Care with the Blue

Yesterday, I began a four-month sabbatical from my work as rector of St. John's Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, MI. Though I did not receive the Lily Clergy Renewal Grant I had hoped for, the members of my congregation have been generous in the gift of a Renewal Leave purse that will enable my family to do some enjoyable and renewable things.

But there is one thing I decided to include in my Renewal Leave plans, and that is to fully participate as First Alternate Deputy to General Convention for the Episcopal Diocese of Western Michigan. I am delighted and honored to go with our Deputation and support them however I can. Having come from the Churches of Christ (a cappella), a tradition with a polity of congregational autonomy, I very specifically chose The Episcopal Church (TEC) ten years ago when I was searching.

One of the key reasons I chose it was because the more I studied theology and church history and theology, the more I wanted to be a part of a church with some kind of connecting hierarchy and institution. The approach of Anglicanism, as it is manifested in TEC, drew me in. I appreciated its connection to the early church through apostolic succession (an oft misunderstood doctrine, this book gets closer at my own understanding than most) and also appreciated its blending of the historic role of bishops with the voice of other clergy and the laity at each level of its governance.

All that to say, I believe in General Convention. I may not always agree with it. I may get frustrated when it seems that the politics of synodical governance are getting in the way of what the Holy Spirit is doing, but I have faith in God's ability to work through synodical governance to bring about greater faithfulness... it sometimes just might take a while.

So, over the next several months, as I prepare to attend General Convention, I'm going to work through the Blue Book on this blog. (The Blue Book is the collection of reports and resolutions to be considered by General Convention. You can find it online here. If you don't know what General Convention is, I'd encourage you to read this, this, and this to help get your feet wet.)

There are other people who do stuff like this—the most well-known and respected, of course, being the incomparable Fr. Scott Gunn (see his introductory post to this year's work online here) and the less systematic and slightly more snarky Fr. Tom Ferguson (more often known as Crusty Old Dean). In no way do I have the knowledge, expertise, or experience of Fr. Gunn, Fr. Ferguson, or others who do work like this.

But I am trying to do something a little different than them.

I am intending to read the Blue Book through the lens of this blog: Care with the Cure of Souls. That is, if the work of the church is the cure of souls (expressed in the BCP as the restoration of relationship between others and God in Jesus Christ), then my own question will be how does this report or resolution further the cure of souls in our church. How are people being brought into closer relationship with God or others through this report or resolution? (To get a sense of the lens I'm trying to bring, I'd encourage you to read this older essay from Eugene Peterson about the idea of cure of souls.)

Thus, I'm calling this series of posts, with an acknowledgement that Fr. Gunn's series are often rather cleverly named, "Care with the Blue." That is, this is my own attempt to care for the work that is done by those who sent reports into the Blue Book, my own attempt to care for what those reports might mean for the life of the church and how they will impact the work of the church as we engage in the cure of souls.

If you decide to tag along with me for the ride, please do comment and share you own thoughts. I'm sure I'll get many things wrong and am hopeful that those with more experience and knowledge than I have will correct me. I'm going to write my essays without first consulting what others have said, so I reserve the right to change my mind! But I want to give you my own honest impression of each section first, before perhaps coming back in the comments and seeing how the conversation changes my own views.

Posts written thus far in the series:

Executive Council 

Joint Standing Committees

• Advocacy and Networking for Mission 
• Finance for Mission
• Governance and Administration for Mission
• Local Ministry and Mission
• World Mission

Bilateral Provincial Committees 

• A Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil
• IARCA Covenant Committee

Committees of Executive Council

• Committee on Anti-Racism
• Corporate Social Responsibility
• Historically Black Colleges and Universities
• Economic Justice Loan Committee
• Investment Committee
• Joint Audit Committee
• The United Thank Offering Board
• Assessment Review Committee

Councils of Advice

• President of the House of Deputies Council of Advice
• Advisory Committee Acting as Council of Advice to the Presiding Bishop

Standing Committee on Liturgy and Music

• Introduction and Canonical & Constitutional Changes
• SCLM Sub-Committee on the Book of Occasional Services
• SCLM Sub-Committee on the Church Calendar
• SCLM Sub-Committee on Congregational Song
• SCLM Sub-Committee on Racial Justice & Reconciliation
• SCLM Sub-Committee on Same-Sex Marriage Rites
• SCLM Sub-Committee on Revising the Book of Common Prayer