Looking Ahead to General Convention

As we approach our 78th General Convention in a few weeks time, I wanted to be sure that you have some resources with which to prepare and follow the action!

Our Canon for Communications and Media, Karin Hamilton, does a fabulous job of keeping the folks in CT informed about the happenings at General Convention. Be sure to sign up for the ECCT General Convention E-News: https://www.episcopalct.org/News-and-Events/Electronic-Newsletters/

Karin also maintains a great page of resources on the ECCT website: https://www.episcopalct.org/GeneralConvention2015/

Some other sites that may be useful:

The central clearing house of all things GC:
http://www.generalconvention.org/

Hashtag to follow on Twitter: #GC78

Episcopal News Service: http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/ens/

Updates from Episcopal Church Public Affairs: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/blog/PublicAffairs 

Some Sites and Blogs to watch: 

Memorial to the Church mentioned in recent E-News:
http://www.episcopalresurrection.org/memorial/

Scott Gunn (Forward Movement) blogs the Blue Book:
http://www.sevenwholedays.org/category/general-convention/

Tom Furgeson on the Memorial:
http://crustyoldean.blogspot.com/

Keith Voets (member of COM) on Marriage:
http://theyoungcurmudgeonpriest.blogspot.com/

On Marriage:
http://fullyalive.squarespace.com/

Blog from Deputy Don Reed:
http://opensourcetheology.blogspot.com/
 

Citizen Science, Citizen Church?

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I spend a lot of time in my time in my car. A number of years ago, Reade and I discovered that we could have satellite radio in our cars for the same amount of money we were paying for three days of the newspaper. Since we spend so much time in the car we made the switch, and we haven't missed the paper. One of the reasons I love satellite radio is how much I learn while driving in my car! 

Last week I heard a program on the Diane Rehm show on Citizen Science. I only caught part of the show. They talked about how smart phone technology and computers were enabling the average person to participate in some of the greatest scientific efforts of our time. I knew there were programs use spare computing power to search for Extra-Terrestrial Life (SETI@home) or to fold proteins for cancer research (folding@home). The interviews that day made me realize how much bigger citizen science could be than just something your computer does in its spare time. This program talked about how children in classrooms and the average person with a smartphone were helping NASA and NOAA or helping biologists track bird migration or any other numbers of scientific projects. 

One of the people interviewed on the program talked about how inspiring and empowering it was for people to be participating in a program that was so much bigger than themselves. How they could spend there few minutes with a smartphone and know that they were making a difference and connecting with others who also cared about the world in which we live. 

And this program got me thinking. What would "Citizen Church" look like? How might we use social media and technology to accomplish something together that we could never do on our own? In many ways this is what we already do as Church - we focus in our little community to do our work of building up God's Kingdom, hoping and trusting that others are doing the same and that each of us is making a difference. But I think too often we are so focused in our own lives and communities that we can forget that we are part of something larger. We belong to the Body of Christ. We are one part of a much larger whole. How might we deepen our awareness and connectedness to God and to each other? How do we shift our mindset to see ourselves in partnership with sisters and brothers across town and around the world? How can we live into the reality that "the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20)?

I don't know what the answers might be yet. I just think it is an idea worth considering and a conversation worth starting.