I used some of today’s unstructured time to browse in the convention’s huge exhibit hall, a cross between a shopping mall and a ministry fair. You can find all kinds of things there, from Episcopal dog collars to handcrafted needlework to prayer books and clergy shirts, as well as information on dozens of ministries. But today the best part was simply visiting with folks. I met a young woman who is a development officer for St. Augustine’s College, one of the Episcopal Church’s historic black colleges. I cam away knowing a little more about her and a lot more about St. Augustine’s.

The Rev. Barbara Novak and her business partner are here again with goods from Nepal, the sale of which support the Steven Novak Foundation. Their singing bowls and hand-knotted rugs are drawing a lot of attention.

The Rev. Paul-Gordon Chandler was signing copies of his newest book this afternoon at the Church Publishing booth. Some of you will remember him from his time in Spokane a few years ago. Now he and his family are in Cairo, Egypt, where he is the priest at St. John the Baptist /Maadi. His book is “Songs in Waiting — Spiritual Reflections on Christ’s Birth, A Celebration of Middle Eastern Canticles.” It is always wonderful to see Paul-Gordon — even in a noisy marketplace where he is busy signing books. He reports that they have renewed their commitment in Egypt so will be staying for another term. I am sure,though, that our paths will cross again before long.

I also visited with a seminary administrator and a man who works with a charitable group in Central America.

Paul-Gordon Chandler visited with Kristi Philip at General Convention

In the environment of this convention, with a schedule of official events that is sometimes unrelenting, it is refreshing and renewing simply to spend time with folks. That sense of “Ubuntu” — I am because you are — depends on our connections to one another and an acknowledgment that we truly need one another to be our best selves. This is one of the themes of this convention. In my unscheduled and delightful hour of wandering through the exhibits, some of that connection was unfolding in this series of delightful visits.

Legislative committees are busy these days holding hearings and cranking out resolutions that will eventually come before the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies. My committee (The Church in Small Communities) has some real relevance to the Diocese of Spokane with many its small churches and small communities in Eastern Washington and north Idaho.

Our committee is looking at ways to get the concerns of vital small congregations in front of a larger audience and assuring that the resources of the Episcopal Church will be used to strengthen these many churches. Recent statistics show that slightly more than half of the Episcopal churches in the US qualify as small congregations with an average Sunday attendance of 70 or fewer. We are also considering a resolution that would increase funding for Native American ministries. Representatives of those ministries remind us of how they impact Native American young people by strengthening both their ties with the Episcopal Church and with their culture.

This busy day also included opening addresses by Presiding Bishop the Most Rev. Catharine Jefferts Schori and House of Deputies President Dr. Bonnie Anderson. Both stressed the convention theme of ‘Ubuntu,’ a word from the Bantu family of languages that means “I in you and you in me.” It also can mean ” I am because you are,” and “there is no ‘I’ without ‘you.”Clearly a sense of community and interdependence will mark the emphasis of this convention.

The last two afternoon events were an introduction to the practice of public narrative an intentional form of story-telling that we will practice three times in upcoming days, and an orientation for deputies. Normally the orientation is about as interesting as watching paint dry, but this year’s crew was clever and funny. A normally dull task was actually fun.

Our deputation got together in the early evening to coordinate our work and try to find time in the upcoming days to meet again. It is a challenge with the number of meetings, hearings and legislative sessions. It looks like we’ll be staying up a little later on our meeting nights!

One more committee meeting began for me at 7 and concluded by 9. Tomorrow the official work of General Convention begins. I am glad to be here, but feeling the effects of a long day. You’ll hear from other deputies in the coming days as each of us takes a turn.

But, after all, the theme of the conference was “No Longer Business as Usual.”

Those questions had to do with how we have gone about the business of being the Church and how we might be called to do it better in the future. The challenge is that we are in a time of great change.

How do we do evangelism in a way that works for us? What are the questions we ought to be asking about administration? How do we keep our buildings from becoming idols? Those were just a few of the many questions that filled newsprint and began some conversations that will continue.

A catalyst for the questions and the conversation was “The Great Emergence,” a book by Episcopal author Phyllis Tickle, that looks at the changes and shifts in today’s church and puts them in a historical context. Tickle, perhaps best known for many books that help us pray the daily office, has produced an informative and provocative little book in “The Great Emergence.”

She points out that about every 500 years, there is a major shift in the church – a course correction of sorts – or a giant “rummage sale” where we get rid of a few things. Perhaps the most familiar and recent of those shifts was the Protestant reformation of the 16th Century.

The place where we find ourselves now is one of those times, she says. Perhaps we’ve seen some of the signs. One is a shift in influence. Churches do not seem to have the cultural “clout” that they once did. Fewer people are involving themselves in the lives of churches and often describe themselves as more spiritual than religious.

We have a seen membership losses in most of the Protestant churches (including our own) and many theorize that the Roman Catholic church in the US would show more of a loss if it were not for a growing immigrant population.

Tickle’s book is not a “how to” book. It’s more of a way to understand what is going on around us. She describes a shifting sense of identity among churches that makes it harder to define or describe each one’s style. For instance, churches once could describe themselves with words like liturgical or conservative, or social justice or renewalist. Now it isn’t so clear-cut. Many who have called themselves conservative have a new interest in liturgy. A liturgical church could be interested in social justice or charismatic renewal. And so it goes.

There is, Tickle says, a coming together into what she calls a “gathering center” – a place where many interests and styles converge. That doesn’t mean that we cease being who we are or give up our tradition. What it does ,mean, I think, is that we have a new appreciation for some parts of the Christian tradition that haven’t been on our radar. Some new doors and windows seem to be open across the world of Christianity.

But it also means that we have some new ideas to chew on; some new cultural learning to absorb; some new work to do on our own identity and gifts. And lots more questions to ask.

Perhaps the challenge is to move ahead with some creativity we have not called on before – some ways of embracing and sharing our faith.

One of the parts of our conference that I enjoyed the most was an evening when three of our priests talked about some new energy and efforts in their congregations. One was a serious commitment to feed the hungry in a low-income neighborhood. Another was a series of creative liturgies that drew both Episcopalians and the unchurched. The third was a range of solid and engaging adult formation groups offered every week and drawing a steady crowd.

None of these churches is large, but each is finding its way in changing times. They’ve started to saw away at the great big list of questions on the newsprint, and the rest of us will, too. What kinds of questions are being asked at your church?

The world of communications is changing and shifting.  Newspapers are at the eye of the storm.  They are no longer the way many of us keep up on the news.

As I listened to the news about newspapers, I had a flashback to my college years when I worked on the University of Washington Daily as a student reporter and editor.  I loved the routine of reporting—of writing—of editing.  I loved the nightly trip to the “back shop” where we put the finishing touches on the next morning’s paper.

But that scene seems almost out of a history book.  We worked with lead type and an old flatbed press—a bit of a relic even then.  The smell of the ink was pervasive.  The rhythmic clicking of the press was mesmerizing.

After college I worked for the Tri-City Herald for a good many years and shortly before I left for seminary we converted from manual typewriters and lead type to a completely computerized operation. It was a radical  (and often difficult) transition—especially for the old timers who cherished the clunky typewriters, the wire news coming clattering teletype machines and the pots of rubber cement that we used to glue the pages of a story together—another scene from the history book.

If the shift from lead type to offset printing seemed radical, the shift from paper to electronic communication has been monumental.  We’re getting our news not only on radio and TV, but also by websites, e-letters, blogs and RSS feeds—terms that didn’t even exist when I was in newspaper work.

The news cycle is relentless. News comes all day—and all night. It comes on demand.  It comes whether we want it or not.

Commercial news media are not the only ones who are rocked with change.  Everyone who has communicated by newsletter, newspaper or some other form of print media is feeling it.  Our own diocesan newspaper, the Inland Episcopalian, has a copy deadline nearly a month before publication.  It’s a frustratingly slow “news cycle.”

Increasingly churches, dioceses and other organizations are using “e-letters”—newsletters sent by e-mail.  These have a lot of advantages.  They can be sent quickly, can look good, and cost a lot less to produce.  Two of our diocesan media, the “Digest” and “Goodstuff” are in this type of format.

The only problem is that not everyone has access to e-mail.  How do you reach everyone who needs to know what is happening?

Video is another tool that has become easier to use.  You may have seen the two youth-produced videos from our Diocesan Convention on YouTube, an internet video site. Bishop Waggoner’s Christmas message was also posted there.  How might video enrich out diocesan communications?

This year will bring some changes in how we communication as a diocese.  The monthly issues of the Inland Episcopalian will appear less frequently.  There was no January issue.  You will probably see more video.  There will likely be fewer face-to-face meetings and more conference calls, some of which already use video conferencing software.

But we are still working on developing a coordinated strategy.

Bishop Waggoner has appointed a task force to look carefully at the communication needs of the Diocese and report to Diocesan Council. This group, chaired by the Rev. Jeff Neuberger, was scheduled to begin its work in January.  Its members and consultants represent a lot of communications experience from newspapers,  broadcast, internet, advertising and public relations. They plan to dig in, look at the possibilities and practicalities of communicating well and with the best tools we have.

Stay tuned.  They’ll be communicating with all of us before long.

Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come.  Mark 13:33.

We’re heading into that “awareness” season again.  Advent always is a call to “wake up.”  To be attentive.  To wait for the Lord to come.

The late Anthony DeMello, priest, retreat leader and writer, often said that most of us go through life as though we are asleep.  I tend to agree with that.  Sometimes it takes a big nudge to get us to wake up to what is really around us.  What is really important.

Odd as it sounds, a used motor scooter that came into my life a year and a half ago has become a window into awareness for me. I bought this scooter (dubbed Isabella) after a visit to Florence, Italy, where it seemed that everyone was getting around on these two-wheeled marvels.  “I could do that,” I thought, remembering that my commute to Paulsen House is only two miles.

My scooter interest couldn’t have come at a better time. Gas prices were skyrocketing and the prospect of 100 mpg was irresistible.  So on those days when it isn’t raining or snowing and I don’t have errands that take me on busy streets, Isabella is my transportation.

I’ve learned a lot from my scooter-riding adventures.  Patience, for instance.  Isabella’s 49-cc engine putt-putts along at about 25 mph if there isn’t a hill.  Don’t even ask about the uphill speed!  For a person who usually moves pretty fast, my uphill journey home is an exercise in slow motion.

But the bonus is that I get to experience so much more.  I can savor the aroma of newly-mown grass and blooming flowers in the spring and summer.   I can marvel at the astonishing color of the trees in the fall and watch the first fallen leaves flutter across the pavement.  I can see children at play and neighbors visiting across the fence.  When I drive the car all of this is there but I don’t notice it in the same way.

But maybe the bigger learning is a more intense kind of awareness.  Anyone who rides a bicycle, scooter or motorcycle (or tries to cross the street as a pedestrian in Spokane) has heard this good advice:  “Always assume you are invisible to drivers.”  This includes drivers backing out of parking spaces and drivers heading forward in broad daylight.

Riding to work without the protective shell of my car makes me vulnerable to everyone backing out of a driveway, drifting through a stop sign, failing to yield the right of way or simply driving on zoned-out auto pilot.

So I’ve learned to ride with intense attentiveness.  (My scariest moment so far was when an adult bicyclist shot through a stop sign and on to a major arterial just in front of me.)  Luckily, Isabella has good brakes.

To be perfectly honest, attentiveness is a matter of life and death when you’re on a cycle or scooter.

I think about the connections between that intense awareness and the Advent awareness to which we are called in this season.  Advent brings a unique invitation to wait and watch – to wait for the Lord, both as we anticipate the celebration of his birth at Christmas and his coming again in glory.  It is more than ramping up to Christmas.  It is ramping up to eternity.  May these Advent days be for us a time of waiting and watching—a time to be awake and aware.

In it a group of men with hang gliders goes flying with some flightless birds, penguins, chickens and an emu. As the birds dangle from their bird-sized riggings, both men and birds all seem to be enjoying the experience. The penguin even flaps his little wings. The tag line is “Every bird should get to fly”—a true stretch of the imagination if you are a penguin.

The program, on Home and Garden Television, is called “Hidden Po­tential.” It features families who want to buy a house but have budget constraints. They look at three houses that are well within their price range, but all of them seem unappealing with features like hideous floor plans, small kitchens, ugly exteriors or dreary basements.

Enter a young architect with a laptop computer who looks at the ugly spaces with new eyes and offers a fresh design, brought to life with computer­ized illustrations. The trans­formations are amazing. Best of all, the remodeled houses are still within the budget.

What do these flight­less birds and ugly houses have in common? Both invite opportunities for cre­ative thinking. If a penguin can’t fly, why not use a hang glider to get him airborne? If a floor plan is horrible, why not move a wall?

Most of us do not think that way most of the time. Often it takes a new pair of eyes to see something from a new angle and offer a suggestion that seems “out of the box.”

In the last month or so I’ve heard about several churches that have moved ahead in their missions with some “out of the box” thinking and doing. I visited a church in Oregon, for instance, that started out as a small group of Episcopa­lians who wanted to worship together in their retirement/recreation community. Later they joined with some Lutherans in the area.

Eventually folks from other Prot­estant denominations wanted to join in, so they found a way to include them with a special kind of membership that had the blessing of the Episcopal and Lutheran bishops. Now they’ve grown to 300 members and share space with the Roman Catholic Church. The small community where they live is unique and their own story of growth and develop­ment is unique as they’ve responded to the needs and challenges of their setting. They practice ecumenicity at a level that wouldn’t work everywhere, but it works well for them and what they do is, well, out of the box.

At a national conference early in October I heard two other “out of the box” Episcopal stories. One congrega­tion has formed itself into a collection of house churches that worships weekly in homes. The priest spends some time with each and they come together every few weeks to share in a community Eucha­rist. That very different worship struc­ture serves this church well.

Yet another church sold its build­ing in order to pour resources into a min­istry that is part of their local mission. The congregation is strong and vital, but chooses to worship in rented space in order to focus their ministry.

Clearly these are choices that aren’t for everyone. But they are creative and bold responses to local opportunities. I’d like to think it is the Spirit is at work, leading them into creative kinds of mis­sion and ministry. These churches were able to ask the question, “What if…?” and then move ahead in faith.

Sometimes a creative and bold response is a lot less radical. At a recent Diocesan Council meeting the Rev. Stana Wright of Omak described how they invited members and visitors to a back-to-school party and then followed up with the folks who came. The bot­tom line: attendance has improved! St. Paul’s, Cheney, a church whose building is not easily identified as a church, added bolder signs and a cross that leave no doubt that it is an Episcopal Church.

What are the creative challenges for us? What are the compelling min­istries that nudge us to think and work creatively, even if that means finding a daring new way of being? What are the bold choices that have made your con­gregation stronger? If you have a story to share, please contact me at kristip@spo­kanediocese.org and I will pass it along.

After all, every bird (or every con­gregation) should get to fly!