I've Been To The Mountain

The mountain is Mt. Diablo near Danville, CA, where I've just returned from a brief private retreat at San Damiano Retreat House. The hospitality of the Franciscans was wonderful, and I enjoyed a silent retreat given over to lots of contemplative prayer and spiritual reading. It was a good way to fill up my "tank" before heading off to Columbus for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church tomorrow.

While in Columbus, I'll be busy working as a clergy alternate with the Diocese of California's deptuation and as a member of the Claiming the Blessing Collaborative Steering Committee. My main focus will be tracking legislation being considered by Committee 26: The Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, which is responsible for crafting the resolutions in response to the Windsor Report. "To be, or not to be, Anglican; that is the question," as Bishop Stacy Saul's points out in a recent essay.

General Convention will be a mountain of another kind. As I'm climbing it, I will keep in mind two passages from my reading while on retreat.

"There are a thousand thousand reasons to live this life, every one of them sufficient."
John Ames, Gilead

"The experience of prayer is that of the gradual learning to rejoice in my induction by an entirely gentle, trustworthy power, into freedom from all my ways of being tied in to the place of shame, one by one, and discovering this as given to me as a 'real me' in a series of new desires for new projects which share the huge affection and gentleness towards others that I have found myself receiving."
James Alison, "the strangeness of this passivity" in on being liked

Speaking of James Alison, see the wonderful article by Katie Sherrod previewing General Convention through the lens of Alison's theology.

"See" you in Columbus. I'll be blogging daily while there: updating, informing, pontificating, and praying.

John+