There are many others, but this is one that you wouldn’t know unless you sat near her at Churchwide Assembly: she brings toys, among which were:

  • a stuffed lobster which she named Rocky, to pick up and hug and stroke when you felt stressed
  • a light up fan, passed along with a note saying “for use during hot debates”
  • a little wind-up car that had some sort of sensor to avoid falling off the edge of the table

The last one was really great, because I wasn’t expecting it at all, but I heard a little whirring noise and looked over to see this little wind-up car coming towards me along the table, on a rather curvy path on account of ricocheting between the edge of the table and someone’s binder.

In addition to just liking these, it’s really important to have breaks of laughter and light-heartedness among the very serious debates. Bishop Hanson definitely gifted us with a few jokes that helped the assembly not get too bogged down with its own weightiness, and I hope that others from New England had the same reaction I did to Rocky and the fan and the car. (Though the car was late yesterday, and I may just be easily amused by children’s toys.)

(Also, this post is written with the utmost respect for Bishop Payne, but bringing these was truly an unexpected gift, beyond what I had previously witnessed in her preaching and leadership at Synod Assembly, and I thought others might also appreciate it.)

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