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Convention relaxes during Colorado Night
BY TOM BECKWITH
A bluegrass band welcomed weary deputies, bishops, spouses and visitors to Currigan Hall for a church-wide party Wednesday sponsored by the Diocese of Colorado. Inside the hall, the aroma of barbeque and the strains of country and western music continued Colorado Night's theme, "How the west was fun."
The evening officially began as a mule-drawn stagecoach arrived bearing the presiding bishop, the bishop of Colorado and their spouses to the accompaniment of the "Bonanza" theme music. The Griswolds and the Winterrowds greeted people in a wide area of the hall that gradually began to shrink as more and more guests attempted line-dancing to Billy Ray Cyrus' anthem "Achey-breaky heart."
Some sat for caricature portraits while, on the other side of the hall, a sullen bull watched its infinitely more animated mechanical counterpart toss Episcopalians onto the padded floor.
Rumblings of discontent from Native/Indigenous people's groups failed to mar the event. Several groups objected to the evening's western theme and pointed out that the "other side" of the west involved an image of "death and destruction to the peoples of the land and the environment."
However, a statement by the bishops of Alaska, Navajoland, North and South Dakota, and 15 Native/Indigenous deputies, exhibitors and visitors diffused the situation. "We rejoice," the statement concluded, "that the Gospel calls us to a life where the images of our past will no longer haunt or imprison our future together as the living body of Christ."
Additionally, the Rev. Andrew Cooley, chair of the Colorado deputation, read a statement on the floor of the House of Deputies, that said in part, "we lament that our history, like that of most of the country, includes acts of violence and oppression, particularly born by Native peoples." Cooley then apologized to any who had been pained "by any insensitivity on our part" in planning the event.
Later in the evening, prior to a concert by the musical group "Up With People," Winterrowd introduced special guests, among whom were the presiding bishop, the former Colorado diocesan bishop, William C. Frey and Frey's bishop suffragan, William H. Wolfrum.
The evening brought smiles to the faces of legislation-weary revelers. "It's hard to believe this is the same place where we all worshipped last Sunday," said one woman who was having her picture taken with the bull.
