Like every day at General Convention,
today began with the Eucharist, but this service also included
the ingathering of the United Thank Offering from all dioceses
in the Episcopal Church. Polly Bobb, UTO chair for Southeast
Florida, brought the offering from our diocese to
the altar.
Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold was celebrant
for the service. The musical setting for the mass was composed
by Dr. Clendon Craig Phillips, associate director of music and
Composer-in-residence at All Saints’ Church, Beverly
Hills, Calif.,
in honor of the presiding bishop.
The preacher was Dr. Jenny Te Paa, Principal
of Te Rau Kahikatea (part of the College of St. John the Evangelist)
in Auckland,
New Zealand. She spoke of the love
of friends and the need for the family that is the Anglican Communion
to hold together, despite the cost of resisting “hypocrisy, fear
and denial”.
“How can human hands possibly tear asunder
what God alone has ordained?” she asked.
Legislation
Wording on two of the resolutions concerning response
to the Windsor Report and our relationship with the Anglican Communion
was finalized in committee and will move to the House of Deputies
tomorrow. For details go to http://www.episcopalchurch.org/75383_76101_ENG_HTM.htm
Tribute
to Bishop Griswold
The day ended with a tribute to Bishop
Griswold as he ends his term as presiding bishop. There were thoughtful
and affectionate speeches by friends and colleagues—one of them
a video message from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with good wishes
for his friend in retirement “when you will be even more busy”.
There was also a much lighter view of
Griswold’s life and ministry provided by Friends of the Groom.
(Many in our diocese will remember from our Bishop’s Spring Conferences
in 2002 and 2003 this drama troupe’s wildly creative approach
to the Bible, the church and the life of faith.)
Music and even a little dancing in the
aisles began and ended the event.
David Pringle (second from right) and other members of the
Official Youth Presence dance in the aisles before the tribute
to the 25th Presiding Bishop begins. At the end of
the evening the youth danced up to the stage with dove kites,
as the audience waved glow-sticks and sang “I the Lord of Sea
and Sky”.
Tomorrow brings the election in the House of Bishops for
the next presiding bishop. In the exhibit hall this afternoon
a young man from Iowa, Matt Nieman, offered an alternative.
