“This is significant because it’s saying, ”˜This is around to stay ”” this is not a passing fad,’ ” said Mary A. Tolbert, founding director of the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at Pacific School of Religion, in Berkeley, Calif. “It’s making a statement about the continued presence of gay and lesbian people among the congregations of the Episcopal Church, and that their lives need to be marked by liturgy as well.”

At the church’s General Convention three years ago, priests were granted provisional permission to bless gay couples if their bishops allowed it ”” and about 30 bishops did, said Bishop Thomas C. Ely of Vermont, who was among them. But many bishops, he said, have been waiting until the General Convention passed a specific liturgy to give their permission.

The resolution explicitly allows bishops who do not approve of same-sex relationships to prohibit their priests from using the liturgy. It calls the liturgy “provisional,” saying it will be re-evaluated in three years. It also does not refer to the liturgy as a marriage rite, calling it instead “The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant.”

Read it all.

What a lovely picture–check it out.

I was present in the gallery of the House of Deputies today as the final vote was taken on a rite for same-sex blessings. The Deputies voted to concur with the Bishops in approving the rite.

As you know, over the past three years I have exercised the authority given me by the 2009 General Convention to allow the blessing of same-sex couples, and have stipulated the use of the rite developed in the Diocese of Washington, D.C. In the intervening years a number of our parishes have used this pastoral provision to minister to same-sex couples, and some are planning to do so in the near future.

What has happened now is that General Convention has issued its own rite that will be published shortly, and as of its effective date, that is the service that will be used by those parishes in our diocese who wish to bless unions.

Read it all.

Read it all.

This General Convention action is unbiblical, unchristian, unanglican and unseemly. It will further wreak havoc among Anglicans, and indeed Christians, in North America and around the world.

By making this decision, The Episcopal Church moves further away from Jesus Christ and his teaching. It thereby makes it necessary for the diocese of South Carolina to take further decisive and dramatic action to distance itself from this false step.

We in South Carolina must differentiate to stay loyal to Christ, but also to keep our own parish members and not hinder the mission of Jesus Christ who loves all and transforms all by the power of the Holy Spirit to holiness of life, a holiness which has a clear shape agreed by Christians East and West throughout 20 centuries.

–The Rev. Canon Dr. Kendall Harmon is Canon Theologian for the Diocese of South Carolina and convenor of this blog (and he makes this statement for himself)

S.C. Deputation Statement
July 10, 2012

It is with heavy hearts that Bishop Mark Lawrence and the South Carolina deputation to General Convention must report the final passage and adoption of Resolution A049, the Resolution to Authorize Liturgical Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships. The Bishop and our deputation, in both speaking and voting against its passage, remains united and unanimous in our support of the historic understanding of “the doctrine, discipline and worship of Christ as this Church has received them.” In the debate prior to the vote being taken, we spoke in favor of the minority report authored and presented by the Very Rev. David Thurlow. The Standing Committee of the Diocese of South Carolina, in its statement of June 15 has articulated the clear position of our diocese on marriage. The South Carolina deputation wholeheartedly endorses that position. We grieve that General Convention has further departed from these values and adopted a resolution to permit pastoral license to violate the existing canons on marriage. We believe this decision will seriously wound the Church and ask to you join is in prayers for God’s One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

The Rt. Rev. Mark J. Lawrence
The Very Rev. John Burwell
The Rev. Canon Jim Lewis
The Very Rev. David Thurlow
Reid Boylston
Lydia Evans
Lonnie Hamilton
Elizabeth (Boo) Pennewill

You may find it also on the diocese website there.

The motion was made by the Very Rev. Timothy E. Kimbrough, Dean and Rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Nashville, Tennessee.

The vote on division fails.

If you are not watching you can follow tweets here and there.

Read it all and follow the link to the budget.

Her remarks in response follow: (ENS)

I am honored to have been chosen by my colleagues in the House of Deputies as their next president, and I’m grateful to all of the people across the church””deputies, bishops, and many other leaders””who have expressed their confidence in me and shared their ideas. I’m especially grateful to Deputy Martha Alexander and Deputy Frank Logue for offering their gifts to the church, and I look forward to working with them during the next triennium.

I am a priest, ordained in 1979, born and raised and ordained in the Diocese of Central New York, and an eight-time deputy from the Diocese of Ohio. I stood for election as president of the House of Deputies because I believe that God is calling me to work with leaders across the church to change the way we do business in the next triennium. For the Episcopal Church to matter in the 21st century, we have to find ways to move forward together.

As president of the House of Deputies, I intend to foster the leadership of young people, people of color, and others who have not always been at the table. I have strong relationships with many bishops, and I look forward to working with the House of Bishops for wholeness, reconciliation and justice that will benefit the entire Episcopal Church.

The Church longs to be transfigured ”“ changed into the likeness of Jesus ”“ from glory to glory. That’s my vision for the Episcopal Church, and I look forward to working with the House of Deputies, the House of Bishops, and Episcopalians across the church to make it come true.

The bishop suffragan of Texas, the Rt. Rev. Dena A. Harrison, reminded the bishops that “we are indeed members of a worldwide Anglican Communion. The actions that we might take today put our brothers and sisters in a tough position around the world that is literally life and death.”

“We are better able to handle the ambiguity than they are,” she added.

The Rt. Rev. Nathan Baxter, Central Pennsylvania, countered that “we’ve been called to courage, to not be afraid to be a minority.”

Read it all.

Read it all (pdf).

Here is the latest from the committee–amended C029–

Resolved, the House of _______ concurring, That the 77th General Convention direct the Presiding Bishop and the President of the House of Deputies to appoint a special commission charged with conducting a study of the theology underlying access to Holy Baptism and Holy Communion in this Church and to recommend for consideration by the 78th General Convention any amendment to Title I, Canon 17, Section 7, of the Canons of General Convention that it deems appropriate; 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 $30,000 for the implementation of this Resolution.
Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, that The Episcopal Church reaffirms that baptism is the ancient and normative entry point to receiving Holy Communion and that our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to go into the world and baptize all peoples. We also acknowledge that in various local contexts there is the exercise of pastoral sensitivity with those who are not yet baptized.

You can find a copy of it here.

The whole day was exhilarating and unpredictable and messy but also holy and good.

The bishops talked about not requiring the Presiding Bishop to resign as a diocesan bishop, but decided to wait to act until we see the Structure piece. Our afternoon focused on a Trial use of a Blessing for same sex couples. It was a holy debate. The measure passed easily. My sense is that we currently have a kind of liturgical anarchy about rites of blessings. Dioceses use all kinds of rites. This will regularize them and enable us as a Church to see if this rite works. It’s a trial use for the Church to gather information.

General Convention is such a strange way to run a Church. My hope is that in our reform we will do much less business but do it well. I think our decisions afford a lot of input but not enough reflection. I know that after a week of being here, I am tired and not able to think as clearly as this work demands.

Read it all.

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.