TZEDEK

The ordination of a sister priest is always a joyous event. But Susan Slaughter’s ordination in Ft. Worth was over the top. It was such a statement of rightness. A couple of weeks ago a I preached on the Hebrew word “tzedek”—the word that we often translate “righteous”. But one of the understandings of that word is harmony. Israelis use this word to describe when an engine is ‘in tune’ or musical instruments are keyed appropriately.

The ordination of the first woman in Ft. Worth was a commitment to harmony in a place which has been dissonant since the formation of the diocese in 1982. Susan’s ordination was not any more important or symbolic than the ordinations of thousands of other women since 1974, but this act speaks to the whole of the Church about the call to “rightness” or the sense of balance or harmony that we have failed at over the past 10-15 years in the Church. The reorganized Diocese of Ft. Worth has taken on the responsibility of righting itself. It is taking the seriously the call of servant ministry. It is taking seriously the call to living out one’s baptismal call to ministry in all orders. And it is fiercely saying to itself, ‘we will not allow ourselves to be duped into thinking that the bishop knows best’ when he/she has failed to listen to the needs of the people. It no longer is saying to the Church ‘we have no need of you’. It is saying that Christ is here and we want to live out that message that Christ is alive and well.

The future of the Diocese is still fraught with financial and legal battles that will be no fun. But now women will be part of the counsel of the clerical order. LGBT Christians are part of the visible Church now. African-American and Latino Episcopalians now are vocal and viable parts of the ministry of the diocese. There is no want of Christian clarity and strength in it. There is no loss of faithfulness in this bunch of North Texans who have endured all manner of discouragement for the sake of Jesus. And perhaps they will be able to witness to the rest of the Church what it means to claim the calling to ‘tzedek’ that we all need.

No Tickee-No Washee

Word comes from the Diocese today that you can’t get into the Convention Eucharist without a ticket. And there are color coded tickets I am told—one color if you get in the room with the Presiding Bishop and one color for those who are cast into outer darkness in another room with closed-camera connections.

First of all the idea of tickets to attend the Eucharist is beyond belief. I wonder what Christ would have said to the 5,000? I think he DID say something to the disciples about that and it sure as heck wasn’t tickets!

I also wonder what would have happened if we had planned far enough ahead when asking the PB to have gotten larger accommodations? Would having the Convention Eucharist at another large church been a possibility? What about inviting the PB at another time when she could meet with the clergy and laity of the diocese? How about Clergy Conference like the Lutherans did? What about a gym somewhere? Or perhaps we could have invited her during the summer to an outdoor service at Thornfield—ah yes, we would have had to mow the grass!

So now we have Standing Room Only for a service in which we have invited the whole diocese by making sure that all the clergy are at convention….

Once again Piss-Pore-Planning seems to have overwhelmed us.

The PB is Coming/The PB is Coming

The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts-Schori the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church is coming to Central NY for Diocesan Convention. I am anxious to hear her speak of the Church in person. I have, of course, heard snippets of her speeches on line and read her thoughts over the past three years. I am somewhat in awe of her because of how she has handled herself in the face of a badly broken and split church. The past three years have been some of the most difficult in the history of The Protestant Episcopal Church/TEC. At the same time I have not appreciated the moratorium on LGBT ordinations and consecrations from 2006-2009.

From various bishops I have heard the story of her election in 2006 that seemed to be a real movement of the Holy Spirit in the HOB. I look forward to hearing her express her hopes for the Church and most of all how she envision the evolving new Christianity that seems to be emerging at present. Certainly in this diocese we need to hear something other than the survivor mentality that seems occupy the thinking of the diocese or the exclusivity of some of the clergy of the diocese.
This welcoming of the PB is a chance for her to share with us in CNY what is going on not only in the whole of TEC, but also with what is facing us as a part of the Anglican Communion. I am hopeful to hear her reaction to the Anglican Covenant.

I am not sure that her purpose is to listen to us; diocesan convention is not the venue for that in this diocese. I am afraid her presence among us is going to be one of visiting dignitary rather than a fellow Christian on the same journey. Visiting dignitaries often serve to enthuse to a new vision. But in this diocese there is no vision, no goal, and no direction to enthuse to. What her presence may show is how vital the Church is in other places and heightens the paucity of that vitality here. Her presence may show how deeply lost we are in this diocese and how isolated we are becoming because the witness to Christ is so insipid here. I believe I will see clearly how poorly our diocese shapes up in comparison with other areas of the Church.

I am horrified by the lack of sensible expectations for the service that ++Katharine will be preaching. It seems that little thought was given to the logistics. I fear it will be a nightmare of who can access the PB and who may not. Once again the reality of the PB’s presence was not thought through. I do believe that many people will expect to be able to discuss the status of the Church with her since there is so little opportunity to do so in the diocese. That expectation will not be satisfied given the lack of room and lack of thought put into her visit.

Districts:

Once again the diocesan office in Syracuse is trying to change diocesan structures without consulting with those who live and move and have their beings in the diocese. News comes that the council of Deans is looking to dissolve the Ithaca-Owego-Cortland District without a bye-your-leave to those who work or live in that District.

One might ask the rationale behind the development of deaneries or districts. Originally the district was a way of attending to the needs of an area of the diocese. Clergy and laity would meet with some regularity to support the ministry of Jesus Christ. Clergy met to support one another in their vocation. They were also ways of disseminating information from the diocesan office and national church. One hundred years ago these districts revolved around the main mode of transportation, mainly train lines so that clergy could be mobile. I know that St. Peter’s, Bainbridge and St. Ann’s, Afton were yoked in the 19th century simply because the train ran regularly between the two. Later as automobiles became the mode of travel, districts developed along the routes of highways. The districts were not developed as extension of the diocesan office, but as ways of gathering the clergy and laity in discrete areas together to extend the mission of Christ. The districts were to serve the laity and clergy of the diocese, not necessarily the bishop. And deans, until just recently were elected by the districts that they served.

It seems that today the diocesan office would realign districts simply because they can’t find like-minded clergy to be dean. Rather than have the districts be a listening post for the bishop, the diocesan office would rather the district be broken up than attend to the needs of the people of the district. Once more I hear the goal of “flattening the hierarchy” being trod upon by those who are appointed rather than elected to office. Once more it is for the diocesan office that changes are made, not the needs of those in the pews who pay the salaries of all of us. If there is one thing that serves to distance the laity from the diocese is for the diocese to make unilateral decisions affecting them.

It is probably an appropriate thing to review the boundaries of all the districts in the diocese. Travel patterns and communal patterns have change over the past 100 years. Perhaps Owego should be in the Binghamton district; however, the people of that parish should be the ones who make that decision rather than those in far-off Syracuse or deans from the North Country who have never driven the back roads of the Southern Tier. Perhaps Courtland and Ithaca and Whitney Point have more in common than Whitney Point has with Binghamton, but it should be the parish that should make that decision. To eliminate a district because of politics is an unworthy reason. To append such a place as Candor or Speedsville or even Ithaca to Elmira is nonsensical and Cortland doesn’t have much in common with either Binghamton or Syracuse and would work hardship on clergy and laity alike.

There are clergy in Ithaca-Cortland who are willing to be a part of the college of deans. There are clergy who are more than willing to work with the bishop in the Ithaca-Cortland District. They have their take on the needs of their parishes and area that is needed by the diocesan office. The district is quite capable of providing capable leadership to the district and the diocese. It is time to re-think these actions.

The Camel's Nose is under the tent, Benny

I have been pondering what the action by the Vatican with regards to setting up an Anglican rite within Roman Catholicism. As one who “swam the Thames” I know that the Roman Catholic Church is really where many of the ultra-conservative Anglo-Catholics belong. They have been praying for the reunification of the Church and believe it to be the one true church. I wish those who go to Rome well. I have never understood why they wanted to “Romanize” the Anglican Communion.

Now, I can enjoy a good high church liturgy with the best of them, but I have often found the Anglo-Catholic proclivities of some mere aping of Rome and not of much substance liturgically or theologically. But that’s me. I loved the Roman Catholic Church when I was a part of it. It taught me a love for signs and sacraments, tradition and solidarity. It taught me about community and Christ’s predilection for the poor. But Vatican II also taught me how to find signs and sacraments in the more mundane existence of life for which I will be eternally grateful.
What finally drew me to Anglicanism was a growing respect for the place of the Incarnation in my life, awareness that God calls women and lgbt persons to the ordained ministry, and an understanding that God’s church can be governed by all the faithful, not just misogynistic clerics.

Since the 16th century there have been those who have wandered back and forth across the divide that separates Rome and Canterbury. When it is a person of note such as a Henry Newman or a Matthew Fox or Fr. Cutie, one side or the other touts a triumphalism that is not worthy of either side. To swim the Tiber or the Thames is merely the walk of Christians trying to live out their faith within a context of community that speaks most clearly the faith they have come to know.

I felt that the cabal (both lay and ordained) that ran the Diocese of Ft. Worth should have gone to Rome 35 years ago. But I always felt that there was an underlying classism that permeated that group and it was unwilling to submit to the Roman leadership in that area which was so serious about its commitment to the poor Hispanic community that it served. I will be surprised to find the Ikerites submitting to Roman authority in the US. In Europe or even San Joachim, perhaps, but not in Texas.



But I think this action by Pope Benedict will have ramifications that the Roman Catholic Church is not prepared to face: First and foremost is that Anglicans’ understanding of obedience is quite different from Romanism. Obedience is the primary virtue of Roman Catholicism. It is deeply embedded in the Catholic soul. To question authority in the Roman Church is just not tolerated. And no matter how much Iker and his followers say they believe in clerical authority, the mere fact that they have become schismatic is a sign that they cannot tolerate the kind of obedience that Rome not only expects, but cradle Catholics have sucked in with mother’s milk. This kind of obedience goes way past the conservative/liberal issues of present day. When there is a liberal turn once again, how will this Anglican bunch deal with a liberal authority in Rome? This Anglican uniate won’t have any say in electing a new pope, you can bet on that.

Secondly, I don’t think that the pope has realized what kind of a camel nose will be under the tent when married clergy are permitted in Western churches. I remember back in my Roman days the discussion on married clergy. This was the time when the permanent deaconate was being proposed. Most of the opinion was that married clergy would bankrupt the Church. I thought at the time that that was a pretty poor reason to deny ordination to married men, but we were hoping that it would develop into the ordination of celibate women. But then the misogyny of Roman authority raised its ugly head in the encyclical on women in 1979 and it was clear that would not happen.

Will this new Anglican rite mean that married men in the future be accepted as candidates for holy orders in the Roman church? Will celibacy be seen still as a “holier” way to live? Certainly the image of monastic life no longer prevails within the Roman church so the witness of faithful married priests may upset the whole apple cart for the Roman Catholicism. And the married clergy are going to be unprepared to be dominated by the deeply closeted gay clergy that are so prevalent among Roman clergy.

This sop to discontented Anglicans is a move by the conservatives now in power in Rome. But a married clergy in the midst of Roman clergy who have not chose celibacy but have had it forced upon them will continue to cause a riff among the ordained. This camel will be in the tent in no time and will cause more internal strife within the Roman Church that Benedict intends. Knowing how Rome deals with conflict, this Anglican uniate church may have another “swim” in its future.

On Communion

In the diocesan newspaper of the Diocese of Louisiana, Bishop Charles Jenkins published this. “On Communion”

I shall never forget the day the tea arrived. Cases and cases of tea,
shipped to us by the Bishop of Ceylon. More tea than I have ever seen
at one time donated to us in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I remember my amazement when at "Community Congress 1" the realization
came upon me that many of the volunteers working there were from
London and came as part of the efforts to help of the Church of England.

How strengthened I was when Bishop Josiah Fearon of the Diocese of
Kaduna in the Church of Nigeria phoned to say that the entire Diocese
was praying for us and he and a group were trying to find a way to
come to us. Eventually, Bishop Fearon came and he came to see about me.

The amount of the check may have been small, but how grateful we were
for the ordinand in the Church of England who asked that the loose
offering at his ordination be sent to us. That check with tens of
thousands of others has made a difference.

"Like a deer caught in the headlights" was how someone described me
after the levees failed. Then a call came (I wonder how he got
through) from Rob Radtke at Episcopal Relief and Development asking
what we needed. How the heck did I know? I told Rob we needed him.
Though brand spanking new to the job, he managed to get on a plane and
come. He brought with him Courtney Cowart and Peter Gudaitis.

It was humbling to be asked by the Archbishop of Canterbury during the
Lambeth Conference of 2008 to search out the Bishops from Burma so
affected by tsunami and pray with them. Of course, they had been
praying for us.

When evil stands before me, I stand not alone, but this fractious,
schismatic, heretical, wonderful, faithful, sacrificing, Christ-like
Communion stands beside me, before me, behind me, and above me. As
lonely as the past four years have been, even in dark nights of
depression and doubt, I have not been alone. The last phone message I
had before the system went down was from the Rev'd Susan Russell.

The tabernacle would not open in St. Luke's Church, New Orleans, when
Frank and Phoebe Griswold and I moved aside trees to get into the
church. We had Holy Communion there in the muck, mold, and mud thanks
to Senior Warden Elvia James who managed to get the door open to the
tabernacle. That Holy Communion pointed me towards our Communion.

Communion is not only about right believing and right acting. When our
lives were in the ditch by the Jericho Road, when we had been robbed
of life's dignity and much of the material of life, our Samaritan was
the Anglican Communion. Rich and poor, orthodox or whatever,
conservative and liberal, they came to us. They gave us of what they
had and all prayed for us.

This Communion that I have experienced is the Church forced by
circumstance to be what I think God has created His Church to be. I
warn those who would break down and destroy this tender vessel that
they are on the side of the enemy. Whether the iconoclasts be from the
left, the right, or from the don't care side of things, let the
warning be heard, Communion matters. Communion is not simply a matter
of affiliation, or of like-minds; for some of us Communion is life or
death. Communion is more than a man-made Covenant between us. We are
called by God the Father into a greater Covenant that we dare not
break. We are called to be here, together, one, broken, messy and yet
strong, faithful, and rejoicing in the Lord.

The issues are many, the disagreements and disappointments many, and
the opportunity to each do our own thing (which we suppose to be of
God who blesses all our doings) is enticing. Such is not real religion.

Yours in Christ,

The Rt. Rev. Charles E. Jenkins

Response: I wrote +Charles this morning thanking him for this article and sharing my experience in MS while doing relief work.


Dear Bishop Jenkins,

Today Bishop Righter posted your statement "On Communion" on Hob/d. We have never met but I was one of those many volunteers who came following Katrina--I went to MS because that was as close as I could get to New Orleans that October. I stayed two months and wore out a couple of knees in the process, but I have never experienced "Church" like I did at Camp Coast Care. I want to thank you for your wonderful communication about the world-wide Anglican Communion. I had a similar experience.




At the time I was very angry. I had experienced the backlash of +Robinson's election. I am a lesbian priest and have been a vowed celibate since I joined the Ursulines in New Orleans in the early seventies. The fear of having a gay rector had been raised and I lost my parish. I was not permitted to work in my diocese after having been a priest for almost 30 years. I went to help along the Gulf Coast because I couldn’t figure out how to exercise the priesthood to which I had been called by God.

I worked with those who came from all over the country to help people we didn't know, who were connected only by compassion. Each night when we arrived back from a day of digging people out of debris, copperheads and mold, we would gather for evening prayer. We prayed for the families that we had served. We prayed for those at home. We prayed each in our own way. We were Episcopalians and Lutherans and every other denomination. The BCP served to unite us and gave us structure in our prayer. We were also Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist. We all gathered to unite us to give us strength for another day to carry on. It was a sense of community that I have never had in religious life or parish life. It was a glimpse of what I hope heaven will be like without the damage and loss that gave us the reason to come together.



I doubt if you or I could find a reason to agree on much theologically or politically (I, being a faithful graduate of EDS ). But that is not the point. If God can call us into such a rich fellowship in times of abject humiliation, I do believe that we can come together in the name of Christ and the Church. It is Christ's communion, not the Anglican, Episcopal, or whatever. It sometimes takes "acts of God" to bring us to that place where we find our common ground. You found the common ground in Christ as shown forth from your brothers and sisters of the Anglican Communion. I too found that common ground in Christ through the work of the anglican communion.

I am distressed that there might be a two-tier communion--that is not a communion but a heirarchy. But whatever the way that is decided, you and I, for whatever reason can never say that we are not part of one another. We have met the common ground of Jesus in the midst of the flood waters. We have known the love of Christ through the hands of those who share that communion from all over the world. We will never be the same. Thanks be to God.

I believe...

…I believe I experience God as life fully lived, as love wastefully given, as being completely realized. I cannot tell you or anyone else who or what God is. I can only describe my experience. I may be delusional. Lots of religious people are, but I don't think so.

I join the mystics in saying that I think I am part of what God is. God lives in me, loves through me and empowers me to escape that drive to survive that is in every living thing in order to give my life away. That is the Christ role and I think it is also the role that his disciples are called to model.

So I am drawn by God beyond my boundaries and I perceive that God becomes real when I enter into the task of living and loving and being. This means that it doesn't occur to me that I am alone with no one to whom to pray. This makes me rather a deeply infused, God-intoxicated human being who no longer has the words to describe the God in who I live and move and have my being, but it does not even occur to me to doubt the reality of that which I experience, but can never define…. Bishop John Shelby Spong

I have spent the past 5 days at clergy conferences. Two days with the Episcopalians and 3 days with the Lutherans. The Episcopal clergy conference had a speaker on philosophy and theology and the Lutheran conference spotlighted the Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson, an amazing person who is centered into holding the ELCA together despite votes from the Church Wide Assembly that bode realignment or schism.



Five days of clergy conference is too long. It is hard to keep one’s sight on the parochial experience of the people in the pew when constantly called to hear the experience of those far away. It will be interesting to hear Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts-Schori when she comes in November to Central NY and how she works at providing a vision for the whole of the Church.




I have always been a churchwoman. The Church has always been the place where I lived and moved and had my being. It has given focus for my life and hope for the future in Christ. But where the rubber hits the road for me is the parish, the lived out experience of how Christ calls me to live my faith in Jesus with the others that I see every day.

The deliberations both at General Convention 2009 and the Church Wide Assembly of the ELCA produced legislation that has given affirmation to me and the ministry I have participated in for the past 40 years. I should be deliriously happy. But I must admit that I am just plain TIRED!

I have worked all my life for civil rights—for African-Americans, for Latinos, for women and for LGBT folks. But that is not where Christ is. I have labored to make sure that their voices could be heard both in society and in the Church and yet no one seems to get it. I feel like Jesus when he is trying to teach the disciples and they simply don’t get his meaning of his parables. The issue is not about inclusion—it is about turning our lives over. It isn’t about rights—it is about becoming lesser and Christ becoming greater. It isn’t about what makes us Lutheran, or Episcopalian, or Presbyterian or Methodist or Holiness. It is about, as Bishop Spong says, loving wastefully; it is about giving myself away.

As I approach that magic age of 65—a time when retirement is at hand, I realize that I no longer want to hold up the Church. I want to share that “God-intoxicated” life that I know. I can no longer describe that Holy One that lives in me. I have no rules or plan to pass it on to others. My words and actions fail me when I think that I am preaching so eloquently the love I know in my innermost parts.

What will the Church be for the future? I don’t know. I just pray that it will continue to be a place where we can gather to hear the stories about those who have loved God: Abraham who left his home to follow God, Joseph who had been cast out by his own brothers yet welcomed them when they came to Egypt, Moses who found God in a burning bush and who led his people out of slavery, Jeremiah who spoke the power of God even though he was young, John Baptist who knew that repentance was the way the heart could open itself to God and Jesus who laid down his life for us and all those who have come after him to teach us of God’s love. Will there be a Lutheran Church? Probably. Will there be an Episcopal Church? Probably. But does that mean anything in the long run? I doubt it. What will be important to us for the future is whether we can give ourselves away.