"20 Years of Blessing:" The Event that Keeps on Blessing!

Eventually all the speakers, sermons and forums from the 20 Years of Blessing weekend will be up on the All Saints website, but for now ... here's a look at what's up so far ... in case you missed any of it or you want to see it or hear it again!

First here's "Chapter One" -- the story of the journey to "God, Sex & Justice" and how George Regas came to the place where he felt called to step out in faith and bring blessings for same-sex couples to All Saints Church:



Then there's the moving "vintage footage" of the Benson-Straw Blessing ... beginning with a reflection from then-vestry member Cathy Clement about being part of the decision making process to "Say Yes to Bless:"



And here are "the next generation" represented in the story of Jamie Hebert & Alec Mapa and how their family found (or, as they tell it, were found by) All Saints Church:



And you can watch Bishop Robinson's Sunday, January 29th sermon here ... and Bishop Glasspool's Rector's Forum presentation here.

Finally, in what is arguably the most spontaneously "blessed" part of the whole weekend, here's a story of the ripples of blessing being sent out from the blessing anniversary we celebrated January 28/29:

One of the tables on the lawn just outside the main church door was an information table for the Blessing Event weekend. By the end of the 11:15 service all the flyers, sign up sheets and materials had been cleared off and the table was empty: save for a piece of paper with the word "Blessings" written on it.

Two young All Saintsers sat themselves down ... and when a parish member walked up and said "What's your ministry?" they answered: "Blessings! Do you want to be blessed by a kid?" And they proceeded to take her hands and bless her ... "in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit Forever."



A line formed and one after the other the girls blessed the folks who lined up ... a moment caught on video here:



Blessed to be a blessing these young All Saintsers are "Exhibit A" of making God's love tangible 24/7 as they put their faith into action on the All Saints lawn.

"Never doubt," said Margaret Mead, "that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." And if you ever do (doubt), remember this moment. And take heart.

For the record ...

Once upon a time ...

From our 20 Years of Blessing Event: The "back story" of how All Saints Pasadena came to the decision to start blessing same-sex unions in 1992. And no, George Regas did NOT just wake up one morning and say, "Mary, I think I'll bless some gay people today!" Here's hoping this little bit of history will be an encouragement to those still working to make all the sacraments available to all the baptized.

Once Upon a Time ...

BREAKING NEWS: Susan G Komen proves "It's never too late to do the right thing."

The Susan G. Komen Foundation announced this morning the reversal of their decision to end funding breast cancer screening through Planned Parenthood ... demonstrating that the power of public outrage can actually overcome the anti-abortion zealot driven politicization of women's health issues.

From the statement issued by the Komen Foundation:

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not. Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.

Which of course illustrates that the decision to defund Planned Parenthood was indeed "political" as it was based on an "investigation" which was politically motivated and a strategic part of an ongoing agenda of attacking Planned Parenthood and making women's health issues a wedge issue in a presidential election year.

So what's that quote? Oh yeah ... "It's never to late to do the right thing." And if there's a silver lining in this whole sorry mess it has been the elevation of the issue of access to women's health care for underserved populations to the top of the news -- for a moment -- with the good news of a victory against the politicization of health care.

Spirit vs Letter of the Law: Thoughts on the 9th Circuit Ruling Against Release of Prop 8 Tapes

Count me as one of those disappointed by the ruling today that the video recordings of the Prop 8 trial will not be released.

The ruling ... available in its entirety here ... was summarized in the L.A. Time piece:

“The trial judge on several occasions unequivocally promised that the recording of the trial would be used only in chambers and not publicly broadcast,” the panel said.

I totally "get" that the original commitment about the trial tapes was a clear articulation that they would not be released to the public and I can understand how the panel came down on the "letter of the law" side of the argument. And ...

My wondering is: Where does that original intent rub up against the orchestrated post-ruling effort by supporters of marriage discrimination to vacate Judge Walker's ruling with the specious argument that he ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional because he's gay when the truth of the matter is he ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional because it is ... and because supporters utterly failed to make their case during the trial?

If Jesus was right and "the truth will set you free" don't the people of California deserve to see for themselves the truth of the lame argumentation presented to defend the efforts of a bare majority of Californians to write discrimination into our Constitution?

AND if the court is going to hold to the letter of the law on this one let's trust that they are equally disposed to hold to the letter of the equal protection part of the law when they rule on the constitutionality issue next. Tick Tock!

President Obama @ The National Prayer Breakfast Today

"Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, Jane Addams, Martin Luther King, Jr., Dorothy Day, Abraham Heschel -- the majority of great reformers in American history did their work not just because it was sound policy, or they had done good analysis, or understood how to exercise good politics, but because their faith and their values dictated it, and called for bold action -- sometimes in the face of indifference, sometimes in the face of resistance. This is no different today for millions of Americans, and it’s certainly not for me."

"For me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that “for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.” It mirrors the Islamic belief that those who’ve been blessed have an obligation to use those blessings to help others, or the Jewish doctrine of moderation and consideration for others."

Read the rest here.

Another Prop 8 shoe will drop tomorrow: