OUR GENERAL CONVENTION 2000 COVERAGE includes this report from Anglicans Online correspondent Judy Fleener. Other reports are listed here.

From Denver
2 July 2000

Today was a day of arrival, a day of getting our bearings. It was a day of initial meetings of legislative committees. Some of the deputies peeked into the vast hall where they will be seated to see where their delegations would sit. Western Michigan, my deputation, is sitting in the second row center. Like tourists, many of us wondered around downtown Denver investigating places to eat and to buy groceries.

General Convention has so many aspects besides the legislative one. I love the gathering of the clan. After four conventions, there are people I only see here. The shopping mall facet appeals to many folks. Ecclesiastical goods, ethnic crafts and books of every kind are available in the display area. Worship at General Convention is powerful. Thousands gather each morning for Eucharist and Bible Study. The worship is done in ways we may not experience at home. On the other hand it seems so familiar to us.

I am a member of Legislative Committee Number 13: Prayer Book, Liturgy, and Music. We began by introducing ourselves and went to work quickly. We considered how we will approach new supplemental materials, additions to the calendar, and the Revised Common Lectionary. Primary in our work is the development of a plan to revise the Book of Common Prayer, with the radical suggestion that it may not come to us printed on dead trees.

The buzz, the parking lot conversation, surrounds the establishment of a special committee to review all legislation that deals with sexuality. What motivated the use of a separate and extraordinary committee? Was it to subvert the process or to allow us to get all our work done?

Judy Fleener