On Day 6 (the final day) of General Convention 81, we gathered for our Closing Eucharist in which we celebrated poet and civil rights activist James Weldon Johnson, author of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” a hymn that has been known as the Black national anthem. Presiding Bishop Elect Sean Rowe preached on Ephesians 6:10-18 (The Armor of God) and said, “Like the church in Ephesus, we are small, counter-cultural. We’re not struggling to survive in the cult of Artemis, but there are other cults in our midst. We are standing firm in the face of those. We’re holding fast to our promise to uphold the full inclusion of LBGTQI+ persons as children of God. We’re proclaiming and investing in our longing to become a beloved community. We’re committing to caring for God’s creation and respecting the dignity of every human being and we are not backing down on our proclamation of the Gospel just because other people who understand it differently are bigger or think they’re more powerful or louder or have a vision that denies humanity.”
After Eucharist, we passed resolutions…
…encouraging parishes to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the ordination of women to the priesthood and the 50th anniversary of the first time a woman priest presided at the Eucharist (D055).
…confessing antisemitism as one of the most pernicious forms of prejudice, and acknowledging that Episcopalians have been guilty of antisemitic words and actions; and recommitting the Church to resist antisemitism as we strive for lasting justice and peace among all people, furthering collaborative dialogue with our Jewish neighbors (D059).
…adopting the proposal for the exchangeability of deacons in The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (A048).
…affirming the church’s commitment to prison ministries and providing all of God’s children with opportunities to minister to and with this marginalized and oppressed population (C010).
…commending to the whole Church the 1,700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 2025 and encouraging dioceses and congregations to find suitable ways to mark this historic anniversary (B009).
…encouraging all Episcopal congregations and other worshipping communities to include the people of Haiti in their intercessory prayers regularly (D070).
…encouraging promotion of the first Sunday in September as a special day of prayer for Creation and supporting global ecumenical efforts to declare a worldwide Feast Day of Creation (D041).
…ratifying the Agreement of Union between the Episcopal Dioceses of Eastern and Western Michigan, approving the juncture of these two dioceses and creating the Episcopal Diocese of the Great Lakes (C025)
…directing the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to prepare appropriate propers, collects and other liturgical resources commemorating the life and work of Howard W. Thurman and to present them to the 82nd General Convention (C011) – a resolution initially proposed by the Diocese of Northern California!
…approving the reunion of the Dioceses of Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, and Milwaukee, into the Diocese of Wisconsin (D051)
…authorizing the commemoration of Harriet Ross Tubman on March 10 and entering her officially into the Calendar of the Church Year (B011)
…authorizing the commemoration of the Consecration of Barbara Clementine Harris for February 11; Simeon Bachos, the Ethiopian Eunuch, for August 26; and Frederick Howden, Jr. for December 11, and entering them officially into the Calendar of the Church Year (A121)
…authorizing the commemoration of The Ordination of the Philadelphia Eleven on July 29 for trial use (C023).
After concluding all the business of General Convention, some of us went to Calvary Episcopal Church in Louisville for their second annual “Drag Me to Church: A Gospel Drag Show,” which helped raise money for their parish food ministry. After the drag show, some of us enjoyed the Louisville Culinary Icon, the Hot Brown, at the historic Brown Hotel.
The next morning, I woke up feeling under the weather. The local CVS had sold out of COVID tests, so I began driving towards Glendale OH where I was planning to visit the Sisters of the Transfiguration. On the way, I picked up a COVID test at a Sam’s Club pharmacy and learned that I had indeed caught the bug, along with many other convention participants.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 