You can find them there.

Following [Gene] Robinson’s sermon, [Mary] Glasspool celebrated communion with several transgender-themed prayers.

“Spirit of Life, we thank you for disordering our boundaries and releasing our desires as we prepare this feast of delight,” the offering prayer began. “Draw us out of hidden places and centers of conformity to feel your laughter and live in your pleasure.”

Read it all and be sure to look at this.

“Shaw, MA: Our diocese has had significant growth recently, in thanks to including all people. ”ª#gc77”¬” I was listening and it is certainly an accurate paraphrase, though not an exact quote.

Here are the figures–Massachusetts’ 2007 to 2010 ASA [average Sunday attendance]

20,121
19,351
18,130
17,903

Perhaps there are 2011 figures that show a [small?] increase, but still, there is a large disconnection here–KSH.

Update: You can find some of these statistics here and you can find a great deal more over there.

There have been a number of occasions over the years in TEC like this where a key document or statement has come out, and the response has been, shall we say, less than satisfactory. Therefore there needs to be some preparation on our part so as to try to react in a Christian manner. Herewith some suggestions:

(6) Expect the discernment to be a corporate activity. We still seek to be part of the Church of Jesus Christ, and we need one another. We are. as Ephesians says (4:15), to speak the truth in love. May the way we respond demonstrate this–KSH.

By the way–anyone recognize most of the language here? It is from something I wrote in 2007. Nick Knisely wrote [now Bishop-elect of Rhode Island] at the time that he found himself “pretty much full agreement with [my]suggestions”

So what, exactly, did the Bishops do today (July 9), besides “pass” a piece of paper labeled “Resolution A049”?

Did they amend the Book of Common Prayer?

They did not.

Did they approve an alternative to the BCP for trial use on a Church-wide basis?

They did not””the proponents of A049 knew they did not have the votes to do that.
Instead, at the last minute, they carefully reworded their Resolution to take out the word “trial [use]” wherever it appeared, and put the word “provisional” in its place. In this way, the rudderless Bishops apparently believed they were not opening up a route to amending the Book of Common Prayer, by triggering the requirement of the need for a supermajority under Article X of the Constitution (as discussed in this post).

But did they approve, then, an experimental rite for “special occasions” and for use only with the permission of a bishop, as discussed in this earlier post?

No, they did not manage to do that, either….

Read it all.

The House of Bishops authorized a provisional rite July 9 for blessing same-sex relationships. The vote was 111 to 41, with three bishops abstaining. Resolution A049 asks General Convention to authorize the liturgy for provisional use, which replaces the word trial.

The resolution, which proceeds to the House of Deputies July 10 for debate and voting, also calls for a review of provisional use before the next General Convention in 2015.

“This is clearly a work in process, and there is a place in that process for all Episcopalians, whether or not they agree with the action we are taking today,” said the Committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music’s report accompanying the resolution.

But most people who have spoken publicly about the resolution consider it more than provisional, and say it plainly authorizes same-sex blessings in the Episcopal Church.

Read it all.

(We have been over this before many times–the Episcopal Church is set to be the third mainline denomination in North America to do this–the first was the United Church of Christ, and the second was the United Church of Canada–KSH).

The U.S. Episcopal Church is poised to become the first major religious denomination in the United States to approve a rite for blessing gay marriages after its bishops overwhelmingly approved such a liturgy on Monday.

The proposed blessing was agreed by the church’s Chamber of Bishops at a meeting in Indianapolis and is expected to receive final approval from its House of Deputies later this week, Ruth Meyers, a chair of the Episcopalians’ Subcommittee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music, told Reuters. The decision would go into effect in December and make the Episcopal Church, an independent U.S.-based institution affiliated with global Anglicanism, the biggest U.S. church to allow a liturgy for same-sex marriages. The Episcopal Church is the 14th-largest denomination in the United States with nearly 2 million adherents, according to the National Council of Churches.

Read it all.

Bishop John Bauerschmidt of Tennessee requested the roll call vote before urging bishops to defeat the resolution. “It is reasonable to believe that vowed fidelity that is exclusive and lifelong to one other person is predicated on sexual difference,” he said. “This liturgy that is proposed does not have the basis in scripture, tradition or reason for us to authorize its use.”

The resource would authorize the liturgy for provisional use and call upon the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) to conduct a review process over the next triennium.

“That will mean different things in different locales,” Bishop Thomas Ely of Vermont said when discussing the resolution. “There is a place in this process for every Episcopalian regardless of their level of support for the material. Read it. Reflect upon it. Use it, but please don’t ignore it.”

Read it all.

The bishops then spoke in “yes/no” order. Bishop Michael Vono of the Rio Grande rose in support of the resolution, urging the House to vote in favor of the resolution as it was the “Jesus thing” to do “for our time.” Bishop John Bauerschmidt of Tennessee asked for a roll call vote on the resolution. He stated he would vote “no” as he believed that same-sex blessings were incompatible with the plain meaning of Scripture.

Bishop William Persell, the retired Bishop of Chicago, voiced his support for the resolution but asked Bishop Ely why the resolution had been amended, changing the words “gender” for “sex” and “trial” for “provisional” rites?

Bishop Joe Burnett, assistant Bishop of Maryland ”“ a member of the committee ”“ said that the change had been made to avoid triggering procedural issues. “Trial use” was a canonical term that could lead to “Prayer Book revision,” he said. The neutral term “provisional” was used to indicate the provisional period for study and use of the rite was for the coming three years.

Read it all.

Read it all. Please note–there was the original resolution, then the resolution as amended by commitee which came to the floor of the House of Bishops, and this third version here was slightly amended by the bishops prior to their role call vote–KSH.

Read it all.

Episcopal bishops have approved an official prayer that blesses same-sex unions.

Church leaders on Monday voted 111-41 in favor of the liturgy during the Episcopal General Convention in Indianapolis. The plan now goes to convention deputies for final approval.

Read it all and a longer version is there.

Vote–111 for, 41 against, 3 abstentions.

You can find it here.

Read it all.

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That there shall be a Special Commission on Missional Structure and Strategy, the composition of which shall be at the discretion of the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies and the members of which shall be appointed jointly thereby not later than thirty days following the adjournment of this 77th General Convention. The Special Commission shall be charged with presenting a plan to the Church for reforming its structures, governance, administration, and staff to facilitate this Church’s faithful engagement of Christ’s mission to proclaim good news to the poor, release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, freedom to the oppressed, and the acceptable year of the Lord (Lk. 4:18) in a way that maximizes
the resources available for that mission at all levels of this Church; and be it further

Resolved, That the Special Commission shall endeavor to issue its report and recommendations along with resolutions necessary to implement them, including proposed amendments to the Constitution and Canons of this Church, so that they might be considered by a special General Convention prior to the convening of the 78th General Convention in 2015, but in any event, not later than February 1, 2015; and be it further Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget, and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $100,000 for the implementation of this resolution.

Resolved, the House of [________] concurring, That this General Convention believes the Holy Spirit is urging The Episcopal Church to reimagine itself, so that, grounded in our rich heritage and yet open to our creative future, we may more faithfully:
Ӣ Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom

Ӣ Teach, baptize and nurture new believers

Ӣ Respond to human need by loving service

Ӣ Seek to transform unjust structures of society

”¢ Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of the earth…..

Read it all.

Resolved, the House of Deputies concurring, That the 77th General Convention commend “Liturgical Resources I: I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing” for study and use in congregations and dioceses of The Episcopal Church, with
the following revisions:

Throughout “I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing” change “same-gender” to “same-sex”; BB p. 184 (Te bendecire pdf, p.1): change “Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships” to “Resources for The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant” BB p. 240 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 83): Add rubric after first rubric, stating: “At least one of the couple must be a baptized Christian.” BB p. 240 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 83): In paragraph 2, line 1, delete “at least one of whom is baptized,”
BB p. 241 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 85): In Presider’s address to the assembly, delete “come what may,” (paragraph 1, line 9) BB pp. 241-242 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 85): In Presider’s address to the assembly, delete all of paragraph 2 (“Ahead of them…calls us all to share.”) BB p. 242 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 85): In Presider’s address to the assembly, change “let us pray, then,” (paragraph 3, line 1) to “Therefore, in the name of Christ, let us pray”
BB p. 245 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 90): After the bidding for peace in their home and love in their family, add the following bidding: “For the grace, when they hurt each other, to recognize and acknowledge their fault, and to seek each other’s forgiveness and yours: Lord, in your mercy (or Lord, in your goodness) Hear our prayer.”
BB p. 246 (Te bendecire pdf, p. 91): Change rubric that begins “After a time of silence” to the following: “The leader may add one or more of the following biddings….”

Read it all.

Read it all (pdf).

Blessings for Same Gender Unions: A049
This evening, the Prayerbook, Liturgy and Music Committee (Committee 13), held a hearing on resolution A049, “Authorize Liturgical Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships.” Support for the resolution was broad and strong; opposition was deep in a few dioceses…..

The committee is expected to take action on resolution A049 on Monday at the earliest.

Read it all.

Watch it all (video).

Back to work at 2:15. The Bishops dealt with a sensitive issue. Seven bishops–some retired or no longer Episcopalian–had signed a friendly brief for the court proceedings in Fort Worth to support the parishes who left The Episcopal Church and are trying to keep their property. Because much of our conversation was private, I can only report that we had a unanimous roll call vote to support the Episcopal parishes, the right of the Episcopal bishops in the dioceses struggling with property disputes, and affirmation that the Episcopal bishops are the only rightful bishops in these dioceses. It was a hard but grace filled conversation.

Read it all.

(Please note–directly related to the preceding blog entry–KSH).

Read the original here and check the amended version there. The explanation follows:

The Report of the House of Deputies Committee on the State of the Church presents a church in where key statistical areas from 2000”“2010 show significant decline (Average Sunday Attendance -23%, Easter Attendance -21%, Baptized Members -16%, Communicants in Good Standing -16%). There are significant places of hope and vision where significant efforts are being made to turn this around. These include the Office of Congregational Vitality and the Office of Emergent Church and Church Planting. This resolution seeks to give these ministries solid budgetary support to allow this work to continue and by doing so to bring vitality and growth back to the Episcopal Church.

Now [for Episcopalians] the apt word seems “life support”.
The average Episcopal Church attendance dropped a staggering 23% in the ten year period between 2000 and 2010 (via Whispers) In 2010, just under 700,000 attended TEC Churches in the whole world.
In the Seattle area, (Diocese of Olympia) where St. Mark’s Cathedral still looms and KING FM has broadcast their lovely Sunday evening Compline for many years, average attendance in the whole diocese was 9,500. 9,500? I’ve worked in Catholic parishes with larger weekly attendance than that.
The Episcopalian Diocese of Quincy, IL attendance has dropped 71% and averages 363 people in attendance at 9 parishes. I’ve taught Called & Gifted workshops that were larger. No wonder they are openly talking about reuniting with the Diocese of Chicago (attendance: 12,925).

Read it all.

I’m sending this in from New Orleans in hopes that it will be helpful in the testimony for Resolution DO69 regarding the Social Media Challenge to the Episcopal Church.

I believe it to be 100% necessary that we in the Episcopal church as staff, clergy, and congregants, engage ourselves and our communities by using social media. It’s usually free, it’s usually rapid, and it can be fun and informative. Can many of you fathom doing business without using email? Often, social media is checked more frequently than email.

Read it all.

Yesterday afternoon, the Committee for National and International Concerns heard testimony on about 12 resolutions encouraging the church to act in support of the Palestinian people. Even our own Diocese of Maryland put forth a resolution on this complex issue. After reading the resolutions and listening to the testimony, here is my distillation of the arguments at hand.
No one disagrees that Palestine and the minority community of Palestinian Christians are being oppressed, persecuted, and denied basic human rights. Everyone also agrees that in the United States, the story of the Palestinian Christian people is not widely known and they feel forgotten by their brothers and sisters in the West.

But how do you fight the oppression and discrimination of a people?

Read it all.

[Bishop John] Buchanan told Episcopal News Service after the resolution passed during private conversation that he “told the house I am grateful for the support and help the resolution provides, but it’s not what I asked for. I asked for clarification around the hierarchical character of our church.”

Read it all.

From here:

Resolved, That Episcopalians in the Dioceses of Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Quincy and San Joaquin–lay and clergy–be commended for their unflagging efforts to continue to witness to God’s mission as The Episcopal Church during recent difficult times as they reorganize their continuing dioceses in that same spirit; and be it further

Resolved, That the leadership in each of those four continuing dioceses be commended for their similar efforts, including in particular the Rt. Rev. C. Wallis Ohl, Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of Fort Worth; the Rt. Rev. Kenneth L. Price, Assisting Bishop of the Diocese of Pittsburgh; the Rt. Rev. John C. Buchanan, Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of Quincy; and the Rt. Rev. Chester L. Talton, Provisional Bishop of the Diocese of San Joaquin, and especially the strong lay leadership of each dioceses.

You may read more there.

Update: You can check to see the headline chosen by the TEC affiliated diocese of Fort Worth there.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Lawrence, Bishop of South Carolina, opposed the change in canon language.

“We have entered into a time of individualized eros, with a wide variety of self-perceptions,” Bishop Lawrence said. “We are condemning ourselves to freedom ”” the freedom of every individual to self-define every aspect of who they are in such a way that we no longer have any kinds of norms. We are entering into the chaos of individuality. It’s an idol that will break us….”

The Rt. Rev. Prince G. Singh, Bishop of Rochester, supported the resolutions, saying he knows what it feels like to be “the other.”

“When I am in India, people think I’m an American. Here, people think I’m from somewhere else,” he said. The resolutions encourage healthy self-examination, he said.

Read it all.

The word here is change. The Deputies voted to allow the next Presiding Bishop to remain a Diocesan Bishop. The Bishops voted to fund a significant Development Office. We also are exploring moving the diocesan contribution to The Episcopal Church to 15%. And of course, we are waiting to hear about the Budget and reforming General Convention and a new structure for our Church.

As I have worked on the Education Committee, I once again remember that our Church has many perspectives. The Education Standing Commission presented resolutions to replace Confirmation with Baptism as rite for full initiation into Church leadership. However, most of the Deputies and Bishops did not agree. I am disappointed but not surprised. Change is long and when I think I know where the Holy Spirit is headed, I am most often wrong.

Read it all.

I am reminded of what I was taught by the Rev. Dr. Marion Hatchett: “never break a rubric unintentionally”. I think most priest have given communion to an unbaptized person. Hospitality and compassion may require it. But the doctrine of Baptism remains.

A personal example may be helpful. When I was ordained a priest, my father, an ordained Baptist minister, preached at my ordination. When the time came for the ordination, the Episcopal clergy gathered around to lay hands on my head along with the Bishop. My father remained in his seat, because there is no agreement between the Episcopal and Baptist churches on ordination. Just before the Bishop said the words of ordination he stopped, removed his hands from my head, and motioned for my father to come over and lay his hands on my head as well. This was contrary to the teaching of both the Episcopal and Baptist churches. This was poor doctrinal theology, but it was perfect pastoral theology. Bishop Patterson was a good bishop, and my dad was a good Baptist pastor. And yet, the doctrine remains.

Read it all.