[shared with permission]
I'm thinking maybe a brush up course on Matthew 5:37 would be a good assignment for our bishops at this point. Whattya think?
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Can we get buttons made -- maybe wear them to the various "report backs"? Don't think I can pull it off by Tuesday becasue ours is October 2nd at (are you ready for this -- The Nixon Library.)
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I'll take questions from the floor if anybody has something they'd like to ask the bishops of Los Angeles. (Can't guarantee I'll get them all asked but odds are I'll make it to the microphone at some point!)
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Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No'
Matthew 5:37a
13 comments:
I'm still wrestling over whether or not to go... although I made a reservation before NO. Truthfully, I have no desire to see any bishop of The Episcopal Church at this point. How could any single one of them look directly in the eye of a gay person with an honest face? Such duplicity. Such deceit. All for a cup of tea!
Of course, it's what the cup of tea represents: the hollow unity they have all opted for and traded on the flayed backs of all gay people. They all ought to be thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed to see any of us... much less speak to us publically in what will ring out as a phony, forked-tongue lie of the grossest kind.
Martin Luther King: Letter from a Birmingham Jail
I had also hoped that the white moderate would reject the myth concerning time in relation to the struggle for freedom. I have just received a letter from a white brother in Texas. He writes: "All Christians know that the colored people will receive equal rights eventually, but it is possible that you are in too great a religious hurry. It has taken Christianity almost two thousand years to accomplish what it has. The teachings of Christ take time to come to earth." Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely rational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively. More and more I feel that the people of ill will have used time much more effectively than have the people of good will. We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the hateful words and actions of the bad people but for the appalling silence of the good people. Human progress never rolls in on wheels of inevitability; it comes through the tireless efforts of men willing to be co-workers with God, and without this 'hard work, time itself becomes an ally of the forces of social stagnation. We must use time creatively, in the knowledge that the time is always ripe to do right. Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy and transform our pending national elegy into a creative psalm of brotherhood. Now is the time to lift our national policy from the quicksand of racial injustice to 6e solid rock of human dignity.
But you have still gone a lot further than nearly everyone else, Susan!
I do appreciate your frustration. I think its a question of politics - does TEC go it alone and get expelled from the Communion, or does it compromise, stay in the Communion and watch others leave as a consequence.
The latter may make the Communion much more open to change. The former would see TEC isolated as it would be unlikely that many would follow them if Canterbury didn't.
David ... hope to see you there!
We have a meeting with our bishop this week and my feeling is that, no matter how wonderful he is, I want to make him uncomfortable. Just as uncomfortable as any gay person in the Anglican communion feels, being relegated to 2nd class citizenship.
-Jonathan
I'm in quite full agreement with your invocation of that passage in Matthew, Susan.
Of course, I'd also point to 1 Corinthians 6:1-7 and 9-11 to give an idea of what the bishops should be saying "No" to, but I expect we'll disagree on that.
Liz Keaton, in a comment at Tobias' blog, asked, "What, in March, was different from September... to have such thoroughly contradictory results?" My answer:
I haven't checked thoroughly to see if anyone else has noted this, but one other obvious difference between March and September, Elizabeth, is the absence of that shining light, Jim Kelsey. From all reports, he was the true leader/author of the March statement. There was no leader in September. Just lemmings.
There are plenty of types other than gay folks who are not welcome in TEC, and who cannot reveal themselves completely.
How many bishops in the church are openly conservative Republican? Very few - some have to *lie* about it to get elected. The church is fine with that.
How many bishops can be openly pro-life? Openly supportive of deporting illegal aliens? They keep their mouths shut - all for the good of unity.
The church is also not welcoming to anybody between the ages of 20 and 40. Unless they're gay.
The church does not welcome anybody who doesn't believe in evolution (which I am fine with.)
ETC.
Sidney
David --
#1 -- She hates being called Liz. Just an FYI! :)
#2 -- Jim Kelsey was truly missed both personally and institutionally but my "information" is that a few bishops who had been part of the solution in March ended up being part of the problem in September.
Never underestimate the power of inflated episcopal egos to gum up the works by deciding to "fix things" for everybody else.
See you tomorrow?
Hi Susan,
So what is with the obsession for "unity" the House of Bishops is trying to maintain? Is "unity" worth shutting the church door on gay, lesbian and transgendered folk. Is any response other than full inclusion possible to the invitation of Jesus to "Come, follow me?"
It seems to me it is time to say to the Anglican Communion, "You are always welcome at out table. We are sad that you do not now welcome us to your table. We pray for the reconciliation that will allow us to break bread together."
TEC has to refocus on including everyone who comes to us into the fellowship and love of our community. No other tradition can take presidence over Christ's command to love one another.
Thanks for being such a strong and committed witness.
Joe Kelly
ASC
I'm not going to make it tomorrow... for reasons unrelated to my being thoroughly p.o.'d with the HoB.
But I guess, if I stripped away all my fury, and keeping in mind Louie's latest post about the Myanma monks, "Barefoot," I am left with this one question for our bishops (who apparently haven't got the feet to stand up to misguided authority): "Where is your moral authority?"
Thanks, Joe!
A+!
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David Charles Walker offered his answer to Elizabeth's question, "What, in March, was different from September... to have such thoroughly contradictory results?"
My answer is simple: They were defending their turf in March. "All" that was at stake in September was the spiritual lives and vocations of gay/lesbian persons. The longer version of my rant is here.
[Susan, please delete this if you'd rather I didn't provide this link.]
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