President Barack Obama said his $787 billion stimulus bill “has worked as intended” as he pushed back against Republican criticism that his recovery program has failed to rescue the economy.
“It has already extended unemployment insurance and health insurance to those who have lost their jobs in this recession,” Obama, who is traveling today in Ghana, said in his weekly Saturday radio and Web address. “It has delivered $43 billion in tax relief to American working families and business.”
We operate in an atmosphere of disbelief that seems Hegelian in its pursuit of truth. I’ve learned that nothing in the resolution is as it seems: “who is the author(s), what are they after, why did they choose that word, what’s the unstated ”“ and unanticipated ”“ consequence?”
For instance, a number of resolutions directly challenge B033 (the moratorium on ordinations [to the Episcopate] of non-celibate homosexual persons). Fine. Challenge it. However, there are even more resolutions which seek to effectively overturn, or supersede, B033 while technically leaving it as the official practice of the church. Here’s how it’s done: Several resolutions seek to ensure that “all the sacraments are available for all the baptized.” Sounds great. Who wouldn’t be for that? Until one realizes that this definition would allow me to ordain, or marry, a dog if I baptized it. Similarly, another resolution seeks to ensure that the ordination process is open to every baptized person. Again, to the eye this looks great, until you realize that the application would in practice contradict B033.
You know what I wish for? Honesty. A simple statement from the House of Deputies and House of Bishops outlining their beliefs and a willingness to address the implications of their honest convictions. No hiding behind clever resolutions. No shell games. No Three-card Monte. Simply say what you believe and let the chips fall where they may. I’m surrounded by men and women afraid to state without qualification what they believe, why they believe, and then stand on that belief.
Honesty has been a theme of mine for years. Here is just one of many, many examples:
Bearing false witness is not a minor matter, and I do not think the New Orleans statement–and this is in keeping with a widespread pattern over the last number of years–tells the truth. A church that does not tell the truth will not prosper–KSH.
The Rev. Canon Kendall Harmon, a deputy from the Diocese of South Carolina, raised concerns about what he called the clarity and honesty in A161.
“The Windsor Report uses clear language. This resolution doesn’t take the specific language of Windsor seriously enough,” he said. “We have been asked to place a moratorium; the timeframe is clear … yet the language we get is to exercise considerable caution — a fudge. Let’s be honest, let’s be clear.”
I’m not making this up.
While I understand the distinction between our Christian and/or legal names and our personal preferences regarding nicknames, etc., I can’t imagine why the Episcopal Church would need to conform to the ENDA at this point. Furthermore, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act addresses those individuals legally employed in our churches, dioceses, and institutions. But truly extending this ethos into the life of the Church would require these changes to be applied to all facets of parish life, including membership.
I love all the pictures. And a speciall hello from me to Billy Kingery of Roanoke.
I found disturbing in this morning’s conversation the suggestion that B033 somehow bought our continuing relationship with the Anglican Communion ”“ a relationship that, just the same, remains tenuous at best ”“ or at least so it was claimed. But the suggestion to me implied that B033 was a ticket to grace, a punch-card to get in the door (and we might get kicked out at any moment, if we misbehave, of course).
This witnesses only to the absurdity of the way the Windsor Report has been used and abused to try to force us to toe a particular line ”“ and almost utterly without honoring our God-given freedom to consent through prayerful due process. It has the hallmarks of attempting to make our relationship with the greater Communion a coerced marriage of sorts, and continues to poison even the best motivations behind efforts towards forging an Anglican Covenant.
The frankly bizarre assertion that B033 somehow “worked” as it ought ”“ that it enabled us as a Church to retain a seat at the tables of influence in the greater Communion, and that it somehow brings us towards a healthier state of affairs ”“ was soundly and succinctly contradicted by other members of House. They replied quite simply that relationship in the Communion cannot be bought or codified by resolution. It is rather forged in the incarnational work of person-to-person and community-to-community mission, and in the creation of common, tangible ministry from rebuilding broken lives to feeding the hungry, sheltering the homeless, and healing the sick.
I fear (and I hope I’m not being overly dramatic here) that we are moving toward a train wreck between the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops. I sense an unwillingness among the bishops to listen to these voices of the laity and clergy. I hope I’m terribly wrong, but it seems that bishops feel they have some special access to God’s will and nothing will persuade them otherwise. I shutter to think of a church where the Bishops are so disconnected from the will of the people they serve. Please God, let me be terribly wrong about this perception, and may the scales fall from my pessimistic eyes and reveal an episcopate who has listened to the Spirit’s movement in the people of this Church. Nothing would make me happier than to be wrong about this. Only time will tell.
Read it all. As I said at the outset of General Convention, watch the distances between the two Houses.
Several speakers spoke of the cost B033 has extracted from gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons within the Episcopal Church. “Gays and lesbians are asked to make sacrifices the rest of us are not asked to make,” said the Rev. J. Frederick Barber (Fort Worth). The Rev. Michael Russell (San Diego) said, “We can sacrifice ourselves, but it is immoral to pick out a group and sacrifice them for our comfort zone.” The Rev. Liz Zavanov (Hawaii) asked, “Will we continue to sacrifice a portion of God’s people for a false sense of security with those who don’t want to be with us?”
The need to stay in relationship with other members of the Anglican Communion was a common thread among those who favor retaining B033.
The Rev. Dan Martins (Northern Indiana) noted that the resolution had accomplished a great deal, including getting Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori invited to the Primates Meeting and Episcopal bishops invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conference. But relationships within the Anglican Communion still are fragile, he said, “and we need B033 to stay in ubuntu [mutual] relationship with the rest of the Anglican Communion.”
B033 will be overturned in the House of Deputies. It’s a matter of perspectives. Relationships are tended to by the parish. The sacraments happen in parishes. Day in and day out, Sunday after Sunday we care for one another. The sacraments belong to us ”“ they’re ours to distribute as we will. Right? Not!
While I am part of a parish, my vision of the church need not be parochial. The parish is part of the church but it is not the sum total of the church ”“ that’s what it means to be catholic and not simply congregational. Of necessity, bishops exist to remind us of that simple but essential truth. That’s why I believe the bishops will not concur with the Deputies in their desire to overturn B033.
Bishop are not like us. They’re heads are in the clouds. Their role ought to challenge us to look beyond our feelings, our local relationships to the wider and greater Church ”“ to the Mind of Christ. The Founding fathers of this Episcopal Church wisely required in our Constitution that both Houses concur on matters such as these.
If the House of Deputies were to uphold B033, they would clearly deny the feelings running so current in this Church. The heart would sorrow. But if the Bishops falter and find themselves in agreement with the House of Deputies in rescinding B033, it would be denying long standing catholic thought. The mind would falter.
“It’s important that we recognize the equal stature of all Christians in the church so that we model that type of inclusivity in civil society,” said Bishop Marc Andrus of the San Francisco-based Diocese of California.
Even as liberalized policies on gays and lesbians appeared to gain momentum at the convention, traditionalists warned that the shift would further threaten internal unity and widen a rift with the global Anglican Communion.
The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of the communion, which has 77 million members, many of them in conservative regions of Africa and South America.
“If we are not extremely careful at this convention, we could find ourselves outside the Anglican Communion, and that would be a tragedy for all of us,” said Bishop William Love of Albany, N.Y., who predicted the loss of additional Episcopal parishes if policies are liberalized. “My fear is that the Episcopal Church destroys itself.”
While some focus on finding his successor, Bishop Charles E. Jenkins is focused on improving a ministry.
He said much of his energy in his final six months as leader of the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana, will be on Episcopal Community Services, a new agency created to expand on the work of Diocesan Office of Disaster Response.
Jenkins explained that he is pleased with what the Office of Disaster Response has accomplished by using volunteers to gut more than 900 hurricane-damaged homes and rebuild more than 50 others.
The Program, Budget and Finance (PBF) committee invited Episcopalians at a hearing July 10 to come up with “imaginative and realistic” ideas about how to pay for the ministry of the church in the next three years, given the expectation that its income will be $15 million less than originally anticipated.
Deputy Holly McAlpen, chair of the funding sub-committee, told the hearing that diocesan giving is now expected to be down as much as 5 percent a year or $13.5 million, with an additional $1.3 million decline in income from investments.
“We welcome your imaginative and realistic ideas tonight,” she said.
The status of B-033 is clearly becoming one of the major issues on the horizon. Another will be the disposition of resolutions regarding the blessing of same sex unions. Nearly all of those resolutions have been referred to the Committee on World Mission, largely because of the communion-wide impact of those issues. It has also been speculated that the World Mission Committee was chosen because legislation emanating from it is sent to the House of Deputies first. It has been further speculated ”“ and I think accurately so ”“ that the House of Deputies is much more amenable to these resolutions than the House of Bishops.
It is clear to me that the dynamics of the House of Deputies have changed. There is an absence of the very conservative voices which once were present in the former leadership of dioceses such as Pittsburgh and Fort Worth. I think this will mean a less contentious house, but also a house which is less restrained by a very conservative wing. This places more pressure on the House of Bishops to maintain some sense of balance.
Now the Witch said nothing at all, but moved gently across the room, always keeping her face and eyes very steadily towards the Prince. When she had come to a little ark set in the wall not far from the fireplace, she opened it, and took out first a handful of a green powder. This she threw on the fire. It did not blaze much, but a very sweet and drowsy smell came from it. And all through the conversation which followed, that smell grew stronger, and filled the room, and made it harder to think. Secondly, she took out a musical instrument rather like a mandolin. She began to play it with her fingers — a steady, monotonous thrumming that you didn’t notice after a few minutes. But the less you noticed it, the more it got into your brain and your blood. This also made it hard to think. After she had thrummed for a time (and the sweet smell was now strong) she began speaking in a sweet, quiet voice.
“Narnia?” she said. “Narnia? I have often heard your Lordship utter that name in your ravings. Dear Prince, you are very sick. There is no land called Narnia.”
“Yes, there is, though, Ma’am,” said Puddleglum. “You see, I happen to have lived there all my life.”
“Indeed,” said the Witch. “Tell me, I pray you, where that country is?”
“Up there,” said Puddleglum, stoutly, pointing overhead. “I — I don’t know exactly where.”
“How?” said the Queen, with a kind, soft, musical laugh. “Is there a country up among the stones and mortar of the roof?”
—-C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: Macmillan, 1953), chapter XII
…whatever the Lady had intended by telling them about Harfang, the actual effect on the children was a bad one. They could think about nothing but beds and baths and hot meals and how lovely it would be to get indoors. They never talked about Aslan, or even about the lost prince, now. And Jill gave up her habit of repeating the signs over to herself every night and morning. She said to herself, at first, that she was too tired, but she soon forgot all about it. And though you might have expected that the idea of having a good time at Harfang would have made them more cheerful, it really made them more sorry for themselves and more grumpy and snappy with each other and with Puddleglum.
–C. S. Lewis, The Silver Chair (New York: Macmillan, 1953), pp. 77-78.
The Archbishop of Canterbury was kept to a tight schedule of private meetings, photo opportunities, and two public addresses — a 20-minute lecture on the world economic crisis on July 8, and his sermon the following day. Dr Williams took no questions from the press, nor mixed with the deputies, cocooned throughout his American stay.
The controlled and distant environment in Anaheim was far different from his last visit to the Episcopal Church. At the 2007 meeting of the House of Bishops Dr Williams was upbraided for his pusillanimity by the Bishop of New Hampshire and other supporters of the progress wing of the church, for having banned Bishop V Gene Robinson from Lambeth 2008, and for not having the courage of his convictions to act upon his published beliefs on sexual ethics.
The Anaheim trip however provided no opportunity for public expressions of censure, with the agenda confined to private meetings with Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, the President of the House of Deputies Bonnie Anderson and her Council of Advice, a youth delegation, and eight “gay” deputies to General Convention.
When asked whether there is concern about The Episcopal Church accepting the consequences of General Convention possibly endorsing same sex unions or the consecration of more partnered gay bishops, Bishop Sauls says that Episcopal Church is ready to accept the consequences.
Hello Canon Harmon,
I wanted to take a minute to say thank you for closing the comments on… [a certain thread]. I very much enjoy coming to the site to visit and find much of what I read by you and others enlightening, but the current state of affairs is such that passions are inflamed. The vitriol at times is breathtaking and depressing. One of the gifts of being a conservative is a certain amount of reserve when dealing with trying circumstances. That has been lost both in political and now church dialogue.
I thank you for trying to keep things at a level that is respectful but allows for a range of ideas and opinions to be expressed.
Yours in Christ,
Day 3, Thursday was much a replay of the day before, beginning with hearings which blessedly began an half hour later, so my day started at 7:30 a.m. The night did not end much earlier although some from the night before, so a bit of a shorter day, but still exhausting. We celebrated Eucharist with Bishop Jon Bruno of Los Angeles presiding and the Archbishop preaching. Bishop Bruno, since being consecrated, has always asked a youth to stand beside him at the altar. He has never celebrated a Eucharist where a youth was in the house that one of them did not stand with him. This happened today too. The music is good, and Dent Davidson, who many of you know and love, is leading us. I am singing in the choir, as is Nedi, and a few others from around Olympia.
The first thing to say is thank you. Thank you for the invitation to join you on this occasion and to share something of my mind with you; and so thank you too for your continuing willingness to engage with the wider life of our Communion. I do realise that this engagement has been and still is costly for different people in different ways: some feel impatient, some feel compromised, some feel harassed or undervalued, or that their good faith has been ungraciously received. I’m sorry; this has been hard and will not get much easier, I suspect. But it is something for which many of us genuinely are grateful to you and to God.
And it’s related to the second thing. Of course I am coming here with hopes and anxieties ”“ you know that and I shan’t deny it. Along with many in the Communion, I hope and pray that there won’t be decisions in the coming days that will push us further apart. But if people elsewhere in the Communion are concerned about this, it’s because of a profound sense of what the Episcopal Church has given and can give to our fellowship worldwide. If we – if I ”“ had felt that we could do perfectly well with out you, there wouldn’t be a problem. But the bonds of relationship are deep, for me personally as for many others. And I’m tempted to adapt what St Paul says to the Corinthians in the middle of a set of tensions no less bitter than what we have been living through and in the wake of challenges from St Paul a good deal more savage than even the sharpest words from Primates or Councils: ‘Why? Because we do not love you? God knows we do.’
Well: to business. Our readings put before us a vision of Christ’s Church that is both simple and alarming.
I attended, at Committee request, the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music public hearing from 2pm to 4pm. The hearing, held in a large hotel ball room, was on resolutions proposing same sex liturgies for holy matrimony, holy unions and blessings””eleven resolutions in all. I estimate attendance at somewhere between 150 and 200. Estimating numbers in crowds is not my strong suit so don’t bet any money on this. A total of thirty-six people testified in favor of the various resolutions ten testified against them. Testimony was straightforward and respectful. There was not the anger and acrimony on either side that was present in GC 2006.
The thrust of the proponents was that taking action will liberate the church to move on with mission, the Spirit is once again calling the Church through society as it did with the issues of women and Blacks to full inclusion of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered persons, the dreadful harm that has been inflicted through exclusion must stop and we need to move beyond the hypocrisy we have engaged in for such a long time.
The opponents had biblical objections, said the theological issues have not yet been worked through, said that same sex is not accepted by the majority in the greater Anglican Community nor with the majority in the U.S., and that we need to listen to the voices of the past and tradition.
IN PRACTICE, how important is it to study and think about the Bible? In the Church of England, the standing committee of the House of Bishops recently seemed to indicate that it gives scripture a lower priority than is to be expected from bishops.
Last year, I suggested that on four Sundays in a year, the congregations in a deanery should be urged to come together, whatever their church tradition (Comment, 28 NoÂvemÂber). They should share a euÂcharist, and listen to 20 minutes about the Bible, followed by an hour’s discussion of what it means now.
I argued that a brief homily during the parish communion is not enough. Nor is the extensive use of the scriptures offered in Common Worship to those uncommonly deÂvout. Nor is a more substantial sermon if it is accompanied by strong music, but not by a free disÂcussion. In adult education outside TV, it is now taken for granted that people must digest the material by asking questions and hearing other people’s reactions.
I’m writing this as the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church gets ready to begin. We meet this year in Anaheim, California (next door to Disneyland, in fact), from July 7 through 17. One wag has already designed a General Convention logo that shows the Episcopal shield capped with Mickey Mouse ears!
General Convention is (so conventional wisdom says) the third largest convention in the nation, surpassed only by the quadrennial gatherings of the national political parties. Certainly the size is daunting. Some 10,000 Episcopalians will converge on Anaheim over the next eleven days. They will include not only those officially involved in legislation (about 840 deputies and 150 bishops), but also media personnel, volunteers, exhibitors, lobbyists in their thousands, and countless visitors. Our former canon to the ordinary, David Seger, is fond of calling it the Greatest Show on Earth, and not inappropriately. It is certainly an enormous family gathering, and that for me is one of General Convention’s great gifts. Every three years, General Convention provides me the opportunity to connect with brothers and sisters from all around the church. At General Convention it is impossible to walk a straight line: wherever you go, friends call out your name and draw you into conversation. The modern word is “networking,” but the experience is considerably more profound. It’s a reminder that “by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (1 Corinthains 12:13), an indissoluble bond.
Our diocese is represented by eight deputies, four clergy (Ben Jones, Richard Lightsey, Dan Martins, and Henry Randolph) and four lay (Pam Harris, Charlotte Strowhorn, Christopher Wells, and Scott Wright), in addition to the bishop. De Bada from Grace Church, Fort Wayne, is our delegate to the triennial meeting of the Episcopal Church Women. Please keep all of us in your prayers, not least for strength and endurance. Days begin each morning at 7:30 am with legislative committee meetings, and last until 10:00 or 10:30 pm every night.
While General Convention is a gargantuan gathering of the Episcopal clan, it is also (and primarily) a legislative body. Hundreds of resolutions have been submitted in advance, ranging from liturgical enhancements (the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music is proposing a major infusion of new commemorations to the church’s calendar of saints) to a sweeping revision of the canons that deal with clergy discipline to a proposal (submitted by the Church Pension Group, after a three-year study) for a denomination-wide health insurance plan for clergy and full-time lay employees. Dozens of pre-filed resolutions address pressing social issues. We will struggle, not surprisingly, with financial matters, as the national structure of the Episcopal Church deals with a shortfall in its receipts. You can read all of the pre-filed resolutions at http://gc2009.org/ViewLegislation/ .
Also not surprisingly, it’s likely that human sexuality will dominate General Convention and be something of a subtext for all of its deliberations. Many dioceses have submitted resolutions asking Convention to authorize liturgies for the blessing of same-sex unions. (These resolutions themselves offer a wide range of ways to accomplish this.) Others are seeking an overturn of Resolution B-033 from 2006, which called for restraint in the nomination, election, and consent of persons to the episcopate whose manner of life would challenge the unity of the Anglican Communion. (The implication of B-033 is that the Episcopal Church pledges, for the sake of Anglican unity, not again to ordain bishops living in a same-sex partnership.) As of this writing – I’ve been in Anaheim for less than a day – I’m hearing a good deal of “buzz” around these resolutions, and a certain sadness that once again a single issue will make it more difficult to focus on other serious matters. Not least among these is the need to re-energize the church for the work of evangelism in the face a church-wide decline in average Sunday attendance. That, I believe, is where we should be investing our time: in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and the Great Commandment (John 13:34). Regarding human sexuality, my hope is that we do absolutely nothing – pass no legislation, make no pronouncements, take no hasty action. This is a time, I believe, when we should invest ourselves in prayer, in pastoral care, and in theological reflection, rather than in passing resolutions (in either direction) which would further fragment the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. The spiritual discipline of silence seems particularly appropriate; we should avoid the temptation to rush into a solution that would inevitably create winners, losers, and division.
Please pray not only for the deputies and me, but above all for General Convention itself, that we will together seek the heart of Jesus and submit ourselves to him. May this 76th General Convention redound to the glory of God and the building up of his Kingdom!
Yours in Christ,
–(The Rt. Rev.) Edward Little is Bishop of Northern Indiana
[KIM] LAWTON: For decades, mainline denominations have been wrestling over issues surrounding homosexuality: whether to ordain gay clergy and whether to recognize”“and bless same-sex unions. Now that six states have legalized gay marriage, those battles are taking on a new urgency. Some church members are pushing the denominations to re-assess their policies, while others are fighting to hold the line.
Mark Tooley is president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, an advocacy group that supports conservative positions within mainline denominations.
MARK TOOLEY: The church shouldn’t just go along with what the wider society demands of it. But the church is ideally supposed to be faithful to timeless teachings that have been presented to the church through its Scripture and through its traditions.
There was much anticipation Thursday morning as the time approached for the daily Eucharist; the Archbishop was scheduled to preach. Would there be any new word about how he felt and what he thought, personally, about the Episcopal Church and the actions we have taken in past Conventions? He was much more personal, expressing gratitude for the role the American Church has taken, even apologizing for actions taken by Churches outside the United States. His sentiments were heartfelt and, at least by me, welcome. Then, as has happened so often in the past, the Archbishop said, “I hope you take no actions that will push us further apart.”
Push us further apart? It is not universally accepted that anything the Episcopal Church did is what broke us apart. Some of us chose to move away from the rest of us. This is a very old and tired argument. It’s time for us, while we have the opportunity at this Convention, to move forward, beyond the arguments and justifications. It is the time for bold and powerful leadership; may God send it now.
Our meditation was by The Most Reverend Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. The Archbishop began with a preamble. He first said “thank you” for our invitation to him and for our willingness to engage in conversation within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It is hard conversation, and many feel impatient, compromised, harassed, etc. It won’t get easier. Secondly, he wanted to be open and self-defining about his own hopes and anxieties. He said that he hoped the Convention would not make decisions which would push the communion further apart. He said that the Communion is deeply concerned because the Anglican Communion values what the Episcopal Church can give to the rest of the Church and he hopes the bonds of relationship will be deepened. Quoting St. Paul to the Corinthians, “God knows we love you.”
Today has been a mixture of highs and lows for me at General Convention. An upside was our Public Narrative for Mission session. Those of you who know me well, know that I do not enjoy the ‘sharing our story’ exercises that we often use in the Church for ‘getting to know’ one another. That being said, I was highly suspicious of the Public Narrative format. And yet I was surprised how well it worked.
We met in our own deputations and each of us simply related a story – story of self -that helped define our understanding of leadership in the Church. Most of the stories had common themes, especially the importance of mentors who noticed a particular talent or gift and encouraged the development of that talent or gift.
We are still learning the Leadership Art of Public Narrative and I can see its potential value for leadership development in a Church or secular setting. Look for more as a we learn more during General Convention.
While our time together in Public Narrative was encouraging, my time in the legislative hearing on canonical changes and resolutions supporting the development of rites for the blessing of same sex unions (BOSSU) and marriages was less than encouraging. Several members of our deputation joined me in offering testimony against those canonical changes and resolutions before the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music legislative committee.
In past years, those hearings on ‘hot topics’ usually featured a relatively equal number of pros and cons. This General Convention, however, is very different because the pros at this hearing – and others on ‘hot topics’ – vastly outnumbered the cons. In many cases, it is five to one in favor of the several canonical changes and resolutions.
One reason for these disproportionate numbers is that many of our ‘conservative’ colleagues are no longer in TEC and we have lost their voices and votes. In addition, the ‘conservative’ colleagues here were spread out at other committee hearings on other resolutions of interest.
Keep in mind that testimony does not equal a recommended resolution. I believe the Prayer Book, Liturgy and Church Music legislative committee will take the nearly dozen related resolutions on BOSSU and create one or perhaps two resolutions for the General Convention on BOSSU to consider. It will probably be several days before the legislative committee refines those one or two resolutions. Stay tuned for further developments on these and other stories.