On Wednesday, March 19, 2008, the Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus spoke to hundreds of people gathered in downtown San Francisco to protest the war in Iraq on the fifth anniversary of the US invasion. The gathering stood in front of the building that houses the San Francisco offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein. Following Andrus address, more than 50 of those present staged a "Die-in" in the middle of the intersection of Market and Montgomery streets.

On February 14, 2008, the Rt. Rev. Marc Andrus, Bishop of California, sat down with Dr. Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Assistant Professor of Church History at the Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley; the Rev. Dr. Paula Nesbitt, Visiting Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley; and the Rev. Dr. Jay Johnson, Adjunct Faculty in Theology at Pacific School of Religion and the Church Divinity School of the Pacific, to discuss the newest draft of the Anglican Communion Covenant. The conversation covered a range of issues raised by the Covenant draft, and delved into some deeper consideration of the nature of covenant, and what it means to be Anglican. Run time: 1 hour, 11 minutes. Intro music: "Old Man Rocking Chair," by guitarist John Williams on the Magnatune album "Dusty Chair," and is made available by a Creative Commons attribution/no derivatives license.

On May 5, 2007, the Episcopal Diocese of California came together to begin the work of creating a common vision. Borrowing from the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the event was called Building a Beloved Community. The day began and ended in worship, and Bishop Marc Andrus' sermon framed the work of the day.

On Wednesday, September 27th, 56 people with a shared interest in ethnic and multicultural ministries came together in a "Visioning Day" to develop a strategic plan for those ministries in the Diocese of California. The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, Bishop of California was engaged in every aspect of the Visioning Day, leading prayer and participating in table conversations. Near the end of the day he reflected on the work the group did together. These are his reflections and remarks to those gathered.

Three regular segments (actually one, that could go three ways) that we'd like to include:
Ask a priest.
Ask a lay person.
Ask a bishop.

So, if you have a question for either category, please send us an email.

Okay, okay, enough awready. We want to do this right and we're mopping up the mess following GC. A few things in Columbus didn't work out as planned -- time for one. Anyway, we're in the trenches making an EpiscoPod for all eternity and when it comes at you, don't get out of the way... just let it slam into you with full EpiscoPod force.

A call for help: What we are doing is assembling a crack team of on the ground journalists around the country. Do you have what it takes to join the EpiscoPod team? Hey, there's no pay, but the benefits are out of this world. Okay, I'm sorry, that was cheezy, but it will be a whole ton of fun. The only requirements are that you be fun, creative, and have enough tech saavy to be able to push record on a digital voice recorder, then download your files onto your computer, then upload them to our server. And, if that sounds hard, we will be happy to teach you. The being fun and creative are the most important requirements for the job. Oh, and a real love for the Episcopal Church.

So, get up out of that pew and send us an email.

much peace,
sean

Episcopal Women at General Convention, Columbus, Ohio, respond to the election of the first woman presiding bishop in the Episcopal Church.

In this, the inaugural episode of EpiscoPod, meet the geekiest of EpiscoGeeks from General Convention in Columbus, Ohio.

Yeah, so I know I promised to get the first episode up by today, but alas, GC beckons. The first episode of the Convention Daily -- which I do the page design and layout for -- was supposed to get to the printer last night at 11:00. We finally put it to bed at 2 this morning. Thanks be to God that Futurama was on adult swim when I fell into bed. Bender had decided to become a foster parent in a scheme to make money. I never really understood why he thought that a pack of kids would be profitable -- of course he eventually discovered the opposite to be true. Then, this got me thinking about my wife (who is pregnant), and money, and then I really couldn't sleep.

Okay... I know... TMI. Suffice it to say, I had planned to edit audio after 11 last night, and I was way too tired. Of course, GC will do that to you. At least this time around I can be completely tired without being bitchy. Especially with friends like James (pictured on left) here with me; or my old friend Mary Frances who is my boss on the paper.

So, my blog recommendation of the day is a flickr feed. Bowie Snodgrass, who is web content editor for episcopalchurch.org, has been posting great photos from all over Columbus. All of her photos are public and open for download. Be sure to check out the 30 photos she posted from last night's U2charist. Or you can check out my pool shooting prowess.

Bowie hopes to establish a taxonomy that includes the following tags:

generalconvention
episcopalchurch
comeandgrow
exhibitionhall
houseofbishops
presidingbishop
houseofdeputies
youngpeople
eucharist
trinitycolumbus

So, if you're here in Columbus, and you are posting to flickr, please consider using these tags, and sharing any that you feel need be included. Do let me know about any flickr feeds that are posting from GC -- neither Bowie nor I can find any others.

Seriously, podcast is soon to come.

peace.

The interviews have begun, the temperature is perfect, the skies are clear, and the anticipated launch of the first EpiscoPod podcast is less than 24 hours away.

The wonderful thing is that so many people are using new technology to tell the world about GC. Priests are blogging to their congregations, bishops are blogging to their dioceses, lay people are blogging to the world, and the love of Jesus Christ is present in all of these blogs in different ways.

My buddy Sara is here, bouncing a baby and working hard as a deputy can, and she still finds time to blog. I really like her take on how the MDGs might just become the major work of this GC. But then again, no one else can put it the way Sara does:


Then Zinnhead has some really great personal reflections about GC. She's doing some really great photo blogging. Do take a look at her photos from the Eyes Wide Open exhibit.

Many of us our anxiously awaiting the arival of Fr. Jake, and can't wait to see what he digs up in Columbus.

Well, out to interview more folks for EpiscoPod's inaugural episode. More later.
Rock on!