our work that the President of the House of Deputies will ask that electronic devices be closed. These times will include, but not be limited to, prayer and meditation, and during messages from the president and special guests.
• Cell phone use is prohibited.
I'm still trying to get myself organized for the 2 week trip to General Convention, but I think I'm almost ready to go.
I've been reading a lot and making a list of all the last minute things I need to remember to put in my suitcase. I was glad to find out the first leg of my flight to CA has internet access, it will be fun to try that out--I'll be sure to blog about the airplane food :) .
I did make one important decision: I will take full advantage of my new MacBook's power and go as digital as possible during the convention. As Deputy Knisely has noted, many of the documents we'll be using are available as PDFs, so there's no reason to lug both the hard copy and the digital copy. We were told we won't have power available on the floor, but the MacBook should make it through most of the day. I also hope that the more people use laptops on the floor, the more the planners will look more closely at alternatives to printing everything, for everybody, all the time. Our first impulse now needs to be online publishing. I would have much preferred a power outlet (or wifi!) to a printed & mailed Blue Book.
I'll try to post things here, and you can follow me and lots of other deputies & visitors on twitter. My handle there is MoAmy, or you can just peruse all the 'tweets' coming from General Convention that have been marked with the tag #ecgc. You could even sign up and join in on the conversation!
