A jubilee has been announced, but will there be a homecoming? This is the pertinent question hanging over the 73rd General Convention, the first in the Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold's tenure as Presiding Bishop.

The Presiding Bishop made clear his hopes during his sermon at the opening Eucharist on Wednesday, July 5, at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver. Preaching before five giant banners proclaiming Jubilee, Bishop Griswold called on the convention to adopt this ancient Hebrew custom. In Leviticus 25, every 50th year was consecrated as a jubilee year of God's peace, when debts were forgiven, truces enacted and relationships restored.

His message to this convention was to avoid acting in ways that would further divide the church. He gave a psychological interpretation of the jubilee idea as the release of all "who are held captive by structures and systems and patterns of thought and self-perception which work against God's intent and desire." Quoting the late Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, he spoke of "an armistice in man's cruel struggle for existence, a truce in all conflicts personal and social."

The Presiding Bishop's call was widely understood to be an implicit encouragement to the convention to postpone action on proposals to authorize the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of non-celibate homosexual persons. The permissive policies of a number of dioceses have been severely criticized within the Anglican Communion and have raised fears of a split in the Episcopal Church.

The Presiding Bishop's appeal appears to have been carefully coordinated. Pamela Chinnis, the outgoing president of the House of Deputies, spoke of an increasing wish for the church to find a middle way on these questions.

"The consensus is not there," said Jim Solheim, news and information director at the Episcopal Church Center.

"The middle ground is where the energy is going to be at this convention," said Herb Gunn, a deputy from the Diocese of Michigan who serves as one of the official press briefers.

"Local option," the proposal coming out of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music which would permit each diocese to set its own policies on blessing same-sex unions and ordaining non-celibate homosexual persons, has come under unexpectedly heavy criticism. Many bishops and deputies have wondered openly about the kind of church polity this practice would imply.

These efforts to manage the conflict have not been well received by those who want to see the convention make a definitive ruling one way or the other. But whether they have the strength to overcome the will of the Presiding Bishop is much at issue in the opening days of this convention.

(The Rev.) Jeffrey Steenson