On a day when Presiding Bishop Michael Curry led an emotionally charged revival, a controversial resolution concerning the Book of Common Prayer passed the House of Deputies.
Resolution A068, which calls for the process of Prayer Book revision, was passed by orders on Saturday, July 7, at the 79th General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Austin, Texas. Both clergy and lay deputies voted at about a 65-percent clip in favor of the resolution.
Clergy voted 63 in favor, with 30 no votes and 17 divided. Among lay deputies, 69 voted yes, 26 no, and 15 were divided. The resolution now heads to the House of Bishops for a vote sometime this week.
Resolution A068 is a hot topic because it entails a long, drawn-out procedure in which the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for the next three years will gather information about how the current 1979 prayer book is being used in The Episcopal Church.
From there, a revised Book of Common Prayer will be established by 2024 and then be used on a trial basis for three additional years. Adoption of the new Prayer Book would have to be approved by successive General Conventions before becoming final in 2030 – a whopping 12 years after this convention in Texas.
According to a story by the Episcopal News Service, the resolution states that any future revision will “utilize inclusive and expansive language and imagery for humanity and divinity” and will “incorporate and express understanding, appreciation, and care of God’s creation.”
“Today was a day of extraordinary contrast and, in fact, even conflicting theology,” said Bishop Greg Brewer in a video feed from the convention where he is one of 11 people from the Diocese of Central Florida participating. “It was not an easily passed resolution. There were an extraordinary number of rejections, objections, and amendments that were made. So, what it actually came down to in the final resolution, there was a lot of convoluted resolutions while trying to do something that would, in fact, please everyone.”
Bishop Brewer said there were serious concerns about inclusion of people from Province IX (Dioceses of Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Central Ecuador, Ecuador Litoral, Honduras, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela) after repeated complaints on Friday, July 6, from Rev. Lloyd Allen, Bishop of the Episcopal of Honduras, concerning lack of translation of the proposed “Covenant for the Practice of Equity and Justice for All in The Episcopal Church” for Spanish-speaking clergy and laity. The Episcopal News reported that the covenant was put forth in response to the July 4 “Liturgy of Listening.”
The Diocese of Honduras and the Diocese of Central Florida, the latter of which Bishop Brewer oversees, are companion dioceses.
“But, that did pass,” Bishop Brewer said. “But the fact that there were concerns about that being raised was in of itself still pretty shocking.”
Bishop Brewer also said there were a number of deputies asking questions about the cost of Prayer Book revision, which is expected to cost an estimated $8 million during its 12-year overhaul. “But, actually, far more fundamental to either of those (Spanish translation or cost issues) is the concern about the preserving of the classic formularies for God that are inherent and deeply imbedded in the Prayer Book of 1979,” he said. “There is on the one hand the commitment in the resolution to maintain Anglican formularies; on the other hand, there’s lot of concern about continually responding to the movement of the Holy Spirit, expansive language, this and that, which really does leave the resolution open to an extraordinary different set of interpretation to what the Anglican formularies should suggest.
“Quite honestly, not everybody got what they want,” Bishop Brewer said. “We’ll see what happens when this gets to the House of Bishops, whether they can make sense out of this.”
The day was capped with a revival that drew thousands. Presiding Bishop Curry delivered a rousing speech that was enhanced by energizing music. According to the official transcript released by the Episcopal New Service, Presiding Bishop Curry began by saying:
“Oh, my Lord! Let the whole Church say Amen! Say it again. Say it one more time! Amen! I’m out of breath for ya. This is a blessed night. It is a blessed night. We gather this night. Many of us are Episcopalians. Many of us are from other Christian traditions and families. Many of us are people of good will of no particular denomination or stripe. Some of us are probably Republicans. And, some of us are probably Democrats. Some of us are probably independents. But all of us are children of God. All of us! All of us! And that’s what we celebrate this night. We come together as the children of God. Like that old song used to say when I was a kid,
Red and yellow, black and white,
All are precious in his sight.
All! All! All!”
“It was an enormous crowd to participate in one of the Presiding Bishop’s revivals,” Bishop Brewer said. “It really was quite phenomenal. The music was outstanding, exceptional blend of praise music, traditional music, Latin American celebrations. I mean, it was extraordinarily worshipful, with the kind of language that was classic, and deep, especially to Christian, classical Christian theology: Come to the altar, the blood of Jesus Christ, deep hymns of personal surrender.
“And the Presiding Bishop doing what he always does: preaching about love in the most expansion and magnanimous terms possible that brought the house down,” Bishop Brewer said. “Most of the congregation that was gathered there, and yes, it really was a congregation, stood on their feet and cheered for most of the Presiding Bishop’s sermon. And every single bit of it was phenomenally and quickly translated in Spanish – all through the entire evening. Then we went outside for a barbecue, all kinds of wonderful food. This was the best that we would expect of a General Convention hosting by the Diocese of Texas to give us.”
But Bishop Brewer said the House of Deputies’ passing of Resolution A068 gave many pause at the end of another very long day. The General Convention runs through Friday, July 13.
“It was not lost on others that the expansive language quotes in the Prayer Book resolutions and others there have been like it (are causing concern),” Bishop Brewer said. “There are two things at work here: there is a classical Christianity that we are deeply, deeply committed to at one level, and then at another level, an effort to try to somehow think in ways that keep us far afield from that position.
“I don’t know how this is going to play out,” Bishop Brewer said. “We’ll see again what happens in the House of Bishops, which is classically more conservative than the House of Deputies.”
Bishop Brewer also expressed concern at the price tags of the passed resolutions. The Episcopal News Service reported that a whopping 443 resolutions have been filed for the July 5-13 session, which may set an all-time record.
“Both houses – the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops – have been passing resolutions with extraordinary multi-million-dollar price tags, knowing that we cannot afford them,” Bishop Brewer said. “A young man from … finance, said something along the order of they have something over $13 million in requests over the money we hope to realize over the next triennium.”
Bishop Brewer said the Church budget will be one of the final things that come up for debate on Tuesday, July 10. Overall, a long week awaits the local diocesan contingent.
“We are still very, very much in process,” Bishop Brewer said. “Your prayers are deeply needed, for wisdom, for stamina, and to think well on our feet. People are working hard and a lot of competing sectors to get what they want across. And, therefore, you have to read resolutions carefully, you can’t do it just on a couple nights’ sleep. You have to be alert, attention paid (to) asking God to give you wisdom that you might discern, speak the truth in love, and continue to seek His will.”