It had been a long and winding road to get to that moment (and today is not the day for revisiting that saga) but suffice to say when we got to that moment, I swore as God was my witness that I would never take for granted the privilege of being called to do this work in this place in this time with these people.
And twenty five years later -- while I've failed at more things than you can shake a stick at -- I've managed to succeed in that vow. I am so deeply grateful -- and still awed every single day at the gift of this vocation and the work I have been given to do.
And I hope I'm not done yet. While I can see the light of retirement at the end of the tunnel, I'm delighted to have the portfolios I have both in my roles as parish priest at All Saints in Pasadena and as Canon for Engagement Across Difference in the Diocese of Los Angeles.
I am also beyond thrilled and honored to have been asked to serve as the Chair of the Episcopal Church's Task Force on LGBTQ+ Inclusion -- a new interim body resulting from Resolution D026 adopted at our 80th General Convention in Baltimore last summer. Proposed out of the Diocese of Los Angeles, the explanation for the resolution reads:
In 1976, the 65th General Convention of
the Episcopal Church asserted in a resolution 1976-A069 that ”homosexual
persons are children of God who have a full and equal claim with all other
persons upon the love, acceptance and pastoral concern and care of the Church.“
In the decades since its adoption, faithful witnesses to God's inclusive love
have been working to make that resolution a reality in the Episcopal Church for
all members of the human family, wherever they fall on the continuum of sexual
orientation or gender identity. As the Episcopal Church continues the work of
Becoming Beloved Community, it is time to bring that work from the margins into
the center by archiving our history, auditing our present and recommending
steps forward into our future.
The resolution was both adopted and funded (no small task!) with members preparing to begin their work in the days and weeks ahead. The first
in person meeting will be held in March in Cleveland as part of the Joint
Interim Bodies gathering.
It is truly a watershed moment for those who have been working since 1976 to make 'full and equal claim' for LGBTQ+ people not just a resolution
but a reality in the Episcopal Church. And while there is inarguably still much work
to do, the fact that the church has gone from arguing about whether to include us to strategizing about
how to include us is something I couldn't even have imagined twenty-five years ago when we gathered at St. John's Cathedral on that chilly-but-sunny January day.
So Happy Anniversary to me ... and all my ordination day colleagues. A lot of ecclesial water under our bridges since that day
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The full text of Resolution D026, including the scope of work of the task force is available here
And a list of members of the Task Force on LGBTQ+ Inclusion is available here
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