General Convention Deputy Blog

Deputy Blog for July 8, 2022, by Laurie Lewis+

My imagination envisions a comic strip describing the opening day of the House of Deputies this morning. The first panel would show a very groggy deputy slapping the “snooze” button on the alarm. The deputy portrayed is not a natural morning person, so this alarm was set for 6:30, and the “snooze” was pursued until 7:15, which is shown in the second panel. The third panel then has the “action” lines to express fast movement as this deputy scrambles to get ready for the day.

I will not bore you by describing all the comic panels of the morning. Do imagine, however, that there will be many sound bubbles in the style of what would appear on screen during the old Batman TV show, starring Adam West. “Screech!” is the sound bubble that would be seen most often. This is the sound that the chairs make when we move from sitting to standing and vice versa. When the entire house moves at once, it is an almost unbearable sound like fingernails on a chalkboard. There is, however, a steady rhythm of “Screech” sounding throughout the room as deputies stand or sit to tend to their individual needs for movement.

Another sound bubble you would see in this morning’s comic strip would be “Pow!” This sound was not actually heard in our real environment but would definitely be added to any creative retelling of the morning. As soon as the General Convention staff member, who was giving the orientation to our iPads, and the “Virtual Binder” used for all things, the comic reader would see “Pow!” The next panel would show the Wi-Fi symbol with a slash across it, and the words “no connection” on an iPad screen. Over the next two hours portrayed in our imaginary comic, you would see “Pow!” return every time the President or Secretary would ask, “Has the internet been restored?”

That pretty much describes our first morning of business in the House of Deputies. In my previous experience as a deputy, there has never been this level of technological issues. It will be interesting to see how this may alter our schedule. I can imagine it will mean a later than planned session tonight to catch up on the work we need to get done.

Please continue to pray for the work of the 80^th General Convention. We have the potential to pass legislation that will lead to or inspire some amazing God works. May the only sound bubbles in the rest of comic strip of #GC80 be the “Screech” of the chairs as we stand to applaud a job well done.

~Laurie Lewis+