No Outcasts: Ora Houston

We Who Were Once Excluded Will Exclude No One

Not Even Those Who Exclude Us

By Ora Houston 

Ora Houston

At the 76th General Convention, the triennial gathering of The Episcopal Church, some actions left Episcopalians--who have traditionally viewed the Church from positions of power and privilege--feeling marginalized and not heard—again. Faithful Christians described feelings of being pushed to the margins of the Church, and being fearful that the Church they love is changing. They feel forced to choose between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion.

I empathize with everyone who is experiencing those feelings. The realities of being on the margins of the Diocese and the Church are not new for many Episcopalians. I love the Episcopal Church; it is the denomination where I choose to work out my salvation. During my 50 years in this church, like many Episcopalians, I have struggled to be accepted by the Church. When I learned the Church was silent during the Civil War (scripture was used to support slavery), I stayed. During the civil rights era of the 60s, when the Diocese was mute about my humanity and pleas for justice went unheard, I stayed. While on the margins we stay, we serve and we continue to send our money to a Church that, for decades, accepted our gifts without acknowledging our pain.

It was a privilege to represent all of the people of God in the Diocese. Anaheim provided me with a rare opportunity to develop relationships with fellow lay deputies from Texas. As one might expect, there were awkward moments in the beginning. Let’s be honest, I am different from them – I am not an attorney and I am not male! Our society does not provide opportunities to engage in meaningful conversation with faithful Christians who are in some way different. Perhaps the Diocese can be intentional about identifying safe places to develop relationships.

We each experience the love, mercy and grace of God, not because we are faithful, but because God is faithful. God is faithful to people at the center of power and to those gathered at the edges. As followers of Christ we are directed to love God and to love one another. That is an inclusive statement…no exceptions. I am confident that the Church is in good “hands”—God’s.

From Texas Episcopalian, here.

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More than Justice... Gospel Truth

A great post (from July) from Michael Hopkins (former president of IntegrityUSA):

 

It's About More Than Justice

One of the caricatures of the movement for full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in the Episcopal Church is that for us it is all about justice. It is about justice, of course, but it is also about far, far more. It is about the very nature of Gospel.

“The Gospel” can be defined in as many ways as there are Christians, of course. Jesus didn’t give us a neat definition with which to work. He did say it was about the ability to change one’s mind, one’s sense of direction (“repent and believe the good news”). But for the content of this good news he used the metaphor of the kingdom of God and told a lot of stories. In the end he acted out one great story with his life and his death. Overall, the good news is about the overcoming of estrangement, reconciliation between God and humankind and between human beings. We all have to trust in his death and resurrection for this reconciliation to be the truth that sets us free. This freedom is grace, as we call it, unmerited favor.

The inclusion of glbt people in the life of the church is a radical sign of this grace. People whom the law separates from the faithful are reconciled by it. And this happens in spite of religious and secular authorities desiring for it not to be so. They fear the breakdown of society if the inclusion goes too far too fast, but it has always been thus with the Church, which at its best has always scandalized the authorities, because Jesus Christ was and is the greatest scandal of them all.

A well-meaning bishop once said to my then Senior Warden (who was relatively new to the parish—it was a small parish, rebuilding) that it was great that she chose to be a member of the parish in spite of the fact that I was gay. My Senior Warden responded, “No, I’m a member of this parish because he is gay. Because if God can love him then God can love me.”

That’s what this is about. This is not about a group of people clamoring for their “rights.” It is about the power of the Gospel to reconcile across every divide that humankind creates.

As a Christian who happens to be gay, St. Paul’s words that we will hear the Sunday after General Convention is over (July 19) ring true and strong.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace… (from Ephesians 2:11-22)

To this truth, by the grace of God, the lives of glbt Christians bear witness.


Michael's blog is here.

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The Canary in the Mine: GLBT Inclusion and Young Adult Ministry

More good stuff from Otis Gattis, who argues that young adults see Christianity as anti-gay, which is increasingly seen as a signal for more subtle forms of oppression and exclusion.  According to Gattis, young adults increasingly see opposition to gay rights as equivalent to racism, and reject affiliations that conflict with their values.  The full essay is here.  

"As people begin to really study young adult views of Christianity and how gay and lesbian people fit into that story, I think we will find that young adults are not rejecting Christianity simply because it is perceived as anti-gay but that they are viewing gay people as the canary in the mine. Culturally, the gay experience has become a metaphor for the journey of self-discovery and a willingness to be true to one’s self in spite of persecution. And this is what young adults are, in part, looking for spiritually, places where they can connect to their true selves. If we listen they might tell us, “If a place is not only safe for gay people but is affirming of them, then perhaps it will be safe for me. Perhaps, I will be affirmed by this spiritual community when I find myself. Maybe this community is capable of helping me get there.”" Click Here to Read More..

Inclusion of LGBT persons, young adult ministry, and the challenge of post-modernism

Otis Gaddis is a young adult seminarian from DC. He has been writing some very thought provoking stuff.  A taste below.  The whole article is here.

"As we start clearing away the barriers that have been keeping people out of our Church we must also do the work of making the Church a place where people are not only safe spiritually but grow spiritually. When that happens, people are transformed and they will get excited and they will want to be witnesses to that they have experienced. Creating that environment for growth is deeply connected to the work we have been doing on LGBT issues. It is through that work that the church as an institution is starting to intentionally respond to the post-modern world that now surrounds us. The fact that we are one of the first denominations to “get it” on LGBT stuff means that we are much, much closer to getting what young adults really want and how to offer them the gospel in their social context. Right now we are focusing on how we include LGBT people in the life of the Church, but as I have suggested in this article, as we theologically and philosophically contemplate what it means that we desire to fully including LGBT people, we will also begin to access new ways of seeing the world that will give us a leg up for evangelism and Christian Formation in our emerging social context. And that is exciting." Click Here to Read More..

Imaginary Anglicanism

At Episcopal Cafe, Frank Turner posted a very thought-provoking essay about the Anglican Communion and how some seek to transform it into a world-wide church with disciplinary structures (presumably to keep the Americans in line or kick them out).  A taste below.  It's well worth reading the entire thing. 

“The Instruments of Communion,” now being given supposed histories and purposes different from their actual origins and being made vehicles for the controlled invention of identity, are of relatively recent origin. The Lambeth Conference, first convened in 1867 by Archbishop Charles Thomas Longley for providing “Brotherly Counsel and encouragement,” gathered amidst much controversy. Several bishops of the Province of York refused to attend, and Dean Arthur Stanley denied the group the use of Westminster Abbey. In neither its origin nor in its decades of meeting was the Lambeth Conference ever intended as a general conference of the whole church or as a legislative body. Not until 1969 did the Anglican Consultative Council first convene. Only in 1978 did the Primates begin to gather regularly, and they refused to define those meetings as any kind of higher synod. The Lambeth Conference of 1998 (Resolution 3.6) stated that the activities of the Primates should not interfere with the judicial authorities of the several constituent provinces. All of these gatherings were collegial in character designed to further communication and bonds of fellowship among the vastly different churches of what was evolving as an imagined worldwide Anglican Communion.
What most notably demonstrates that the so-called Anglican Communion is merely a still-emerging imagined community is the fact that only in the past few years (really the past few months) have some of its leaders decided that they must construct a covenant determining what beliefs and practices actually constitute its theological and ideological basis. That is to say, the Anglican Communion presumably having existed for its present proponents since the first Lambeth Conference in l867 must now actually figure out what holds it together theologically and ecclesiastically. What the effort to establish a covenant demonstrates is that the so-called Anglican Communion does not really exist but must be forcibly drawn into existence. Radical innovation rather than tradition hence drives the process.

The idea and the effort to establish a covenant that might at great cost of conscience and intellect call into being an actual as opposed to an imagined Anglican Communion unhappily recalls moments in the history of the Church of England that many people have chosen to forget. During most of the twentieth century spokesmen for the Church of England and for those various churches around the world in one way or another derived from that church have emphasized the reasonableness and moderation of Anglicanism, and thus the Church of England displayed itself for most of the past century. But in point of fact, throughout much of its earlier history the Church of England was an actively persecuting church. Under Elizabeth it persecuted recalcitrant Roman Catholics. After the Restoration in l660 the Church of England drove out the Protestant Nonconformists. Thereafter until the late l820s the Church of England benefited from legislation that prevented Protestant Nonconformists and Roman Catholics from participating in English political life. Over the centuries the authorities of the Church of England sometimes on their own and sometimes with government aid excluded or drove from its ranks the likes of John Bunyan, Philip Doddridge, Isaac Watts, eventually the Methodists, and John Henry Newman. In the second half of the nineteenth century the authorities of the Church of England led by its bishops and its Archbishops of Canterbury persecuted and took to court the liberal authors of Essays and Reviews, the pioneering work of Victorian English biblical criticism, and the Anglo-Catholic ritualists including the Reverend Arthur Tooth and Bishop Edward King. The essayists and the ritualists remained in the Church of England but only after intense experiences of persecution.

Knowingly or unknowingly, consciously or unconsciously, the present Archbishop of Canterbury seeks to revive this tradition of centralized arbitrary exclusion and chastisement. Edmund Burke, a great friend of the Church of England, wrote that most vices throughout human history were championed on the basis of plausibly attractive pretexts: “The pretexts are always found in some specious appearance of a real good.” The good that the Archbishop of Canterbury seeks to achieve is the unity of an imagined Anglican Communion that has virtually no existence in reality. In support of that unity he willingly sacrifices the ordination of women in some dioceses, the appointment of women to the episcopate in some churches, and the exclusion of gay and lesbian people from ordination and the episcopate. For the sake of unity of a communion that does not really exist, he has (perhaps unwittingly) fostered turmoil, dissension, and schism. He has urged the adoption of an ill-conceived covenant for the purposes today of excluding those churches who would embrace as part of the divine creation gay and lesbian people. But whom will the covenant exclude next year? The precedent for exclusion and persecution will have been established, and on the pretext of unity future dissidents and yet to be designated minorities could be targeted. Click Here to Read More..

Arise my love, and come away ( Lectionary for Sunday, August 30, 2009)

Song of Solomon 2:8-13
James 1:17-27; Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

By hanging out with people who had been declared off limits or of low value (lepers, menstruating women, children, tax collectors, victims of sexual abuse), Jesus and his friends defied the social and ritual purity laws of their time. Some of the religious challenged him, ‘Why do your disciples not live^* according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?’   Jesus retorted, calling them hypocrites following all the human-made religious rules but staying unchanged inside.  The consequence of their unclean insides resulted in unjust actions that all the ritual purity in the world could not wash away.  External religious conformity is not the answer.  What matters is on the inside and how it changes our relationships to other people and to ourselves.  Jesus tells us not to waste energy being socially or ritually correct, but to focus on the state of our hearts.  He invites us to seek transformation of the self-seeking, manipulative, scarcity driven, fear-based ego.  He asks us to die to the part of ourselves that seeks to take without concern for others, to build ourselves up at others' expense, to persuade us that we know better than God.

The reading from the Epistle of James reminds us of what happens when that healing begins.  "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."²³


Jesus invites us to come away from all the striving to keep ourselves pure, to convince ourselves and others that we are worthy.  Christ ends the waiting and depression of our long winter of separation and sadness.  It is Easter morning and he calls us to get up, to come away, to get beyond the walls that separate and protect.  In the words of the Song of Solomon:

‘Arise, my love, my fair one,
   and come away;
¹¹for now the winter is past,
   the rain is over and gone." Click Here to Read More..

ELCA Bishop for Texas and Louisiana Gulfcoast on Recent Decisions

Rev. Michael Rinehart, bishop of the Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America wrote to his flock this week about recent events at his church's national convention.  

Sex from the Perspective of Graveside

                                          Where words are many, sin abounds.  - Proverbs 10:10

                    Be still and know that I am God.  - Psalm 46

           Have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, through prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. - Philippians 4:6

Today we picked out flowers for the casket. Not only was it the same flower shop where we got our wedding flowers 21 years ago, it was the same florist. The owner's daughter. It's ironic how life comes around. We will stand tomorrow in the same place at the same church where Susan was confirmed, and where we were married, and where we buried her mother. And now her father. The end of an era that began decades ago when I stood on her front porch for the first time, for our first date.

And now to her kind, kind father, I have to say goodbye. A lifetime flashes before us. A boy growing up the on the farm. Then a young man flying his first bombing run over Germany on his 21st birthday. He flew 35 missions in all as a pilot of a B-17. I close my eyes and try to imagine those young boys in that paper-thin airplane, bullets whizzing through the cockpit, doing what they had to do. Saving the world from a garish fascism that would have annihilated Jews, homosexuals, political dissidents, the mentally ill, and so on. He once told us the anti-aircraft bullets were often so thick it looked as if you could get out and walk on them. "Were you scared?" I would ask. "We did what we had to do," was his matter-of-fact response.

This is his generation's song. We did what we had to do. This gentle, yet strong man, took everything in stride. He rarely got his ire up. He had the mind of a mechanic. Everything was just a problem to be worked out. He loved puzzles.

He was raised Baptist, then later became a Methodist. He didn't get worked up about the homosexuality issue. He had a live-and-let-live attitude about things. I think he felt sorry for gays and lesbians. He wasn't mad at them. They would not have children. They would be hated. But they were taught never to talk about this. It is taboo. If you're gay, you keep your mouth shut, get married and have kids. Yes, there are people with no attraction to the opposite sex, but this is to be ignored. Society is to pretend it doesn't really exist.

As we met at the funeral home to choose a casket and decide how much waterproofing we needed for our loved one's vault, and how much we would spend on our loved-one's this and that, I watched my 16-year-old son take it all in. "You'll be doing this for me some day," I leaned over to him and said. "I hope." Then all his questions in the car. Why burial? Why cremation? Why embalming? What's it like? Can I touch grandpa? What will he feel like? These are times for deep conversations. The time is now. There will never be a more teachable moment. This we believe. Life is good. God is good. As sad as we are to lose him, we know there is more to life than this life, and we are joyful he has been released from this body of death in which he was trapped. We now say goodbye as he walks down a pathway we cannot yet go, where he will be welcomed by Jesus and a host of loved ones who have gone before us, including his beloved Kay.

We return to the hotel room. Susan reads her dad's letters to his parents from boot camp while I check my email. I have a letter from an angry member, who is threatening to leave the church if I don't do this or that, or say this or that. I sit on the couch and smile, but it is a sad smile. In the light of Ultimate Things, this member's petty manipulation seems so badly focused, his anger so misdirected, for a hundred reasons, I'm not sure what to say. Where do I begin?

Ultimatums are funny things. They are about control. I can control you if you are afraid of something. If you don't do what I tell you, I will leave. If I am truly terrified at the prospect of your leaving, there's no telling what I might do to appease you. Communities get messed up with this kind of stuff. I learned long ago that if I made my decisions by the polls, I made poor decisions. People think pastors are shaking in their boots at the prospect of someone getting mad and leaving. I suppose some pastors do worry. And then they'll blow in the wind, doing whatever they're told, for fear of declining membership and losing their job, when in reality the church needs strong self-defined leaders to grow. Not opinionated, my-way-or-the-highway pastors, but people who are gentle and kind, but won't get pushed around. In the parish, whenever someone said, "Do this or I'm leaving," I usually responded, "We are going to miss you so much." The only way to create healthy community is to take the power out of the equation. Once people see that "I'm leaving" is a playing card that doesn't work on you, they stop using it. And you really need them to stop using it. Congregations where people are constantly threatening to leave in order to get their way are not pleasant places to be. It's like the spouse who threatens divorce in order to get his/her way. It's an ugly, ugly way to be.

At the bottom of things, this conversation is about fear and manipulation, not sex. But I suppose it's also about how we read the Bible, and this has been another disappointing realization for me. Biblical literacy seems so low in our church. We have work to do. When someone can quote Leviticus and assume that it's binding, I marvel. The email writer points out that homosexuality is forbidden in the book of Leviticus as if that should settle things. But Leviticus also says you should stone your daughter to death if she has sex out of wedlock. Everyone knows this is absurd, and yet people continue to act as if everything in the Bible is binding on Christians. I find this astounding. We have so much work to do. Is anyone really proposing we follow all the laws in the Bible? I truly, truly don't understand why this isn't clear to people: The Bible says eating shrimp is an abomination. Do you believe this? Do you follow this law? The Bible forbids lending money at interest. Do you believe this? Do you follow this? Are you proposing a Bibliocracy?

Susan goes through her Father's clothing. His shirts and pants, are so him. They smell like him. They look like him. She decides what to keep and what to give away. She decides to give away his furniture except for a small oval end table that has personal meaning. It's an odd piece, but it has emotional significance. It's so hard to let go of things.

I think people feel this way about change in general. The world has changed. The quaint hyper-patriotic euphoric post-WWII baby-boom world no longer exists. People are grieving the loss. I may struggle with the strange hermeneutics of the Bible being employed, but I understand that there are people who see the world a certain way, and it's changing fast. I wonder what it felt like when we started ordaining women, for those who were strongly opposed. What exactly were they afraid of? Sometimes it's hard to get at. It just may be a loss of what was. I think of America after the Emancipation Proclamation, when European Americans had to accept African Americans into mainstream society. Why was this so hard? What were they afraid of? The slave-enhanced economy might falter? The gene-pool might be weakened? The fragile fabric of society might be somehow irreparably damaged? I'm not sure.

When people are faced with change, they need time to assimilate things. Their first reaction may be joy or anger, but in time we come to terms with the pros and cons of things, and we make better decisions. Try not to let people react too quickly. Don't fuel their anger. Use pastoral conversation to help people dig deeper into their feelings rather than going to the wall and doing something rash. IF they say they're leaving, they may in fact do so. Or they may not. But don't let them make rash decisions in the heat of the moment, decisions that they might regret later. Don't rush things. Give them time.

My parents have flown up for the funeral. It's always comforting to have family nearby at times like these. My family and I don't all agree on everything. We are divided on this and many other issues. And yet we are still family. When we have a stern disagreement on something, no one threatens to leave the family. We love each other too much. We need each other. What unites us is greater than what divides us. I believe this is true of most people in the church. Our love of Jesus, our desperate need of God's grace, and our need of each other binds us together, even when we disagree. People only leave if they don't have this connection. If they don't have that connection, we should let them leave in peace, and find a church where everyone thinks the way they do and where they can get connected in a significant way.

James says be quick to listen, slow to speak, in this coming Sunday's lesson. This is good advice. The author of Proverbs says, "Where words are many, sin abounds." No kidding. Sometimes you just have to listen. When Jesus finished his bread sayings it says many were offended and left his church. He didn't go running after them. Instead he turned to his inner circle: "And what about you?" They responded, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."

In my view, the church is not a place where everyone agrees on everything. It's a place where we go to hear the only message that gives life. The church is a place that agrees on these things: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. Because of this, we are saved by grace through faith, not by our good works. This is a perfectly free and undeserved gift. All people are sinners. None of us deserves God's grace. "By this shall all people know you are my disciples: If you love one another." When all is said and done, the dead in Christ shall rise imperishable, and we shall be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye.

שלומ سلام Peace,


Rev. Michael Rinehart, bishop
The Texas-Louisiana Gulf Coast Synod
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
12707 I-45 North Frwy, Suite 580
Houston, TX 77060-1239             
281-873-5665


www.GulfCoastSynod.org <http://www.gulfcoastsynod.org/>;
 
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Anaheim GC09 Update: Vote tallies in House of Deputies Released

On Friday, Episcope released vote totals by order for the House of Deputies Votes on the resolutions.

Supermajorities passed the two headline resolutions (1) affirming that all orders of ministry are open to persons in committed same sex relationships (D025) and (2) asking bishops to provide "generous pastoral response" to same sex couples (C056) 

D025, the Lay Order voted 77 to 31, and the Clergy Order voted 74 to 35.

On C056 the Lay Order voted 78 to 23 (with 7 evenly divided delegations, counted as No).  The Clergy Order voted 74 to 27 (with 7 evenly divided).

The votes are taken by diocese.  Each diocesan delegation  has 4 Lay and 4 Clergy deputies.  Each Yes vote means that at least 3 people in that Order in that delegation voted Yes.  An evenly divided delegation is counted as a No. 
 
The report is here.

Type rest of the post here Click Here to Read More..

Hmmm. A good question about Genesis...

From Tobias Heller's terrific blog "In a Godward Direction" a really good question:

"Why is Genesis seen as a template for all sexual relations but not for any or all other human activities? Why, for example, do we allow other forms of industry than agriculture? (Given that was Cain’s metier and industry was the invention of the offspring of Lamech’s polygamous unions.) Why do we allow women to use anaesthesia in childbirth? (Roundly opposed on biblical grounds in the Victorian era, until Victoria herself made use of it.) Why aren’t we all vegetarians? (Yes, I know God changed the rules in Genesis 9, but if we were so keen on living in accord with God’s original intent, vegetarianism is the most biblical answer.) More importantly, Why, if the subjection of women to their husbands is a result of the fall, has it taken the church so long to recognize women as restored to their antelapsarian state as equal collaborators?"

For the full posting, click here. Click Here to Read More..

The Old Sin Nature: Where the Rubber Meets the Road

A recent exchange on the HOD/B Listserv illuminates one of the key issues in the debate about the Church's response to GLBT persons.

The Rev. Charlie Holt:  We all have choices to make and many of them are very, very
tough duty indeed. Often the toughest choices are those calling us to
unravel long lived patterns of unfaithfulness. The call for each and every
one of us is to put off the "old self" and put on the "new self". But what
if we have lived with elements of the "old self" for a long, long time? What
if we have a significant amount of capital (emotional, relational,
ecclesial, material, etc.) invested in that "old self" nature? Life would be
simple and easy if we all did the right thing from our first steps; but how
many of us have actually done that?

The Rev. Elizabeth Kaeton:  *And, I would say*: Amen! Someday, we will look back at this time in the
history of our church and the Anglican Communion and scratch our heads and
ask, "What the heck was THAT all about? Why did we think those things about
LGBT people in general and the church's blessing on their covenants and
their ordinations in particular?"




Deputy Charlie Holt from Central Florida, responded to criticism of the Archbishop of Canterbury as follows:

"Tobias writes: Where the Archbishop is deeply at fault, and regrettably

tone-deaf in _his_ choice of words, is not in saying that living in a

same-sex union (without church authorization) is a choice -- but in his

failure to acknowledge that the mixed-sex couple has the "choice" to

marry, while the same-sex couple only has the option to choose to

separate.


Is Archbishop deeply at fault... or simply speaking the truth in love in

the midst of a fallen world.

We all have choices to make and many of them are very, very tough duty

indeed. Often the toughest choices are those calling us to unravel long

lived patterns of unfaithfulness. The call for each and every one of us

is to put off the "old self" and put on the "new self". But what if we

have lived with elements of the "old self" for a long, long time? What

if we have a significant amount of capital (emotional, relational,

ecclesial, material, etc.) invested in that "old self" nature? Life

would be simple and easy if we all did the right thing from our first

steps; but how many of us have actually done that?


No, the call to the Christian life is a cross to bear; it is a life

filled with small and often very difficult steps and decisions to be

faithful over and against the easy, the natural, the flow. We are called

to seek the renewal of our lives not to be in conformity to the pattern

of this world but rather to be transformed through the continual renewal

of our minds and hearts in accordance with the righteousness and

holiness of God. No psychologist can make any of us righteous through

counsel and technique. No psychiatrist can give any of us a pill that

will make us holy. If it happens in any of our lives it is the gracious

and miraculous gift of the Holy Spirit of God met with a repentant human

heart.


The promise of Jesus is that if we will live faithfully for him, the

cross that he will give us is actually light. He bore the heavy one.


Charlie Holt+

Central Florida "


Deputy Elizabeth Kaeton from New Jersey responded:


"You know, Charlie, we are, undoubtedly, on different ends of the theological

spectrum, but I could apply your exact words to my position and still be in

complete agreement with Tobias.


*You wrote:* We all have choices to make and many of them are very, very

tough duty indeed. Often the toughest choices are those calling us to

unravel long lived patterns of unfaithfulness. The call for each and every

one of us is to put off the "old self" and put on the "new self". But what

if we have lived with elements of the "old self" for a long, long time? What

if we have a significant amount of capital (emotional, relational,

ecclesial, material, etc.) invested in that "old self" nature? Life would be

simple and easy if we all did the right thing from our first steps; but how

many of us have actually done that?


*And, I would say*: Amen! Someday, we will look back at this time in the

history of our church and the Anglican Communion and scratch our heads and

ask, "What the heck was THAT all about? Why did we think those things about

LGBT people in general and the church's blessing on their covenants and

their ordinations in particular?"


It is a tough choice for the institutional church not to slip into

long-lived patterns of unfaithfulness - and downright aversion - to the

risks of the Gospel. The institution - any human institution, the church

included - will always seek first her own survival. The church needs to put

off the 'old self' and put on the 'new self' - of greater faithfulness to

the Gospel promise of the unconditional love of God in Christ.


We have not invested the significant amount of emotional, relational,

ecclesial, material, etc., capital necessary in order to bring us closer to

The Realm of God - The Peaceable Kingdom, the Beloved Community - in which

all, All, ALL are drawn to the loving embrace of Jesus.


How many of us are willing to do that? To make that investment? We love to

talk about it and call others to it, but when it comes to the application in

our own lives, in our own institutional structures of governance, we

suddenly become tone-deaf to our own words.


*You also wrote*: No, the call to the Christian life is a cross to bear; it

is a life filled with small and often very difficult steps and decisions to

be faithful over and against the easy, the natural, the flow. We are called

to seek the renewal of our lives not to be in conformity to the pattern of

this world but rather to be transformed through the continual renewal of our

minds and hearts in accordance with the righteousness and holiness of God.

No psychologist can make any of us righteous through counsel and technique.

No psychiatrist can give any of us a pill that will make us holy. If it

happens in any of our lives it is the gracious and miraculous gift of the

Holy Spirit of God met with a repentant human heart.


*And, I would say: Amen. Amen. *The call to Christian life is a cross to

bear. The call to Christian community is to share each other's burdens in

the name of Christ who, you will remember, after he raised Lazarus from the

dead, turned to the crowd and said, "Unbind him." We complete the miracle of

our salvation story in community - unbinding each other from the old, the

remnants of the dead, and helping each other embrace the new being we are

become in Christ Jesus.


That's part of the transformation through the continued renewal of our minds

and hearts in accordance with the righteousness and holiness of God.

Surely, if Jesus can work miracles through the stench and hopelessness of

the grave, he can also work miracles through the stench and hopelessness of

our own prejudices and fears (sometimes also known as "the 'ick' factor' of

homosexuality).


And, yes, Charilie, our lives become holy when our human hearts - repentant

of our sins of the exclusion of LGBT people and others which is the result

of prejudice and pride - meets the gracious and miraculous gift of the Holy

Spirit.


I have caught glimpses of that holiness in my own heart when I have worked

against my own internalized sexism, homophobia and heterosexism, my own

racism, and other forms of human prejudice. God is no way near done with me

yet, so I try to be faithful to the work of the Refiner's Fire.


The institutional church tells us that faith is a destination, but Jesus

tells us that faith is a journey. The former offers the illusion of

security; the later offers the reality of risk.


I agree with Tobias about +++Rowan. I fear our Archbishop is more in need

of the transformation offered by Jesus than either you or I. I suspect he,

more than anyone in the Anglican Communion, needs to hear your words:


"The promise of Jesus is that if we will live faithfully for him, the cross

that he will give us is actually light. He bore the heavy one."


I wouldn't use that language, exactly, but I would still say, "Amen."

Blessings,


(the Rev'd Dr.) Elizabeth Kaeton

Chatham, NJ"

Any comments from the gallery? Peace, Jim

Click Here to Read More..

His reason for being for 20 years

A couple we are very close to were recently in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Boston getting ideas for expanding a family graveyard that is running out of space. They sent us this photo and note.


















From the email:

"We paid a long visit to Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Boston before Peter headed to Austin. It is an incredible arboretum and garden. While looking at some of their answers for diminishing space, we happened on this. These guys were married three days after it became legal which means they got their license the first day it was legal. So few words speak volumes."

Marriage equality became the law in Massachusetts on May 17, 2004. These gentlemen married three days later. Mr. Dagesse died in July of 2008. The State recognized their union for four years and a handful of days. God knew they'd be good together when God created them. We have never met, Mr. Richards, but thank you for your testimony to the power of love. May your dear one rest in peace. Jim

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Daily Office 8/11/2009: Let no one put asunder...

“From the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God had joined together, let not man put asunder.” * * * “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another, commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.” Mark 10:6-12. (Daily Office Readings, Year One, Vol. 2, Proper 14, at page 280).

In today's Gospel in the Daily Office Jesus gives us what appear to be some pretty explicit instructions: Marriage is one man, one woman, for life. His condemnation of divorce and remarriage is extreme. It is adultery, for which Leviticus requires execution by stoning. For many years, these verses were taken very literally. Today, with their bishops’ blessing, a huge number of the members of our Church divorce and remarry, including a rather large number of our priests and bishops. As I understand it, the theology underlying the shift is that Jesus used hyperboles in this passage to shed light on the true spiritual union God desires for us—unions so intense and transforming that we become as if we were one person, one flesh, such that breaking that bond would be a crime, even a “hanging offense,” to mix metaphors.

Jesus used hyperboles all the time (e.g., if your eye offends pluck it out) to direct our attention to spiritual truth. Not to be taken literally, these hyperboles must be seen for what they are—vivid caffeinated images to shake us up and shape us up. They must also be tempered with common sense and compassion for our fallen nature.

The opponents of sacramental equality for gay and lesbian Christians seem perfectly able to understand that “one flesh” does not REALLY mean the partners’ bodies are literally merged and that Jesus does not REALLY mean that remarriage after divorce is literally adultery. However, they seem unable to imagine that Jesus used the poetry of Genesis to teach us that God creates women and men equally in the divine image, and calls us to reflect that reality in our relationships. They seem bewildered that Jesus may not have been commenting about the genders of the persons involved when he described the holiness of the bond created when we leave the security of the people and things that are familiar to build a new home, to be knit into one flesh, to bear witness to God’s love for the world. They seem even more confused by the suggestion that in refusing to support the relationships of same sex couples they may be violating a rather clear instruction which does not seem to be metaphorical or hyperbolic: Humans have no business trying to separate what God has joined.
Peace.
Jim Click Here to Read More..

I wish I had said that.....

"If you close the door on people, you can’t be surprised when your church is empty."

--Richard Haggis, commenting on combined marriage and baptism liturgy for families with children born before the parents were married.

Hat tip to Episcopalcafe.com. Click Here to Read More..

Do not be Afraid

Tom Ehrich writes an open letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Indystar.com:

"Now that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has slapped my church's wrists for refusing to marginalize gays and has threatened to have us become second-class citizens in the Anglican Communion," Mr. Ehrich has this to say to Archbishop Williams:

"You have become a weapon in a siege war being waged by a minority who has been resisting change in the Episcopal Church for 50 years.

The first votes were close, but the anti-change position has steadily lost ground. Not because the church came under an evil spell, but because people's minds and hearts shifted and their understandings of God and mission changed. That happens.

The anti-change minority fights on, however, for by now their fretful arguments against changing "Thou" to "You" and "he" to "he or she" have advanced to holy war against gays.

The battle isn't about God. It's about fear, control and property.The anti-change minority wants to reclaim a world that no longer exists."

* * * * *
Later in the piece, he continues, noting the timidity and institutionalism of us who haven't left The Episcopal Church:

"Fear abounds. Fear of offending longtime members and deep-pocket givers. Fear of speaking freely and dreaming grandly. Fear of trying hard and maybe failing. Fear of preaching a Gospel more radical than anything we've said. But many are determined to get beyond fear -- by taking one brave step at a time, learning to be nimble and to listen, learning from our failures, taking risks."

* * * * *
Mr. Ehrich concludes:

"And so, Archbishop, rather than try to stir even more fear in a church struggling with fear, I suggest you join Jesus in the commandment he actually did give: "Do not be afraid."

And all the people said: Amen.

The entire article is here. Hat tip to Episcopalcafe.com Click Here to Read More..

Gays to Marriage Foes: If this isn't marriage, what is?? Response: Silence.

Jonathan Rauch at National Journal Magazine has a great story on why marriage opponents are out of step with America. Hat tip to Andrew Sullivan. The implications for our Church are obvious.

"If gay couples can't be allowed to marry, what should they be able to do? Asked this question, cultural conservatives say, in the words of Tom Lehrer's song about the German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, "That's not my department." Effectively, conservatives are saying that what Mike and Bill do for each other has no significance outside their own bedroom.

If cultural conservatism continues to treat same-sex couples as outside the social covenant, the currents of history will flow right around it.

But what happened in that hospital in Philadelphia for those six weeks was not just Mike and Bill's business, a fact that is self-evident to any reasonable human being who hears the story. "Mike was making a medical decision at least once a day that would have serious consequences," Bill told me. Who but a life partner would or could have done that? Who but a life partner will drop everything to provide constant care? Bill's mother told me that if not for Mike, her son would have died. Faced with this reality, what kind of person, morally, simply turns away and offers silence?"

Read the whole thing here. Click Here to Read More..

Texas Lyceum Poll: Majority of Texans support legal recognition of same sex unions.

Texas Lyceum Poll: Majority of Texans support legal recognition of same sex unions.

A total of 67% of Texans supported either marriage equality or civil unions for gay and lesbian couples. Click Here to Read More..

Pew Forum: 70% of Episcopalians believe society should accept gays

Gays and Religion poll:
These are the results when the Pew Forum asked people whether society should accept or discourage homosexuality as a way of life:
ACCEPT (with highest rate of acceptance at top)
Jews ………………………..... 79 per cent
Secular ……………………..... 75 per cent
Episcopalians (Anglicans)... 70 per cent
Catholics ……………………... 58 per cent
Mainline Protestants ………... 55 per cent
U.S. population (general) .... 50 per cent
Muslims …………………….... 27 per cent
White evangelicals ………… 26 per cent

Story here Click Here to Read More..

Episcopal Church Walks with American Clergy on Gay and Lesbian Equality

"Episcopal clergy are highly supportive of the idea that “God has called and may call” to ministry gays and lesbians in committed lifelong relationships. Nearly three-quarters (72%) of Episcopal clergy say that gays and lesbians should be eligible for ordination without special requirements. About 1-in-4 (23%) say that only celibate gay and lesbian people should be eligible for ordination, and only 5% say gay and lesbian people should not be eligible at all."

***"Fully 8-in-10 Episcopal clergy agree (56% strongly agree) that “the gospel message requires full inclusion of gay and lesbian members in the life of the church.” These new positions by the Episcopal church, allowing clergy to preside at the marriage ceremonies of their gay and lesbian parishioners and opening the way to ordination and all leadership roles for gay and lesbian clergy, can be seen as the result of the confluence of societal change, theological conviction, and the need, as one of the resolutions puts it, for a “generous” and “renewed pastoral response by this church.”"

Story here

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Getting Started

Welcome to an experiment in online Church.

After getting home from visiting our Church's General Convention in Anaheim for a few days, I found myself looking for a way to connect with other moderate to progressive Episcopalians in the Diocese of Texas. My sense is that we are much more diverse and progressive than is often assumed. To test that theory, I thought I'd start this blog and see who shows up. This blog is my attempt to create a virtual space where we can connect and support one another as we work to advance the reign of Christ in our Texas context.

And with that, here we go!

For the Diocese
O God, by your grace you have called us in this Diocese to a goodly fellowship of faith. Bless our Bishops Andy, Dena, and Rayford, and other clergy, and all our people. Grant that your Word may be truly preached and truly heard, your Sacraments faithfully administered and faithfully received. By your Spirit, fashion our lives according to the example of your Son, and grant that we may show the power of your love to all among whom we live; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(BCP 817) Click Here to Read More..