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Thinking about General Convention

First of all, thanks for following me to my new home in the blog world – Word Press. Should be fun!

Woke up way too early today with General Convention 2012 on my mind. Probably because this weekend at the Diocese of Mississippi’s Annual Council I am again running for GC Deputy. I’d like to return, and mostly because I think we need to drastically change how GC operates. We start by refocusing what GC should be about. I truly believe that participants at GC have become entrenched and buried so deeply into the legislative mire that it has become, that they can’t see we’ve moved away from the mission and ministry of the church and allowed our time and energy to be diverted. The Presiding Bishop warns us of “suicide by governance”, and that comes from worshipping process and canons more than we worship Jesus. GC is full of people authoring resolutions that really have no bearing at all on the mission of the church, especially our church, with often a false sense of power and importance that our gravely worded resolutions have to speak to the world.

As example I give you the “Committee of the Whole” fail from GC 2009. Our President of the House of Deputies (PHOD), honorary doctor Bonnie Anderson, decides to use a rare parliamentary procedure called the Committee of the Whole, so the entire House of Deputies can act as one committee to discuss, of course, issues around sexuality, while we spent the entire time at GC completely ignoring the report from the State of the Church committee which lays out in alarming, truth speaking words how as a denomination we are shrinking and how if we do not address this we will soon disappear, how we must get excited and put time, resources, energy, and education into mission and evangelism, how our national church offices distract from mission, etc., etc. The report was eye opening and vital, yet NEVER discussed on the floor of the House of  Deputies. THAT’S what we need a Committee of the Whole to talk about.

At our Annual Council we have a resolution to support our Bishop in his efforts to reform GC. I am totally on board with that, and would love to see some meat added to it, with specific proposals, suggestions, and ideas. We need new thinking, new passion for mission, and a new awareness that making ourselves seem important by authoring and debating resolutions that mean nothing to most of the people in the pews and do nothing to promote the Good News of Jesus is a dead end.

It’s time to turn this battleship. I hope I get a chance to be a part of that.

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Are we the best of choices?

Reflecting on church attendance while I lay on my couch getting IV antibiotics, and of course, ironically, missing church….

Maybe I was spoiled. I was raised in a Southern Baptist family that made Sunday morning church attendance mandatory. We had a fun youth group at University Baptist, and SS was usually tolerable, church maybe not so much but we knew we had to go, so we did. Like many, I used college to escape from such obligations, but getting married and having children brought me back.
Thank goodness my wife is an Episcopalian, and while the story of how we made it back to the Episcopal church is one for another time, I can say that we were spoiled. Why? Because at St. Peter’s by the Lake we found a church that was just, well, awesome. As I learned what it meant to be an Episcopalian, I was fortunate to be formed by the founding Rector of that church, Arnold Bush, who showed me and my Baptist heart that Episcopal Priests (and people!) could be evangelists! And I was shown by his successor, Barry Cotter, that Episcopal Priests could be excellent preachers. But more than that, I was shown by a community of faith what it meant to be the body of Christ, people who cared and prayed and worshipped and partied and laughed and grieved and fed and showed up for each other.
I am not sure I can say when the change happened for us, but eventually Jennifer and I became those people who showed up every time the doors opened – but not ever out of some sense of obligation, or feeling that if we didn’t “do this” no one else would, but rather simply because it was the best of choices for us and our kids. We chose church on Sunday mornings over soccer or tennis, we chose special services over the myriad of other options, we chose work days over sleeping in and we chose renewal weekends over parties and we chose great times on the reservoir party boat with other church folks over, well, over anything else. It wasn’t just about God and the Spirit, it was about community. And it was about living into the idea that doing for others is actually not just rewarding but fun, and working “inside” the church was not just important but life-giving. Cursillo renewal helped me in that, I think, teaching me so much about joy and service and the Spirit, perhaps we need more of that. But all that just kind of evolved over time, looking back I can see it, but in the midst of it, it really felt like the best choice was not a choice at all, but something we were joyously led to by the Holy Spirit.

I want that for our folks. I want us to be the “best choice”. Because the truth is, it is all about choices. Sometimes we are overwhelmed, bombarded by options, or fall into the trap of the “obvious because this is what everyone does” kind of choice. But in the end, a worshipping community of caring people, dedicated to serving Christ in others, I believe, is the “best choice”.
It’s not perfect every Sunday. We don’t always hit it out of the park. That’s because we are human. But in the end, the first step is choosing to show up and see where the Spirit leads – new ideas of ministry, ways to form our children in the faith (is there anything more important?), ancient prayers and wonderful sacraments and great music. Saying by our presence – this really IS the best choice, and I too will commit time and talent and treasure to make it so for all of us.
Are you looking for a place like that? If so, I hope we can grow into just that, together. For those already along for the ride – God bless you for helping us live into being the best choice.
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Slow Recovery

It seems like the only blog posts I make, and even those rarely, regard health issues for me or my family. But once again I am writing about such, but with a promise of more posts to come that won’t be simply updates on our struggles.

Last week I had surgery again on my achilles tendon. I had developed an infection that did not respond to oral antibiotics, so had no choice but to go in, de-bride the wound, and start IV antibiotic treatments. Ended up spending 6 days in the hospital following some complications and waiting for cultures to grow so could determine the exact mix of treatments. We got home lat Sunday night and started the at home IV antibiotics Monday evening. Thanks be to God my LW is such a wonderful caretaker, and an RN, and I am in great hands. Pray for my recovery to be complete and soon, and please pray for Jennifer, who has suffered from her own nightmare of illness this past year and who also had double-knee scopes done right after Christmas, she is hobbling around here taking care of both of us and I am so grateful for her.
I am sentenced to home for at least another week, when I will get the cast off of my leg and find out what is next. I am bound and determined to just accept and obey whatever courses of action the docs decide for me, pushing this recovery did nothing but make things worse before this last operation. The church is rising up to take care of “bidness” in my physical absence and I have complete trust in our leadership to handle things well.
Meanwhile, with my sabbatical looming, 2011 is our year to get healthy! It is meet and right so to do. And now with time on my hands while recovering, look for much more frequent blog posts, about things more interesting than infections and surgeries.
Just keep praying – it does make a difference.
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Great Job St. Pat’s!

Yesterday (Nov 14) we held our annual Time, Talent, and Treasure auction/fundraiser for our building fund. This was a traditional event at St Patrick’s prior to Katrina, and we brought it back last year in our new building.

The proceeds go towards payments on our building debt, which is quite burdensome on our budget. We had a lovely evening, the auction committee was AMAZING, worked so hard and so well together. Local vendors donated dinner, appetizers, desserts, and beverages and we had over 100 auction items. I don’t have an official tally yet but looks like we will make even more than we did last year, considering these economic times that is fantastic news. I am so proud of our hard working and dedicated folks, and so thankful for everyone who contributed and bought items. Great fun, great food, great spirit, great entertainment!
On another note, went to see my surgeon today for an infection check – the incision has had some infection which we’ve been watching closely and treating with antibiotics. He was very pleased with how it looks and even gave us the green light to actually wash my leg with soap and water! OK, maybe that’s TMI, but a shower without wearing a garbage bag over my boot will be so sweet. It does remind me of how blessed my life is and all the advantages I have compared to so many people throughout the world and in our own community. I give thanks to God, to my LW who is the most patient and skilled nurse on earth, and for all those who continue to pray for me and my family (and I ask you continue to pray for my wife, whose health has been better of late but still struggles on some days).
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Deja Vu all over again


Those not in the Knight circle of information (in other words, not Facebook friends with my wife) probably don’t know that I have done it again! Yep – three weeks ago I tore the achilles tendon on my left leg. Once again I was playing tennis and it snapped (it was the right leg in Feb of 2009). It’s such a weird feeling, that now unfortunately I am too familiar with, but it really feels like someone has SLAMMED your calf with a baseball bat. Of course, you have that feeling as you are falling, unable to walk (the achilles is what allows you to raise up on your toes when walking and running – it’s by far the largest tendon in the body and is under great tension, so when it ruptures completely (tears in half), the torque it’s under causes the feeling of being hit in the calf as it retracts up into your calf muscle). On the way down I thought “Who hit me?”, then “did I run into a fence?” then “have I been shot?” then “oh crud I know what THIS means – lots of pain here I come!”.

And I was right.

So here I sit, leg in a boot, non-weight bearing for at least 6 more weeks, post-op two weeks. UGH!
Surgery was in Hattiesburg at the most excellent Southern Bone and Joint (my ortho from 09, like many other fine doctors on the Coast, has left for other pastures). We go back first of next week to get stitches out and hopefully enjoy at least a few moments boot free (while a boot is better than a cast, for at least the time being I am not allowed to remove the boot EVER! I begged Jennifer a few days ago to take it off just for a bit, as over activity was swelling the foot and I was in agony. Being the good nurse, she refused).
Pain management is working out ok and I almost never take any prescription meds now for it. Getting-around management is another story. Crutches are just SO MUCH FUN, making every activity we take for granted a pain in the &*^%. .
The LW bull dogged the insurance company and doctor’s office and got me a knee walker thing couple days ago – WAY better than crutches. Ideal for rolling around the house or church, frees up a hand and even has a little basket! Great invention! Can’t do stairs with it but other than that it’s great. You kneel on it with the bad leg and propel with the good one.
Meanwhile, many other things to talk about and I think this down time will allow me some blogging time so look for much more frequent posts, if anyone is still out there. I hope to begin rehab in December, so listen for the screams!

Itinerant: noun. a person who alternates between working and wandering.