wfn.org | Jubilee the unifying theme of Episcopal convention

[Daphne Mack <dmack@dfms.org>]

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James Solheim
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GC2000-085

Jubilee the unifying theme of General Convention

by Susan Erdey

     (ENS - DENVER) If the 73rd General Convention could be 
expressed in one word, it would be "Jubilee."

     From the "MM: Anno Jubilee" banners outside the Colorado 
Convention Center and inside the worship space, to Presiding 
Bishop Frank T. Griswold's meditations at the daily Eucharists, 
to the debates in the House of Deputies and House of Bishops, 
Jubilee was the ever-present theme.

     Griswold set the tone in his welcome message and sermon for 
the Jubilee Morning on July 6, a half-day when convention 
business was suspended and participants set aside the morning for 
what Griswold described as "purposeful wasting of time in order 
to discover...the mystery of our life in Christ."

     "During Jubilee," Griswold said, "all creation is to be 
liberated for the sake of finding proper balance and relationship 
in union with God and one another. God's liberation unfolds as we 
cease to hold one another hostage through unyielding bias, 
prejudice, judgment, suspicion, fears, and forgiveness. ... Jubilee 
is fundamental to our life as a resurrection community."

     In the midst of the Jubilee morning service, worshipers were 
invited to spend 90 minutes sitting and looking at the nearby 
mountains, praying together or alone, or walking a labyrinth set 
up behind the altar area. 

     Many chose to brave the long lines - 20 deep, at some points 
- in order to walk the labyrinth. Priscilla Bates-Makarias, a 
doctoral student at the Episcopal Divinity School and a visitor 
at convention, found the labyrinth experience "very powerful." 
The act of moving around a maze-like pattern "was the perfect 
metaphor for the church and the difficult conversations we find 
ourselves in," she said.

     "Everyone is in the labyrinth together, walking slowly, and 
sometimes you have to step aside and let someone who's further 
along on the journey move ahead of you," she added. "We're all in 
different places on that path, and we have to do it 
cooperatively. Some people might be angered by the slowness, some 
might be lost in the experience, but we're all on that journey 
together."

Woven through daily life

     The Jubilee theme was not limited to one special service, 
but was carefully woven through each morning Eucharist. Griswold 
drew on the lives of such saints as Julian of Norwich and on 
various aspects of Jubilee as the focus for each of his 
meditations at the daily services. The House of Bishops also took 
time from their legislative calendar every afternoon to spend 
half an hour in prayer together, building on Griswold's 
admonition to release themselves from "useful productivity and 
purposeful accomplishment." 

     Throughout their time together, bishops and deputies heard 
echoes of Griswold's reminder in his Jubilee meditation that at 
"the shattering moment" of Jesus' baptism, "no task is assigned, 
no agenda given, no test is proscribed.... Nothing is asked for or 
required of Jesus other than to accept God's delight and pleasure 
in his very being."

     The jubilee concept resurfaced during legislative debates, 
with deputies and bishops on both sides of issues calling on each 
other to "act in the spirit of Jubilee" to accept or reject a 
particular resolution. When the House of Deputies overwhelmingly 
approved a resolution calling for continued monitoring of those 
dioceses known to be delaying on the ordination of women, a 
representative from one of those dioceses objected that the 
decision was "not in the spirit of Jubilee."

     "We were taking the presiding bishop's words seriously on 
the year of Jubilee," added the Rev. Canon H.W. Herrmann from 
Quincy. "We were under the impression that this would ... be dealt 
with in another way, a kinder, gentler way than this resolution."

     The Convention emphasis on Jubilee could have far-reaching 
effects if deputies and bishops take it home to their dioceses 
and parishes, several members of convention observed. Wendy 
Sopkovich, an alternate deputy from Milwaukee, said during the 
Jubilee morning, "To me this is the work of the church, this 
right now. If we can bring this back to our own parishes, it's 
fine. I think the work of the church is to help people to learn 
that Jesus is here and God loves us. I can't think of any more 
important work."

--Susan Erdey is layout and design editor for RISEN in the 
Diocese of Rhode Island.