Here are two explanations for the Red Sox:
1. They have swooned due to injuries two years in a row. Its not bad luck, its bad training protocols.
2. Too many bishops and not enough priests, deacons and laity on the team.

As for the main topic at hand, where else am I reading about two legislative houses battling over what was, but can no longer be? Can't we do better than Congress?

Steve Ayres

I think the old adage of "Adapt or Die" is appropriate. My main difficulty in the otherwise very wise proposal to reform the national level is this: However you define "mission," the people making the decisions about mission are not the people who are going to be inheriting the reformed structures. The folks in their 30s, college and High/Middle School are the ones that are going to be taking this forward and actually using it; the folks debating this need to be framing the debate in terms of making mission work 30 years from now, rather than thinking in terms of present ecclesiastical politics. Some care for the longer view, past the time when present bishops and deputies are a-moulderin', is necessary, which means that GC is going to have become less about governing and legislating and more about focusing primarily on equipping dioceses and parishes.

"The folks in their 30s, college and High/Middle School are the ones that are going to be taking this forward and actually using it; the folks debating this need to be framing the debate in terms of making mission work 30 years from now, rather than thinking in terms of present ecclesiastical politics." Which is why we young adults, college students, and high schoolers need to be a part of the debate. If this church is going to be reformed, we should have a say in how to reform it.

Gregory Stark

And, following up on Isaac, those to whom this will be left must be in on the discussions now - 30-somethings, college and High/Middle School Episcopalians and non-Episcopalians must be part of the decision making, now. Mission is - or at least begins - local. It is God who has a mission. We join whatever part of God's mission we discover is already going on where we are. Part of that discovery of what mission God is already on in our locale must include asking people who are much younger that I certainly am, and people who are not even Episcopalians.

I was at Episcopal Youth Event years ago - 2003 I think - and there we said to one another that the church belongs to the young people who were there, not to us. Our job is to facilitate their vision. I'm still waiting for the church to take this challenge seriously.

I agree that most mission, whatever the definition, happens locally. I would argue that, at the National level, TEC could offer some help in those areas which are struggling financially. There are dioceses with an Episcopal church on every corner, and those where we are an odd curiosity. The range in financial resources is very wide. One thing TEC should be doing is identifying mission fields in underfunded areas, and going after them.

As to what TEC is actually doing, I have no idea. Most of us don't. This may be one reason for the funding crisis.

The excellent post - linked below - from a Disciples of Christ pastor in Louisville has been making the rounds.

In the Diocese of Maine two mission study groups are about to present seven resolutions to Convention - how we establish mission priorities, how we encourage collaborative, regional ministry that can be replicated in other parts of the diocese, how we develop and equip congregational leaders to adapt to change.

Our bishop, +Steve Lane, incited this work two years ago when he offered a game-changing convention address that challenged us to move from technical fixes to adaptive change.

Here's our Collect for the Church in a Changing World

God of unchanging power and eternal light, loving God, who is Mother and Father of us all; Grant to your people in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine grace and courage to be a new church for a new day. Give us vision and wisdom to discern your will in a changing world and persistence to go out to our neighbors and live your Good News in new and creative ways. Help us to trust the companionship of your Spirit on this journey even as we experience confusion and difficulty. Lead us, we pray, to that future, still unseen by us, where you are already waiting for our arrival and where, with your Son and the Holy Spirit, you live and reign now and for ever. Amen

http://dmergent.org/2011/09/12/killing-church-committees-and-other-reflections-on-church-organization-2/

Jim, as to the Sox - on the Sunday before the fourth game of the 2004 ALCS I put slip of paper in the prayer pouch at church that said, "Dear God, we need a four game miracle." The Sox's default is to break our hearts but the bottom line is that Anything Can Happen.

Heidi Shott
Canon for Communications and Social Justice
Episcopal Diocese of Maine

Heidi: the Café noted that essay too - some great ideas.

If you want to know what the Committee on Structure has been doing check their minutes. Surprised Bp Sauls did not know about their work.

Perhaps (?) besides the point, but Ann's link brought the full ramifications of how the church is governed. I counted 76 committees, councils, and commissions. I'm stunned.

I think the number of committees in the presentation is inflated. It isn't right to count committees of Executive Council as CCABs, and it isn't right to count sub committees of CCABs as CCABs. The church needs leaner governance, but the case needs to be made based on accurate information.

I would think that our first priority of mission is worship --liturgy... all else that we do in Christ's name emanates from that worship. Just sayin'.

Sorry --nothing to contribute about Red Sox stuff... !!!

Margaret Watson