"So the Twelve called a meeting of the disciples" Acts 6:2
Hello Beloveds!
The church will always have both worship AND meetings. Today’s note is about the latter.
The 81st General Convention ends today, and I just wanted to pass along news of the two items that affect most deeply the direction if our polity from GC81. (For more info, visit our Atlanta Diocese GC Hub)
One item, as you might guess is the election of our new Presiding Bishop. Here’s news from the Episcopal News Service (ENS):
The Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, bishop of Northwest Pennsylvania and bishop provisional of Western New York, was elected and confirmed June 26 at the 81st General Convention to serve as the 28th presiding bishop. His nine-year term as presiding bishop, the face and voice of The Episcopal Church and its chief pastor, begins Nov. 1. Rowe also is scheduled to preach at General Convention’s final Holy Eucharist on June 28.
The other item is a broader definition for the Book of Common Prayer, which used to be defined basically as what was between the two covers of the actual approved BCP:
The Book of Common Prayer has a new constitutional definition: “Those liturgical forms and other texts authorized by the General Convention in accordance with this article and the Canons of this Church.”
Its proponents have argued it enables more incremental changes to the prayer book that some Episcopalians have demanded – such as adding same-sex marriage rites and including gender-neutral language – without spending time and resources on a developing a brand new version. Over a dozen liturgical texts have been “authorized” – for trial use, experimental use or simply “made available” – by General Convention over the years.
“This amendment allows us to use our 21st century technologies to continue in common prayer and worship,” the Rev. Ruth Meyers, deputy from the Diocese of California, said in advocating A072’s passage in the June 26 evening session. Meyers, a professor at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley, also served previously on the Task Force on Liturgical & Prayer Book Revision, which originally proposed this constitutional change in 2022.
She added that the new Article X doesn’t diminish the rigorous process by which the church amends its prayer book. “Only after that process, which we’ve been using for decades, will new material become part of the Book of Common Prayer.”
A072 was adopted with 84% of the vote in the clergy order and 87% in the lay order. It will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
The Book of Common Prayer has not undergone a full-scale revision since 1979. (That process, to revise the 1928 version, began in 1967.)
David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.
Peace, joy, and blessings,
Mo. Nikki+
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