I've been spending a lot of my time recently with Occupy Austin.
I've become enmeshed in that culture of direct democracy. General
Convention is the largest representative democracy in the world. My
recent experience with Occupy has changed the way I think about
democracy and representation.
The first resolution I heard this morning
was A073, which is intended to create a mulitmedia resource for
evangelism, specifically focusing on issues of multicultural and
multilingual inclusion. This resolution was given $30,000 over a three
year period. The resolution itself seems rather innocuous. Evangelism
is a good thing. We should be approaching it in culturally sensitive
way. Good idea. No brainer, right? The issue is for what purpose and
to whom will this $30,000 go? The committee that created this
resolution (all resolutions that start with A were created by
committees) did not have a clear answer. My first response was that
clearly the committee that created this resolution would be carrying out
the proposal. The idea that you can propose something that you,
yourself, are not carrying out has been driven out of my realm of
possibility during my time Occupying. You are utterly responsible for
what you propose. This works in a small community. I am starting to
believe that this would work in a larger community but it would require
more humility and the ability to work together. If all proposals had to
be carried out by the person proposing them we would have many fewer
proposals.
I saw two more proposals that had
budgetary items of $1,000,000 and $100,000 that were also planning on
some other body carrying them out. The Episcopal Church has money.
(Not as much as it used to, but still....). We are using this money
instead of using people to make things happen. Don't get me wrong, money
helps, but money is not the solution to what ails the Church. We need
more people to see that we are relevant to their lives. We need to have
the relationships that form over time that influence people, one day at
a time, towards choosing the path of Life. These items are intangible
and do not have a price tag. I've learned through Occupying that
people who have no money can make a lot happen.
The Presiding Bishop released a budget
that shifted the way the Episcopal Church organizes its money. This
budget prioritizes actions over money. This framework was adopted by
the Program, Budget and Finance Committee today. I think this is an
important shift. In the opening remarks by Presiding Bishop Schori,
she reminded us that our Church is in the midst of a transition. We
are in the midst of a new breath of the Holy Spirit coming through.
This breath might feel like a dying gasp to some of us and to others it
might feel like the first breath after almost drowning.
Overall today was complicated day. I
spent a lot of time thinking about the actions taking place back in
Austin, TX where Occupiers were holding a day of teach ins and music and speeches at the State Capitol.
I was distracted by these thoughts. I also spent a lot of time
thinking about how we are always waiting for someone else to do the
work. Yet we can wait no longer. We must start to do the work we want to
see done. I am glad that we have the leadership in the Church right
now that recognizes how important it is that our mission influence our
financial decisions rather that vice verse.
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