Most parishes are in the midst of their stewardship programs as we meet. No matter how we’ve tried to define it, stewardship always seems to come down to the annual fall fund drive, and, as important as that is, we know it’s wrong. Christ’s many parables on stewardship always meant something more. To be a steward in God’s kingdom is have a share in the caring of God’s creation and the proclamation of God’s Word as ones who live in loving relationship with God and with one another.

Those are the principles that are driving the work of the Stewardship Committee of the Foundation in the development of a full range of materials and consulting services to be made available to every congregation during this next year.

But you and I know that materials and counsel provided by the diocese, no matter how good or well received, cannot replace the Holy Spirit filled energy, imagination and accomplishments of a local congregation that is intent on becoming a community of stewards.

No one knew that better than Fr. John Shepard, and no one was more committed to creating the conditions under which local congregations could do just that. As a member of the Foundation’s Stewardship Committee he was determined to see that happen. The members of the committee are equally determined that Fr. John’s vision will not fade away.

Therefore, and in Fr. John’s memory, I am pleased to announce the creation of an annual John Shepard Award for Excellence in Stewardship.

When we meet again in Convention next year, one parish will be awarded the John Shepard prize, of not less than $1,000, for excellence in stewardship. We are working on the terms for the competition now, and intend to publish them in late January or early February so that each of you will have plenty of time to respond.

In general they will measure congregational applications on the basis of creativity, imagination, and success not simply in regard to fund raising, but more importantly to a comprehensive program of stewardship following the teachings of Jesus and intentional in developing the spiritual health and well being of parishioners.

Additional awards of recognition will also be made for congregations showing outstanding progress in various elements of their own stewardship programs, including fundraising.

I would like to close this announcement by borrowing from Kay Rafferty’s note to the diocesan clergy and offering the following quote, on behalf of the Stewardship Team, to John Shepard….it is one of many good pieces from the book “The Steward”, by Douglas John Hall.”

“…[we need to learn how to] interpret the Christian life as stewardship. The world is crying out for keepers and tenders of its wonderful, frail beauty, and God desires to send us out as stewards into this astonishing, unique creation.”

In our Morning Prayer Old Testament reading this morning from 2 Samuel we hear that the Lord instructed Nathan the prophet to tell King David to build a house for God.  We have a long enduring history of magnificent structures being built for God.

Yet, as great as such houses continue to be, there is another more intimate house building that must occur. That is to allow the Spirit of God to build us into that place where God lives and acts.  We call it Spiritual Formation.  It is a lifelong process.

The remaining days of summer can be an opportune time to reflect on what that means, to allow space before the frenetic fall schedules come upon us to simply listen, to prayerfully ponder what being a living house for God could look like and might call forth from us.

Be cautioned, though, that internal arguments might ensue.  As this morning’s second reading from Acts tells us, every Sabbath Paul would argue with the Jews and Greeks, trying to convince them about Jesus.  Anyone who has ever built a house knows it cannot be done without argument.

I encourage us to let the inner arguments happen, to listen to them, and not be too surprised at what we might learn about this house building business – especially as it relates to our own gifts and calling.

I’ve been visiting Camp Cross for over 10 years. We attended a Labor Day Family Camp with our St. James’ (Pullman, WA) parishioners and I enjoyed the glorious natural beauty, but also the fellowship among the participants. Christian community in a non-parish setting is one feature of Camp Cross that has me reminding others to “keep comin’ back! “

While wading at Crescent Beach, my wife Alison relayed her metaphor for her relationship to God.  In the cool water, she floats effortlessly.  As she returns to the rocky shore, her body becomes heavy as she leaves the (holy) water and works to carry herself. It’s harder and harder to gain ones footing.  Yet, a loving arm reaches out to help her gain stability. This arm is God’s love in the form of your loving friend. Together, you can walk the journey on hot, dry land, until you once again return to refreshing water for relief.

Additionally, Camp Cross is a holy place where I have seen miracles happen.  Of course, miracles are in the eyes of the beholder and subject to perspective. This week I have seen the miracle of change. Mid-high campers arrived on Sunday, with anxiety, fears and few friends. In just a few days, I have seen them transformed. They’ve bonded with each other, shared intense experiences, been challenged in their views of faith and even improved their table manners (yes, a great miracle indeed!).  In all seriousness, the joy shared in a small group or gathered around a summer campfire is a holy miracle repeated again and again here.  I’ve noticed another transforming miracle recently.  As I look at this year’s staff members, several have spent many years coming to Camp Cross. They’ve loved being a camper with all the newness that experience brings. Camp Cross can be an intense emotional experience of faith on a young person’s own terms, far from their parish home.  It’s their mountaintop where they gain spiritual insight. Some grow into being a counselor, learning leadership skills shepherding a small group.  This is a critical stage in the faith formation of young people. Of that group, some continue serving as permanent staff members, gaining more leadership skills at the next level, long after coming to Camp Cross for the first time.  This chain of transformative experiences shapes the lifelong faith of many.

Wednesday night, we used a meditation from Taize to focus in the darkness of the cool evening, sitting on a floating dock.  Many relaxed on their backs, pondering the universe, gazing up into the vast expanse of stars. Some reported seeing up to five shooting stars and several orbiting satellites were visible.  Amid the cool breeze, surrounded by both intimate friends and endless cosmos, God is good; Very good; Always.

The most heartening part of convention is that we discover anew that this discerning work is done best in community through common prayer and common conversation seeking clarity in our common mission.  While hard work, this is fundamentally sound, and it works as we  grow in the spirit of ‘Ubuntu’ into our truest selves in Christ.  While never perfect, new and exciting possibilities emerge as out of a solid foundation.

With more to be said about Ubuntu and the particulars of convention in the days ahead, your Deputies and I are already planning communication to the Diocese.  For now, we are clearly a “learning and changing” church, and as unsettling as this can be at times, it is the only way to be the living Body of Christ. In the words of our forbearer Benjamin Franklin, “When we stop learning and changing, we die.”

They weren’t kidding.

The 2010-2012 budget for TEC is a budget that reflects a commitment by the church to live within its means.  AS PB&F Chair Pam Adams-McCaslin reminded us, “We cannot spend what we will not give.”  PB&F presented a balanced budget that reflected the mission of the church, based on our budget priorities for the new triennium.  While not every resolution with budget implications was funded, there were a few new areas of ministry that PB&F honored.  Specifically they added funding for Hispanic ministries, which offered a bold new visioning of their ministry in TEC; there is increased funding for Jubilee Ministries who’s programs will focus on domestic poverty issues; and there was a new piece of the budget offering help to new seminarians with debt relief.  While this last piece might seem a bit self-serving, helping out our new brothers and sisters entering into the call to priesthood is both economically responsible as the debt from seminary can be quite extensive, and it will allow new priests to be able to accept a wider range of calls to parishes who may not have the financial bases of larger churches, but who would like new vision in how their churches might grow.  In short, our seminarians can serve in the churches that need them most with some financial help from TEC.  These three new budget items as well as the few others increased show a new commitment to funding programs that are an outward sign of the mission of our church!

PB&F made some pretty decisive changes in the way we will do business in the next Triennium.  They made cuts across the board to programs in the purview of the budget, including eliminating 30 church staff positions and consolidating some programs, while eliminating others that our currently being or can be served in other areas of our TEC body.  They have also cut the budget for the CCABs (Committees, Commissions, Agencies, and Boards), which continue to do the work of the church during the triennium.  PB&F is calling for fewer meeting of CCABs, budgeting for only two face-to-face meetings over the next three years.  The first meeting of 2010 will provide training for all members of the CCABs on how to use online technology and conference calls to run meetings as a low-cost alternative for the work to be done between those budgeted meetings.  It’s a necessary move if we are going to be good stewards of our time and resources.  With the infrastructure in place, we have no good reason to delay using our technology in this way. 

PB&F is also asking for some major re-visioning of how we run General Convention, an entity which has much environmental and financial impact on our church and world.  The first area of major impact is the calling for GC 2012 to be as paperless as possible.  The implications for environmental stewardship are vast! PB&F is advocating a paperless Bluebook for that convention, where the Bluebook would be an online resource, instead of a paper book.  While not specifically discussed, I am confident that there will be bound copies of the Bluebook for those who do not have computer or Internet access.  This year, our Bluebooks included a CD copy of the resolutions, which I used almost exclusively while preparing for convention.  This move to wireless seems a step in the right direction for conserving paper.  Worship and the business of the floor are also going to be as paperless as possible in Indiana.  PB&F has asked that GC 2012 provides wireless Internet for the floor of both houses during convention to allow for the saving of some paper resources during the meeting.  While the details are not worked out yet, I am excited for the possibilities of new ways of doing our work.  The environmental impact of making 800+ copies of hundreds of pages of resolutions, worship bulletins, and various other pieces of paper is staggering at the least. 

PB&F also heard the wishes of the church to continue to show our commitment to the Millennium Development Goals.  They put back into the budget a .7% line item to go to the MDGs.  As the chairs told us, this is sign to the world of the Episcopal Church’s priorities.

PB&F has also tried to respond to the hard economic times that our churches and Dioceses are facing across TEC by proposing reduced asking percentages this triennium.  The 2010 Diocesan asking will remain at 21%, 2011 is 20% and 2012 is 19%.  Additionally, PB&F has proposed changing the formula for assessment of asking so that dioceses are able to keep more money in their own budget by increasing the amount not included in the formula from $100,000 to $125,000. PB&F is hoping that by leaving more money in a Diocese’s budget, more of our Diocese will in turn pay their full (or close to their full) asking to TEC.  It’s a bold move, as many Dioceses do not come close to the 21% now.  However, it is honoring the struggles we all have during this economic turn.  On another note, I am proud that our Diocese pays our 21% every year.  It’s empowering to know that we are helping to live out the mission of the church through our financial contribution even when times are tight!

 While the budget is never going to be perfect, or make everyone happy, this current budget shows a commitment by TEC to live as a financially responsible entity, supporting the mission we are called out to live in our world.  It reflects a prayer-filled process of pruning the tree so that we can grow to bear more fruit.  The Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith, vice-chair of PB&F, said, “We believe that this budget is responsive to the Gospel, the voice of the convention, and the economic realities of our time.” As a deputy who has spent a bit of time in both the House and PB&F hearings, I couldn’t agree more. 

 As a young adult trying to find my own way through our new economic situation, I am proud to be a member of a church who is modeling budgetary prudence and finding creative ways to live within its means.  A church that not only gives when it lives in abundance, but which gives when it is challenged with scaricity.

In the midst of a much more positive tone and atmosphere in the House of Bishops it is clear that certain decisions toward being and open and inclusive church could pass without extended debate.  For expediency we could move right along.

However, we have learned how important it is to take time, to hear all voices, and to consider not just the immediate result of our voting, but also the impact on all in the HOB and the dioceses we serve.

On the topic of resources and liturgies for blessings of relationships, the House chose to step back, take time for bishops to collaborate, then bring a reflective, considered report.  This was done seeking to afford room for “generous pastoral responses” throughout the church.

In doing so the overall spirit, and import, of the resolution (C056), was significantly modified.  It still serves basically the same purpose, but is more gracious and more truly “inclusive” in that all people, from divergent perspectives, are taken into consideration.  The win/lose voting system is a losing proposition.  But necessary legislative action can have a compassionate quality.

That’s not to say that everyone is happy with the result or that the actions are impotent; neither is true. But how we get there continues to be as important as where we go.  And it definitely does have to do with “respecting the dignity of every human being,” when we agree and especially when we don’t.

During the afternoon we had a joint session with the House of Bishops to have a presentation of the budget, and since Pia will blog on that, I will say no more, other than that it was great to have the Bishops with us.  They were greeted with standing applause and great delight as they entered the hall. 

I spent a couple hours this afternoon observing the House of Bishops at work.  The feel is very different, with no time limits, more discussion and the bishops sitting at round tables.  During the time I was there the bishops were discussing a resolution concerning the issue of same-gender blessings.  After a great deal of discussion a resolution was overwhelmingly passed which basically said that since the changing culture has presented us with States, and other countries, which have authorized and approved same-gender civil unions and marriages, the Church needs to undertake the work of theological and liturical study and development around this issue.  The Bishops have called for this study to be reported back to General Convention in 2012. 

It was another tiring but good day.  We are getting some very important work done, and some work that seeems tedious but is also important.  All in all I will be glad when General Convention is over, and we get to work with the implementation phase.

Gretchen +

The last few days, I have been spending my time in PB&F hearings. On Thursday, I went to the hearing on Spending. The spending hearing is a chance for deputies and visitors to testify to the ministries we feel are important to the church before the committee creates the final budget they will be sending to the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops for final consent. They asked speakers to not only speak to the ministries, funded or unfunded, that we want supported at the TEC level, but to speak to how that ministry fits the budget priorities that were set for our next triennium for our budget. Fellow deputy, Ashley Miller, and I had the slightly nerve-wracking experience of making our cases for funding Resolution B-003, Camping Ministries , in front of the both the committee and all the guests of the hearing. Nothing like standing at a podium looking out at the room and trying to articulately make your case! We were both able to speak to the power of Camping Ministries in our lives. Ashley talked of how she was able to connect with a Latino young woman at Camp Cross through her ministry on staff, a transformative experience for them both. I was able to share with PB&F the early discernment process for vocation and spirituality that Camping Ministries has by sharing my own narrative of experiences counseling and working as a staff member at Camp Cross influencing not only my decision to be a teacher. There were many passionate testimonies throughout the evening by Episcopalians, young and old, on the incredible outreach ministries that TEC helps to fund. After listening to the many outreach ministries of TEC, I have little problem answering the question what does TEC do with the money sent from our Diocese every year? The better question might be what doesn’t TEC do?

Friday night, I went to another PB&F hearing, Funding with my friend Bill from the Episcopal Camp and Conference Centers (ECCC). We figured that since we were asking PB&F to support Camping Ministries, we should probably be part of the conversation for how to make that funding happen. TEC is at the same place as all of America; money is tight and investments are down. However, the mission of the church and its work in our communities can’t take a backseat. How do we continue to fund our Episcopalian mission when our budgeting system isn’t working in its current conception? How do we faithfully live into our mission? TEC is facing the same question as all of us at the parish level: how do we fund programming during a time of recession, and a tightening of member giving? The PB&F Spending hearing invited us into conversation with members of the committee on the state of our budget. We sat in small groups at round tables with members of PB&F and asked our questions, offered our insights and brainstormed on possible solutions and re-imagining of what the budget process might look like. In short, we listened and worked together. Those at my table represented their Dioceses, the Historical Episcopal Black colleges, and Camping Ministries; however, we put aside those needs in our conversation and instead focused on the possibilities of the future of funding in TEC, and looked for new solutions to an ongoing problem. We talked about how the budget of our church should be a reflection of the mission of our church, and that this ministry is a partnership between the Diocese and TEC. Together, we work to live out the mission of our church. One member of our group reminded us that we need to prayerfully look at programs in relation to our budget priorities, and consider the funding of programs with a lot of sensitivity. At the end of the evening, each group shared their discussions with the whole. There will be no easy answer to the funding of TEC, but we all left with a lot of hope. PB&F has spent the week really seeking the voice of TEC. The funding hearing was a new experience for us all, emphasizing their desire to work in partnership with GC to find new answers to our funding crisis. I am hopeful that they will find some new solutions over the next triennium.

As Wednesday draws near, I find myself getting excited to see the new budget. From a selfish point of view, I can’t wait to see if the ministry dear to my heart, Camping, gets fully funded. I think all of the Deputies of GC have a pet program that they are praying makes it onto the budget. Aside from that, I am excited to see how the conversations of last week bear fruit. PB&F sent messages to the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops that they were trying some creative new things in the budget, including cuts in Diocesan Askings to help struggling Diocese and cuts in the GC budget. Clearly, these are bold moves in light of the projected shortfall for the next triennium. Tomorrow’s joint session of both Houses to address the budget will begin a new way of funding in our church. I can’t wait to see the results!

But there is a huge amount of grace and joy and learning in the process. For instance, I was asked by Bishop Waggoner to serve as a “coach” for the Public Narrative process. I agreed and vaguely remembered when our Diocesan Council was trained to use the process. It is a simple, yet complex concept of learning to think in stages of self, us, and to link those two concepts into NOW, the action stage. The coach training was good, and there are also separate, one-on-one coaching sessions if needed. I have been amazed at the depth of discussion that evolves during these sessions with an arbitrarily selected small group. My group includes members from the Diocese of Los Angeles and the Diocese of Oregon. Some know each other but most don’t and yet we’ve made significant discoveries about common mission focus.

I testified on the rights of GLBT members of the Episcopal Church at two different legislative hearings, talking about my conviction and experience that we can do mission and inclusion. To me, our church should not exclude some Christians from any aspect of The Episcopal Church. The House of Deputies approved carefully crafted legislation on Sunday affirming this position, and forwarded the resolution – DO25 – to the House of Bishops for its consideration.

On Thursday evening, I attended the Integrity USA Eucharist with 1,200 to 1,500 other people, a collection of LGBT and significant numbers of straight attendees. There were numerous joyous parts of the celebration, with Bishop Gene Robinson presiding and Bishop Barbara Harris as preacher. In talking with Paul Lebens-Englund, we realized that we were observing not only a worship service but beautiful theatre. There were colorful banners everywhere, a 50 person choir, and processions with a Japanese drummer weaving in and out of the congregation. It was the most incredible, welcoming, joyous service that I have attended in my life.

Sunday, we had a joint Eucharist and UTO Ingathering with all at the General Convention, plus members from many churches across the Diocese of Los Angeles. We worshiped with two close friends who now live in Claremont, CA and who came with their congregation in a bus. We first knew each other in Baltimore, MD where Mary Beth and I were married seventeen years ago on Sunday.