There was a lot of passionate testimony at the hearing — both pro and con — about the ESV. It is a Bible with a strong evangelical flavor — a bishop said it was the successor of the Geneva Bible, strongly reformed, somewhat Calvinist. But much of the material that many find particularly offensive or of questionable scholarship is in the annotations and commentary rather than the translation itself, which is what we are considering. One person said the translation was a project that James Dobson of “Focus on the Family” had a large hand in. Many evangelical Episcopalians very strongly prefer the ESV. We already have translations that use similar phrases and English words for some of the “clobber passages,” as the verses are sometimes called that are used to defend interpretations that define gay intimacy as essentially sinful.

Our committee chose to refer the resolution to the Standing Commission for Liturgy and Music, since this translation was not part of their earlier study, and to ask them to make a report back to the next General Convention. Since the recommendation for the ESV came from the floor of this Convention, some felt they didn’t have the time and resources to evaluate it. We hope to adopt the Common English Bible (2001). I imagine this will provoke a floor fight.

Read it all.

Facing the same financial stressors that pushed San Bernardino toward bankruptcy, cities across California are slashing day-to-day services and taking other drastic actions to skirt a similar fiscal collapse.

For some, it may not be enough.

San Bernardino on Tuesday became the third California city to seek bankruptcy protection in the last month and, while no one expects the state to be consumed by municipal insolvencies, other cities teeter on the abyss.

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JAY JOHNSON: We’re going to be testing this liturgy for the blessing of same gender unions over the next three years leading up to the next general convention in 2015 when further actions will be decided upon then. So now that both houses of convention have approved it, both House of Bishops and House of Deputies, it can be used late this fall.

STEPHANIE MARTIN: Haven’t there been blessings like this in Episcopal congregations in the past?

JAY JOHNSON: There have been blessing ceremonies, liturgies and rituals in congregations and in some dioceses in the Episcopal Church for a good number of years. What is significant about this is that it’s the national church as a whole that has approved the use of it. It’s the first major Protestant denomination that has officially recognized liturgical rights to do this for same-gender couples.

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Discussion included a statement by Bishop Greg Brewer, Central Florida, in which he pointed out that, in areas of the world with dominant Moslem majorities, Christians would be killed because they adhere to a Faith, which supports any inclusion of homosexuality or lesbianism. Because of the reception of satellite TV with programs from the United States, countries in Africa ”“ especially the Islamic majorities ”“ constantly battle against the adoption of homosexuality into their cultures.

The House barely hesitated at his remark. I think this is result two-fold. In 2008, most of the African provinces declined to attend the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury, England. As a result, the TEC bishops that did attend did not have the opportunity to meet them and hear their stories. They did meet and hear from bishops in India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and New Guinea where Christianity is less than 2% of the population. In these countries, homosexuality is taboo also, but the reaction is not as violent as in Africa. So, how much does this issue matter across the Communion?

In a vote on Tuesday, the House of Deputies concurred by passing the measure with an even wider margin.

Read it all.

At St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church of York, the Rev. David Robson said he will call a parish meeting in the coming months to gather thoughts and opinions. The vestry board will make the final decision on how St. Andrew’s will proceed, he added.

“What we’ll do in our congregation is have a respectful conversation about it,” he said. “I don’t know if anyone will want to come in and say, ‘We want our relationship blessed.'”

Read it all.

Lord, increase our faith; that relying on thee as thy children, we may trust where we cannot see, and hope where all seems doubtful, ever looking unto thee as our Father who ordereth all things well; according to the word of thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who addressed the words of this song to the LORD on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

–Psalm 18:1-3

…The bulk of the deputation to the House of Deputies from the Diocese of South Carolina has left General Convention one day early, following the actions of the Convention thus far to (a) add transsexual persons to the list of people who cannot be denied work at any level in the Episcopal Church (USA); (b) adopt a rite for the blessing of same-sex unions, in violation of both the Book of Common Prayer and the ECUSA Constitution; and (c) refuse to act at this time on the proposed Anglican Covenant….

I shall not speculate on the response(s), if any, that those in ECUSA’s leadership might make to this development. (I have done that once too often, and they have always managed to equal or exceed my worst expectations.) I shall note here only that there is no Church Canon, or Constitutional provision, mandating a Diocese to participate willy-nilly in the proceedings of General Convention, or mandating a Bishop to attend sessions of the House of Bishops.

It is evident that it is far more important to the leaders of the Diocese of South Carolina to attend to their dispirited flocks than to signal that everything remains normal, after such extraordinary and illegal moves by the Church’s General Convention. Many other Bishops may not be aware of it just now, but they are going to face plenty of storms in their own dioceses after they return.

Read it all.

(It is very important that you read the previous thread on this as well as the comments there first). Here again is the full text–

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. Please note that in the House of Deputies debate today there was an attempt at an amendment that failed. The vote totals as announced were–Lay Order 85 yes, No 16, divided 9; Clergy 70 Yes, No 24, Divided 16.

But will conservative Episcopalians still be around to debate them?

The diocese of South Carolina’s delegation left the General Convention in protest on Wednesday.

“Due to the actions of General Convention, the South Carolina deputation has concluded that we cannot continue with business as usual,” the diocese said in a statement. “We all agree that we cannot and will not remain on the floor of the House and act as if all is normal.”

On Tuesday, the Rev. Kendall Harmon, the Diocese of South Carolina’s canon theologian, called the approval of same-sex blessings “unbiblical” and “unseemly.”

Read it all.

Due to the actions of General Convention, the South Carolina Deputation has concluded that we cannot continue with business as usual. We all agree that we cannot and will not remain on the floor of the House and act as if all is normal. John Burwell and Lonnie Hamilton have agreed to remain at Convention to monitor further developments and by their presence demonstrate that our action is not to be construed as a departure from the Episcopal Church. Please pray for those of us who will be traveling early and for those who remain.

“For the church to say, ”˜This is an active part of our life in ministry, and we support this,’ is an extraordinarily important step,” said the Very Rev. Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, president of Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Mass. “It shows that when this church says it welcomes all people, it means it….”

“It means the Episcopal Church is now separating itself that much more from the Anglican Communion,” says Hood College historian David Hein, co-author of “The Episcopalians,” a standard history of the church. “The American Episcopal Church is trying to set itself up as a separate denomination, although they would claim that they’re not.”

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The victories of Islamic parties in Egypt and elsewhere have forced the United States to embark on an untested strategy to engage with groups that have historically been hostile to American interests, Middle East analysts said.

“From a U.S. perspective, we have no choice but to deal with the Muslim Brotherhood,” said Shadi Hamid, a Middle East analyst at the Brookings Doha Center, a think tank in Qatar. “I don’t see what the alternative is.”

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The Rt. Rev. Michael Smith, Bishop of North Dakota, rose at the start of the morning session of the House of Bishops today and said:

“Presiding Bishop, thank you for allowing me to rise to speak on behalf of at least twelve members of this House. Those of us known as the Communion Partners have expended a great deal of energy for at least the past six years working to persuade theological conservatives to remain in the Episcopal Church and theological liberals to remain in the Anglican Communion. Two actions of this General Convention have made this task more difficult: the authorization of same-sex blessings through the passage of Resolution 049, and our decision to ”˜decline to take a position on the Anglican Covenant’ by the passage of Resolution D008.”

“We find ourselves between the proverbial ‘rock and a hard place’. We struggle to hold together the evangelical faith of the Church, from which we see this Convention as departing, and the catholic order of the Church, which causes us, for the sake of the unity for which Jesus prayed, to resist the temptation to leave this fellowship.”

Read it all.

[1] JESUS – BAPTIZER IN HOLY SPIRIT

Jesus – Baptizer in Holy Spirit from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

The other 3 videos are below

[2] JESUS – INCARNATE

Jesus Incarnate from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[3] JESUS – LORD OF ALL

Jesus – Lord of All from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

[4] JESUS – JUDGE

Jesus – Judge from Christ St Pauls on Vimeo.

The Rt. Rev. Greg Rickel, Episcopal Bishop of Olympia, reflected in an e-mail over his church’s historic votes over the past two days. Rickel voted for the “holy covenant” and has endorsed same-sex marriage, which Washington will vote on this November. He said:

“It had to be a most gratifying day for gay and lesbian people, who share a deep and abiding love, in fidelity, for one another. Their journey has been long and many of them may not feel this is all they would like to see, but most present here are surely gratified this day.”

The clergy delegates to the General Convention voted 76 percent to approve the new liturgy. It garnered a 78 percent “yes” vote among lay delegates. The convention is divided into a House of Bishops and a House of Delegates, the latter elected from each of more than 100 dioceses.

Read it all.

Sometimes a resolution comes down the pike whose wisdom and beauty is almost breathtaking. This is how the whole House of Bishops felt about a resolution sent to us by the legislative committee on public policy. It concerned Israel and Palestine. Very often such resolutions come across as one-sided and polarizing, even when they don’t intend to be. Not this one. It was all about how the Episcopal Church could help the Diocese of Jerusalem in its work of bringing Jews, Muslims and Christians together in pursuit of peace, and could pursue policies that would favor dialogue over division. This resolution didn’t skirt the profound challenges that face the two-state solution embraced by our church, nor did it avoid naming concrete actions we can take, including positive investment in Palestinian businesses to build up the economic infrastructure that is crucial to any future viability of Palestine as a state. But there was no rancor in this resolution — rather a clearly articulated care for the people on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian divide. Bishops across the whole political spectrum were able to rally around this piece of legislation — not because it offered no challenges, but because it challenged everyone to the hard work of peace-making. This resolution would not have been possible apart from a growing commitment to peace-making within our own church, as we learn to gather at one altar despite our differences.

Read it all.

Read it all (pdf).

(Written the day before the Deputies Vote–KSH).

As I have explained this will be passed by the House of Deputies. The Diocese of Texas has a plan for dealing with this. Our plan, rolled out in April, communicated to all Diocese of Texas clergy, and posted for the diocese in order to have access to the materials is available at: http://www.epicenter.org/unity

In our plan the progressives will be allowed generous pastoral provisions to respond to gay and lesbians while the traditionalists who oppose the blessing of same-gender blessings are protected by the legislation and by my desire to make room for all people of many views on this subject within our diocese. In the Diocese of Texas we have a way to move forward with our continued work of proclaiming the uniqueness of Christ Jesus and participating in God’s mission of salvation.

Our goal is to keep the church together for the sake of mission. In the past we have not had a plan that enabled us to stay together, so people on all sides have been frustrated, fearful, and suspicious of one another. Traditionalists and progressives alike have left as our church because of a lack of direction. The Texas plan offers a vision of unity for the sake of mission of God; it reminds us that our future resides in the arms of God and God’s kingdom.

Read it all.

Fears of a “meltdown” here at the 77th General Convention of The Episcopal Church seem today largely unfounded. As I indicated in an earlier post, I have often been amazed that this somewhat unwieldy body of lay persons, bishops, priests, and deacons seems to find a way for common sense and the Holy Spirit to bring us back from the brink time and time again over the years.

At this point, it looks as though we will not only have overwhelmingly passed provisional liturgies for the blessing of same sex unions and made a rational, careful response to the proposal for an Anglican Covenant which will keep us at the table, but will pass a sensible (for now) budget for the next triennium, vote to relocate but not sell the Church Center headquarter in New York, establish a special task force and process for listening to the church and bringing to the next General Convention specific plans for restructure of our administration and governance. Not bad for eight days in the smoldering heat of an Indianapolis summer!

Read it all.

In introducing the resolutions to the house, the Rt. Rev. Ian Douglas, Bishop of Connecticut and episcopal chairman, said the committee was blessed by having seven of the proposers of the eight initial resolutions on it.

As the committee worked, it became clear that “this church holds a wide variety of ecclesiological positions and opinions on the Anglican Covenant and its position in the Anglican Communion,” Douglas said. “As we continued to perfect ”¦ we began to believe that we would be unable to make a positive statement that would not somehow create a significant [number] of winners and losers.”

The committee began to think instead of presenting two resolutions to General Convention. Resolution B005 calls itself, in part, “a pastoral response to the Episcopal Church.”

Read it all.

Read it all. It is a nice picture of David Thurlow.

Even more troubling is the Episcopal Church’s official embrace of transgenderism. Here is essentially a Gnostic faith that mental and emotional self-realization trumps physical reality. Each self-actualized individual can in fact perpetually reinvent himself or herself into endlessly possible new sexual identities. Male today, female tomorrow, then some yet to be determined new gender next week. The Christian hope and understanding that the human body is called to be a sacred temple of the Holy Spirit that will ultimately resurrect, as Christ resurrected, for all eternity is largely lost or ignored under the transgender ideology.

What is the ultimate ceiling or floor of this strange new course upon which the Episcopal Church is launched? Only God knows.

Read it all.

Episcopalians approved a churchwide ceremony Tuesday to bless same-sex couples, the latest decisive step toward accepting homosexuality by a denomination that nine years ago elected the first openly [non-celibate] gay bishop….

A spokeswoman for the leader of the Episcopal Church, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, said she would not comment Tuesday….

The Rev. David Thurlow of the Diocese of South Carolina, which has withdrawn from some councils of the national church in protest of its theological direction, said the church was “marching off not only completely out of step with, but completely out of line with, the faith once delivered to the saints.”

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The Episcopal Church has become the largest US denomination to bless same-sex relationships.

The policy was overwhelmingly approved in a vote at the church’s general convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Church officials stressed the new ceremony, which includes prayers and an exchange of vows and rings, was not a same-sex marriage.

Read it all.

“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.

Almighty and everlasting God, whose precepts are the wisdom of a loving Father: Give us grace, following the teaching and example of thy servant Benedict, to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord’s service; let thine ears be open unto our prayers; and prosper with thy blessing the work of our hands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

O God, our Father, we are exceedingly frail, and indisposed to every virtuous and gallant undertaking: Strengthen our weakness, we beseech thee, that we may do valiantly in this spiritual war; help us against our own negligence and cowardice, and defend us from the treachery of our unfaithful hearts; for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord.

–St. Augustine (354-430)

I am speaking the truth in Christ, I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race. They are Israelites, and to them belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ. God who is over all be blessed for ever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his descendants

–Romans 9:1-7a