9/11

"Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, was in New york City on the day of the terrorist attacks in 2001 and later wrote a book called Writing in the Dust, a reflection on his experience of that event. In the book he tells us that he read some of the messages sent by passengers on the planes to their spouses and families in the horrible last moments before they died, and he compared them to the spiritual advice that had apparently been given to the terrorists before they embarked on their mission, the kinds of thought they were told they should have in their minds as they approached the death they had chosen 'for themselves and for others.' Rowan Williams notes that 'something of the chill of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 lies in the contrast.'

'The religious words are, in the cold light of day, the words that murderers are saying to themselves to make a martyr's drama out of a crime. The nonreligious words (of people sending desperate messages to their loved ones) are testimony to what religious language is supposed to be about--the triumph of pointless, gratuitous love, the affirming of faithfulness even when there is nothing to be done or salvaged.'"

Consiglio, Cyprian. Prayer in the Cave of the Heart: The Universal Call to Contemplation. Collegeville, Minnesota: Liturgical Press, 2010. 65.

Oddly, after a beautiful 9/11 service at First United Methodist Church and the heartwarming baptism of our granddaughter Avery, I fund myself starting to read again a book I had put aside a few months ago--and found the above quotation by Rowan Williams about 9/11/01, ten years ago today. It is very appropriate, as I have nothing of mine own to say about this anniversary.

Prisoners of Ourselves

When I got back home, I had various issues of magazines to peruse. In the August 9 issue of The Christian Century, I found this excellent thought offered by Rowan Williams:

"Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams recalled for the Guardian (July 8) how he once was an angst-ridden young man who worried about whether he was suffering enough or was compassionate enough. But then Mary Clare Millia, a Catholic nun, said to him, 'You don't have to suffer for the sins of the world, darling. It's been done.' If we're not preoccupied with justifying ourselves, said Williams, then we can focus on other things and can even afford to be wrong. 'Jesus is the human event that reverses the flow of human self-absorption.'"

It is too easy to be self-absorbed, and here is a prayer that helps us realize this:

O God, bring new life
where we are worn and tired;
new love
where we have turned hard-hearted;
forgiveness
where we have wounded;
and the joy and freedom of your Holy Spirit
where we are prisoners of our selves.

~~John L. Bell


Bell, John L. The Book of a Thousand Prayers. Ed. Angela Ashwin. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. 138.

IT GETS BETTER: Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire

Up in Heaven?

With thanks to Mad Priest

Slideshow: Haiti earthquake damage and recovery efforts (photos, video)

Slideshow: Haiti earthquake damage and recovery efforts (photos, video)

Posted using ShareThis

PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF HAITI.

Saturday Stuff

• Sun is out and it feels warmer than it is; 41 degrees F., which is unusually cold for Corpus Christi, TX.

• Daughter MJ and I saw "Avatar" today. I'm so glad I saw it; without her, I never would have seen it in a theater. 3-D is a must! It was fun, beautiful, and mythic--and reminiscent of a video game with the fight sequences. This is the fourth movie I've seen in two weeks, which is probably more than I'd usually see in an entire year in a theater!

• I am praying for my church All Saints Episcopal Church. We've had a difficult 2 1/2 years: pastor of 17 years left; interim priest; wonderful new priest; clergy misconduct of first rector comes to light; and now wonderful not-so-new priest is being considered as a candidate for Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Wyoming. Sandy is so exceptional and also beloved in Wyoming (where she used to be) that I cannot imagine she would not be elected on March 20. I dread the whole interim/search process again so soon, but I don't want to hope or pray that Sandy is not selected.
  

• MJ goes back to school in San Antonio on Monday.
  

• Husband CB is in the All Saints Choir. Tomorrow afternoon there is a special choir performance at church. Following that is a choir party at one of the members' home. Potluck; I am taking the easy Symphony brownies, where you put Symphony chocolate bars in between two layers of brownie mix, like this. Very easy recipe, but so good.
  

Wyoming Bishop Search, which includes my parish priest

WYOMING BISHOP SEARCH UPDATE 12-22-09

Two New Nominees Join Slate for Bishop of Wyoming

The Oversight Committee for the Search, Transition & Election has certified the petition nominations for The Rev. Canon Margaret Babcock and The Rev. Sandra Casey-Martus to join the slate for the 9th Bishop of Wyoming, making a total now of six nominees. These two candidates will be officially added to the ballot for the Electing Convention once their Oxford background checks have cleared.

Margaret Babcock is presently an employee of the Diocese of Wyoming, serving as the canon for congregational and ministry development. Sandra Casey-Martus is rector of All Saints Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, TX and has roots in Wyoming. She was the executive director of the Alta Retreat Center for 10 years and the vicar of St. Francis in the Tetons from 1996-2005.

[I announced that Sandy would be our new priest at All Saints Episcopal Church about one year ago here.]

Petition nominees Babcock and Casey-Martus join the Search Committee nominees:

- The Rev. Rebecca “Becky” Brown, Rector - St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Foxborough, MA / Diocese of Massachusetts

- The Very Rev. Canon F. Michael Perko, Ph.d., Dean – Diocesan School for Ministry; Regional Canon; Assisting Priest, Cathedral of St. John, Albuquerque, NM / Diocese of the Rio Grande

- The Rev. Canon Dr. Clark Michael Sherman, Rector – St. James Church, Bozeman, MT; Regional Canon; University Chaplain / Diocese of Montana

- The Rev. John Sheridan Smylie, Rector – St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Casper, WY / Diocese of Wyoming

Nominee walkabouts will take place around the state from February 24 to March 4, 2010 with the Electing Convention scheduled for March 20, 2010 at St. Matthew's Cathedral in Laramie.

http://www.wyomingbishopsearch.com/

Friday Stuff

With Dennis so ill in Seattle and it being so HOT here in TX, I have not felt like blogging lately. And this is despite my responsibility at RevGalBlogPals to write today's Friday Five, which has had a healthy 29 responses (without mine). I am glad RevGals wrote about games, which will give me ideas for our family vacation as I am not a "game-y" person.

I want to write something, so I guess it'll be bullet-style, for my own benefit.

• TX heat--this is the hottest year in TX history since 1925. The only thing it is good for is hanging clothes out on the clothesline to dry, which I do almost everyday. Our two dogs prefer the house air-conditioned atmosphere, but a full laundry basket is a signal for both of them to come outside with me. Our beloved BLACK Lab, who died a few years ago, hated the heat so much that she could not be fooled by an empty laundry basket, when I sometimes tried to get her to go outside.

• Husband CB and I are flying to Seattle on Wednesday to visit Terry and Dennis. Dennis is having surgery to remove the tumor in his liver on Friday, July 24. We will stay one week. Then we'll come back to TX for six days before returning to Seattle with our family for a vacation, which is hard to predict with Dennis' future uncertain.
  

• Before my friend Joe died last year, I ordered a book with the subtitle "A guide to the emotional and spiritual care of the dying." I never read it, and it was shoved into a book shelf for the past year. When it was decided that we would go to be with Dennis, I found the book and started reading it. Facing Death and Finding Hope by Christine Longaker is just what I needed before this trip. The author is a Tibetan Buddhist who keeps emphasizing that we learn to die as we live: "Thus all the things that happen--especially the 'deaths within life' that we necessarily experience--are markers, along our path, pointing the way toward learning how to live, and in so doing, how to die." (15)

• This week has been a beginning in de-cluttering. Each day I am getting rid of TEN items (even one piece of paper is one object) in each room of the house. I vaguely remember this idea from FlyLady, which I tried a few years ago but quit when I was inundated by emails. (She suggests the 27 fling boogie.) I usually put away or throw out more stuff than just ten, but the small minimum helps me get started.

• I am excited that the General Conference of the Episcopal Church passed Resolution C056 (http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/view_leg_detail.aspx?id=898&type=Current). "This resolution allows for a ‘generous pastoral response’ to the needs of same gender couples. What that actually means will vary from diocese to diocese, depending on how the Bishop discerns the needs of the people and the movement of the Spirit. In some places it’ll mean church weddings, in others something very private and discreet, and in some places there will be nothing at all." (from here) However, I fear the south TX Bishops did not vote in favor of this resolution and so effects may not be seen in this area of the country.

• Susan Russell is the current president of Integrity USA. Her blog is An Inch at a Time, which will tell you much more about the 2009 General Conference in Anaheim.
  

The EGR Rule of Life

Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation is committed to:

- direct the Church's attention to alleviating the extreme poverty of the world. (Matthew 25:31-46);

- make explicit the Christ-centeredness of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), believing that for Christians today following Jesus involves commitment to the MDGs, and commitment to the MDGs involves commitment to Jesus (John 10:10);

- turn life around (conversion) at the individual, congregational, diocesan, national, and global level for the sake of the poor and suffering of the world. (Luke 18:18-23).

EGR invites individuals, congregations, dioceses, and other institutions of The Episcopal Church to enter into this Rule of Life as a way of living out these commitments.

The Rule is as simple as it is radical in that it reflects the heart of the Gospel and calls for a comprehensive personal and institutional response.

Click here to commit yourself, your congregation or your institution to the Rule.

The individual, congregation, diocese or other institution of the Episcopal Church pledges to:

Pray: Regularly hold before God the Millennium Development Goals and pray with an unrelenting intention for the poor.

Study: Undertake regular education on issues and faithful responses related to global poverty.

Give: Make sacrificial and regular financial contributions to help achieve the MDGs, including annual support to Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation to build the movement.

Act: Direct one’s life and activities by agreeing to:

*Connect:Seek to engage in real and tangible ways with the impoverished and others committed to the achievement of the MDGs;

*Witness: Speak, write, create, and make life choices that advance God’s mission of global reconciliation through the MDGs;

*Advocate: Bring before secular and church bodies your personal and institutional commitment to meet the MDGs.

EGR

In great sadness

A certain brother came to Abbot Poemen and said: What ought I to do, father? I am in great sadness. The elder said to him: Never despise anybody, never condemn anybody, never speak evil of anyone, and the Lord will give you peace.

--Verba Seniorum [Words of the Elders], written in Greek about the early Christian hermits of the Middle East, translated into Latin in the mid-500s. From Wisdom of the Desert (pub.1960), tr. by Thomas Merton (1915-1968).

I am in great sadness, too, because we have officially been told at our church that our former priest, who had served for 17 years here, has renounced his orders in the Episcopal Church and has been deposed by the Bishop of Atlanta. A better writer than I eloquently described the situation on his blog.

It is a complicated story, which is still being revealed. I was privileged to hear the story this afternoon in a group setting. I am grieved to hear what went on. I am very sad. Even as I realize that this priest served our parish, community, and more specifically me in many healing, teaching, and preaching ways, I see that he was more flawed than we ever saw. He really helped me learn to trust men, and now I am wrestling with the contradictions of that connected to this.

This weekend starts the healing and full-disclosure. On Saturday our bishop will have a meeting with all the church that comes to the gathering, for questions, remarks, and any thing that arises. Another bishop will preach on Sunday.

Unfortunately (or maybe serendipitously), I will be not in attendance at any of these events. Tomorrow I am going to San Antonio to hear Richard Rohr and Joan Chittister speak. I am going with a friend, because on Saturday my husband has to pick me up so we can drive on to Austin for an afternoon wedding.

Christianity in America

by David Horsey of the Seattle P-I

My daughter in Seattle sent me a link to this cartoon a few days ago. I guess I like it because of what the Episcopalian says; I'm sure my daughter thought of me being that mother back when we went to the Methodist Church.

Friday Five: Adoremus Te

The Betrayal
1350-1400
by Niccola di Giacoma da Bologna

Sophia writes this week's Friday Five for RevGalBlogPals:

Adoramus te, Christe,
et benedicimus tibi,
quia per sanctam crucem tuam
redemisti mundum.
Qui passus es pro nobis,
Domine, miserere nobis.

We adore you, O Christ,
and we bless you,
because by your holy cross
you have redeemed the world.
O Lord, who suffered for us,
have mercy on us.

1. How will you pray and worship today?
I was blessed to start the morning off with the weekly Renovare Group that meets at my house. Instead of berating myself about my failure to pray twice a day or whether or not I should go to the Good Friday Service tonight when my family does not want to, I came to the realization that God is calling me to "look to Jesus" and be aware of the holiness of this day.

I am rushing around getting ready for my two sons and one daughter-in-law to arrive today, to my great happiness. Youngest daughter MJ is already here. I will get meals and everything else ready, but I will also take the time to sit with God.

The biggest realization is that I can go to the 6 pm Good Friday service at church alone, and I can ask everyone else to get dinner ready while I'm gone. I'll have the ingredients here, but they can do the rest. We'll help each other, and it's getting me to let go of control.

2. Share a powerful memory or memories of Good Friday past.
The most powerful memory I have of a Good Friday is the one that occurred about four years ago when I was trying to discern about leaving the Methodist Church for the Episcopal one. At the noon service at the first church, a former pastor there laughingly said that Jesus knew the outcome, and so the Passion was not that hard for him. I remember several old ladies really liked that message. I was disturbed.

When I came to the Good Friday service at All Saints Episcopal Church, the solemnity and holiness of the day overwhelmed me. I was grateful and decided then to re-join the Episcopal Church. That is why I want to go to the Good Friday liturgy tonight.

3. How have you grown and experienced God's love during this past Lent?
These weeks of Lent of spending more intentional times in silence and continuing to go to the Lectio Divina group each week have brought me to a clearer image of how I resist following the path of discipleship--and I am still loved. This past Wednesday, we meditated upon Hebrews 12:1-2, and I realized that my invitation is to keep "looking to Jesus." As Sandy, our new rector, keeps telling us: "Jesus is our model."

4. In whom do you see the face of the suffering Christ most clearly?
I am hoping I will see past his "distressing disguise" as Mother Teresa used to say. I experienced that last night in our Maunday Thursday Service, which lasted for two hours, through the long silence of individuals washing another's feet, followed by Eucharist and the stripping of the altar.

5. Where do you find hope for resurrection?
In the renewal of love felt within me. Also, in the new legal proceedings that allow for legal marriages for gay couples in Vermont and Iowa.

Bonus: Share a song, poem, or prayer that makes the paschal mystery come alive for you.

(Maybe later. . . .)

Our New Priest

Our new priest is Sandy Casey-Martus, who is leaving All Saints Episcopal Church in Austin, TX as associate rector to be rector of my parish, All Saints Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, TX. Her first Sunday is Feb. 15.

She and Carla R. Mancari are authors of a book The Lessons: How to Understand Spiritual Principles, Spiritual Activities, and Rising Emotions. In this book, they teach about Christ-Centered Prayer, which is also a website they maintain.

This is the topic of a conference I am attending all next week: January 17-23. I am eager to meet Sandy!

Anglican Church Obsessed with Gays--Tutu

Thanks to my daughter AE for sending me a link to the BBC article that quotes Archbishop Desmond Tutu as saying that the Anglican/Episcopal Church is so obsessed with the gay issue that world poverty is not a priority.

"Archbishop Desmond Tutu has accused the Anglican church of allowing its 'obsession' with homosexuality to come before real action on world poverty.

"'God is weeping' to see such a focus on sexuality and the Church is 'quite rightly' seen by many as irrelevant on the issue of poverty, he said.

"It may be good to "accept that we agree to differ" on the gay issue, he said.

"Archbishop Tutu was addressing a conference of church leaders organised by the Christian charity Tearfund.

"The Church says its work on poverty tends to be overlooked."

Go here to read the rest of the article by Robert Pigott.

Anglican Church Around the World

About ten days ago, the BBC News put out this info about various Anglican churches worldwide. I'm a little late, but being way off in Texas in the USA, where the only news I hear about the worldwide Anglican communion is through various blogs, I found this to be quite interesting. To see the world map, go here.

This may be too elementary for most people, but it helped me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Anglican Communion - the Anglican Church around the world - is in turmoil over the issue of homosexuality.

Traditionalists are strongly opposed to the ordination of gay clergy and the blessing of same-sex relationships whereas liberals are urging tolerance and change.

A rift developed in 2003 after the consecration in the US of an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson. The ordination of female priests is also a contentious issue.

In June 2008 some 1,100 traditionalist Anglicans gathered in Jerusalem at the Global Anglican Future Conference (Gafcon) to form a network to combat modern trends in the Church.

---

England
Primate: Dr Rowan Williams
Number of Anglicans: No figures are available for England (rather than the UK) but the most recent national Social Trends survey found 22.2% of people identified themselves as Anglican when asked. This would give a UK figure of about 13.4 million. However, the Church of England puts the number of regular churchgoers at 1.7m.
Total population: 50.8m (60.6m UK)
History: English Christianity emerged from the missionary work of St Augustine, sent from Rome in 597, and from the work of Celtic missionaries in the north. Separated from Rome in the 16th Century and became Protestant.
Stance on gay issue: The issue came to the fore in 2003 when a gay canon was elected Bishop of Reading. Before he could take up his post there was an outcry and he was persuaded to resign by Archbishop Rowan Williams. Some senior clergy voiced dismay at this. Under Church of England guidance, gay priests can enter civil partnerships as long as they remain celibate.

---

Australia
Primate: Dr Phillip Aspinall
Anglicans: 3.9m
Total population: 20m
History: Founded in 1788 with the arrival of the first emigrants from the UK.
Stance: No official stance on homosexuality however Dr Aspinall said he felt "sadness" about the Gafcon rift and added that there was room in the Church for different views.

---

Canada
Primate: Fred Hiltz
Anglicans: 642,000
Total population: 32m
History: First church building was St. Paul's, Halifax, in 1750.
Stance: A statement issued after Gafcon says: "We are committed to constructive dialogue on all issues facing our beloved church and the Communion, including the blessing of same-sex unions. We remain convinced that as contentious as this issue may be, it should not be a Communion-breaking issue."

---

Central Africa
(Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe)
Primate: Post vacant
Anglicans: 600,000+
Total population: 36m
History: The first Anglican missionary to Malawi was Bishop Charles Mackenzie, who arrived with David Livingstone in 1861.
Stance: Former Archbishop Bernard Malango said the appointment of Gene Robinson "brought darkness, disappointment, sadness and grief" to his province.

---

Kenya
Primate: Benjamin Nzimbi
Anglicans: 2.5m
Total population: 32m
History: Mombasa saw the arrival of Anglican missionaries in 1844. The first Africans were ordained to the priesthood in 1885.
Stance: Archbishop Nzimbi has consistently and strongly spoken against admitting homosexuals into the church.

---

New Zealand
Primate: William Brown Turei
Anglicans: 584,800
Total population: 3.9m
History: The Anglican Church in New Zealand had its beginnings in 1814 when the Maori chief Ruatara agreed with the Reverend Samuel Marsden to give protection to three missionaries and their families at Oihi in the Bay of Islands.
Stance: No stated policy.

---

Nigeria
Primate: Peter Akinola
Anglicans: 15m
Total population: 134m
History: The rebirth of Christianity began with the arrival of Christian freed slaves in Nigeria in the middle of the 19th Century.
Stance: The church remains strongly and vocally opposed to homosexuality, regarding it as taboo and contrary to the teachings of the Bible.

---

Southern Africa
(S Africa, Lesotho, Namibia, Mozambique, Swaziland)
Primate: Thabo Makgoba
Anglicans: 2m
Total population: 65m
History: British Anglicans met for worship in Cape Town after 1806 and the first bishop was appointed in 1847.
Stance: No official stance. Archbishop Makgoba attended Gafcon but said he hoped for reconciliation within the Church on the "thorny" issue.

---

Sudan
Primate: Daniel Deng Bul
Anglicans: 5m
Total population: 38m
History: The Church Missionary Society began work in 1899 in Omdurman. Christianity spread rapidly among black Africans of the southern region.
Stance: The previous Archbishop Joseph Marona, who retired in December 2007, said the Church should tackle the effects of war and poverty before homosexuality. "We have much worse things to face," he said.

---

Tanzania
Primate: Valentino Mokiwa
Anglicans: 2m
Total population: 36m
History: The Universities Mission to Central Africa and the Church Missionary Society began work in 1864 and 1878 at Mpwapwa.
Stance: Archbishop Mokiwa has said homosexual practice is a sin and has spoken of a "leadership failure" at Canterbury over the issue and the ordination of women priests.

---

Uganda
Primate: Henry Luke Orombi
Anglicans: 8m
Total population: 26m
History: After its founding in 1877 by the Church Missionary Society, the Church grew through the evangelisation of Africans by Africans.
Stance: Strongly opposed. The Ugandan church severed ties with its US counterpart over the election of Gene Robinson.

---

United States
Primate: Katharine Jefferts Schori
Anglicans: 2.4m
Total population: 290m
History: Anglicanism was brought to the New World by explorers and colonists with the first celebration of the Holy Eucharist in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
Stance: The first church to elect an openly gay bishop - but only after long and heated debate.

---

West Africa
(Ghana, Gambia, Liberia, Sierre Leone)
Primate: Justice Ofei Akrofi (Ghana)
Anglicans: 1m
Total population: 31m
History: The Church of the Province of West Africa divided to form the Province of Nigeria and the Province of West Africa in 1979.
Stance: The Church broke ties with its US counterpart over the confirmation of Gene Robinson. The archbishop called homosexuality "unscriptural, unnatural and totally incompatible with Christian values".

---

West Indies
(including Barbados, Belize, Guyana, Jamaica, Bahamas, Trinidad and Tobago)
Primate: Drexel Gomez
Anglicans: 777,000
Total population: 5.3m
History: The Anglican Church arrived in the West Indies with the original English settlers in the early part of the 17th Century, the clergy for the most part being state chaplains to the English officials and planters.
Stance: Archbishop Gomez has said the confirmation of Gene Robinson is incompatible with scripture.

Anglican Women Bishops! YAY!

From God's Politics blog by Jim Wallis and friends:

A Woman's Place is in the House ... of Bishops (by Joy Carroll Wallis)

It was almost 16 years ago that I sat in the debating chamber of Church House in Westminster and voted as a member of the House of Clergy to ordain women to the priesthood in the Church of England. At the time I was one of the youngest members of the House of Clergy, and I was in the first group of women ordained to the priesthood.

On Monday, July 7, the general synod meeting in York, England finished the job. At long last they have approved that women may also be consecrated as bishops--jettisoning the custom of a male-only episcopacy.

When women were first admitted to the priesthood in 1994, the synod passed various "safeguards" and "provisions" that included "flying [male] bishops" to serve those opposed to ordaining women. That year, I made an impassioned speech against those "provisions." This time, the women clergy made it clear to the House of Bishops that they wanted women to be bishops, but not at any cost. In a statement issued in May 2008, the women clergy said:

The price of legal "safeguards" for those opposed is simply too high, diminishing not just the women concerned, but the catholicity, integrity and mission of the episcopate and of the Church as a whole. We cannot countenance any proposal that would, once again, enshrine and formalize discrimination against women in legislation. With great regret, we would be prepared to wait longer, rather than see further damage done to the Church of England by passing discriminatory laws. ... If it is to be episcopacy for women qualified by legal arrangements to "protect" others from our oversight, then our answer, respectfully, is thank you, but no.

This incredible and historic decision that the synod has made is all the more wonderful to me because the legislation contains no "safeguards." It has simply a compassionate "code of practice" to be worked out over the next few years. No women will be consecrated as a bishop until the year 2014 and in the meantime, "arrangements" will be embodied in the code of practice for those who feel bereaved and betrayed by the raising of women to the episcopacy.

It is finally done! And this time I trust that the legislation will pass the test of theological integrity. I doubt that the fallout will be as bad as some have predicted. Many who threatened to leave the Church of England if this legislation passed have already decided to reconsider. Over the past 14 years of women in priesthood, many gracious and wise women priests have gained a lot of experience in building trusting relationships with those unable to accept their priestly ministry. I have no doubt that those eventually appointed will take this experience into the episcopate. They will do their jobs as shepherds, teachers, and unifiers with prayerful compassion and generosity.

On a more personal note: Whoo hoo!

Joy Carroll Wallis was among the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in England in 1994. She's the author of The Woman Behind the Collar: The Pioneering Journey of an Episcopal Priest. Carroll Wallis lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband (Sojourners editor-in-chief Jim Wallis) and their two sons, Luke and Jack.

Gene Robinson Speaks on God's Love

"My Turn" from Newsweek Magazine

Two friends from opposite coasts of the U.S. emailed me about "My Turn" in the most recent Newsweek, and then I read about it at Musings of an Episcopal Padre. The essay is entitled "Let Me Worship as I Am." It is by Jimmy Doyle and tells his journey as a gay man in finding a spiritual home in the Episcopal Church. This makes me proud to be an Episcopalian.

I chuckled when he wrote of his discomfort with the general opinion of "Christian" as a category, something I struggle with when classed with the prevailing idea of Christianity as fundamentalists on the loose judging everyone else.

"The very word 'Christian' makes me wish I'd had a Druid spiritual awakening. In today's lexicon, Christian is equated with fanatics who need God to be as human as can be: male, full of pride and hate, war-loving and with a voting record that can only be described as shortsighted. For me to have found the answer to my spiritual hunger in the teachings of Jesus was at best highly inconvenient."

I know LGBT people have difficulties with the judgment and condemnation felt from Christians and Christian churches, and so I was glad Doyle could write:

"As my partner's Mormon mother would say, I have a testimony. I was created by God, who works through all of his creation, and I've been gay as a handbag since birth. . . .And I have faith that I will stand in front of the altar of God and commit my life to the man I love, with smells and bells and without secrecy. It is right to stand before God as I am, and speak my own truth."

Luckily, he and his partner live in California, where it is now legal to be married as same-sex partners. I hope and pray that this will become true for my daughter and her partner in Washington State.

Go here to read the rest of the article.

And connected with this is the happy story of an older lesbian couple who now can marry in California, as posted by Choral Girl.

Episcopal Relief and Development Conference

I have been named the West Texas Diocesan Coordinator to Episcopal Relief and Development. I am going to the ERD Network Conference in Minneapolis on Thursday through Sunday of this week. I hope I will learn a lot about what my job entails, since few people I've spoken to even know what it is. When I was asked to do this, I was told I could do "as much or as little" as I felt like doing. Our interim priest commented that obviously the past coordinator did very little; neither have I so far!

Province VII is one of nine regional groupings in the Episcopal Church, USA. Look way down to the bottom and you will see the Diocese of West Texas, which has 91 congregations. There are over 27,000 members spread across 60 counties of South Central Texas; from Brady in the north to Brownsville in the south, and from Victoria in the east to Del Rio in the west. I attend one of those 91 churches--All Saints Episcopal Church in Corpus Christi, TX.

I am excited about going and don't know what to expect. I just hope I'll learn a great deal and also be inspired to act.

ERD provides emergency assistance in times of disaster; rebuilds devastated communities and offers long-term program development solutions to fight poverty.

ERD’s mandate is found in Matthew 25: 37-40.

Feast of Red Beans and Rice

Thanks to Episcopalooza, I looked at this video of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preaching to Christ Episcopal Church in Dearborn, Michigan. I almost did not look at it, because it is 10 minutes long! But what she says and how she says it make the time go by very quickly.
Look and see!