The Family Letter

Last night while walking the streets of Columbus, OH, we ran into someone who suggested a new Episcopal t-shirt: "It's a girl!" He quickly added that this isn't fair, for the "girl" in question is in fact a fully adult, mature, very intelligent and capable woman.

The woman in question is also the Episcopal Church's new Presiding Bishop. 99.9% of my readership will already have heard all about the election and confirmation of Katharine Jefferts Schori as the 26th Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, United States. I have not yet begun to browse, but I'm betting most everyone has beaten me to the blogging of this news, too… Still, I wanted to toss in my two-cents worth.

I want to contribue to the postins on all this because, well, I was there. Not at the election, of course. That was held off-site behind closed church doors. No one knew the results until two representatives from the House of Bishops came back to the House of Deputies to pass the word. I was working the Chaplain's booth in the exhibition hall when a volunteer came through, saying there had been an election. As you might imagine, the exhibition hall became like unto a ghost town, with most of the visitors congregating in the House of Deputies' hall. I got the nod from another chaplain and went along, and stood in the huge crowd at the back of that room.

The crowd did a reasonably good job of not being loud and obnoxious. They did occasionally start getting too loud as we waited for business to get to the election, but were rapidly hushed by volunteers and the rest of us.¹ Finally the chair moved to table whatever business they were working on in favor of the election. Oddly, some folks gave "nays," but not enough to sidetrack things, and we moved on.

The chair asked the room for silence. For no applause. For calm. Then he² began to read the result. He got as far as "The Right Reverend Katherine…" when there was this huge gasp… It was as though all the air went out of the room for a fraction of a second. Then there was a cheer from throughout the room, almost a frantic scream. I never did hear her last name³. Fortunately we all gathered ourselves quickly and got under control, and got quieter, though the overall murmuring was louder than before. We rather impatiently waited while they read off the results of the five ballots, giving significant glances at one another and clutching the hands of our neighbors–mostly total strangers.

My reaction? Stunned disbelief followed by joy. From the first time I read the profiles of the candidates, hers stood out. I'd heard good things about her. I had hoped that the church was ready for this, though had begun to think that her name had been included just to get us used to the fact that a woman could be elected… But there was no way given the way things are in the Anglican Communion right now that we'd actually elect a woman. So I had resigned myself to the fact that the best person for the job probably wouldn't get it. So when I heard "Katherine" read off, I was stunned… Then happy! The Holy Spirit had won through, and we hadn't let her gender get in the way of the choice. Woot!

Then the tension went up a dozen notches as we all remembered: The election needed to be confirmed by the House of Deputies. It was fully possible that they could not confirm, in which case the election would have to start over… So we all remained excited, myself included, but not quite ready to believe that it was a done deal. If there is such a feeling as a collective "crossing of fingers" or a mass group-prayer, it was happening there.

Deputies were then invited to comment. The first half-dozen or so all spoke in favor of the confirmation, adding what I thought was valuable personal reflection on Katharine Jefferts Schori. People who knew her, had encountered her personally… It was good to hear this from folks. After a while the people coming to the microphones began saying things like, "Vote to concur, after all she's a woman!"⁴ That was less helpful, and not a good reason in and of itself to elect someone. The chair asked a few times if there was anyone who wanted to speak against concurring, but in the end only one gentleman did. I could not hear his reason⁵ but have to recognize his courage in speaking his feelings. The chair reminded us that the Bishop's remained sequestered during all this⁶, and not long after someone "called the question," effectively ending the debate and moving the proceedings to a vote.

They took two ballots: Paper and electronic. It was a vote by orders, meaning that the clergy and lay delegates voted as separate groups. The paper came first, then the electronic vote. We had the results from the latter immediately. In both cases, lay and clergy, the vote was to approve her confirmation. Surprisingly there was little reaction to this news… We managed to behave ourselves and not cheer, applaud, boo… There was still a sense of elation, fear, and disbelief.

It was then that I absented myself to return to my duties at the booth. The vote would be confirmed by the tallying of the paper votes. That, as you all know now, happened. And the rest is history! History that we are now living.

As I processed all of this with friends later in the evening I came up with the following metaphor for describing the feelings in that room. Think back to the old Road-Runner / Wiley Coyote cartoons. Remember when Wiley would run off the edge of a cliff? There would be a pause. He'd stop. Gravity hadn't kicked in yet… He, and those of us at home, had a moment to stop and look around, and to realize that he was hovering in midair… There was a building of tension as he realized what was about to happen… Shock, surprise… And then the fall begins.

When Katherine's name was read, there was that kind of a pause. Like we all felt the ground had gone out from under us, and it took a moment to begin to grasp that. And then we began to fall… The fall was a wondrous feeling… Exciting… Adrenaline producing… What a rush! But at the same time there's an edge of apprehension. There's ground down there somewhere, and we're not entirely sure what happens when it catches up. Some will have us believe it will be a loud and painful SPLAT!⁷ Others, myself included, are still hopeful that someone put a trampoline down there, and that we'll bounce back… Possibly, and in defiance to physics, even higher than the cliff we stepped off of.

That bounce wouldn't be possible without the stepping off, that leap of faith. So yes, this is an exciting time. New things are happening. But yes, it is going to be a time with a bit of fear and uncertainty too. We're not sure what this is going to mean for our sisters and brothers, even those within our own church, who do not accept the validity of women's orders.⁸ But my sense is that the Holy Spirit was present in all of this. That we did choose the best leader, and didn't let gender get in the way. Now let us all pray that the Holy Trampoline (er, Holy Spirit!) will work in and through our decision, in and through Katharine Jefferts Schori, to do great things in the church and the world.

And yes, I'm glad I was there. I will remember that moment for a long time to come.

(Micah puts it very well, too, and I recommend a read of his entry on the subject.)

1. The people on cell phones were the most annoying. Thankfully some of them took it out into the hall. [back]
2. Or someone else. It was darned hard to hear in that room, even when everyone was quiet. I'm told that wasn't just yesterday, but all week. [back]
3. And feel like I owe her an apology, because as I "texted" people all over the country I was butchering the spelling! [back]
4. Er, duh. [back]
5. Again, bad sound system/acoustics. [back]
6. To a smattering of laughter… After all, they weren't allowed to leave until a confirmation happened. [back]
7. Some of whom were "holding court" in the room while the vote was taking place, looking as though they were going on record saying, "In nine years when this has all come to tragedy, remember I was the first to warn you!" Sigh. [back]
8. 30 years after those very same orders were officially recognized, I might add. [back]