Fall Out/Follow Up on the Gospel According to Orama

A quick peek at blogland over my lunch break illustrated that the conversation continues over the horrifying insistance by a Nigerian bishop (Isaac Orama) that gays and lesbians are "inhuman" and "unfit to live."

Elizabeth Kaeton did her usual fine job of "what can we learn from this boys and girls" and Mark Harris weighed in with what may be a nominee for most understated title in blogland: "Things are getting pretty strange in Global South land."

And Fr Jake makes this important point:

There have been condemnations of the declaration that gays are "unfit to live" from all corners of the Episcopal Church. For that we can be thankful. Yet, even in light of these condemnations, this incident has given me cause to wonder if the sentiments expressed by Bp. Orama are really an isolated incident, or are they more broadly accepted, but just not so bluntly stated?

Well, case in point are comments du jour over on titusonenine today, where someone named Alice Linsley opined "I am more likely to be shot in the USA for speaking against homosexual acts than an African is to be killed for being homosexual."

Really? And the statistics to bear that out would be found where? Perhaps Ms. Linsley should walk a mile or two in the shoes of our brother Davis MacIyalla or sojourn with members of Integrity Uganda for a bit. I'd be happy to make the introductions.

Or maybe not. Because then I read further, and Ms. Linsley, not content in taking Bishop Orama's abandonment of the core Christian doctrine of imageo Deo and making it "all about her" takes another step across the line into Literalist LaLa Land and asserts:

I do believe that Bishop Orama’s view is more biblical than TEC’s version of Christianity.

Really, Alice?! Do tell. Denying the humanity of homosexual persons and pronouncing them "unfit to live" is more "biblical" that TEC's commitment to seek and serve Christ in all persons? To reprise my blog from yesterday: This is what we're up against, people! If you hit the "snooze button" on the wake up call here it is again: Alice et al really DO believe that we are less than human and therefore expendible. And truth be told, I'm honestly not even interested in hearing the defense of such an indefensible position. I'm done. And if that makes me closed minded then so be it.

Maybe there are a few things to which the mind SHOULD be closed ... maybe there are some arguments that are just not worth having ... maybe this is where we turn to the Holy Scriptures which actually ARE a lamp unto our feet and actually DO contain for us all things necessary to salvation and check out what the one who IS our Lord and Savior had to say about those who will not hear the Good News of God's healing grace, abundant love and call to love -- not dehumanize -- our neighbors.

Luke 9:1-5. Check it out. I've got to get back to work.

Happy Birthday Billy!

Today is my brother's birthday. On September 5, 1955 he arrived into my 15 month old life and we've been hanging out ever since, as he went from being my tag-along little brother, to the high school football coach, painting contractor, father of two, NRA, Republican, weekend cowboy, wine connoisseur, going-to-be-a-grandpa-in-the-spring, fabulous person he grew up to be.

That was then ....

This is now ...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BILLY!

Wake Up Call

Nothing like a little rabid rhetoric from Nigeria -- that bastion of Christian orthodoxy -- along with your morning cup of coffee to get your Wednesday morning going:

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From UPI:

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The Anglican Bishop of Uyo, Rt. Rev. Isaac Orama, has condemned the activities of homosexuals and lesbians, and described those engaged in them as "insane people''.

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"Homosexuality and lesbianism are inhuman. Those who practice them are insane, satanic and are not fit to live because they are rebels to God's purpose for man,'' the bishop said.

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Inhuman.

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Not fit to live.

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I just saw the piece on Google alerts but Fr. Jake had the story yesterday ... check him out before you email/comment that this is just one Nigerian Nutcase who stands alone.

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Inhuman.

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Not fit to live.

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This is what we're up against, people. If anybody out there is deluding themselves that this is just a "gentleman's disagreement" about polity or theology or hermeneutics then here's your wake-up call:

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Inhuman.

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Not fit to live.

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The Episcopal Church is standing firm on the foundation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ calling us to manifest our love of God by loving our neighbors as ourselves as we do unto the least of these in His name. We are the leaven in the loaf of an Anglican Communion where the Bishop of Uyo can make these kinds of pronouncements in the church's name ... putting the lives of gay and lesbian people in jeopardy by dehumanizing them and naming them "not fit to live."

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And here's OUR wake up call: We're done playing defense.

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Our call is not to "defend" our commitment to the core values of the Christian Gospel and the basic tenets of Human Rights to the rest of the Anglican Communion. We've been there and we've done that.

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Our call is to challenge the Archbishop of Canterbury to censure those whose denial of the very humanity of gay and lesbian people denies the imageo Deo that actually IS a core doctrine of the faith received from the apostles.

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And that's the conversation we should be calling our bishops to have with His Grace in New Orleans. And at Lambeth. And until the cows come home if necessary. Because this isn't about "the church" anymore. It's about lives on the line. "Inasmuch as you've preserved the unity of the Anglican Communion" doesn't seem to be on Jesus' list -- but "inasmuch as you've done it unto the least of these" certainly is.

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We've had our wake up call so let's get on it with it -- get on with this Gospel we've been given to proclaim. And let's "just say no" to those insisting that "these issues" are distracting us from our mission and ministry because including all the baptized in the Body of Christ IS the mission and ministry of the church.

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Because no child of God is inhuman.

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And every single one of us is fit to live.

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And the Lord who died that we might not JUST live but have life abundant calls us to be his Body in the world to bring that Good News to all.

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Are you awake yet?

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AFTERNOON UPDATE:

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Posts on this story include Episcopal Cafe, EpiScope, Fr. Jake (noted above but with over 300 comments to peruse) and a new blog dedicated to calling for a repudiation of anti-gay violence while Matt Kennedy still doesn't "get it" and wants to see Nigeria Isaac Orama and raise them Jack Spong.

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Talk about "makes the heart sad." Whatever.

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Meanwhile, Kendall Harmon HAS stepped up with "A Statement to Be Condemned Without Reservation" -- good for him! -- and Stand Firm's Greg Griffith's response, entitled "Unfit for the Episcopacy" includes this quote:

Describing homosexuals as "unfit to live," or that that sentiment is in any way part of the Gospel message, is where I get off the bus. "Life not worthy of living" is the phrase Nazis used to describe Jews, dissenting Christian clergy, the physically handicapped, the mentally retarded, and anyone else who might spoil their vision of a pure Aryan world. If being homosexual makes one unfit to live, then being the kind of sinner Bishop Orama is makes him similarly unfit to live; and of course, that is not the Gospel of Jesus, not the Good News we have been entrusted by Christ to carry to the world. Bishop Orama deserves our prayers that he might come to understand this, but - if his remarks were accurately reported - he does not deserve to be a bishop in the Christian church.

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AND LET THE PEOPLE SAY "AMEN!"

Remedial Reading

So if you’ve been enjoying the last days of summer and now with Labor Day behind us finding yourself in back-to-work mode wondering if you missed anything on “As The Anglican World Turns” here’s some recommended remedial reading:

Mark Harris’ “Non Windsor Compliant Bishops”

The presence and participation by Bishops Iker and Duncan in the ordinations of Bishops Atwood and Murdoch signals not a miracle at CANA, but a disaster in Kenya. They are now in non-compliance with Windsor and with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal Church. The problem is, who will bring the matter up? At a time when the Moderator is given to talking about the cross to come and bishops are being invited to "play the Man" who wants to point out the obvious?

Fr. Jake has Robert Brooks’ “Memorandum” on the Communion’s Constitution which answers the question posed over on Episcopal Majority: Who Can Expel the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion?

It is time to insist upon a return to the written constitutional framework as the context for discussion of the life and mission of the Anglican Communion. The message to others about the ACC Constitution is simple: Either obey it or amend it. Out of respect for all the Provinces of the Anglican Communion whose General Synods unanimously put in place this one written constitution for the Communion as the framework for its on-going life, we should honor and obey this constitution. Then let the conversation continue.

And Nigel Taber-Hamilton offers his “Hopes for the House of Bishops,” concluding with this quote from the late +Jim Kelsey:

Now it is time to move ahead with God's work of redemption. Hopefully it will be in partnership with others throughout the Anglican Communion. The extent to which others are ready to keep in partnership with us has yet to be seen – but that we are prepared to step out in faith and with courage and determination to celebrate God's liberating work in our midst and in the world, have no doubt.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho it’s off to work I go!

Ora Labora

According to Wikipedia: Labor Day began in 1882, became a federal holiday by Act of Congress in 1894 and originated from a desire by the Central Labor Union to create a day off for the "working man".
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According to my mother: Labor Day is when the white shoes go in the closet until Memorial Day. No exceptions.

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According to me: Labor Day (this year) is the last day "off" before I head back from vacation to the wonderful world of another program year at All Saints Church in Pasadena. .

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We've had a great three weeks of vacation which have -- uncharacteristically -- been just about totally unscheduled, disorganized and non-productive. We didn't go anywhere or accomplish anything, build anything, organize anything or convene anything -- other than reading some books, catching up on some movies, cleaning a few closets and actually reading the whole newspaper every morning rather than settling for the headlines on Google News.

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We had some plans to do some "touristy" things here in L.A. that people who live here never take time to do ... the Observatory, Getty and Chinatown were on the list. And they're still ON the list as the WAY over 100 degree temperatures made hanging out with the animals in the A/C seem like the "better portion" one day after the other.

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And I guess I'm not even all that sorry. It'll all still be there -- the Observatory and the Getty and Chinatown -- and I know I'm feeling more rested than I have in a good long while. And as I'm thinking the best souvenir I can bring back from vacation -- given the work I know we have ahead of us -- are the recharged batteries I've gotten from not running 24/7 for a couple of weeks.

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Because I think the next unscheduled breath I draw may just be after next year's Lambeth Conference -- and that'll be a quick respite because the 103rd General Convention will be just around the corner and it WILL be just around the corner in Anaheim in 2009.
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So here's my hymn du jour for this Labor Day. I love it because it calls us to action with hope and promise and the reminder that there is evil energy at work committed to "snatching the seed away" -- and our call to reap the harvest of the Good News of God in Christ Jesus proclaimed to absolutely everyone is the high calling that requires our best efforts, our hard work AND our recharged batteries to accomplish.

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I also like it because, as my friend and mentor Liz pointed out to me MANY years ago, it's the only hymn in the hymnal that ends with a recipe: "Serve ants, well done." :)

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So, enjoy your Labor Day. Give thanks for those who labor so we can live (especially today I give thanks for rescue workers, health care providers and those keeping the energy grid going in L.A. where it's meant to be 110 again!) and give thanks for rest so we can recharge our batteries to "labor on."
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And let's claim as our mantra ... as we face the choices and challenges in this Episcopal Church in the days and weeks to come ... these words from "Ora Labora:"
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"Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear!"

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Because the work is worth doing

AND because (with God's help) ...

1. Come, labor on.
Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain,
while all around us waves the golden grain?
And to each servant does the Master say,
"Go work today."

2. Come, labor on.
The enemy is watching night and day,
to sow the tares, to snatch the seed away;
while we in sleep our duty have forgot,
he slumbered not.

3. Come, labor on.
Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear!
No arm so weak but may do service here:
by feeblest agents may our God fulfill
his righteous will.

4. Come, labor on.
Claim the high calling angels cannot share
to young and old the Gospel gladness bear:
redeem the time; its hours too swiftly fly,
The night draws nigh.

5. Come, labor on.
No time for rest, till glows the western sky,
till the long shadows o'er our pathway lie,
and a glad sound comes with the setting sun,
"Servants, well done."

On a personal note ...

This my own personal thermometer on my own personal patio showing that at nearly 5:00 p.m. it is ...

ONE HUNDRED AND TEN
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IN THE SHADE!!!

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And personally, I think that is

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WAY TOO HOT!!!

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Speaking of Lambeth 1.10 ...

We're beginning to gear up in Los Angeles for our Diocesan Convention in December. Some of the preparation for an upcoming convention is researching "conventions past" and so I thought I'd share this bit of "historic record" -- the 1998 Resolution passed by the Diocese of Los Angeles responding to the last Lambeth Conference.

Its passage reduced the then Rector of St. James, Newport Beach to tears: a dramatic 180 from the triumphalism manifested immediately after Lambeth 1998 when the AAC crowd returned, held an open "Metro Meeting" and announced that the end was in sight, the "global south" was working with them to force the American Apostates into "compliance" and "faithful Anglicans" should start sending their tithes to the AAC instead of their "liberal" congregations.

A diocese in the Episcopal Church "failed to comply" with the expressed position of the majority of Anglican bishops gathering at Lambeth Conference and the fabric of the Communion hung in there. Ten years earlier (1988) a woman was elected a bishop in Massachusetts and her episcopacy was not recognized in many parts of the Communion and everybody lived. And twenty years earlier (1976) the General Convention of the Episcopal Church declared that the gay and lesbian baptized were entitled to the "full and equal claim" of their baptism and the Primates didn't call an emergency meeting of the Anglican Tribal Council to vote us off the Anglican Island!
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Ah, those halcyon days of yesteryear -- when differences were not polarized into divisions and we managed to say together "Christ has died. Christ is risen Christ will come again" without excommunicating those who disagreed with us about the theologies behind the profession of faith!

Anyway, here's the Los Angeles Resolution. I offer it for the record AND as an encouragement to our bishops-soon-to-gather-in-New Orleans as an example of who we are as the Episcopal Church when we are being the best we can be: equally committed to the tradition of Anglican comprehensiveness and to the proclamation of the inclusive Gospel. May they claim that proud history and lead us to go and do likewise.
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RESOLVED, that the 103rd Convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles affirms Section C of Resolution 1.10 [the Resolution on Sexuality], passed at the 13th Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops, that "recognizes that there are among us persons who experience themselves as having a homosexual orientation," and that state, "We commit ourselves to listen to the experience of homosexual persons and we wish to assure them that they are loved by God and that all baptized, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual orientation, are full members of the Body of Christ;" and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , the the 103rd Convention of the Diocese of Los Angeles affirms the current policy and practice that the Diocese of Los Angeles is a community in which membership in and opportunity for lay and ordained ministry shall not be restricted on the basis of race, color, ethnic or national origin, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, or age; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this convention affirms the traditional understanding of the Anglican Communion that scripture, tradition, and reason together provide the basis for our discernment of God's will in our lives; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that this convention cannot receive that portion of Section (d) "rejecting homosexual practice as incompatible with Scripture."

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EXPLANATION: Since the English Reformation, the Anglican churches, in attempting to discern God's will, have relied on the authority of Scripture, a rich tradition, and the gift of human reason. Anglican theological tradition today reflects our conversation with Scripture through the centuries. Each generation interprets Scripture and the tradition in the context of its own time, culture, and understanding of the human condition. Similarly, since individuals come to the conversation from their own various contexts and perspectives, their interpretations of Scripture and the tradition often differ. In the Anglican theological tradition, we have found that, in attempting to discern God's will, we must continue to discuss with each other our differing interpretations and to be always open to the working of the Holy Spirit. As a result, we are often not able to settle on a single interpretation as definitive for all people, at all times and in all contexts.

Although a few Biblical passages address sexual behavior between persons of the same sex, they reflect the understandings of particular peoples living in particular times and circumstances. Our modern world is separated from the ancient world by different cultures and different knowledge about the human condition. Our modern world is similarly separated by different cultures and different experiences of the human condition.

These cultural differences affect the ways we interpret Scripture. These cultural differences also affect whether we believe that God's attempts to communicate with humankind are, or are not, always and inevitably filtered thought the culture of the hearers. Based on these cultural differences both with the ancient world and in our own world, as well as what we perceive as God's continuing revelation, we now allow some behaviors that some passages of the New Testament condemn (such as remarriage after divorce) and now reject some behaviors that some passages of New Testament accept (such as owning slaves).

Some of the Lambeth Conference resolution's interpretations of Biblical passages addressing sexual behavior between persons of the same sex fail to adequately recognize the cultural differences in Scriptural interpretation. Moreover, by relying only in isolated Scriptural texts, the Lambeth Conference resolution does not well reflect the Anglican theological tradition of using all God-given resources in interpreting Scripture and discerning God's will.

In the Anglican Communion we do not have consensus about homosexuality or homosexual practice. The Lambeth Conference resolution did not create that consensus. At this time it is better to live with the ambiguity of our differences and to continue our conversation on these issues. This resolution thus affirms the Anglican theological tradition of using all God-given resources in discerning how we can faithfully live out God's call for us to love God and our neighbor and to live as fully human Christian men and women in a complex world.