So tomorrow afternoon I am off as a delegate from our parish to the 122nd Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Colorado, held this year in beeyooteeful Pueblo, CO.
I’ve done the diocesan convention thing multiple times before, but it’s been a few years. If the reports from the General Convention are any indication, it should go more smoothly due to the conservative factions that have departed, but also be somewhat less rich (or at least intriguing) for the loss of some of those departed voices.
The original plan was that Margie and Katherine were going to come along, too, but flu outages and school and work sort of put the kibosh on that.
There’s basically three parts to the convention: the plenary sessions (all the legislative bits, which are not likely to be all that exciting this year), the workshops (which should be moderately interesting), and the vendor room (which is often fascinating).
The high point of the journey may be the first night — the convention church service is being held up the road in Colorado Springs, at the litigationally-liberated Grace & St Stephens Church. It will be both a celebration (of the convention, and of the restoration of the building to the diocese) and a sadness (over the division that took place there).
I should be back sometime Saturday, so there will be at least some weekend for me. 🙂 The timing sucks, in terms of being away from the family, but that’s how it worked out.
It’s an honor to be asked to be a delegate — to help do the “business” of the church. There’s a certain measure of sausage-making in any such endeavor, but I tend to think that’s part of the human condition in any organization, religious or otherwise. And seeing how the church operates up close can be as uplifting and educational as it is sometimes disappointing or disillusioning.
More to report on as it happens (or, more likely, the evening after it happens). Hotel wi-fi willing, that is.