this weekend marks the 4th election try for the episcopal diocese here in tennessee to elect a bishop. i'll be there, blogging some i suppose, watching the chatter on episcopal blogs, talking with friends, doing some instant messaging, and doing some website updates. should be fun, i just hope this time we are successful.
feel free to check in with me & help keep me company.
10:23am: quite the morning. i showed up at the cathedral at 8am to find out that their internet was down (people, please don't buy bellsouth, it's horrible). had a really great Eucharist at 8:30am (sat with dixon & sally, jody helped serve). singing had a great spirit to it. the dean of sewanee chapel was back again to give a sermon. i really like him. his message was simple, there are some things at stake today. discerning a leader for the diocese, but there are somethings that are not at stake. namely a triune God who lords over all the church, that doesn't change. i thought somewhat poinant the gospel reading of John where Christ says, they hated me before they hated you. relevant i believe because there has been so much politiking the prior three elections. there was a great spirit in the air, i felt a bit more optimism than the prior elections.
at the conclusion of the service we tried but couldn't get the internet working, so i'm now hanging out at mcdonalds down the street updating the site as i get text messages. i must say, this isn't as bad as i thought, i've got college game day going on in a nice corner. not too shabby
10:40am: first election is invalid due to 2 extra votes. obviously i'm not there so i can't give great account to this, but probably someone didn't check in this morning before they voted. numbers look initially like there are two viable candidate, but no one is near the majority needed at this time.
11:20am: two elections in, both invalid. not sure who becomes the candidate that people will atract towards. certainly if people don't agree on something we go home today with an empty seat.
on other notes. i'm still going to hang in mcdonalds, bellsouth is blaiming internet whoas on the cathedrals network. oh well. any friends want to come and keep me company? it's not bad, michigan football game just started up. not my fav team, but big 10 action will have to do.
11:30am: the third ballot came out actually valid, but no election. jay & i agree, we're pretty much okay with our umc way of electing bishops. since i'm sitting here by myself, i'm watching this conversation (it was the most active last election series). these folks just repost the election results, not sure why, that's what i'm here doing, anyone can check them out here, plus they refresh with real time. the conversation there is pretty typical.
11:55am: bored... yup, got some church folks stopping by at the moment, so there is some nice people watching and eavesdropping on conversations. waiting for the lunch break, maybe someone will come and keep me company. since i'm bored i decided to take this picture of my humble space.
predictions... i'm predicting that bauerschmidt gets the laity votes but comes up short for clergy. the compromising candidate then becomes paden, but it won't happen today. why! why!
12:03pm: number 5 is in, going to do one more ballot then break for lunch. boy am i hungry.. wonder what to eat
all quiet on the blog front. this was last time compared to this time.
12:16pm: lunch break, ballot 6 will be announced after lunch.
1:04pm: a change of scenery is good. i had to go to cumberland transit and pick up some gear for this weekend. i'm going camping with wife & the youth community once this is done. since i was out i figured i'd stop and get lunch at my fav place in downtown, alektor cafe
1:41pm: so the 7th ballot went up with candidate bauerschmidt looking pretty good. i don't know if the necessary votes will make it happen for him. paden picked up some small votes again, could my prediction be in the making?
1:54pm: ballot 8 went up a few minutes ago. candidate bauerschmidt only needs a few more clergy votes to have an election. although my prediction might be wrong, i won't mind having my saturdays back. mostly though, i think the diocese could use some leadership.
2:07pm: ballot 9 went up and bauerschmidt is looking like he might get the votes. maybe not next ballot but maybe before the end of the day.
in other news, i just chowed down on a tuna melt at alektor and am now washing it down with my pressed pot of coffee. yummie! for those in the middle tennessee area or visiting, you need to come by and find a little slice of heaven.
oh, and if you come on saturday, you get to hang with my boy dan greeson.
2:43pm: so i'm keeping busy sipping my coffee and answering the phone for various reasons. erin's having a day, keep her in your prayers. the 11th ballot just went up and we still don't have an election, but it's close. not sure what it'll take to get to where we have an election. thunder is keeping me company while he tries to sell houses. i'm ready to nominate him for bishop if this doesn't end sometime soon.
3:27pm: well, a few minutes ago i posted the news. i'm sure it's already spreading. we have an 11th bishop for the episcopal diocese of tennessee. gonna sign off on this day, although, i do have some last minute biz to tie up.
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