Anaheim will soon be upon us

Or we shall soon be upon Anaheim, Godde preserve it.

I have only attended one General Convention and that was in Anaheim. I was there the day Ed Browning was elected PB and brought into the hall to be introduced to the House of Deputies. That was rather exciting. It was quite a fascinating tribal experience.

I suspect most Episcopalians experience bishops the way I had up until then - in small numbers. Usually just one, occasionally two or three. To pass through the convention center and see whole multitudes of purple shirts descending on the escalators was just... weird.

OK, a little creepy. Remember, I may be ordained but I remain incredibly anti-clerical. I just don't cut us much slack. Hordes of bishops just ratchets up the adrenalin that is the body's way of saying, "Look out, there is danger near you."

Perhaps that explains a bit of my very harsh negativity toward primates.

Mind you, I have met primates I admire and respect. There are bishops I admire and respect (and am even fond of). Priests and deacons too! But not one of them gets automatic respect because of the funny collar or the fancy ordination certificate on their walls.

Anyway, this stroll down memory lane (and disquisition on clergy) was triggered by something I said in an earlier post today and recent traded comments thereon with Grandmère Mimi.

My ex used to opine that there are only 300 Episcopalians and they just move around a lot.

The more we run into people who know people we know, the more this seems to be the case. I allowed that a thousand or more folks in one cathedral service belies this, but in our ordinary lives it seems to be true. A visitor today was the son of a colleague of mine with whom I was in a clergy support group. He was with us at the mission today because he knows two other people in our congregation. Afterward we were talking about all this and links in the Diocese of Utah, whereupon a congregant pointed out that she and I have a friend in common there, who is known to the others, of course, and the suffragan for the part of New York where my former colleague now serves is my chum +Kathy Roskam, who shepherded the newly ordained in the Diocese of California when I was ordained.

Scary.

300. Moving around a lot.

Mimi adds that we are "special." We certainly are.

God bless the Episcopal Church. (I don't care about the Communion since it became a golden calf, but I value this chunk of it.)

--the BB