The Big Welcome

This Sunday, I'm scheduled to serve as a Eucharistic Minister. At St. John's, that means I'm a chalice bearer, and either a lay reader or a prayer leader. My assignment for this date is "lay reader" and it's a particularly wonderful passage from Acts that is "on the menu" for the morning:

While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, "Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?" So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days. --Acts 10:44-4

That's right: can ANYONE withhold the water for baptizing "these people" who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have? Does any person have the authority to deny God's Holy Spirit? And I would expect anyone who has ever felt pushed to the margins, relegated to the fringe, or otherwise excluded from the community of God would say, "No!"
Passages such as this one are the clarion call to all queer people that it is NOT unusual or perverse or satanic for those with "ears to hear" to find themselves in relationship with God.
Because God does not hide from those who seek, and does not deny those who ask. We saw that in last Sunday's reading, also from Acts, in the story of the eunuch and Phillip:

Then an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Ga'za." (This is a wilderness road.) So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Canda'ce, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isai'ah. Then the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over to this chariot and join it." So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isai'ah. He asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" He replied, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this:
"Like a sheep he was led to the
slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
so he does not open his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth."
The eunuch asked Philip, "About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?" Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azo'tus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesare'a. --Acts 8:26-40

"Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?" In some circles within our own Anglican Communion, there are those who might turn to the eunuch and say, "You must repent your castration first!" Not true of Philip who, with God's help, must have seen in the eunuch a true and contrite heart. The eunuch was baptized and happy, and Philip got swept away to continue proclaiming God's power through Jesus to a whole set of untapped people.

And to this we say, "Thanks be to God!" Thanks be to a God who doesn't deny access to a liberating love, but rather continuously reaches out to all of humanity hoping to bring as many in to the party as possible. Thanks be to a God who handpicked the right people, and gave them enough wisdom in the moment, to see that this love reached more and more "others" in the world. And thanks be to a God that didn't just do this kind of outreach centuries ago, but is continuing to seek and find the "others" in an effort to share the gifts of being alive and awake.

This Sunday, we'll be baptizing and confirming more people into "the family". With the bishop's laying on of hands, or the water of baptism, I will be gaining a new set of brothers and sisters in Christ. They won't necessarily look like me, talk like me, walk like me, or be queer like me. But, like Philip and Peter, just because they aren't "exactly like me"... they are as worthy in God's sight as I am... and the labels and outside 'things' don't matter. Because, in Christ, as Paul notes in his letter to the Galatians, there is no longer Jew or Greek, male or female, slave or free... just one body in Christ. God's body in the world.

Welcome to the big welcome!

Breaking the Moratorium

From the reports I'm reading, it seems the Anglican Covenant is on-hold... for now. It's been sent back for further work, as the Communion continues it's Listening Process.

In light of that news, this is a snippet from the Changing Attitudes blog site, the LGBT Anglican group based in England. This is from Rev. Colin Coward, the director of Changing Attitudes:

Last week I had a brief conversation with the Ven Dr Abraham Okorie. I introduced myself as Director of Changing Attitude and said we worked for LGBT Anglicans. Later in the week he contributed to the debate on the Anglican Covenant, referring to The Episcopal Church as satanic because they want to create more problems rather than heal wounds.Satanic was the word he used about lesbian and gay people in his conversation with me. Lesbian and gay people are only welcome to come to church if they repent, he said. Their activities are satanic. For Dr Okorie, and possibly for bishop Nwosu, there is no place for LGBT people in Nigeria. They are a satanic presence. There can be no listening process when church leaders hold this attitude. The support of the Church of Nigeria for further punitive legislation against gay people and gay marriage is perfectly logical in their mindset.

COMMENT: Rev. Coward is absolutely correct, and the situation in Nigeria is scary for LGBT people. The Archbishop of Canterbury has condemned violence against gay people living in Nigeria, but saying, "Bad, bad, bad" is not enough. And it doesn't work if the people saying, "Bad, bad, bad", then call for the Episcopal Church to show "gracious restraint" about embracing LGBT people as full participants in the life and sacraments of the Church. You can't have it both ways.

Trampled seeds

I realize the calendar of the Episcopal Church is marking the "Easter Season"; however, I'm thinking this is "Luke Season" in the Daily Office. Or we could just rename it, "Especially-Deep-Contemplation-for-Susan-on-Only-One-Cup-of-Coffee Season". At least that's how I was feeling this morning as another light bulb turned on in my head when reading the parable of the sower.
To set this up, Jesus has just had the scene with "a woman" who is "a sinner" at the house of Simon, the Pharisee. And she's shown more courtesy and love for Jesus than his host... so Jesus makes a point of highlighting her, forgiving her of her sins, and sending her off in peace. Next, we have Jesus on the move, doing more teaching in villages and cities. Along with the twelve disciples, he has also collected a following of women: Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna... "and many others". People are hearing about this Jesus, and a great crowd gathers to hear him speak. And so he tells this parable:

A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path
and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. Some fell on the rock;
and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. Some fell among thorns, and
the thorns grew with it and choked it. Some fell into good soil, and when it
grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone
with ears to hear listen!’Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God; but to others I
speak in parables, so that“looking they may not perceive, and listening they may not understand.” ‘Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. The ones on
the path are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word
from their hearts, so that they may not believe and be saved. The ones on the
rock are those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have
no root; they believe only for a while and in a time of testing fall away. As
for what fell among the thorns, these are the ones who hear; but as they go on
their way, they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and
their fruit does not mature. But as for that in the good soil, these are the
ones who, when they hear the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and
bear fruit with patient endurance.--Luke 8: 5-15

I usually pause after reading the Gospel. Today, I sat very, very still. Because it hit me: I've experienced being each one of these types of soil in my life.

My youth was spent in church... physically. I did listen. I did participate. But I was battling demons while I was there. I don't mean to suggest that I was battling a real Devil character, but I had a strong pull toward death... and I believed that God had no use for me and had dumped me out on the roadside. These were the days of the seed getting trampled on the path. When things came to a head, and I was put on anti-depressants and in therapy, I moved along to phase two of the soil: the rock. Yes, now I believed that God didn't hate me. But I wasn't so convinced that the People of God didn't hate me because what I heard and witnessed several times was seeing the branches of the vine growing out of the windows of the church. And it wasn't the branches of a grapvine, it was poison ivy. I didn't want to hear the Word because the Word was being corrupted and used to beat up gay people. This phase led to the life in the thorns, trying to find meaning and satisfaction not necessarily in riches, but in "stuff" and in anything but the church because that wasn't a safe place any more.

But the undaunted gardener... aka God... has cleared the thorns, broken up the rocks, and sodded the path. And God has built up a fence around the garden to keep the scavengers out. I feel that now, more than ever before, I can not turn a deaf ear to what God intends for me to hear: "You are wanted. You are needed. You are mine."

As the Pagans say, "So mote it be!"

The Nameless Many

Now that I have declared a personal moratorium on any more posts about the Anglican Consultative Council, I’m taking my own advice, and turning my thoughts back to God and meditating on God, and specifically reflecting on some things that have been occurring to me recently in this never-ending, ever-unfolding journey.

In the Daily Office gospel reading for today, we get the story from Luke’s perspective on the woman, who is a sinner, and washes Jesus’ feet with her tears, dries them with her hair and anoints him with costly oil on his feet. This is all taking place in the home of a Pharisee, who we learn from the conversation with Jesus is named Simon. We don’t know the woman’s name. We don’t know what her sin was. All we know is that she is showering Jesus with all the customary greetings of that period (bathing the feet with water, kissing, and anointing with oil).

Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’ Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ ‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’—Luke 7: 39-50

There’s a lot that went through my head as I read this passage. I found myself reflecting on the story in John’s gospel of the foot-washing scene with the disciples, where Jesus takes on the role of the servant as a means of teaching his followers, “This is what it means to love one another.” Here, a woman who apparently must have been notorious, serves Jesus in a way that his host has not. I am also reminded of the story from Mark before Jesus’ arrest where the woman anoints Jesus’ head with oil much to the chagrin of the disciples who start mumbling about how much money they could have made for the poor with that oil that she’s wasting on Jesus’ head. In that story, Jesus basically tells them all to quit their complaining because what this woman was doing is preparing his body for burial, and reminds them that they’ll always have the poor with them, but they won’t always have him.

But chiefly what I thought about is that we don’t know her name. She’s “a woman” and “a sinner”. And, like so many others (“a blind man”, “a servant”, “a Syrophoenician woman”, “a Samaritan woman”)… all these “others” in the Bible stories of Jesus are incredibly important and powerful examples to us so many centuries later. They are the nameless many who encounter him, are touched by him, and through their faith in these encounters they become part of the Kingdom of God. These are the people that society, back in those days, had left behind or were seen as unworthy of such an invitation. But here in the gospels, they become the very illustrations of what Jesus was showing as “the way”, “the truth”, “the life”: love of God… love of neighbor. We don’t really need to know their names, or to know the why’s and what for’s behind how they came to be in the conditions they’re in. What we need to do is to pay attention to what’s happening in these stories, and to understand the liberation that comes to these nameless people through these encounters. And to see, feel, taste, touch, hear, and experience how liberating God’s love is for them.

God knows more than just the names of the nameless ones. God knows their hearts, and has seen in their hearts a faith that says, “Here I am”. That was true then, and I believe it remains true to this day. God knows each of us completely. And he will liberate… and is liberating… all those who seek him out… each of us in all our perfect imperfections, and self-imposed prisons of fear, and beliefs that somehow we aren’t worthy of such love.

All the more reason why we, who have felt this liberation, should seek to serve God in others and not assume that we know “who’s in and who’s out” because we don’t.

In the words of the General Thanksgiving:

And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies
that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise
not only with our lips, but in our lives
by giving up ourselves to your service,
and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days.

And so, nameless people, let us go forth to love and serve the Lord. Episcopalians… you know what to say next!

A Card for My Momma

Make a Smilebox greeting

And herein lies some of the problem...

Apparently, there's still some dissention and disagreement over parts of this so-called Covnenant being debated in Jamaica. Meanwhile, I checked in on the Episcopal News Service for their break down on that news conference with Rev. Canon Phillip Groves a few days ago about continuing the listening process. A section of the story highlights comments from the bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East.

ENS reports:
Jerusalem and the Middle East President Bishop Mouneer Anis questioned the goals of the Listening Process, saying that "if we are to achieve better pastoral care and combating homophobia, this would be an honorable achievement because I don't think we all know how to care for people with homosexual orientation and some [people] are actually homophobic."
"Homophobia is not good and it doesn't go with our Christian love at all," he said. "We should be loving, we should be caring for homosexuals." However, Anis said that the goal cannot be toleration of homosexual.
He told the council that he knows there are "people of homosexual orientation" in his province. He said that while he was a medical doctor before becoming a bishop he edited a youth magazine and often received what he called "secret letters" from young people.
"They all the time seek help," he said. "They feel that there is something abnormal and they want to corrected, but I could not really encounter them and sit and talk with them because it's a shameful thing in our country and practicing homosexuality … is a crime." Thus, he told the council, "it is very difficult in some provinces to have this listening."
"I don't know how I [could] listen within the province," he said, adding that he would like to see a theological conversation across provinces.
Anis also warned the council about "another dimension" to the Listening Process. He said "several people," including at least one bishop, have told him that they do not disapprove of people with a homosexual orientation, but that they disapprove of homosexual practice because they know it is against Scripture. However, Anis said, they can't say so because their dioceses are "dependent on the donations that come from the west."

Is he saying that we're blackmailing African churches by saying we won't give money unless you embrace homosexuality? I can't say if this is happening in the communion or not.

Here's another statement from the article:

Dato Stanley Isaacs of the Church of South East Asia told the council "there's a need to consider a process of healing and reconciliation for the Episcopal Church … and we believe this cannot come about without also having a listening process for those who have been affected and are in some ways suffering" from what he called the "affirmative actions" of the Episcopal Church "on homosexuality -- on human sexuality."
He said he hoped an upcoming resolution would require the Listening Process to include a provision "for those who have been affected and are in some ways suffering" because of choices made in the Episcopal Church.

Again, I am sorry if the Church of South East Asia has suffered. But we in this country can NOT have healing and reconciliation when those who oppose gay people continue to insist that we've "done something to them". We can not have a true listening process if a bishop in Jerusalem believes that there was something "abnormal" about the young people who used to contact him when he was a doctor. Because that attitude tells me you AREN'T listening!!

I think this might have to be my last post on this topic. Until the ACC wants to talk about God, and the love of God for ALL that God has created, and how we as a communion can come together for social justice rather than finding fault with each other over "bright shiny objects"... I have nothing further to offer. Oh, that's not true.

Parting shot: you want to know what Jesus thinks of this sort of bickering and backstabbing, go read Luke 6: 39-49. Hint: you might want to check your eyes in the mirror!

Breaking out the Brass Knuckles

And so, I have encouraged my readership here to seek out information on this Anglican angst-ridden Covenant by heading over to Fr. Mark Harris' PRELUDIUM blog. He has the information. He breaks it down. And he doesn't become inflammatory about it.

On the other hand, Mad Priest at OF COURSE, I COULD BE WRONG has reduced the basics of this meeting in Jamaica down to its sum and substance. This post is quick, and worth it! MP doesn't pull punches ever... and I'm afraid the more I hear and read, the less I feel inclined to hold back from doing a little pounding myself.

Words fail me. At MP's OCICBW, I listened to a 35-minute press conference with the Rev. Canon Phillip Groves of Tanzania and England who is assisting in the leadership of the Continuing Indaba and Mutual Listening Project. Briefly, for those who didn't tune in to this blog or follow any of the big Bishop Bash at Lambeth Palace last year: Indaba is an African listening tradition that the purple-shirts practiced during their two-week meeting last July as they tried to learn about cultural differences within the Communion. It is NOT designed to come up with easy, knee-jerk answers; hence, I think it's a good exercise as everyone tries to learn from each other.
Anyway, there's going to be more "listening" is what I gather... and Canon Groves seemed quite pleased with how these straight, mostly male, people can "listen" on the topic of human sexuality. When a reporter from the Anglican gay-rights organization Changing Attitude asked a question about the lack of gay people involved in the discussions and listening at the ACC... Groves stumbled, bumbled, fumbled and seemed flummoxed at the idea. And in his answer, he committed the sin of sarcasm... noting that there were no youth members present either because you can't really have "a 15-year old Primate". (Please, sir, stay on task and answer the man's question!)

Since he couldn't give much of an answer, I will say that it is impossible to have an honest dialogue about me if I'm not in the room. And this listening process, which I think is very important, will only work if there is a good faith attempt to listen to the LGBT community. Sadly in Africa where, in some places, homosexual behavior is a crime... it's going to be hard to find people to dialogue with on human sexuality. Meanwhile, a great opportunity to have such a dialogue last summer was made much more difficult because the Archbishop decided he didn't want "the gay bishop" at Lambeth. How much further along would the Indaba process have been if they had included +Gene of New Hampshire, and not reduced him to a "fringe event"?

Rev. Canon Groves made a remark about how difficult this listening process is, and how things are not as simple as I had previously suggested about reading the Baptismal Covenant. He didn't elaborate on that point, and I was not there to challenge him. I believe he is correct in saying that the listening process is difficult because in order to hear, and not simply listen, requires an effort to let go of ego and assumptions. But I maintain that the Baptismal Covenant is the covenant that we need to define ourselves as Anglican.

So take your Ridley Cambridge Draft Covenant... and Windsdor Group Report... and B033 and all the other mularkey and toss it in the toilet. They are stumbling blocks, folks!