MLK Sunday @ All Saints Church

We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.

We celebrated Martin Luther King Sunday at All Saints Church with great music, powerful preaching and words from King's last Sunday sermon ... preached March 31, 1968 at the National Cathedral.


SALUTATION
Minister: We hold these truths to be self evident.
People: .....that all people are created equal.

Minister: Let justice roll down like waters,
People: .....and righteousness like an every-flowing stream.

COLLECT OF THE DAY
Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last. Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

A READING FROM "Remaining Awake Through a Great Revolution," A SERMON PREACHED BY DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Through our scientific and technological genius, we have made of this world a neighborhood and yet we have not had the ethical commitment to make of it a brotherhood. But somehow, and in some way, we have got to do this. We must all learn to live together as brothers or we will all perish together as fools. We are tied together in the single garment of destiny, caught in an inescapable network of mutuality. And whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. For some strange reason I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be. And you can never be what you ought to be until I am what I ought to be. This is the way God’s universe is made; this is the way it is structured.

John Donne caught it years ago and placed it in graphic terms: "No man is an island entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main." And he goes on toward the end to say, "Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind; therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." We must see this, believe this, and live by it if we are to remain awake through a great revolution.

And then the sermon:

Living Together as Siblings
or Perishing Together as Fools

You can see it here.
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(And now, back to CNN! :)

News from the Inaugural Front

I'm sitting here watching the news reports of the "Obama Express" heading to Washington DC. As I just shared with a colleague: getting weepy over two guys on a train platform doesn't bode well for my Kleenex conservation over the next 72 hours!

And I'm not the only one. Millions will jam the Washington Mall to be part of the historic events and the rest of us will watch, listen, TIVO or podcast this new beginning for all of us. And right there in the thick of it will be our own Bishop of New Hampshire ... who sent this missive via email early this morning:

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Dear Friends,

Well, in a few hours we'll be off to Washington for the inauguration. Here are a few items that might be of interest. Please feel free to share them with whomever you deem appropriate:


1. I will be blogging from Washington, using my summer's blogspot: "Tales From the Fringe" (Perhaps this should be renamed "Tales from Closer to the Center" but I didn't have time!)

2. Sunday's opening inaugural event at the Lincoln Memorial will be taped by HBO. What I DO know is that HBO will be airing it on Sunday evening -- and the signal will be available to EVERYONE, WHETHER OR NOT you are a subscriber to HBO!

3. The text of my inaugural event prayer will be available on our diocesan website on Sunday afternoon.

4. On Tuesday night, after attending the LGBT ball, sponsored by HRC and others, I will be Jon Stewart's guest on The Daily Show, a special live-from-Washington edition. At least here in the East, it is broadcast at 11:00pm on the Comedy Channel, and then rebroadcast the next night. Check local listings.

This promises to be an awesomely wonderful time. I am so honored and humbled to be so included. The President Elect has invited me to attend a small, private worship service on the morning of the inauguration, to attend the swearing in/inauguration itself, to view the parade from the Presidential viewing stand, and to attend the National Prayer Service at National Cathedral on Wednesday.

I hope that through these invitations, in some small way, ALL of you will feel included in these events by our next president.

Please pray for me as I undertake this awesome honor. I hope to do us and the Episcopal Church proud!

+Gene

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You've already made us proud, +Gene! Now go keep warm, have some fun and thanks for keeping us so "in the loop!"

We are everywhere!

Check this one out ... "Born Again American" is the project dreamed up by Norman Lear ... described on the website as a "movement committed to the rebirth of American citizenship through informed and thoughtful activism."

This music piece was produced by Lear for the Inaugural celebration and it includes ... choir members from All Saints Church, Pasadena!

ENJOY! (Me ... I'm running out to get a flag to hang on the porch on Tuesday!)



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+Gene on Rachel ...

It doesn't get much better than this:



(Have been in Prop-8 Debrief meetings ALL day today with more to come tomorrow so finding this on YouTube was a GREAT way to end a really LOOOOOOOOOONG day! More later!)

Rick Warren Takes the High Road

Rick Warren Reaches Out to Gene Robinson
By Jacqui Salmon (washington post.com)

The Rev. Rick Warren, the conservative evangelical minister who will deliver the invocation at Barack Obama's inauguration, has extended an olive branch to Bishop V. Gene Robinson.

Today, Warren issued a statement praising Obama for selecting Robinson, saying the president-elect "has again demonstrated his genuine commitment to bringing all Americans of goodwill together in search of common ground. I applaud his desire to be the president of every citizen."
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So here's what I'd like to see: How about a nationally televised discussion between Rick Warren and Ed Bacon (or +Gene Robinson ... I'm easy!) on the topic: "Is gay a gift from God?"

"Dear Oprah"

So here's the letter I just sent to The Oprah Winfrey Show ...

Dear Oprah.com,

Re: Ed Bacon on "Spirituality 101"

I just want to make sure Oprah and her production team knows how many lives have been changed and how much healing is happening out here because of Ed Bacon's unequivocable statements about God's love being equally available to ALL people. As a priest and pastor, my phone is ringing and my email box is full of people asking me, "Where's a church like his near me?"

I'm sure you're hearing from "the other side" as well but PLEASE know there are plenty of channels and shows and webcasts people can tune in to hear about judgment. THANK YOU for offering a national platform for people to hear instead about grace.

The Reverend Susan Russell

Here's where you click to go and do likewise. (Ready, Set, GO!)

Inaugural is a "coming out party" for Democrats

... from the Associated Press article that includes the line up for clergy at the National Day of Prayer service on January 21st ... a list that includes Muslim, Jewish and Roman Catholic voices.

"This inaugural is a coming-out party for the Democrats in terms of their religious voice," said Stephen Prothero, a religion professor at Boston University. "Democrats found their religious voice in the last election and I think there's interest in seeing how that voice is going to sound."

Haynes said Obama is also carrying the hopes of the many Americans frustrated by the prominence of the Christian right in recent decades, especially in the administration of President George W. Bush. That partly explains the backlash against Warren, he said.

"The sense is it's time to balance that out and to have other voices heard. He's supposed to represent change," Haynes said. "There are many people looking for a symbolic change in tone, especially when it comes to issues of religion and public life."