Last Day

The One That Got Away

I don't usually shy from opportunities to speechify. But the prospect of addressing 830 members of the House of Deputies was truly terrifying to me. When invited by the Spirit or by other deputies to speak, I felt like a novice bungee jumper being nudged toward the edge of the Grand Canyon.

As it turned out, I never did address the House - though I was next in line to speak, heart pumping, when the final debate over the same- sex union resolution (C023) came to a close.

My regret is not that I didn't get to speak to that issue - there were plenty of others saying more or less the same thing - but that I didn't rush to the microphone to amend what I thought was a truly horrible resolution that passed nearly unnoticed - A063 from the Evangelism Committee: "Resolved ... that the 76th General Convention respond to the persistent and alarming numeric decline of Chrisitianity in the United States and the corresponding decline in the Episcopal Church by directing the Evangelism and Congregational Life Center of the Episcopal Church Center to actively initiate and participate in conversations on mainline mission and evangelism..."

I was embarrassed and alarmed by this resolution, and in the few seconds between the motion and the vote I felt an urging of the Spirit to speak. But in my terror I hesitated and the moment was lost.

This is what I would have said:

"There are many good reasons to do evangelism. Because we love God; because we love our neighbors; or just because it is fun to share one's faith in a deep and profound conversation. But the very worst reason - and the reason that will doom all evangelism efforts - is beause our church is in decline. Evangelism is only authentic when it is done out of love for the one being evangelized, and never when it seeks to perpetuate the institution of the church. People who are evangelized for that reason quickly smell the rat - that our only interest in them is to bolster our numbers, as if their only value is as a means to further our own ends.

"Let us never mistake our anxiety for the future of our church with a reason to do evangelism. I therefore propose that we amend it by striking lines [...] from the body of the text. "

So there it was - the fish that got away. But at least you have caught a glimpse of it - and that's almost as good!