By Don Compier
At 62 I am the senior member of our Kansas delegation, yet this is my first experience of General Convention. As both an older guy and a rookie, it can be overwhelming! Yet I am so grateful.
It’s quite a walk from our hotel to the other hotels where meeting are held. We rapidly move back and forth several times a day in Texas’ summer weather. Most days it is hot. This morning we experienced what my grandmother called a “gully washer.” I did the church’s official business sitting in the air-conditioned Marriott dripping, with a towel draped around my shoulders for warmth!
I am often dazed by the sheer volume and complexity of our task. Together with my fellow Kansas deputy Michael Funston, I am serving on the legislative committee on Ministry. I signed up to contribute to discussions about theological education but am dealing with a whole lot of other issues, too. I am learning that we may spend a lot of time and care considering and refining multiple resolutions, only to see them go down to quick defeat in one of our two houses.
But signs of God’s grace inspire me constantly. Yesterday a person I had never met offered me sunscreen. One of our good hotel staff gave me an umbrella without which I would have been unable to make my committee meeting on time. A volunteer has looked after us every day, assuring that we have a variety of snacks and plenty of water as well as ready access to a microphone. And today, warm towels!
Every day smiles and friendly greetings and gracious conversation rain down everywhere. I’ve made many new friends and renewed relationships with former students and colleagues I had not seen for many years. The Rev. Andrew O’Connor has assumed my place in the House of Deputies at the beginning of our second week, allowing me to catch my breath and renew my strength.
What we do matters. I will never forget the moving testimony of our Native American sisters and brothers urging us to pay more attention during formation to the church’s past complicity with their physical and cultural genocide. I felt so privileged to support them wholeheartedly. I knew that in our diocese we can make this happen, working with our members at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence. The last word belongs to grace. Always!
At 62 I am the senior member of our Kansas delegation, yet this is my first experience of General Convention. As both an older guy and a rookie, it can be overwhelming! Yet I am so grateful.
It’s quite a walk from our hotel to the other hotels where meeting are held. We rapidly move back and forth several times a day in Texas’ summer weather. Most days it is hot. This morning we experienced what my grandmother called a “gully washer.” I did the church’s official business sitting in the air-conditioned Marriott dripping, with a towel draped around my shoulders for warmth!
I am often dazed by the sheer volume and complexity of our task. Together with my fellow Kansas deputy Michael Funston, I am serving on the legislative committee on Ministry. I signed up to contribute to discussions about theological education but am dealing with a whole lot of other issues, too. I am learning that we may spend a lot of time and care considering and refining multiple resolutions, only to see them go down to quick defeat in one of our two houses.
But signs of God’s grace inspire me constantly. Yesterday a person I had never met offered me sunscreen. One of our good hotel staff gave me an umbrella without which I would have been unable to make my committee meeting on time. A volunteer has looked after us every day, assuring that we have a variety of snacks and plenty of water as well as ready access to a microphone. And today, warm towels!
Every day smiles and friendly greetings and gracious conversation rain down everywhere. I’ve made many new friends and renewed relationships with former students and colleagues I had not seen for many years. The Rev. Andrew O’Connor has assumed my place in the House of Deputies at the beginning of our second week, allowing me to catch my breath and renew my strength.
What we do matters. I will never forget the moving testimony of our Native American sisters and brothers urging us to pay more attention during formation to the church’s past complicity with their physical and cultural genocide. I felt so privileged to support them wholeheartedly. I knew that in our diocese we can make this happen, working with our members at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence. The last word belongs to grace. Always!