As the Anglican World Turns - Episode 152 (Or, is it 163? I lose count)

I've found myself praying, off and on today, for the legal proceedings happening in the Diocese of Central New York.

I've been praying that, despite who claims to be right and who is judged to be wrong, justice will be done and the truth will have out.

The long and the short of it is that the clergy, wardens and vestry of Church of the Good Shepherd, Binghamton, NY who have left the Episcopal Church for the more 'orthodox' uber-Calvinist (but apparently accepting of the ordination of suitably obedient, subservient women) Anglican Church of Kenya, are in a bit of a legal wrangle with the Bishop and the Diocese of CNY over - guess what? - the property.

You can read a brief synopsis of the situation here. I don't know all the details, so I won't comment, but I'm certain of one thing: It's all more complicated than the alleged victims would have us believe.

Fast on the heels of all this drama, comes a note from a certain retired but still very active uber-orthodox bishop on the HOB/D listserv.

He was shocked - SHOCKED, I tell you! - about the news release, published 25 October, about the cost of the legal proceedings.

There was the distinct sound of annoyance in his note that no one personally picked up the phone and told him, as well as the hint that, somehow, the leadership of TEC was withholding this information.

Not only that, he said this:

"Of course, some cast the blame for this matter on those clergy, and congregations, and now, dioceses, that felt abandoned by the leadership of TEC, and concluded they could no longer remain in this Church, and chose to leave. Then there are others, myself included, who see this Church as having abandoned 4,000 years of Biblical teaching and doctrine that has been upheld by the Church of Jesus Christ for 2,000 years, and is still upheld by the rest of the Anglican Communion, and most of the rest of Christendom throughout the world.--that sexual relations outside of marriage, between a man and a woman, are wrong in the sight of God, and contrary to His Will.

As for who is ultimately right, and who is wrong in this matter , I believe,
we will need to wait on that one, for the ultimate judgement (sic) of Almighty God, and may He bless us all."

As Bishop Spong once said, "Literalism in any form is little more than pious hysteria."

(I love that quote, don't you?)

Well, at any rate, I fear it pulled my last, poor, tired nerve.

Here's how I answered him:

"Yes, bishop, some of us did see that news release. And, with all due respect, sir, the two issues you present do not create a situation of 'cause and effect."

Of course, the two are not unrelated, but TEC is not "paying" for its actions. You didn't say that. You also didn't say this, but neither is it God's judgment against TEC. Although it is a shame and there's lots of blame to go around, this is not about "shame and blame". It is decidedly unhelpful - if not flat-out wrong - to frame the situation in that way.

You have an absolute right to your opinions and beliefs about my suitability for ordained ministry on the basis of my gender and my sexual orientation, both of which are God-given, I might add, as are yours. You also have the absolute right to your opinions and beliefs about the "correct" interpretation of scripture, or liturgy, or how to interpret the rubrics, or anything else in this church.

Obviously, I don't agree with you, but that's not the point. The point is that at the heart of classical, traditional Anglican Spirituality is an understanding of gracious accommodation of a variety of beliefs, all held in tension.

That has eroded over the past 10-15 years as the voices on the right side of the aisle have become more strident in their insistence on the notions of conformity and purity, and the voices on the left side of the aisle have become more insistent on enacting the messy notion of the inclusion of all the baptized in all of the sacraments and sacramental rights of the church.

We now find our selves in a lamentable situation of schism in The Episcopal Church and, sadly, in The World Wide Anglican Communion.

The folks who have earnestly disagreed with the direction of TEC also have a right to leave and find - or create - a home where they can believe and worship whatever they wish. And, they can call themselves whatever they wish. There is no copyright on the brand 'Anglican'. That does not make them Anglican, but they have the right to call themselves that.

All of these rights are, to turn a phrase, 'self-evident'.

What the folks who have decided to leave don't have is the right to is this: church property. I would submit to you, good sir, that THIS is the problem. THIS is what is causing the obscene legal fees. It is the arrogance and hubris to assume the right to church property based on the fact that you think your theology is 'right'.

Being theologically 'right' has never been the basis of assumption for legal right.

In this lamentable situation, 'possession is not 9/10 ths of the law'.

That would be enough difficulty, in and of itself, but the infamous Chapman Memo makes it clear that this is part of the strategy of those who have been plotting and scheming to form their own identity, cause TEC to be shunned by the rest of the WWAC, bankrupt TEC, and then supplant her as the Anglican 'franchise' in North America.

It is sad in the extreme to note that this obscene amount of money has been spent on legal fees. It is tragic that, over the next decade, more money will need to be spent on legal fees. It is and will be, however, our reality.

It is my prayer that as these dissident groups continue to splinter off, the Tree of Life in TEC will be healthier and happier for the pruning and better equipped for mission and ministry.

I also pray that those who understand their beliefs to be 'orthodox' will also flourish and grow so that all who see their works will give glory and praise to God, in the name of Jesus.

Even so, TEC will 'keep the porch light on' for those who wish to return - as some reportedly already have. I have no doubt that more will return. I rejoice in that possibility. They will be welcomed home not to sign onto or lock-step to a 'liberal progressive' agenda; rather, they will keep us more faithful to the essence of what we claim to be at the heart of what it means to be Anglican.

I submit to you, bishop, that it is unhelpful, unfair and flat-out wrong of you to frame the issues of our theological and ecclesiological disagreement and the status of the finances in TEC as cause and effect with such bold strokes, heaped with shame and blame.

However, if you insist on doing so, please make sure the offending sacristy slipper is on the right foot."

I LOVE Robin Williams!!!

Okay, he's frenetic, but you have to admit, he's BRILLIANT.

Enjoy his take on Obama, McCain and Sarah Palin.

Just a little humor on a humorless, bitterly cold, miserably rainy Thursday night in the Northeast corridor.

OBTW and PS: All my Christmas presents that have to be mailed are wrapped and ready to be put in the mail tomorrow.

WOO HOO!

All I want for Christmas is her mind back

When I met her almost seven years ago, she had tears in her eyes.

"I'm so glad you came," she said, as a tear trickled down her cheek.

Meaning, that I had come as the new rector and pastor of St. Paul's.

She had never told anyone in the congregation, but she had been in relationship with another woman for more than 40 years.

Now in her late 70s, she had been married, with two sons. An elementary school teacher.

She had lost her job and her children after she divorced her husband and moved in with "the love of my life," as she described her partner, a librarian.

A 'Boston marriage' they called it in those days.

Shortly after I arrived, she began talking openly about her partner with members of the congregation. Her partner began attending church with her on the "high holy days". None of this even raised a question mark among members of the church. It was simply not an issue.

She erroneously credited me for this 'instant acceptance', adding, with tears in her eyes, "I'm so glad you came."

I've been watching, the past three years, as she has become less and less of herself. She lost her appetite and started losing weight. Then, she would 'forget' how things were set up as she went about her tasks on the Altar Guild. She would ask the same question three or four times and then get embarrassed when she realized what she had done.

Less than a year ago, she came to me, again with tears in her eyes. "I have early Alzheimer's Disease," she said, "and I'm absolutely terrified."

So was I. So were we all.

We had all noticed, but none of us wanted to say anything. We all get old. We all get forgetful. Or, so we said, mostly to brace ourselves against the obvious.

We didn't know it then, but we had begun 'the long goodbye'. What would come as additional surprise was how quickly the disease would progress.

She moved to an "Extended Care Facility" late this past August. Her partner still lives in their wonderful old apartment where they have lived for over 40 years. They talk on the phone every day and she comes to visit several times a week.

So does her son and daughter in law, who take her to church as often as they can. Her other son lives across the country and calls her often. He's coming with his wife and children to visit her at what may be their last Christmas together - whether or not she's still alive. Physically, that is.

She came to church last Sunday. I saw her after the service and promised to have lunch with her on Wednesday - yesterday. It was the third or fourth time in the past four months I've been to see her in her new home. I was not prepared for what I saw.

Like so many other things in her life, she had forgotten my promise. Her face has grown expressionless, but there was no hiding the joy in her eyes when I took a seat next to her and the two elderly Jewish women who keep her company.

"I'm so glad you came," she said as she smiled.

"Ackch," said one of her friends, "So, this is the 'high priestess' she always talks about!" Then, whispering to me, she added, "She keeps insisting that you are a priest. My father was Catholic. I know from priests," she said.

I smiled. "Well, she's right. I am a priest. An Episcopal priest."

"Ah, well," said the other friend, who smiled at my parishioner who was beaming and, looking at the other woman, put her finger under her chin to close her mouth. "Turns out not everything is what we think, either."

We all laughed. I didn't know then that I would be grateful for that little window of humor.

My friend must have asked me six times, "What are you doing today?" When she wasn't asking me that, she was asking, "Where's Ms. Conroy?"

I tried not to look as horrified as I felt, but it broke my heart.

I ordered my lunch and watched in alarm as she pushed her grilled cheese sandwich around her plate. She had obviously lost more weight. Her beautiful camel hair jacket, which she often favored to wear to church, hung from her shoulders.

"Is the sandwich not to your liking?" I asked. "Shall I order something else for you?"

"It just doesn't taste right," my friend offered.

"She eats like a bird," one of her Jewish friends offered.

"Is that rye bread?" I asked, knowing that she didn't like rye bread.

"I don't know," she answered. "What are you doing today?"

I answered her - yet again - and said, "You know, when we would go to Angie's for lunch, you always ordered whole wheat bread. I don't think you like rye bread."

This caused a bit of a stir at the table. I mean, who would not like rye bread although one would have to admit that cheese and rye did not really enhance the flavor. Now, a good tuna salad or maybe some corned beef . . . .

With her permission, I excused myself and took her plate back into the kitchen to ask the chef if she might make another sandwich, this time using whole wheat bread.

Within minutes, it arrived and my friend took a skeptical bite. Then, her whole face beamed with remembrance. "Now I remember. I do like whole wheat bread better." And, she began to eat the sandwich, if not exactly with gusto, at least with a level of enthusiasm I had not seen in a while.

In fact, she seemed to think it called for a celebration of sorts, and ordered wine for the table. Red. She had remembered that she liked red wine. We all seemed grateful for these two small but significant victories over this dreadful, horrible disease.

As we finished our coffee and dessert, someone came to the table to remind her that she had an appointment to have her hair done at 1:30. She didn't want to go. "I don't want you to go." She said to all of us at the table.

"I haven't had this much fun in a long time," she said as we all smiled.

It was a fleeting moment, one quickly robbed of us by the cruelty of the disease.

She then said, "But I suppose we'll have to get back to class. Mr. Crushank is such a dreadful teacher. How can one man ruin such beautiful literature? There's something to be said for tenure, but this old man just needs to be replaced. He's getting forgetful and repeats himself over and over again. I mean, really! It's embarrassing. If I get 'senile dementia' when I'm old, somebody take me out back and shoot me. Please. Just shoot me."

We all listened in horror. It felt as if someone had pulled the rug out from under us. Her two friends looked away. She looked at me and then at them and the smile that had been on her face, the feisty youthful mischief that had momentarily flickered in her eyes faded and was suddenly replaced by that now all too familiar blankness.

She looked at me and said, "What are you doing today?"

I answered her question again and then offered to walk her down the hall to the beauty parlor. She didn't want to go, but her friends urged her and she finally succumbed. But first, she insisted on walking me to the door.

Old habits die hard. She had always done that when I visited her at her home.

I said my goodbyes to the table and, as we turned to walk to the door, one of her friends mouthed, "It's so sad." I nodded and shook my head sadly.

As we walked, we chatted about this and that. Her daughter-in-law had made the beautiful candy cane wreaths that hung on the door. She seemed very proud - as much about her daughter-in-law's efforts as the fact that she remembered.

She wanted to see where my car was parked, so I pointed it out to her. She was stalling, I knew. Next, she would ask me to see it. Even though it was rainy and cold and she had no coat or umbrella, and she had actually been inside my car on a couple of occasions.

The horror of this disease is that, at this stage, at least, she has a sense of when she is lucid and when she's not. She is clearly still capable, however, of thinking strategically. I had no concern that she was plotting an escape - just angling for more time for a visit with me all to herself.

Finally, a look of resignation came over her face. She looked up at me, smiled and with tears in her eyes said, "I'm so glad you came."

"I am too," I said. A small part of that was a lie. We both knew that. As much as it broke my heart to see her this way, it was clear, at least in that one, brief moment of blessed, cruel clarity, that didn't she like being seen this way, either.

"I'll be back," I promised.

"And, I'll be so glad you came," she smiled.

We live in 'sure and certain hope'.

Sometimes, the incarnation can be more painful than birth - or death.

Gold, Common Sense and Fur

Someone sent this gem of an essay to me. Our Christmas Pageant is Sunday, the 20th. These are three of the 'littlest angels' from our Christmas Pageant a few years ago.

I can't wait.

GOLD, COMMON SENSE AND FUR
by Linda C. Stafford from Chicken Soup from the Soul

My husband and I had been happily (most of the time) married for five years, but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if He would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with His word as my guide. God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with another son. The following year, He blessed us with yet another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had four children, and the oldest was only four years old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, "If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella."

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint Him.

I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess.

In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother. I didn't even come close. I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God.

I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to "wash up" Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his "last wife."

My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, "We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes." But he was nervous and said, "The baby was wrapped in wrinkled clothes."

My four-year-old "Mary" said, "That's not 'wrinkled clothes,' silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes." A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing.

I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, "Mama, Mama." Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived. My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, "We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur."

The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. "I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one," Pastor Brian laughed, wiping tears from his eyes. "For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur."

"My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing," I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin."

ACT NOW!!! Blue Ribbon NJ State Government Recommend Marriage Equality Law

The report was posted today at 10:00 am ET at http://www.nj.gov/oag/dcr/curc.html

To watch video of same-sex couples testifying before the Commission, visit
www.CivilUnionsDontWork.com

Wednesday, December 10, 2008 - A New Jersey state government commission today unanimously recommended to Governor Corzine and the New Jersey legislature that they enact a law to allow same-sex couples to marry "expeditiously because any delay in
marriage equality will harm all the people of New Jersey."

The recommendation is part of the 79-page final report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, a 13-member body created by the civil union law enacted in December 2006. The 13 Commissioners include not only LGBT leaders, but also a right-to-life Republican, plus two clergy, plus six government officials representing an Administration that had opposed marriage equality in the courts. Their report,passed on a 13 to 0 vote with no abstentions, is based on testimony from more than 150 witnesses over 26 hours spanning 18 public meetings in 2007 and 2008.

The civil union law "invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children," concludes the final report, titled The Economic, Legal, Medical and Social Consequences of New Jersey's Civil Union Act. "In a number of cases, the negative effect of the Civil Union Act on the physical and mental health of same-sex couples and their children is striking, largely because a number of employers and hospitals do not recognize the rights and benefits of marriage for civil union couples."

"The Commission is compelled to issue its final report now because of the overwhelming evidence that civil unions will not be recognized by the general public as the equivalent of marriage in New Jersey with the passage of time. Nearly a decade later, civil union couples in Vermont report the same obstacles to equality that New Jersey civil union couples face today," the report states, citing the recent study of a panel in Vermont.

Besides assessing the civil union law's impact on same-sex couples, today's final report describes how the absence of a marriage equality statute deprives New Jersey's entire economy of considerable revenue. "Spending on weddings and tourism could boost the New Jersey economy by approximately $248 million over three years," the report states. One expert testifying before the Commission estimates the figure could be $500 million or more.

But the heart of today's report is its delineation of the harm that New Jersey's civil union law has pro-actively inflicted upon same-sex couples.

"I'm a pro-life Republican and past Director of Gloucester County Right-to-Life," said Commission member Ann Lynne Benson on the release of today's report, "so I know the diversity of this Commission. Our report demonstrates in exquisite detail why amending New Jersey's law to extend marriage to same-sex couples is a necessity. The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that 'denying rights and benefits to committed same-sex couples violates the equal protection guarantee and can no longer be tolerated under our State constitution.' Implementation of that ruling by the invention of a parallel status failed to deliver equality. It was like planting a toothpick and hoping a tree would grow."

According to the final report, civil union law's harm to same-sex couples includes:

The inability of a number of same-sex partners to visit one another in the hospital, and to make medical decisions for one another, because hospitals don't accept civil unions as equal to marriage. The Commission's final report begins with the story of Naomi and Gina, a couple in Montclair, New Jersey who had a humiliating and life-threatening experience at a hospital. Gina was admitted to the emergency room with cardiac arrhythmia, unable to give consent for treatment. When Naomi arrived and said she was Gina's partner, the doctor interrogated Naomi about the nature of the relationship and initially kept Naomi away from Gina and refused to let her give consent for Gina. The report has other stories like this.

"Significant psychological damage" to the children raised same-sex couples because their families are given the stigmatizing label of civil union; and to LGBT youth who view themselves as inferior because they cannot marry. "Their heartbreaking testimony," the report states, "brings to life their struggle in a way that no numbers - whether complaints filed with government agencies or advocacy organizations - can encapsulate on their own." Dr. Marshall Forstein, a Harvard Medical School professor, testified: "Second-class citizenship, now institutionalized in some states in the form of civil unions, contributes to increased rates of anxiety, depression and substance use disorders in marginalized populations."

The denial of health insurance by employers to same-sex partners, especially harmful during the current economic crisis. Today's final report underscores what the Commission's interim report of February 2008 found, that the federal Employment Retirement Insurance Security Act (ERISA) preempts the New Jersey Civil Union law for approximately 50 percent of all employers in the state. For that 50 percent, providing equal rights and benefits for same-sex couples under the civil union law is an option rather than a requirement.

The Commission's final report refutes the notion - as the interim report did - that a change in state law from civil unions to marriage equality would have minimal impact because Federal law does not recognize same-sex relationships. The final report provides ample evidence to the contrary, based on the dramatically lower invocation of ERISA by companies in Massachusetts, which has a marriage equality law. "The term 'marriage,' the report concludes, "would make a significant difference in providing equality even with no change in federal law."

Compounded harm to women, African-Americans and Latino-Americans, all of whom face discrimination because of their gender, race or ethnicity, and who now suffer double discrimination when denied equal rights and benefits under the civil union law. The state Public Advocate told the Commission about "the particular difficulty for lower-income same-sex couples who encounter discrimination because they have fewer resources with which to seek legal counsel and redress, and who have difficulty meeting expenses if faced with reduced healthcare benefits."

Harm to the marriages of couples where one partner is transgender. The final report reaffirms the finding in the Commission's interim report that the classification of civil union places marital status in question for these couples, who had gotten married legally when they were opposite-sex couples.

You can take action on this alert via the web at:
http://eqfed.org/campaign/FinalCommissionReport/

Please E-mail Governor Corzine and legislators by clicking the "Take Action" link on this page. Then click on the "Tell-A-Friend" link to forward this e-mail to all your friends so they also contact the officials. And please join Garden State Equality on Wednesday, December 10 at 7:00 pm in South Orange at our town meeting for marriage equality with Harvey Milk's nephew Stuart, The Baird Center, 5 Mead

Your letter will be addressed and sent to: Governor Corzine, Sen Pres Codey, Sen Maj Leader Sweeney, Sen Judiciary Chair Sarlo, Asm Speaker Roberts, Asm Maj Leader Watson Coleman, Asm Judiciary Chair Greenstein, Asm Cryan

----THIS LETTER WILL BE SENT IN YOUR NAME----
Dear [decision maker name automatically inserted here],

I have just read the final report of the New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission, which recommends to Governor Corzine and the state legislators that you enact a bill now to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Click on the Tell-A-Friend link immediately below to forward this email to all your friends.
http://eqfed.org/campaign/FinalCommissionReport/forward/

Solemn Rite or Happy Meal?

There's an interesting article by Doug LeBlanc in yesterday's Episcopal Life Online.

Doug is an Episcopalian who is also a delightfully conservative religious journalist.

I say 'delightfully' conservative because, while he holds to his conservative beliefs like a new Alpha convert holds to the words of Nicky Gumble, Doug is not obnoxious about what he believes about God and the Church and homosexuality and abortion and . . . well, let's just say he'd pass the litmus test any day of the week on any issue for being truly conservative.

And, and, and, he's tolerant. Indeed, we have worked together in a variety of settings and I have come to count him as a friend and a brother in Christ.

So, when he writes about controversial subjects, I listen. Carefully.

In this article, Doug is taking on eucharistic theology in light of the innovation of lay presidency in Australia and the increasing stance by many in TEC to have 'open communion.'

It's a fairly predictable argument from the conservative side of the aisle. Still, he raises some important points that simply can not be easily dismissed.

I think he's made a stretch here. I hear his argument from the fear-based evangelical 'the slippery slope' perspective of human behavior. You know, you make one concession, you put your big toe over the line, and before you know it, BAM, you've not only been cast into the 'outer darkness', but you've been banished there FOR EVER.

It's all black and white, right and wrong, good and evil - no shades of gray. At least, from my perspective of the evangelical position.

I think the two are very separate issues. But, what do you think? What do you think of 'open communion' and 'lay presidency'and is there a connection between the two?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

News Item, October 21: The Diocese of Sydney's General Synod has voted again to allow laity to preside at celebrations of Holy Communion and to allow deacons (both men and women) to preside as well.

My reaction, once news of the synod's decision began circulating in U.S.--based weblogs: Wake me when the argument is over.

I have exaggerated my lack of outrage, but not outrageously. My longtime friend and colleague Terry Mattingly grew up Southern Baptist, spent more than 10 years as an Episcopalian and then became Eastern Orthodox.

He enjoys telling the story of attending Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, where robed choir members processed with reverence down the center aisle and some bowed before sitting in their pews.

Terry asked about the significance of the bowing, and the answer he heard was remarkable: That's what you're supposed to do. Despite its stained-glass windows and the liturgical calendar it observed, this church had no concept of a Communion host being the body of Christ, in some form, and therefore worthy of brief reverence by choir members.

From that experience, Terry concluded that if a Southern Baptist congregation had a higher-than-average interest in liturgical symbols, its members likely had little understanding of the doctrine behind the symbols.

I wonder if, for many Episcopalians, this could be an accurate summary of what we understand about Holy Communion.

Consider how many priests now announce, week after week, that because the Holy Table belongs to God and not to anyone else, all people -- regardless of whether they are baptized -- are welcome to partake. I note only in passing the chutzpah of presuming that God's will for the Holy Table was thwarted, rather than honored, as far back as the Didache.

Perhaps it fulfills the saying that misery loves company for me to feel relief that another portion of the Anglican Communion must contend with innovations at the Holy Table. That this innovation comes from Australia's most vigorously Reformed diocese only makes the humor richer.

I am no advocate of lay presidency. I believe that both it and the policy of communing the unbaptized reflect an incomplete theology of what occurs during Holy Communion. Both innovations make us the center of attention: In the United States, we say, "Come one, come all to receive, even if you don't understand or care about what you're receiving." In Sydney, should lay presidency ever gain the approval of Archbishop Peter Jensen, Australians will say, "Come one, come all (Anglicans)" to the role of presider.

One can make the case that neither practice is forbidden by Jesus' example at the Last Supper, though I think that resorting to an argument from silence is often an early indicator of mischief. Both sides also propose more than arguments from silence. Progressives appeal to Jesus' dining with prostitutes and tax collectors. Advocates of lay presidency now have published a book, The Lord's Supper in Human Hands, to make their best case at greater length.

I am confident the Anglican Communion will make it through these conflicts about the Lord's Supper. Meanwhile, I hope my fellow Episcopalians will meditate on two things: the meaning of our priests' prayers that the Holy Spirit will infuse bread and wine with the presence of Christ; and the key moment in our salvation, when Jesus "stretched out his arms upon the cross and offered himself, in obedience to [God's] will, a perfect sacrifice for the whole world."

To respond to this column email edge@episcopal-life.org.

-- Douglas LeBlanc is a member of St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia.



http://www.episcopalchurch.org/80050_103579_ENG_HTM.htm

Please pass the mustard

I found this over at MadPriest's. Where else?

I can't stop giggling or hearing the song in my head.

So, I figured that the only decent thing to do was to torment you all with it.

Enjoy. Until it starts to drive you mad.

Then, you can simply say that you are just in a John the Baptist sort of Advent mood.

By the way, the Indian Nipple Song will have a similar effect.

Acolytes as John the Baptist

A Sermon for II Advent - December 7, 2008
Susan Ironside, Seminarian
The Episcopal Church of St. Paul, Chatham, NJ

The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand forever. AMEN.


I truly cannot hear this Gospel reading without thinking of that opening number from Godspell. It’s in my head whenever I hear the text read. You know, “Prepare ye the way of the Lord!”

So here we are in Advent, and the Church, in her ancient wisdom, takes this opportunity to remind us that the advent season is about preparation. It is a time to reflect on the God who comes to us in human form, the God who interrupted the night sky with a blaze of angels,who interrupted world history with a baby in a manger, who interrupts our lives by breaking into our hearts and filling dark and empty places with glorious healing light.

So it’s advent, people. (Claps loudly) Wake up and smell the coffee. Jesus is coming and you had better be prepared. We are Anglicans for heaven’s sake. We are nothing if not people of tact, and being caught unprepared is, frankly, unseemly. Like setting the table with the water goblet on the wrong side. How embarrassing! So really, people, for heaven’s sake: Prepare yourselves.

But before we all enter into a full-blown panic about preparation, I mean we don’t want to be caught unprepared, but let’s pause for a moment and try to sort out what is needful. How do we prepare, exactly, for this event?

Historically the church reminds us to not be too anxious for Christmas to get here. We don’t fling out the greens just yet. We don’t sing those great Christmas hymns just jet. I mean, really, that’s what those pagans in the malls do, peddling us a dizzying array of LED lights, lawn decorations and evergreen scented candles as early as mid-October.

Heathens! We don’t want to be like them. We want to follow John the Baptist, and prepare the way of the Lord.

John the Baptist, that nutty guy in the wilderness yammering about repentance whilst clad in an unseemly outfit of camels hair, partaking in strange dietary habits. There’s a strange model of advent readiness for you. Seems almost like Chris Rock showing up to help the altar guild.

How puzzling. The forerunner to the reign of God should be someone proper, clean cut, someone equal to the task of preparing for the Ruler of the Universe.

But John would be the first to admit that he is an unusual choice. Not worthy to untie the sandal, even. He baptizes with water, but the one he announces, he is the main event, he baptizes with the Holy Spirit. This is big.

The task of preparation for us is an unusual one. Because we too are called to prepare, but we are also ones who have been baptized with water AND the Holy Spirit. We have been bathed in water, but we have also been drenched in the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist’s vocation is our vocation.

On Sunday mornings, I have the good fortune to keep company with the acolytes here at St Paul’s. They are the forerunners of our liturgy, the ones who lead the procession by carrying a heavy cross, and potentially dangerous lighted torches. They are bright and funny and seem to live by that wonderful motto:

It’s all fun until something goes wrong….then it’s HYSTERICAL!

They are reverent and diligent in performing their tasks and serving at the altar. But they also watch everything and miss nothing, and are the first to notice when something is a bit off track. They prepare for worship by being the first to take those brave steps as the procession begins every Sunday.

They look very dignified, and they are. Truly. They lead me in worship whenever I watch them. But they have wilderness in them too, I think. Yes, a good dose of Wildness and Wilderness seems to be a key part of every good acolyte, and these ones here in Chatham, they have a good dose of John the Baptist in them.

They seem to embody, this group of acolytes, a wonderful mix of reverence and joy. They are my John the Baptist. They remind me to nurture my own inner John the Baptist.

So since I already admitted that I can’t hear today’s gospel reading without thinking of Godspell, I will admit this too: I love kitchy Christmas preparations. My house looks like a Christmas department at Macy’s exploded and landed in my living room, and my husband announces when he comes home to scented candles and cinnamon potpourri, “this place reeks of Christmas!”

And this happens pretty soon after Thanksgiving. I guess I am not a really good Anglican.

Don’t get me wrong, I adore the lovely blue vestments, the Advent hymns, and I have benefited greatly for periods of silence, like the silence we keep here this morning. And my soul has been fed by Advent prayer practices which remind me of the One who was, and is and is to come.

We who have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit can never be reminded too often that our restless hearts will never be filled by eggnog lattes or anything they sell at the Mall at Short Hills.

We who have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit need to be reminded again and again, that the One who was, and is, and is to come, marked us as his own forever. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. The best thing about nurturing your own inner John the Baptist, is the reminder that we are not called to be the main event.

We are called to prepare the way for the One who was, and is, and is to come. We prepare the way for Jesus, who in all things goes before us. It’s an unusual ministry we have, as ones who have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit. It’s a strange type of preparation, preparing the way for the One who was, and is, and is to come.

It’s probably a bit more like the preparation we do when we have boarded an airplane, and the pilot announces, “Prepare for take-off!” Well, that plane is taking off whether we have completed a check list of preparation ritual or not. Put your seat in the upright position. Fasten your seatbelt. This plane is taking off.

The pilot and engineers are the ones who will somehow miraculously get those tons of steel off the runway, and into the sky.

As we gather again today to share in a preparation meal of bread and wine, let us rejoice that we are not the main event. We are the acolytes, and we too are called to have a good dose of reverence, with a greater amount of joy. Good acolytes have wildness and wilderness in them.

A good acolyte watches everything, and misses nothing. A good acolyte carries heavy things,and potentially dangerous lighted torches and steps boldly out ahead of the procession.

Let us fasten our seatbelts and put our seats in the upright position. This very morning we participated in living out our vocation as forerunners by coming here, and doing those small tasks which were given to us, by virtue of our identity as those who have been baptized with water and the Holy Spirit: Lighting a candle on a wreath, singing ancient words of preparation.

There are other things to do to get ready and they are not bad things: trees to decorate, cookies to bake, and in an hour or so, we may be back to doing them. But right now, in this very moment, time stops for us, and in this moment we prepare to rejoin the chaos that is waiting just outside those doors.

And perhaps, just perhaps, the preparation we undertake in this place, will carry us back out into that place.

What we do here at the altar has everything to do with what we do outside those doors. The silence we keep here, will carry us into the noisy world waiting for us out there.

We prepare the way for Jesus, the One who was, and is, and is to come.

We prepare the way for Jesus, who, in all things, goes before us.

Amen.

The Incarnation and the Resurrection

It's interesting to me, curious, in fact, that we spend Advent, Christmas and most of The Epiphany focusing in on the humanity of Jesus. When it comes to his resurrection, however, we get mystical and mysterious, even though the evangelists want us to see him in the flesh, put our hands into the wounds in his side, watch him eating breakfast. . .

Brian Doyle, editor of Portland Magazine, has been musing about the meaning of a bodily resurrection. He penned this poem which appeared in Christian Century, December 2, 2008. I found it a provocative meditation for Advent.

Some thorny questions about the resurrection

And I don’t mean theological or ontological or scriptural or hermeneutical questions.
I mean real questions, like did He have to pee like a racehorse after three long days?
And what’s the first thing He said when He woke up, did He say where’s my wallet?
Or did He say sweet mother of the Lord, that is absolutely the last time I drink wine?
Or where is my posse? Or who are these two men in white at my head and at my feet?
Are they hospital orderlies or nurses from the nuthouse or navy midshipmen or what?
And when Mary of Magdala didn’t recognize Him, and though He was the gardener,
Did He want to say, My God, Mary, the gardener, do I look like a shaggy botanist?
And did He think, boy, I would give my left arm for some fresh grilled fish and bread,
Or man, when a guy gets wrapped for the tomb do they use enough linen and spices?

And between you and me I am sure that there are also many other things Jesus thought
The which if they should be written every one I suppose that even the wild world itself
Could not contain the books that should be written. Like where did He get a decent cup
Of coffee that morning? And who paid for it? And why was He razzing Peter so much?
And when He saith unto Mary, woman, touch me not, was that a personal space issue?
Or was she one of those people who when they tough you it tickles even if they do not
Try to tickle you? You know what I mean? And when He appeared along the lakeshore,
And on the road to Emmaus, had He, you know, borrowed a shirt and a pair of pants?
Of all the hints and suggestions in the Gospels that Jesus may have had a few brothers,
That’s the tiny hint that seems revealing to me, don’t you think, that He might’ve swung by
His brother’s apartment and nicked a shirt and left a note: dude, I’ll make it up to you . . .

I (heart) Anglican Chant

You can find links to this video here. This site also includes music and words (Honest to God!)

In case of complete addiction to Anglican Chant, here is the Traffic Code:

In Praise of Melancholy

It has begun.

My phone is ringing off the hook. Actually, that phrase dates me, doesn't it? Okay, so it's more like my cell phone is so busy, I can't keep a good charge on my battery.

Some people are already 'crashing and burning' before Christmas.

It's not just the stock market, fragile economic times and the unemployment rate, although they are certainly not helping.

I feel it, too. The pressure to get into "the Christmas spirit". The relentless pursuit of the illusive culturally defined sense of 'happiness' - 'peace and good will to all humankind' - and 'have a holy, jolly Christmas, it's the best time of the year.'

Blah, Blah, Blah.

As I read my last post to this blog, I know my sarcastic humor is a manifestation of the pressure to join the rest of the madding crowd and "don't worry, be happy."

Our Third Annual "Blue Christmas" service is scheduled for Saturday, December 20 at 6:30 PM. I've just written out the invitations to those in our community who have lost a loved one in the past 5 years.

Interestingly enough, none of them have called me because they are crashing and burning. They have a "reason" be sad. The folks who are calling me think they don't have a reason to be sad. That they SHOULD be happy. But, they're not. So, they think something is wrong with THEM. And, that makes them sad.

They are not sure what or why but they say to me, "There MUST be something wrong with me, Reverend Elizabeth, because I'm just not able to get into the 'Christmas spirit'. In fact, the harder I try, the more immobilized I become. I feel sad and tired a lot of the time. Sometimes, it just hurts to move. Am I depressed?"

Well, I'm not a doctor and I can't diagnose depression, but I think I recognize a line from a television ad for an anti-depressant when I hear one.

I have always thought that there is a difference between depression and melancholy. Furthermore, I think, sometimes, perhaps more often than not, it's absolutely appropriate - dare I say it? "NORMAL" - to feel one or the other.

I've just put this book on my Epiphany Wish List: "Against Happiness: In Praise of Melancholy" by Eric G. Wilson.

I read a review of it in the blur that was my so-called day off - while I was working out on the elliptical machine in the gym, somewhere after my appointment with the dental hygienist and before my appointment with the accountant and in between all the phone calls from people who are not doing so very well.

Wilson argues that "Depression is a cocktail of angst and chronic sadness connected with apathy and numbness."

Melancholy, on the other hand "generates a deep feeling in regard to this same anxiety, a 'turbulence of heart' that results in an active questioning of the status quo, a perpetual longing to create new ways of being and seeing."

Wilson goes so far as to speculate that it was the "turbulent heats and minds of saturnine cave dwellers" that gave rise to the arts and crafts.

I was intrigued enough to wonder who the heck this Eric G. Wilson is, so I googled him on my iPhone (Wow, I even impressed myself with the last piece of that sentence!). Turns out he is the Thomas H. Prichard Professor of English at Wake University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He's apparently won several important awards and has written no less than five books on the relationship between literature and psychology. None too shabby credentialing.

Okay. I'm willing to give the guy a listen. I decided to stop at the Barnes and Noble on the way home from my accountant's office in Succasunna (Yes, NJ). I figured by then, I'd at least need a Latte (Decaf, low fat, grande - no foam. Hey, I haven't lived six years in blissful suburbia and not learned how to be neurotic about coffee. Besides, I still have money on my gift card from last Christmas.)

The book won't be on the shelves until January 20th, but I read another review and put in an order for my copy.

Wilson's book appears to be a veritable polemic against what he calls the 'American cult of happiness', a cult that medicalizes even the mildest forms of jangled nerves and malaise. He warns:

"I for one am afraid that our American culture's overemphasis on happiness at the expense of sadness might be dangerous, a wanton forgetting of an essential part of a full life. I further am wary in the face of this possibility: to desire only happiness in a world undoubtedly tragic is to become inauthentic, to settle for unrealistic abstractions that ignore concrete situations. I am finally fearful over our society's efforts to expunge melancholia from the system. Without the agitations of the soul, would all of our magnificent yearning towers topple? Would our heart-torn symphonies cease?"

He also writes: "Happy types around the country seem bent on ironing out all the rough edges, not only the cragged corners of old houses and those weather-weary knots on old oaks . . .The same is true of faces these days; they're as unblemished as flat plastic. . . You catch these smooth and expressionless faces when you walk down a city street. You can find not a trace of existence in these frozen masks."

Here's the line that stopped me in mid-sip of my latte: "It's finally the smoothness that kills us."

Okay, I don't know Wilson's psychology credentials but clearly, the man knows a little something about the human condition.

"It's finally the smoothness that kills us."

It occurs to me that the message of Advent to enter into a time of 'quiet' and 'contemplation' might be heard as one of smoothness. It is not. Indeed, it is a time to 'hush the sounds' of the madding world in order to listen to the turbulence of your own soul.

It is, I believe, out of a nearer sense of the chaos of that turbulence that we come closer to the sound of Ruach who brooded over the chaos of the primordial stew and brought forth a new creation.

It's that same Ruach that troubles the waters of our soul and calls us from our complacency and into co-creative status with God.

But before all that, we must first be still and listen to the terrifying sound of that turbulence and let the melancholy take hold of your soul.

It is then that we enter into a holy time when those who are sad of heart can gain a new respect and appreciation for and relationship with their sadness.

Here's my new Advent mantra: "It's finally the smoothness that kills us."

In Pectore: "Homeless Baby Province Denied Legitimate Anglican Birth Certificate"

Here at Telling Secrets, we spare absolutely no expense to get you the late-breaking news of the happenings in the World Wide Anglican Communion.

The much anticipated meeting between the five GAFCON (Global Anglican Future Conference) primates of Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Southern Cone and the Archbishop of Canterbury took place today in the Cathedral, fast on the heels of the announcement in Wheaton, IL of the newly formed, non-geographical so-called 'Anglican' province.

Sensing the historic significance of this event, we spared no expense and sent Padre Mickey, our crack neighborhood photographer, to take some snaps of the momentous occasion.

I think our money was well spent, don't you?

We have also been waiting for a report from "Our Ruth with the Inside Anglican Scoop" - who, BTW, looked pretty smashing in the outfit she favoured whilst at Lambeth this past August: a white summer, shelfless T (no bra) and a white full skirt which hung low on her hips, revealing an ever so slight peak at her firm abs but not so brazen as to reveal her navel, and a pair of very bare but beautifully ornamented sandals and her nicely pedicured feet. Whenever she strode into the Press Room at 3 minutes to start time, assured and confident of her seat in the front row right, you could hear the slight rush of the stale, hot August air in that small, non-air conditioned room as every male (and not a few lesbians) turned their heads to have a gander.

Many of those on the right side of the aisle have long been struggling hard to suppress their anticipation and excitement that the primates would emerge from today's meeting with a legitimate birth certificate for the "Homeless Baby Province" (HBP).

Not so, says Our Ruth (Gledhill, of The Times, UK) if you haven't figured it out yet). You can find her report here.

The headline reads: Canterbury summit: Nothing happened.

Okay, everyone take a moment to gasp, clutch your pearls with your left hand and fan yourself with your right. You may mop your brow, if needed and as appropriate. I've provided tissues in anticipation of your shock and horror.

She goes on to say: "Well I suppose that headline is not quite accurate. The mother church of the Anglican Communion, Canterbury Cathedral, today welcomed into her stable the five Gafcon primates from the South and the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, who they had travelled from afar to see. They bore gifts of frank discussion, gold-standard Christianity and little in the way of mirth. They were there to mark a new birth in the North, a province. Question marks hang like shepherds' crooks over its legitimacy, and probably will continue to do so for another 2,000 years or so, if it is not forgotten by then. But stranger things have happened."

Our Ruth certainly knows how to turn a phrase, doesn't she?

So what really took place that day not so long ago?

Here she gets to the real substance of the story:

"The five primates of Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya and Southern Cone met with the Archbishop of Canterbury in the cathedral. They prayed, started talking at 10am, prayed, had lunch, prayed, carried on talking, prayed again and finished mid-afternoon. Discussions were pretty frank and they went over everything, from Lambeth 1:10, through 2003 to the present day. No-one blinked."

Well, and there it is, then.

Hey, give the girl a break, you know? Silk purses out of sow's ears and all that.

Meanwhile, the birth of the "Homeless Baby Province" is already causing sleepless nights for a few of the uber-orthodox folks.

Executive Director of the American Anglican Council, David Anderson, former priest in The Episcopal Diocese of LA and newly ordained bishop in . . oh dear, I've forgotten . . . somewhere that has absolutely nothing to do with TEC . . .has issued a statement about the 'problem' some folk are having with their membership.

You can find the full statement in all of the usual angry uber-Christian places, but here's the key paragraph:

"Because some TEC bishops are hostile to members or congregations joining or remaining a part of the AAC because of our clear stand against the increasing heterodoxy of the Episcopal Church, a new type of membership is available, called "In Pectore," which means in the heart. It will be an unpublished list of members who individually know that they are members, and we know that they are, but no one else but God knows that. This list will be treated as Top Sacred, realizing the danger that is present in TEC for the orthodox today in many dioceses."

Top Sacred.

What was the poor man to do? He had to try and keep the "Pure Christians" away from all the girl and queer cooties over in TEC - while still plotting the revolution, of course.

You know, you just can't make up this stuff.

I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some Good News, arent' you? So, meanwhile, over in the Diocese of Quincy comes this newsflash:

"Members of the Cathedral parish of the Diocese of Quincy voted Thursday night to not be “realigned” or “removed” to the Anglican province of the Southern Cone in a 181 to 35 vote. The vote to stay within The Episcopal Church dwarfs the 54 layperson votes cast at the recent Synod of the Diocese of Quincy that purported to remove the Diocese from The Episcopal Church.

"The Very Reverend Bob Dedmon, Dean of the Cathedral parish said after the Cathedral parish vote, “This vote demonstrates that when people have an opportunity to study the facts they realize that the information disseminated by the ultra-conservative leadership of the Diocese was misleading. Now this parish must get on with our Christian mission and ministry.”


Let's just call this thing exactly what it is, shall we?

It's a schism. It's done. Over. Kaput. They've left. God Bless 'em. May they live long and prosper the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the honor and glory of God.

Now, can we just get on with the work Christ Jesus has given US to do?

Good night and Good Luck.

Welcome, Georgia Gail!

Isn't she a beauty?

She arrived yesterday morning by C-section at 10:47, weighing in at eight pounds five ounces and 20 inches long. She looks like her father's Italian side of the family, while her older sister, Olivia, favors her mother's German / English people.

Both girls are very much their own people, right from birth. Indeed, it was her sister Olivia who picked out her name. No one knows where it came from, but Olivia was pretty insistent that that was going to be her sister's name.

'Gail' comes from one of our remarkable and beloved parishioners who died in June (some will remember the sermon I preached for her funeral).

"GG" will probably be her nickname, which is the name of one of the beloved matriarchs of the church. Her grandchildren have always called her "GG" instead of 'grandmother.'

So, this little one is really tied into our church family in very significant ways. Her baptism will be a very emotional event.

One of the wonderful things about being a rector and pastor is that I get to go and pray with the family in hospitals before surgery and then bless the baby soon after the birth.

It is always a privilege and a joy. I am so very grateful for the opportunity to be in people's lives at either end of the spectrum of life, at their most emotionally vulnerable moments.

So, join me in welcoming little "GG" into the world - into a family and a community of faith that began to love her the minute they heard of her coming, who will claim her as our own, and will love her into the whole person she is yet to become.

Some who are of a certain age, or like to channel surf late at night and watch the old movies, will remember Vincent Minelli's 1958 film "Gigi" with Leslie Caron. Maurice Chevalier sang 'Thank heavens for little girls,' and, 'Ah yes, I remember it well.'

Louis Jordan sang the title song. I wish I had MadPriest's powers to have music on my site, but I haven't figured it out. Yet.

Here's a song for newborn 'GG'- our newest miracle.

Gigi . . . am I a fool without a mind
Or have I merely been to blind to realize?
Oh gigi . . . why youve been growin up
Before my very eyes!

Gigi . . . youre not at all the funny
Awkward little girl I knew
Oh no, overnight theres been a breathless
Change in you!

Gigi . . . why you were tremblin on the brink
Was I out yonder somewhere blinkin at a star?
Oh gigi . . . have I been standin up to close
Or back too far?

When did your sparkle turn to fire
And your warmth become desire?
Oh, what miracle
Has made you the way you are?

Oh gigi . . . have I been standin up to close
Or back too far?

When did your sparkle turn to fire
And your warmth become desire?
Oh, what miracle
Has made you the way you are?

UPDATE from FranIAm. It's not "Gigi" but it'll do quite nicely, thank you very much. You'll have to point me to this resource, Fran. Thanks so much.



Here's Louis Jordan singing Gigi

Top Ten Reasons to Start Your Own Non-Geographical 'Anglican' Province

As my homage to David Letterman, here are the

Top 10 Reasons to Start Your Own

Non-Geographical 'Anglican' Province (or, 'Something')

10. Frequent travel to warmer, more exotic climes: The Southern Cone, Africa, etc.

9. Evangelicals get to triumph the 39 Articles and Anglo-Catholics get to ignore most of the 39 Articles and everyone else doesn’t really care as long as there are no LGBT people around or women leading worship (neither of which is mentioned in the 39 Articles).

8. You get to pray with your own prayer book – or not – and in your own way: standing up with your arms raised; or head bowed and on your knees; or with prayer beads in hand; or, while listening to traditional hymns played on an organ or contemporary songs accompanied by a praise band.

7. Never any confusion or need to consider the ‘real meaning’ of scripture – a male, orthodox priest, bishop or primate will tell you what it means.

6. You know the ‘Way, Truth and life of Jesus’ and no one else does, and you don’t have to share it with anyone unless they agree to sign the Jerusalem Statement.

5. You have sole ownership of the ‘faith first delivered to the saints’.

4. No yucky female bishops or primates thinking they can tell you what to do – female priests in the former Diocese of Pittsburgh, however, are in impaired communion with the former Bishop of Fort Worth (but the male priests, apparently, are not).

3. No LGBT people in the pews or in vestments, unless they are healed and celibate and tithing – and even then . . . . .

2. You can really believe that Jesus loves you best, even if the Archbishop of Canterbury doesn’t.


And, the number one reason to start your own non-geographical Anglican province:

1. The folks over at TEC will always leave the porch light on so you can find your way back home.

Archbishop Duncan?????

Yup.

Of the newly-formed-province-in-transition "Anglican Province in North America."

I watched some of the Live Stream video from Wheaton Evangelical Free Church in suburban Chicago community of Wheaton, Illinois for about as long as I could stomach it (I may have gone to EDS but I know enough not to preach in a chasuble, for pity's sake!), but I did hear Bishop Murdock say that it had been decided that Bob Duncan would be their new Archbishop.

Even called him, "Your grace." Duncan laughed and squirmed in his seat, but he was clearly enjoying every minute of it.

And the crowd went wild with applause.

Honest to God.

That's about the time I switched off.

Actually, they were just about to "formally subscribe" to the Jerusalem Declaration of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) and affirm GAFCON's Statement on the Global Anglican Future. That was more than enough for me.

Leaders of the Common Cause Partnership released the draft constitution of what they called "an emerging Anglican Church in North America" during the worship service. I'll be curious to read Brother Mark's take on it after he has a chance to read, mark and inwardly digest it.

You can find the ENS story here: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_103344_ENG_HTM.htm

There were lots of people in attendance I didn't recognize, but I did see Jack Leo Iker, former bishop of Fort Worth. I also spotted David Anderson, and John Geurnsey, two former Episcopal priests who left TEC and were ordained by African bishops (I think Rwanda, but I fear I don't recall. Sorry.).

I thought I also saw Peter Beckwith, present bishop of Springfield, and Keith Ackerman, recently retired ("on the advice of my physician") bishop of Quincy and newly announced assisting bishop of Springfield (miraculous healing, no doubt).

It's all so very terribly sad.

Oh, not that they are leaving and forming a new Anglican Province. Good on them. God Bless and prosper the work of the ministry in the name of Jesus.

I hope they're happy, but I'm guessing it won't take three months before they start to play the same zero-sum "somebody else has to lose in order for us to win" game they've been playing with members of TEC but now, not having either uppity women or uppity LGBT people who want to be ordained priests, they'll do it with each other.

I'm being generous, giving them three months. If the issue of women's ordination doesn't get 'em, lay presidency will. The "Thirty Nine Articles" so dearly beloved by Evangelicals and loathed by Anglo Catholics will prove to be 39 pickets in the fence that will divide them even further.

Not only that, but I predict that the chances of their being "approved" by 2/3 of the Primates at their next or any meeting - or accepted by the Anglican Consultative Council - or invited to the Lambeth Conference by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2018 is about the same as the chance of the largest snowball in the hottest places of hell.

It's not as much sad as it is monstrously pathetic.

They can call themselves "Anglican." That don't make it so. Anglicanism has always been about making room at the table - not casting those who don't agree with you into the outer darkness.

Whatever.

Meanwhile, I've been reading the latest issue of Christian Century, December 2, 2008 which arrived today - just in time to provide me a little intellectual diversion from the temptation to lower my IQ a few points by watching the goings on in Wheaton.

There, on page 19, I stumbled onto this newsflash:

"A Maryland appeals court has ruled that a suburban megachurch that split from the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church in 1999 must relinquish millions of dollars in property back to the denomination. The Heart Church Ministries in Temple Hills, Maryland, must turn over more than $30 million in property, including three sanctuaries, an office building and a large tract of property owned by the ministry, the Maryland Court of Special Appeals ruled in an opinion filed October 28. Thomas L. McCally, a lawyer for the denomination, views the decision as significant for the individual church and others with similar hierarchical structures."

Almost ten years in court, eh? But, they won. Right. The truth will have out.

Giddyup! Let's get on with it.

Meanwhile, I'm going to keep asking the question until someone answers:

NOW can we say 'schism'?

I mean, if we can say "Archbishop Duncan" surely we can say 'it is finished.'

If you can't laugh . . .

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

. . . then the battle is really lost.

And, let me tell you, it ain't. Far from it.

So enjoy this wonderful little clip and don't cancel your Registry at Macy's, kids.

Prop 8 will be over turned. "Gay marriages will save the economy."

In the words of Jack Black Jesus: "See ya later, sinners!"

What if Starbucks Marketed Like Church? A Parable

I've seen this clip now several times and while it's got its problems, it certainly gives the viewer pause for consideration - which is part of what Advent is all about, right?

Quite frankly, I'm ambivalent about "Media and the Church". I know - or, at least I'm told - that if we want to attract younger people to church, we need to be more tecno-savvy. Less organ music. More guitars and drums. More bells and whistles.

I confess that I think to myself: "Is this church or is this entertainment?"

Not to say that there are some parts of church that aren't or shouldn't be "entertaining." I suppose "entertainment" - like beauty - is in the perception of the person. And, I suppose, there is a generational component to it.

And yet, when I talk to seminarians between the ages of late 20's to early 40's, they seem to want more tradition.

Eucharist. Every week. Even in non-Eucharistic denomination.

Music. From the Hymnal. Prayer. From a proper Prayer Book and not on a projection screen. And, don't change the words every week, please. We want some place - one place - where there's some stability in our lives.

Oh, and some moments of quiet, please and thank you.

The folks sitting in my pew in that age demographic say much the same thing.

This little clip raises some questions about how we "do" church and how we "market" church. I think the deepest cut is the one it makes about 'authenticity' and how some of the 'canned messages' (like the guy with the 'greeter' pin doesn't) are seen for what they are.

I don't know. I think there's a great deal to think about here. Quietly.

Good thing it's Advent, huh?

For a few of my dear friends who, every now and again, need a little reminder.

Autobiography In Five Short Chapters
by Portia Nelson


Chapter 1

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.


Chapter II

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in this same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.


Chapter III

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it there.
I still fall in... it's a habit... but,
my eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.


Chapter IV

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the street.
I walk around it.


Chapter V

I walk down another street.

The End.

Or, rather, The Beginning

Note to self: Yes, religion can be an addiction. So can 'The Struggle'.

Memo to self: Pay closer attention to the content of your own sermons.

Slavery and Racism: The long road to reconciliation and healing

Personal note as preface: The legacy of slavery and racism is as painful, complicated and difficult to examine as the scars left by the master's whip on the slave's back.

There are no easy solutions, no easy path on the difficult road to reconciliation and healing. Indeed, it is about this particular journey that the old expression about the road to hell being paved with good intentions seems to have been created.

What follows is an open letter from the Rev'd Canon Ed Rodman about the recent attempt by the institutional Episcopal Church to repent of racism. It is Ed Rodman at Ed Rodman's best - intelligent, clear, focused and prophetic.

I encourage you to read this, which Mark Harris, a fellow member with Ed of The Executive Council, posted to the House of Bishop/Deputies Listserv as well as on his own blog (http://anglicanfuture.blogspot.com/2008/11/unintended-consequences-of-unexamined.html). I have posted it as well as my own (http://telling-secrets.blogspot.com).

This is not intended to provoke 'white guilt' or produce liberal knee-jerk mea culpas much less to open old wounds. I hope, like Mark and Ed, that this letter prompts honest conversation, intelligent thought and deeper prayer.

Further, I hope that our diocesan convention, in light of this open letter, will allow a late resolution which encourages the suggestion offered by Canon Rodman: to encourage General Convention "to consider some major event at the General Convention in which a better expression of the intent of the resolution could be made manifest and the several dioceses who have attempted to do the historical research as requested by the resolution in other sections might have a national platform to educate the church on their findings."

I hope other dioceses will also support this suggestion.

It's a long road home, but even the longest journey begins with the first step. And sometimes, we have to retrace our steps on that 'stony road we trod' to the liberation promised of Jesus..

An Open Letter to Various Leaders in The Episcopal Church on the Evolving
Implementation of the 2006 General Convention Resolution A123

It is with some trepidation that I feel called to write this open letter at this time. I would ask you to indulge me by taking the time to read it in its entirety so that any things that you may have heard or assumed about my various public statements on this issue can be viewed in their full context.

This letter is intended to affirm, educate, chastise, and invite us to a deeper dialogue toward the beloved community. Before I begin I should make certain biographical comments, for those who do not know who I am, so that you can appreciate that this comes from a working knowledge of much that has brought us to this point on this issue.

I am a sixty-six year old Black Episcopal priest, who has served his Church as faithfully as I have been able since my ordination in 1967, prior to that I was a history and political science major at Hampton Institute in Virginia, and one of the founders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Hence I can claim a forty-eight year history as an advocate forsocial justice and an unyielding opponent of all forms of oppression.

During my career I have had the pleasure of helping to found the Union of Black Episcopalians (originally UBCL), the Episcopal Urban Caucus, the Consultation and enabled the first three iterations of the National Church Anti-Racism Program.

Much of this was made possible by the good graces of the several bishops of the Diocese of Massachusetts (Anson Stokes, John Burgess, Ben Arnold, John B. Coburn, David Johnson, Barbara Harris, David Birney. and M. Thomas Shaw) who permitted me to exercise my ministry asCanon Missioner in these arenas for the national Church on an unpaid seconded basis except for the years 2000 to 2003 when I was a paid consultant to the Anti-Racism Committee.

They also encouraged me to provide the leadership on behalf of the Diocese of Massachusetts on many local struggles including prison abolition, the Boston School Desegregation Crisis and other struggles for justice too numerous to mention here. I am currently a professor at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts where I work in the area of Pastoral Theology, Urban Ministry and Anti-Oppression Studies.

I say these things not in pride but in order to establish a foundation of credibility and commitment that I have been blessed to have been able to maintain over these many years.

Having said this, I wish to be very clear that I affirm, support and commend the current leadership of the Presiding Bishop and her staff, as well as that of her predecessors in their willingness to stand tall on this issue and commit their time and the programmatic resources of the Church to see that we remain faithful to the task of combating the sin of racism.

In whatever follows, I hope that this ringing affirmation is crystal clear and informs the rest of this letter as a teaching tool and an invitation to deeper dialogue. I should note here that since my election to Executive Council in 2003 by the General Convention, I have felt a strong obligation to be faithful to those who voted for me in the full knowledge of my strong sense of commitment and willingness to speak truth to power.

One by-product of that election was to resign as the paid consultant to the Anti-Racism Committee, so that there could be no conflict of interest and equally important, exercise an oversight function on this an other social justice programs that are too often under threat, misunderstood or ignored by too many in the Church. And, it is in this capacity as an elected Executive Council member that I write today, in the full confidence that I speak for many on these matters. What now follows is the education which I promised at the outset.

Many of you may be surprised to know that this is the third such letter that I have written to the leadership of the Church over the last fifteen years. The first was in 1993, when as the convener of the Black Leaders and Diocesan Executives Think Tank (BLADE) in support of the Office of Black Ministries, calling into question the serial termination of nearly all the Black male executives on the staff of the national Church in less than a year.

It precipitated a frank meeting, with then Presiding Bishop Browning, in which I attempted to educate him on the appearance of institutional racism that these terminations exhibited on their face.

While I was unable to convince him of this fact at the time, subsequent events enabled him to respond more positively to my second open letter in 1995 on the subject of "A Lost Opportunity," which can be found in the Episcopal Urban Caucus publication, To Heal the Sin-Sick Soul.

The presiding officer's prompt response to that letter led to the creation of the Anti-Racism Training Program which was a necessary programmatic response to the House of Bishops Pastoral Letter on the Sin of Racism and the several General Convention resolutions which had committed the Church to a three triennial year cycle focused on this issue.

This was extended at the General Convention in 2000 and the formal committee on Anti-Racism was established with an appropriate staff person being hired to oversee the effort. In the previous three years it had been done on an ad hoc basis with a $100,000 contribution from the Diocese of Massachusetts, and my seconded time.

There is a long story which I will not bore you with in this letter of institutional resistance and personality clashes which would make a wonderful novel but are beside the point of the primary objective of the training.

Sadly because of the controversies over mandatory versus voluntary participation in training, in regard to who should take the training and how it was to be administered, (there was no such conflict when I did the training for the Presbyterian Church), obscured the fact that the objective was to bring about change on all four levels of our corporate life, i.e. individual, interpersonal, institutional, and cultural.

It was to that end that Resolutions A 123 and A 127 were brought forward to the General Convention in 2006 and whose implementation is in no small measure an objective test of the effectiveness of the training and other actions to bring about an authentically welcoming and anti-racist institution. The jury remains out on this latter question, but, the circumstances surrounding the first public effort to implement a key portion of Resolution A 123 is instructive while A 127 remains unattended.

And, now I will give the chastisement. It is not my purpose to cast aspersions or to make accusations, what I do know is that the resolution clearly called, in part, for a public apology by the national Church at the National Cathedral for its complicity in, and the benefits derived from slavery in the United States of America.

This did not happen, and there is yet to have been rendered a satisfactory explanation for the change in venue. Many have urged the presiding officers, in light of this fact, to consider some major event at the General Convention in which a better expression of the intent of the resolution could be made manifest and the several dioceses who have attempted to do the historical research as requested by the resolution in other sections might have a national platform to educate the church on their findings.

This may in turn inspire others to do likewise and still others in the spirit of this resolution and A 127 to examine the Church's less than glorious relationship with Native Americans, Hispanics, and Asians. Let us hope that this will occur.

What did happen was a two day event at the historic St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia on the 3rd and 4th of October 2008. Many of us had great difficulty with this decision inasmuch as it created the curious dynamic of those seeking to apologize to those who had been aggrieved inviting themselves to the house of those who had been offended.

This and other "curiosities" were more than amply addressed by the Reverend Doctor Harold Lewis and the Honorable Byron Rushing in their remarkable presentations on the first day. It is their talks which need to be widely circulated in the Church, both in print and on DVD, as they address the critical issues of the legacy of slavery and how we might approach the future, in light of the fact that the first step was being taken by the Church in publicly acknowledging its sins of omission.

Had the program ended there, it would have been a great success on its face, because those to whom the apology was being offered were able to articulate in some detail those things for which the apology was needed.

Sadly, on the second day a service was planned in which there was to be a liturgical expression marking this event and providing an opportunity for our current Presiding Bishop to lead the service and address the issue. She did her job with grace, clarity and amazing insight and honesty, however, the decision was made to begin the service with a litany which was neither historically correct nor appropriately structured to acknowledge that one group of people was apologizing to another group of people who for all of the history of slavery and most of the history of the Episcopal Church have been separate and unequal, and the people of color specifically excluded from the Councils of the Church.

Hence a litany which did not permit the group aggrieved to respond or to acknowledge their presence, especially in their own house, was the ultimate insult and example of racism to many of us who could not understand how people of color were to participate in a litany which correctly chronicled the sins but of which we were the involuntary subjects or as Tonto said to the Lone Ranger, "what do you mean WE."

Of equal importance the litany did not recognize nor give legitimacy to the history of protests begun by Absalom Jones and carried forward by Alexander Crummel and all those lay and clergy leaders who endured exclusion from the House of Deputies and General Convention until the 1930's.

Also, the litany did not acknowledge nor give legitimacy to the many white Church leaders, known and unknown, who protested slavery, established the colonization societies, and dutifully took messages to the General Conventions from the Conference of Colored Church Workers during the long period when Black folks had no voice much less a vote.

Finally, it did not give the Church the credit it is due for its support of the many Black educational institutions founded by Black Episcopalians and nurtured to this day through budget allocations. As Maya Angelou has so eloquently said, "History with all of its wrenching pain cannot be unlived, but if faced with courage need not be lived again."

It is to the profundity of this dictum that we must rededicate ourselves as we go forward.

To conclude, I would like to offer you an invitation in the form of a quotation that I used to open my remarks at the conclusion of the Friday educational event, they were penned by the noted peace maker Vern Neufeld Redekop in his seminal book From Violence to Blessing. In the introduction to his chapter on reconciliation he makes the following observation:

"Reconciliation means to stop imitating the entrenched
patterns of past violence, and to imagine, imitate and
create life patterns of well being meeting the identity
needs of Self and Other."

I firmly believe that we are all struggling mightily to live into this understanding of reconciliation and that we have enough time and effort invested in it to not allow this little bump in the road to set us off track and deter us from keeping our eye on the prize.

One of the reasons that I delayed writing this letter until after the election was that I was hopeful that Barack Obama's one person anti-racism training program would prevail, and as he noted, it now gives us a chance to make a change.

Regardless of how you feel about the election or the growing fears that the alarming economic crisis are raising, now more than ever the Church has to stand up and continue the internal dialogue and the external struggle to combat racism.

History teaches us that in these critical moments of transition and the promise of change, the desire to return to the fleshpots of Egypt often keep us prisoners of our fear rather than having the Gospel eyes to see the Red Sea being parted.

The inevitable backlash to his election and the potential scape-goating resulting from the fear and the reality of economic stress must be challenged at every point they arise. Now more than ever we must attempt to live into every way that we can find the profound truth of my favorite saying "Let there be peace among us and let us not be instruments of our own or others oppression."

Thank you for reading this and let us march on until victory is won. Please feel free to share this letter as broadly as you feel it is appropriate.

Peace,
Ed Rodman

Thanksgiving/Remembrance Day 2008

December 1: The 20th World AIDS Day

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams has recorded a video message to mark the 20th annual World AIDS day on December 1st 2008.

The video, available at http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2049 sees the Archbishop talk about the Church's worldwide involvement in care and education surrounding HIV and AIDS, and calls for faith leaders to 'encourage and support' what is being done by listening to those who work on the front lines.

He says "Our hope and our prayer today is that the excellent work that's done, not just in developing countries but here at home too by the Churches will continue and deepen and be strengthened by our prayer and our commitment."

"Recognising that people living with HIV is us not them, whether it's leaders and congregations, congregations and 'outsiders' - it's us. It's all of our business...Church leaders and Church congregations taking responsibility for educating the wider public."

There are currently 30 million people worldwide living with HIV.

In the video Dr Williams speaks with:
Winnie Sseruma - HIV Mainstreaming Coordinator, Christian Aid
Angelina Namibia - Resource Leader, NAHIP and African HIV Policy Network
Maureen Ndawana - Zimbabwe Womens Network UK
Janet Murungi - Coordinator, Rise Community Action