A Trip to the Convention
A short summary of our trip to the 195th Ohio Diocesan Convention and one delegate’s reflections.
This past weekend, I took a trip to the Ohio Diocesan convention. It was my first time (being that I wasn’t even a confirmed Episcopal for the last one), and I was surprised by the political side of things on the first day, and also encouraged by the more personal/prayerful atmosphere of the second. I have little experience with this kind of thing, but this is my brief response to and (probably very biased) report of the whole experience:
The convention was held at the Marriott hotel at Harvard and Richmond Rd, on the far east side of town on Friday and Saturday Nov. 11 and 12. There were, from what I gathered, 88 parishes represented, and St. Alban’s, in particular, was represented throughout the weekend by Father Joe, Mark, Peter, Margie, and me.
The first day was mostly taken up with the Church business side of things, broken up into three main categories: Elections to Diocesan positions, Constitution and Canon Amendments, and Resolutions. The results of the elections are all on the diocesan website, and all of the amendments and resolutions were passed.
A few of the resolutions seemed to be especially noteworthy. Two resolutions concerned the diocesan treatment of health plans, among individual churches (extending insurance coverage to full time church employees), and in relation to the national Episcopal church (calling for a removal of the mandate that all diocese participate in the denominational health plan.) There were also two resolutions calling for companion relationships between us and the diocese of Tanga and Belize. Another resolution called for a moratorium on the use of fracking in Ohio and support of the EPA in their study concerning fracking’s environmental impact until that study is completed, likely in 2014.
The first day ended with a meal and Eucharist at Trinity Cathedral, downtown, where bishop Mark presided and bishop Jean-Zache of Haiti, a special guest of the convention, gave a sermon.
Saturday, we concluded the business of the first day, but also met together for small group discussion several times, about the effect of international companion relations on our home churches, what message we would (as delegates) bring back to our churches, and how we could use a diocesan retreat center to help our churches in their missions. This was the part that I liked – it’s fun to be part of a good discussion.
In bishop Mark’s address to the Church, he said that it is time for our diocese to better establish our camp and retreat ministry, creating a facility similar to cedar hills (but better equipped) to support the development of Christian leadership and lifelong spiritual growth. The facility would have a working, sustainable, green farm, have space for group retreat (youth or adult), be a place to “practice the disciplines of Christian living and get better at them,” and would also (through the farm and other programs) allow the diocese as a whole to participate in mission activity. As the bishop said, individual churches don’t always have the size/infrastructure/whatever for serious mission activity, and having a central place that was good at it would be helpful for spreading the enlightening experience of doing mission work.
This struck me as having two possible positive effects. First, I think that a mission hub like this would give us a place to collect all of our knowledge and also give us a place to connect to other churches in the diocese that were facing similar problems. In other words, the facility would be a base for mission activity that would then spread out to individual churches in the diocese, and it would give us a means and an excuse to form relationships with other churches in the diocese. But, I don’t think that the formation of such relationships needs to wait until the retreat facility is up and running…
Second, I agree with bishop Mark that mission work is a very important part of a Christian’s experience in church, and even that the most meaningful experiences are often found through mission work. I think, however, that mission work is so appealing to people not for its own sake, but because it is a place where people can attempt to live out their lives (if only for the moment) in an intentionally Christian way. In fact, mission work is just that – work that you do (with others in the church) that obviously lines up with your Christian beliefs (i.e. Love God, love your neighbor.) I think, however, that a person’s whole life, not just the side trips to a day at the soup kitchen, can be mission work in this sense, and that the moving and meaningful experiences that people find in mission can be found through a mindful attempt to live their lives Christianly wherever they are. This shouldn’t be surprising to those of you who know of my desire to be a part of an intentional Christian community that tries to help its members live their daily lives in such a way. But, either way, I think that a spiritual and mission hub for the diocese could go a long way in helping people to see their daily lives as a mission, too.
After the bishop’s address and a quick mop-up of all unfinished business, we adjourned a few hours early. Overall, I had a great experience. I was not too excited about the church business/political side of things, but this could be because I’m new to it and don’t understand it very well. I met and had some good conversations with a bunch of neat of people throughout the diocese and also had the chance to reconnect with others that I haven’t seen in a while.
I was grateful to be given the chance to see how the diocese works, in a broad way. I also saw that involvement and cooperation with other churches in our area is a real possibility. I don’t know if this is the take-away message to bring to St. Alban’s, but I find myself, at least, more driven now to visit, make friends with, and share God’s work with my fellow Episcopals (and others, too) in Cleveland, to see how we may better be one community.