The Other Sandal

In the first days after the Canadian General Synod I've written on at least two other sites of the several positive features of this most recent Synod- and they truly have been grounds for heartfelt thanksgiving- which of course I've offered.
The remarkable way in which it was the lay vision of what the Church required in our next- now current- Primate which decided the election.
The radiant grace embodied by ++Fred in the hours and days remaining of General Synod.
The prayerful civility which many delegates remarked upon as being the tone and nature of the discussions, and never more so than when it came to the those on Full Inclusion.
The passage of the Primate's Task Force report, and no less incredible the close vote on Full Inclusion, as complex as the motion was.
I rejoiced in all of this, just as I prayed for the pain and disappointment so many of the LGBT brothers and sisters in Winnipeg were left with.
In the process, I also listened to the pain and witnessed the tears of more than one brother and sister of faith, and was blessed to receive the wise compassion of two dharma friends- one who drove all the way from Ottawa 'just to sit' with me, knowing how deeply I still care about our Church.
Since the week-end though I've remained silent, and listened to and read the articulate, insighful, more educated opinions on the outcome of Winnipeg.
At the same time I was also waiting, sensing something still in-process within me.

All of which came to a head last night as the city was feeling the first stages of what was predicted to be a severe thunderstorm which would bring an end to two days of record high temperatures.
Well before the thunder and lightening, but with the winds already whipping things around in my blessed little garden, I'd gone out into the dark to minimize any possible damange, and ended up just standing there- caught up in the wonder of the remarkably clear sky, the high winds and anticipation of the rain.
Once again offering thanks for the gift of Life, the other sandal dropped, when I realized how as positive things might be considered, I was also pained, and yes angry because of the outcome of the Winnipeg General Synod. It all started with the physical memory of so much pain, literally rising through my body- the painflu cost of being created Gay in the image and likeness of the true living God; family-sourced, Church-sourced; school-sourced; employment-sourced pain to just name the abvious ones. And don't get me wrong, I'm not claiming to be a particularly tragic case- not when I consider the great price so many of our LGBT brothers and sisters are forced to pay in secular society, never mind within the Church.
But it has COST, and standing out there in the garden I realized that this LGBT cost, this LGBT pain, and their corrollary LGBT courage and grace has yet to be recognized or to be factored into considerations and discussions both at General Synod, and at Church wide convocations.
We have yet to hear any of our leaders except perhaps ++Katherine, Saint Desmond Tutu and our radiant brother +Gene speak to the suffering and violence the current hetrosexist priviledge of the patriarchy perpetuates in the lives of LGBT people- equally by action and their inaction.
With the exception of one courageous Epicopal Bishop who declared 'We are They' I have yet to hear of one of our leaders own the lives of LGBT people as an integral element in the Church's growth and grace.

The Patriarchy still doesn't get it.
THEY'RE not doing us LGBT folk any favours by considering granting blessing for our familes- THEY'RE the ones receiving the chance to live outside their hetrosexist fear, to open themselves up to a larger experience of God's creation and of Christ's love for humanity.
THEY'RE the ones who will be receiving the blessings of hearts free of homophobia, now capable of rejoicing in the gifts and talents of their LGBT co-parishoners.
THEY might even be the ones who learn to let go of the fearful, dualistic straightjack binding their hearts and God-given bodies.

Hey, not that I'm even suggesting we LGBT folk don't have our own in-process healings, our own lessons to learn, our own fears to let go.
But once again, just as in the dark hard years when AIDS was consuming so many in our LGBT community, there have been so many radiant examples of embodied LGBT grace, generosity, patience and skill in these current discussions.
So many radiant LGBT brothers and sisters I can consider nothing less than living blessings.

Out there in the garden, I almost grew impatient for the first drops.
There was nothing I personally needed from the memory of my personal pain, other than to be reminded.
Waiting for those first big drops I could feel nothing but very old sadness, and yes, pity for the patriarchy; inspite of my awareness of the suffering they continue to inflict.
But I also realized that to have them fighting so desperately must make the sight of God working through all my LGBT brothers and sisters a pretty awesome and holy sight!

The phone ringing indoors got me out of the garden before the rain arrived.
But climbing the steps of the deck, I resovled to personally at least take this discussion back to where to truly belongs:
Full Inclusion for All Baptized, which, among other things means

• an end to the denigration of the God-given sexuality of my LGBT brothers and sisters
• an end to any questioning the validity of the consecration of our radiant brother +Gene New Hampshire, or the ministry of any ordained LGBT man or woman
• an end to discussion and speculation about the gender of any person- lay or ordained and a collective recognition of gays and lesbians as a third God-created gender
• a recognition and apology for the long history of suffering our Church has contributed to in LGBT lives and an expansion of liturgical forms to include thanksgiving for LGBT gifts and grace.

and I've only just begun...

Nothing short of full inclusion for ALL baptized!

And please don't misunderstand, NONE of this is a favor to LGBT people.... this is nothing short one great, radiant, rainbow-wrapped gift the patriarchy will be steping aside to allow Christ to bless our dear Church and Blessed Communion with.

Nothing less- as the Holy Spirit has so clearly moved in these times- as Christ has so clearly & repeatedly called us (LGBT & straight alike) out of fear through recent events;how can we settle for anything less?

God's Greater Blessing to God's Greater Glory- Nothing less!

Amen

Noticeable by my silence?

No one has been more surprised than I at just how tender the last week or so has been as the delegates of the ACC General Synod got themselves together in Winnipeg. Speaking with an American priest who has become a dear sister to me in these times, I realized that what I've essentialy been doing is holding my breathe until Synod is over.
Too many years of patriarchical abuse, witnessing too much LGBT suffering find me incapable of completely letting go of the possibility that the church, acting fearfully, will once again shut us out.
It's one of the questions Eleanor+ asked: what will I do, if they do essentialy shut us our from this next step towards full inclusion ?
And right now, in this blessed early Sunday morning peace of our tiny home I don't know.
All I can promise is to keep trying to mindfully step forward to meet God in the gift of the life given me.

In my opinion, one wondrous feat the Holy Spirit has already worked at General Synod is the election of (+) +Fred Hiltz as our next Primate and great joyous, tearful prayers of thanks have been offered pretty much non-stop since yesterday. From all that I read, +Fred appears to be a profoundly human priest before and after anything else who knows his theology and who has a deep, deep love for our Church. His 'beautiful bride' also impresses me as an articulate, intelligent blessing-in-waiting for all of us.

But rejoicing in (+)+Fred's election, I believe it is also important to give thanks for all of the other candidates who stood, and to recognize the great work that +Victoria has given the church in her work on the St Michael Report, her cantidacy and her presentation to General Synod yesterday. While I can't agree with +Victoria on many things, I am thankful for the blessing she is to the Church, and to her diocese.

And speaking of Bishops, (+)+Fred's election brings to mind my deep and abiding gratitude for three other bishops blessing our communion: for +Barry Montreal, who in his gentle, low-key way embodies Christ's love for us; for ++Katherine whose articulate intelligence and skill have given even this Canadian gay man of faith cause for hope; and of course our dear radiant brother +Gene New Hampshire who continues a great daily blessing and steward of the Church.

This morning, General Synod meets at the Blessed Sacrament before continuting their discussions, and taking the vote on Monday, and what a wondrous gift it is to be able to join them in prayer..... while continuing to hold my breath of course.

I'd ask your prayers in turn.

Amen

Don't You Just Love that Radiant Rainbow Grace

Right in the middle of all the noise and acrimony (more on that later) our dear Communion is currently suffering, three radiant gay brothers-in-faith just made my day.... no make that my week.

First May 29th, the birthday of sweet +V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire and a radiant rainbow blessing to our dear battered church.

Then news of Mark+ Lewis & K. Dennis+ Winslow two Episcopal priests, who were joined in civil union last Tuesday. Don't get me wrong, as a person of faith, I'm not settling for civil union, but the courage of these two wondrous men brought tears of joy and thankfulness for their radiant example. And courageous is the word.... an e-mail from Dennis+ tells me that since news of their union the two of them have suffered all sorts of abuse. Mark and Dennis have been together for 15 years, after their first meeting at a friends- an event one of them described as 'an absolute thunderbolt thing.'

Mark+ can be reached at MLewis@secaucus.org and Dennis+ at stpchelsea@earthlink.net
and while in the spirit of celebratory, if belated support, belated Birthday wishes for +Gene can be sent to Grinnh@aol.com

What a blessing to be born into the LGBT tribe at this time, and to have such radinat brothers and sisters as witness & examples of claiming the blessings of full inclusion within the Communion.

And speaking of sisters, a living blessing right up there has got to be Susan+ Russel whose personal website http://inchatatime.blogspot.com/ is a daily blessing for the thoughtful reflection and news it shares. Among many other things, Susan+ is a partnered Episcopal priest, President of Integrity U.S.A., mother of two men, etc. etc.... and her site also offers great links to other sites of faith and courage in this current 'difficult blessing'. Among her many skills Susan+ delivers some pretty wondrous sermons, and the site currently carries a great one one for the Feat of St. Justin Martyr.

And of course Susan+ is not the only of our radiant LGBT priests, who inspite of all the ugliness currently being dumped on us, continue to gloriously witness to the good news of Christ Jesus. This is what I find so incredible... how so very often it is only our LGBT priests and those who have taken our full inclusion as their stand-of-faith, who continue to speak of God's passionate vision for Creation.

Living Blessings All!

Which I suppose brings me to the noise and acrimony.

The Living Church Foundation http://www.livingchurch.org/publishertlc/viewarticle.asp?ID=3410 reports that on May 30th Archbishop ++Henry Orombi of Uganda. held a press conference at which he announced

as the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has extended invitations to “all the American bishops who consented to, participated in, and have continued to support the consecration” of Bishop V. Gene Robinson in New Hampshire, the Church of Uganda would honor the commitment it made last December and not attend.

Though this saddens me greatly, I can't say this latest move by the 'bullies of the patriarchy' comes as any real surprise. There's an old Russian saying about the taste of blood on the tongue, and once never being enough.

Of course they were going to up the ante.... that's why I have no hesitation in calling it what it truly is- bullying.

First an act of open contempt for the Communion at the Tanzanian Eucharist, then +Peter's parish piracy and irregular consecration of +Martyn Minns, and now this.

For me at least, this latest 'threat' is a sickening Ecclesiastical echo of the racial purity practiced by the Third Reich... But in time, I have no doubt it shall come to the same end.

I can only pray for the day when these bullying brothers exhaust themselves on their terrified rage and acrimony..... And in the sudden silence let the true and living Christ speak to them, minister to them, heal their hearts and reveal to them the limitless, passionate love (Love beyond our wildest imagening) calling each of us out of fear into the wholeness Christ continuiously holds out to all of Creation.

Amen

If there was ever a time for prayer and for LGBT Anglicans to find their voices

Once again the 'Bullies of the Patriarchy' have spoken, and this is where we find ourselves...


A Statement from The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire
With regard to the Issuance of Invitations to the Lambeth Conference, 2008
May 22, 2007

It is with great disappointment that I receive word from the Archbishop of Canterbury that I will not be included in the invitation list for the Lambeth Conference, 2008. At a time when the Anglican Communion is calling for a “listening process” on the issue of homosexuality, it makes no sense to exclude gay and lesbian people from that conversation. It is time that the Bishops of the Anglican Communion stop talking about gay and lesbian people and start talking with us.
While I appreciate the acknowledgement that I am a duly elected and consecrated Bishop of the Church, the refusal to include me among all the other duly elected and consecrated Bishops of the Church is an affront to the entire Episcopal Church. This is not about Gene Robinson, nor the Diocese of New Hampshire. It is about the American Church and its relationship to the Communion. It is for The Episcopal Church to respond to this challenge, and in due time, I assume we will do so. In the meantime, I will pray for Archbishop Rowan and our beloved Anglican Communion.



And if that weren't enough, I'd refer you to http://www.thinkinganglicans.org.uk/ which is currently carrying a statement from Archbishop +Peter Akinola declaring that if Martyn Minns is not invited to Lambeth, 'it will be viewed as withholding invitation to the entire House of Bishops of the Church of Nigeria.'

This from the man who walked away from the confraternal celebration of the Blessed Sacrament in Tanzania- showing open contempt for his Sister & Brother Primates.

This from the man who acted in blatant defiance of the Tanzania Communique by once again poaching in the American Province and by consecrating a 'Nigerian Bishop' within the same territory- and act of open contempt for the people and priests of our Episcopalian sister church and of its duly elected, consecrated and installed Primate.

This from the man who has backed the inhumane legalization of homophobic legislation within his own province, and who has called for the life imprisonment of LGBT Nigerians.


I've got only two words for you +Peter- I lovingly pray for you daily as my brother in Christ, but you're really starting to piss me off- and that's not even personal!

And as for Rowan... I pray for you also, but you've made a very serious categorical error m'dear. No comparison whatsoever can be made between the validity of the consecration of +V Gene Robinson and +Martyn Minns. One was the prayerful and legal action of the people and priests of a diocese under a duly consecrated Primate of the Episcopal Church. The other was an act of contempt and defiance, not only against that Province and its Primate, but against the whole communion with schismatic ends in mind.

Of course all of the above is only one side of the coin... As I reminded a friend in faith earlier today, despair is not a luxuary to even be considered at times like these. Besides which, it's only a consideration if we look no further than all the noise, threats and contempt of the Bullies of the Patriarchy.

The glorious and over-riding truth of all this is that before and after it all is This is the church of Jesus Christ, Son of the living God and so thankfully there is a bigger picture, there is a long-range view. This is not just an acrimonious exchange between the voices of inclusive witness to the good news of Christ Jesus and the voices of conservatism.

Christ meets us in the dance of process- and never was this more true than now.

Secondly, blessedly it's not all noise and acrimony.

Never have I been so proud to be a gay man of faith, when I read, meet and listen to my radiant LGBT sisters and brothers and the voices of our families, friends and alies, as we have all found voice in this 'listening exercise.' Honestly.... I am not able to recall one instance of acrimonious name-calling, threat, violence or contempt from my wondrous LGBT tribe in these past months- no matter how heated the discussion might have become. Yes, I have taken some flack over coining the prase 'Bullies of the Patriarchy' but I calls it as I sees it, and by their fruits ye shall know them.

Which doesn't let any of us off the hook... This latest manouever from Lambeth only makes our voices, our visible presence in the church more essential. Personally, I have already begun to work on a list of all of the Canadian Diocesan Bishops to be distributed as widely as I am able. Rather than a petition- which usually only gets skimmed, I will be offering this list to be used for personal messages to each Canadian Bishop.

What will we ask for ? It's early days yet, but my personal inclination is to personally ask each Canadian Bishop to boycott Lambeth rather than to become party to a public act of contempt towards our sister, The Episcopal Church, its Primate and a duly elected & consecrated Bishop.

(In addition to my usual e-mail network, I intend to post the list here)

And in the meantime, my heartfelt thanks to my radiant LGBT sisters & brothers of faith, and to all who have made our cause your own. Please know that you all are a constant embodiment of Christ Jesus for me, and a reminder of Christ's passionate call to the life He truly wants for us all.

Amen.

Just Whose Church do They Think It Is?

And yes the fast from the chaos of contention has continued, as my silence in this space bares witness.
There is only so much toxicity one can suffer and still carry on with day-to-day commitments.
And unfortunately our dear Communion has been awash with it of late- with not enough shining exceptions

Which makes me wonder?
Do these vitriolic voices of 'dark ages' Christianity ever ask themselves just what a message they are sending to the church and equally to those outside the church?
Likewise, does even one of them ever consider the lived-consequences of their enraged pronouncements & threats?
I have yet to hear or see any collective act of repentance for Christianity's role in supporting slavery and rascist regimes; for the suppression, objectification and exploitation of women, for countless antisemetic pogroms and the Shoah; so I'm not expecting an apology any time soon for the Churchs' role in the countless teenage scuicides of LGBT youth, and the violence and discrimination which continues daily against my LGBT sisters & brothers.
But do they ever stop- even if only to take a breath and wonder how they sound, what message they are sending to the world at large and to the future Church?

http://www.thestar.com/printArticle/213177 is a recent article from the Toronto Star about the current tour of Charlie+ Masters, the head of 'Anglican Essentials', the Canadian reactionary lobby of fear and now violence.... I add 'violence ' because of some of the material contained in this article... and I quote

If that happens (The Bishop's Recomendations for Pastoral Care) Masters says Essentials will petition Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams, spiritual head of the church, to recognize his group as the official Anglican Church in Canada. 'It's possible that by the end of June, the face of Anglicanism in Canada will change.

Those of you with better memories than I will be able to recall the infamous memo, quoted several months ago on several inclusive sites; written by the conservative lobby in the Episcopal Church, more than seven years ago.... strategizing the violence to the Communion and attempted scism they have carried out in the Episcopal Church.

And here we go again- the 'bullies' threatening to break what they are unable to dominate.
And before anyone jumps down my throat for using that word let me simply ask..... which quarter has resorted to threats, name-calling, walking away from the celebration of the Blessed Sacrament, breaking the conditions of the Tanzania Communique, and when one deadline wasn't enough, turned around and issued another- to ++Cantebury himself to 'return'.

Of course the glorious truth is that the bullies have not been the only ones who have stepped up to the plate in these very sad and trying times... Our dear Church and the larger communion of faith has been so mightily blessed by so many courageous, articulate, grace-filled witness to the limitless inclusivity of Christ's love and passion for humanity. And nothing has moved me more deeply ( except perhaps the consecration of dear +Gene) than so see so many LGBT brothers and sisters of faith for the first time claiming their place in this discussion.

Personally, the closer we get to the ACC National Synod in June I become more concerned that the Canadian Church may falter in responding to what I believe to be Christ's call to lives of faith beyond fear, patriarchy and the limits the patriarchy imposes on God and man alike.
Wether or not the ACC fails to act with the same radiant courage as TEC, I would ask for prayers for the meeting in June.

As one very dear and oft-quoted brother-in-faith reminded me 'we are a people of hope-' no matter how battered and tried that hope might be at times.

In the long haul I have no doubt that we will live to see the Church be joyously overcome with the inclusive renewal we are being called to. But it's like my answer to a gay brother the other day, when he asked why I even care what's going on in our beloved Communion.... In the long run it's really got very little to do with the 'bullies of the patriarchy' it's all about Christ- His call, His promises... and yes His vision for His church. So that's why ...

AMEN!

The Great ++Katherine- Awesome!

For the last couple of weeks I've been on my own 'fast' from much of what's been passing as news within the church.
Being Anglican and gay man of faith can be pretty exhausting in times like these, and yet there have also been many grounds for gratitude, not the least my Zen sitting practice and the witness and community of so many brothers and sisters of faith.
And then there's ++Katherine's letter of April 30th, when so many of us were shaking our heads over the act of contempt announced for this week-end by ++Peter Akinola & + Martyn Mins.
Thank God for ++Katherine, and the grace and skill she has shown in these times.

And now you can read her skillful letter to ++ Peter Akinola

Was there ever a time more in need of our prayers for the future of our church?


The Most Rev. Peter J. Akinola
Primate of All Nigeria & Bishop of Abuja
Archbishop's PalacePO Box 212 ADCP
Abuja
NIGERIA

My dear Archbishop Akinola:
I am writing this letter with my prayers for you and for the entire worldwide Anglican Communion from a fellow child of Christ.
I understand from press reports you are planning to come to the United States to install Martyn Minns as a bishop in the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. I strongly urge you not to do so.
First, such action would violate the ancient customs of the church which limits the episcopal activity of a bishop to only the jurisdiction to which the bishop has been entrusted, unless canonical permission has been given. Second, such action would not help the efforts of reconciliation that are taking place in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion as a whole. Third, such action would display to the world division and disunity that are not part of the mind of Christ, which we must strive to display to all.
I would carefully ask that you reconsider your plans to come to this country for this purpose. This request stems from the hope and vision of reconciliation which was the mind of the primates as we met in Tanzania.
Your servant in Christ,
Katharine Jefferts Schori

Voices

As I mentioned in an earlier post, never before have there been so many articulate engaged Anglican voices 'out there' engaging in this current call to transformation of our Communion.

I believe as people of faith we all have a responsibility in this, and one shining example, fresh from the Bishop's retreat, is the Episcopal letter of our radiant brother +Gene to his diocese http://www.nhepiscopal.org/artman/publish/article_426.shtml

Gene writes

This has been an extraordinary meeting of the Bishops, characterized by respect, thoughtfulness and careful discernment, always done in the context of fervent prayer. There is a calm and peace about our meeting I have not experienced before, due in no small part to the non-anxious, but strong, leadership of our new Presiding Bishop...

...I think you would have been proud of us as your Bishops. The manner and tenor of our decision-making was kind, respectful and prayerful. This was not about politics, but about this part of the Body of Christ attempting to exercise its leadership in appropriate and lawful ways. It was about respecting ALL the orders of ministry in our Church. It was about protecting our Church from inappropriate encroachment on internal matters. It was in the best tradition of the Anglican Communion...

... I have appreciated your attention to these Church issues, WITHOUT losing sight of our real mission as a Church – to proclaim the Good News of Christ in our words and in our actions to a world which so desperately needs to hear it. We will continue as a Diocese to commit ourselves to the Millennium Development Goals as a way of expressing our desire to do our part to meet the needs of a hurting world. We will NOT let these issues distract us from God’s mission – to preach Good News to the poor, to bind up the brokenhearted, to release those in captivity, to bring sight to the blind, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. May God bless us richly in that ministry.

Amen.