Mercurochrome

My Mother's basic palliative for most of my hurts and scrapes was to say "Go to the medicine cabinet and bring me the bottle of Mercurochrome." She knew that by the time I got back, the hurt was probably over. I feel like pouring a vat of Mercurochrome over my head right about now. On second thought, I would just turn all this grey hair a terrible red color and I am not ready to let go of my pain just yet. The sting of the Mercurochrome as I recall would take my mind off the original hurt but in this case the sting of the adoption of the triennial budget calls for something a little stronger. I need the flight home to decompress.

Both Houses adopted the budget – the House of Bishops without discussion and the House of Deputies with too little too late. There was a modest attempt to restore funding for the women’s program and the anti-racism office but it was too little too late.

If there is a bright side, there is something to take your mind off the sting in this cutting climate and it’s the additional $300,000 that has been allocated for Hispanic/Latino work. Granted it is a far cry from the $3.25 million requested but the additional money is testimony to the outstanding work done by the Hispanic Staff Officer and his Task Force. The Convention was provided a compelling report on Outreach and Evangelism to Hispanics that outlined how the additional funds, if awarded, would be used to plant congregations and develop worship resources. I hope we haven’t set the Task Force up for failure by providing less than 10% of the amount they requested to do their job while expecting 100% of the same outcome.

Another piece of good news is the reduction in diocesan assessments of 21%. Long Island has faithfully held its budget commitment at about 16% even in the face of our own shortfalls and struggles and the voted reduction in assessment will get us nearer to the full asking.

Another piece for me to remember is that in the Diocese of Long Island we are fortunate in that we have the Mercer School of Theology. We don’t need a school of theology to do anti-racism work (we can do it by creating a diocesan committee or commission) but it helps to have the school as a resource. We are far more fortunate than others.

In the days ahead, we will be exploring all the implications for work to be done at the diocesan and congregational level and how we will generate the resources to enact the work of the convention.

Some of this will be new and a few old dogs will need to learn new tricks but we will manage. We will do better than manage.

I’m looking forward to the coming days as we explore new mission opportunities and new ways to be the church together.

And besides, Mercurochrome is now banned by the FDA.