WEB-EXCLUSIVE

In Whose Name We Are Gathered
By The Rev. John Ohmer

Two days in a row now, the floor of the House of Deputies – where nearly a thousand Episcopal representatives from all over the country and beyond have gathered in a huge convention hall, plus another several hundred spectators – has been a surprisingly spirit-filled place to be.

I say “surprisingly” because much of the time the thought that is in the front of my mind as I watch the House of Deputies tie itself into parliamentary knots debating amendments to amendments is, “What a waste of time.”

Most of the time, I have to take the legislative process in small doses and the coffee in large doses.

But just when I’m ready to give up on it entirely, something big happens. Something spirit-filled. Something surprising.

Yesterday of course it was the introduction to the House of Deputies of Katharine Jefferts Schori, whom the House of Bishops had just elected as the 26th Presiding Bishop and who in November will become the Anglican Communion’s first female Presiding Bishop.

As Bishop Jefferts Schori was introduced, there was a kind of applause I’d never heard before … I would say “thunderous,” but that doesn’t do it justice, because it was polite, but I wouldn’t say it was “polite applause,” because it was loud and strong and sustained.

I’ve never heard the term “holy applause” before, but that’s what it was – holy applause. It was reverent, joyful, spirit-filled approval. People were beaming, lit up with joy.

As Bishop Jefferts Schori ascended the steps and addressed the assembly, you could feel the Holy Spirit in our midst.

Her election will not be without its challenges here and around the world, but there is no doubt in my mind that it was an inspired choice in the most literal sense of that word: a choice that was “influenced, moved, or guided by divine or supernatural inspiration,” a choice that “exerts an animating, enlivening, or exalting influence.”

Today the big, spirit-filled, surprising thing that happened on the floor of the House of Deputies was how we conducted ourselves in the debate over how the Episcopal Church should react to the Windsor Report, the Anglican Communion’s official response to some of the critical issues facing the church. You’ll remember that the report was commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury (the spiritual head of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a member) after an outcry over our election of Gene Robinson and after a diocese in Canada authorized a liturgical rite for the blessing of same-sex unions. The report includes practical recommendations on maintaining the highest level of communion together in light of these developments.

The debate is still going on as I write this late Monday night, and you can read about it in detail in the Center Aisle and elsewhere, but I was so pleasantly surprised at the tone of the debate today. The Rev. Dr. Francis H. Wade, co-chair of the committee that considered the church’s response to the Windsor Report, gave a heartfelt summary of the committee’s work and urged the House of Deputies to take the long view as it considered the resolution.

“Be careful when you appeal to a man’s better nature, he may not have one,” I thought, but the Deputies surprised me. Deputy after deputy spoke eloquently and passionately on opposite sides of the issue.

Some said we as a Church acted in faith in 2003, have nothing to regret, and that apologizing would be knuckling under to outside pressure and the height of hypocrisy.

Others said that with the rest of the Worldwide Anglican Communion watching, it is critical that we show we are listening and sensitive to the fact that our actions in 2003 strained our relationship with a great deal of the Anglican Communion, and not to express regret for that would be the height of arrogance.

Yet others staked out a third position – and even a fourth and fifth position.

But throughout the debate, even with emotions running high and the stakes even higher, there was a tone of respect and patience, and most encouragingly of all, openness to the Spirit, in whose name, after all, we are gathered.