Episcopal Cafe

Presiding Bishop on Doctrine of Discovery, Indigenous Peoples

2012-05-16T20:49:08Z

Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori today issued a pastoral letter.

On May 7, Jefferts Schori joined other religious voices in repudiating the Doctrine of Discovery at the 11th session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). The theme for the UNPFII meeting is “The Doctrine of Discovery: its enduring impact on indigenous peoples and the right to redress for past conquests (articles 28 and 37 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples).” In 2009, General Convention repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery.

The text of the letter follows.

Pastoral Letter on the Doctrine of Discovery and Indigenous Peoples
Then God said, “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”[1]

The first biblical creation story tells of the creation of earth, sky, waters, creatures, and gives human beings dominion over the rest. God pronounces what has been created good. At the end of the original week of creation, with the advent of human beings, God blesses all of it, and pronounces the work very good[2].

The second creation story tells of what goes wrong – the first two earth creatures eat what they have been forbidden to eat, and are then expelled from the garden[3]. They have misunderstood what it means to exercise dominion toward life in the garden. Through the millennia, many of their offspring have continued to misunderstand dominion, or to willfully twist the divine intent of dominion toward the conceit of domination. Through the ages, human beings have too often insisted that what exists has been made for their individual use, and that force may be used against anyone who seems to compete for a particular created resource[4]. The result has been enormous destruction, death, despair, and downright evil – what is more commonly called “sin.”

The blessings of creation are meant to be stewarded, in the way of husbanding and housekeeping, for the true meaning of dominion is tied to the constellation of meanings around house and household. There have been strands of the biblical tradition which have kept this sacred understanding alive, but the unholy quest for domination has sought to quench it, in favor of wanton accumulation and exclusive possession of the goods of creation for an individual or a small part of the blessed family of God.

After that eviction from the primordial garden, the biblical stories are mostly about how human communities strive to return to a homeland that will be a source of blessing for the community. Through the long centuries, the prophetic understanding of that community broadens to include all the nations of the earth. Even so, the seemingly eternal struggle between dominators and stewards has continued to the present day.

Most of the passages in the Bible that talk about land are yearning for a fertile place, where people are able to grow crops, tend flocks, and live in peace. The offspring of those first human beings gave rise to peoples who hungered for land, and many of them did a great deal of violence through the ages in order to occupy and possess it. They weren’t alone, for the empires of Alexander, Rome, and Genghis Khan were also the result of amassing conquered territory. The Christian empires of Europe were consumed with battles over land for centuries, and eventually sent military expeditions across the Mediterranean in a quest to re-establish a Christian claim on what they called the Holy Land.

The explorers who set out from Christian Europe in the 15th century went with even broader motivations, in search of riches and abundantly fertile lands. They also went with religious warrants, papal bulls which permitted and even encouraged the subjugation and permanent enslavement of any non-Christian peoples they encountered, as well as the expropriation of any territories not governed by Christians[5]. Western Christian religious authorities settled competitions over these conquests by dividing up the geography that could be claimed among the various European nations.

These religious warrants led to the wholesale slaughter, rape, and enslavement of indigenous peoples in the Americas, as well as in Africa, Asia, and the islands of the Pacific, and the African slave trade was based on these same principles. Death, dispossession, and enslavement were followed by rapid depopulation as a result of introduced and epidemic disease. Yet death and dispossession of lands and resources were not a singular occurrence that can be laid up to the depredations of benighted medieval warriors. They are not akin to Viking raids in the British Isles, or ancient struggles between neighboring tribes in Europe or Africa. These acts of “Discovery” have had persistent effects on marginalized, transported, and disenfranchised peoples.

The ongoing dispossession of indigenous peoples is the result of legal systems throughout the “developed” world that continue to base land ownership on these religious warrants for colonial occupation from half a millennium ago. These legal bases collectively known as the Doctrine of Discovery underlie U.S. decisions about who owns these lands[6]. The dispossession of First Peoples continues to wreak havoc on basic human dignity. These principles give the lie to biblical understandings that all human beings reflect the image of God, for those who have been thrown out of their homeland, had their cultures largely erased, and sent into exile, are still grieving their loss of identity, lifeways, and territory. All humanity should be grieving, for our sisters and brothers are suffering the injustice of generations. The sins of our forebears are being visited on the children of indigenous peoples, even to the seventh generation.

There will be no peace or healing until we attend to that injustice. The prophets of ancient Israel cried out for justice when their ability to live in the land they saw as home was threatened. A day laborer named Amos challenged those around him with the word of God, “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream”[7]. Where there is no justice, there can be no peace for anyone.

In the North American context, the poorest of the poor live on Native reservations. The depth of poverty there is closely followed by the poverty among ghettoized descendants of the indigenous peoples of Africa who were transported to these shores as slaves. That kind of poverty is also frequent in other parts of the world where indigenous people have been dispossessed and displaced. Healing is not possible, it is not even imaginable, until the truth is told and current reality confronted. The basic dignity and human rights of first peoples have been repeatedly transgressed, and the outcome is grievous – poverty, cultural destruction, and multi-generational consequences. The legacy of grief that continues unresolved is visible in skyrocketing suicide rates, rampant hopelessness, and deep anger. In many contexts it amounts to pathological or impacted grief – for when hope is absent, healing is impossible.

The legacy of domination includes frightful evil – the intentional destruction of food sources and cultural centers like the herds of North American bison, the intentional introduction of disease and poisoning of water sources, wanton disregard of starvation and illness, the abuse and enslavement of women and children, the murder of those with the courage to protest inhumane treatment, the repeated dispossession of natural resources, land, and water, as well as chronically inadequate Federal management and defense of Native rights and resources.

There have been some glimmers of justice in decisions that have returned Native fishing and hunting rights, and some improvements in tribal rights to self-determination. There is a very small and slow return of bison to the prairie, and wolves have begun to return in places where they are not immediately hunted down. Yet many of these recoveries continue to be strenuously resisted by powerful non-Native commercial interests.

There are signs of hope in returning cultural treasures to their communities of origin, and the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act[8] is returning remains for dignified burial. The legacy of cultural genocide is slowly being addressed as indigenous traditions, languages, and cultural skills are taught to new generations.

The Episcopal Church has been present and ministering with Native peoples in North America for several centuries. That history of accompaniment and solidarity has hardly been perfect, yet we continue to seek greater justice and deeper healing.

The Episcopal Church’s relationship with Native peoples in the Americas begins with the first English colonists. We remember the story of Manteo, a Croatan of what is now North Carolina. He traveled to England in 1584 and helped a colleague of Sir Walter Raleigh learn to speak Algonquin. He returned here the next year, became something of an ambassador between the two peoples, was baptized, and is counted a saint of this church[9].

Episcopal missionaries have served in a variety of indigenous communities and contexts. Henry Benjamin Whipple was Bishop of Minnesota in 1862, and his powerful petition to Abraham Lincoln saved the lives of some 265 of the Dakota men sentenced to hang the day after Christmas in Mankato[10]. The Dakota people called him “Straight Tongue.” Today many Dakota and Lakota people are part of this Episcopal tradition.

This Church has stood in solidarity with native peoples in Alaska, Hawai’i, and the American southwest, especially the Diné (Navajo), as well as in urban Indian communities. The Poarch Band of Creek Indians (in Alabama) achieved federal recognition in the 1980s with the aid of baptismal records maintained by this Church, which also assisted in returning a piece of land to the Poarch Band[11]. A large group of indigenous people in Ecuador is seeking recognition as worshiping communities in the Episcopal tradition, and we have other indigenous members and communities in Colombia, Venezuela, Honduras, and Micronesia. Our historical presence in the Philippines began with the indigenous Igorot peoples of the mountains and highlands.

Healing work continues across The Episcopal Church. In 1997 Presiding Bishop Edmond Browning apologized for the enormities that began with the colony in Jamestown[12]. Today our understanding of mission has changed. We believe that God’s mission is about healing brokenness in the world around us – broken relationships between human beings and the Creator, broken relationships between peoples, and damaged relationships between human beings and the rest of creation. We seek to partner in God’s mission through proclaiming a vision of a healed world; forming Christians as partners in that mission; responding to human suffering around us; reversing structural and systemic injustice; and caring for this earthly garden[13]. We partner with any and all who share a common vision for healing, whether Episcopalian or Christian or not.

Work with indigenous peoples in recent years has been intensely focused on issues of poverty and the generational consequences of cultural destruction, the reality of food deserts and diabetes rates on reservations, unemployment and inadequate educational resources, as well as the ongoing reality of racism and exclusion in the larger society[14]. Mission and development work in Native communities is locally directed, honoring the gifts and assets already present[15], and moves toward a vision of healed community. We partner with White Bison in community organizing that develops training programs for community healing[16]. This is a historic development, the first such partnership between a traditional Native American non-profit and The Episcopal Church.

This Church has worked to alleviate systemic and structural injustice in many ways, and our repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery in 2009 is a recent example[17]. Since at least 1976, our advocacy work has included support for First Nations land claims in Canada, advocacy with the U.S. government for improved health care, religious freedom, preservation of burial sites and repatriation of remains and cultural resources, increased Federal tribal recognition, and critical Federal Government self-examination around Native American rights. We have affirmed and reaffirmed our desire to strengthen relationships with Native peoples by remembering the past, recognizing the deficits and gifts in our historic and current relationships, and continued work toward healing[18]. We are currently advocating for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, with provisions directly affecting Native women.

The Doctrine of Discovery work of this Church is focused on education, dismantling the structures and policies based on that ancient evil, support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples[19], and challenging governments around the world to support self-determination for indigenous peoples.

We seek to address the need for healing in all parts of society, and we stand in solidarity with indigenous peoples globally to acknowledge and address the legacy of colonial occupation and policies of domination. Our Christian heritage has taught us that a healed community of peace is only possible in the presence of justice for all peoples. We seek to build such a beloved community that can be a sacred household for all creation, a society of right relationships.

But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us… and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near… So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God[20]

We pray that God will give us the strength and courage to do this work together for the good of all our relations, in the belief that Christ Jesus ends hostility and brings together those who were once divided.

The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate
The Episcopal Church

_________________________________

[1] Genesis 1:26
[2] Genesis 1:1-2:3
[3] Genesis 2:4-3:24
[4] Commodification or what Heidegger called Bestand, cf. The Question Concerning Technology or Being and Time
[5] Doctrine of Discovery resources: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/page/doctrine-discovery-resources
[6] cf. Johnson v M’Intosh: http://en.wikipedia

Shifting when (much of) the rest of the world shifts

2012-05-16T18:25:10Z

In the Dallas Morning News' blog on religion, theologians from all over Texas consider the question of marriage equality and of how and whether the church should shift when the culture does - or if it's the other way around - or both - or something else entirely.

Fort Worth's Katie Sherrod takes a reasoned swing at the question.

In The Episcopal Church, change happens as a result of the church exploring scripture through the lenses of tradition and reason as we seek to understand what scripture is saying to us in our day. That, and the impetus of the Holy Spirit.
For instance, deputies to the General Convention of The Episcopal Church in Indianapolis this summer will vote on a resolution "authorizing liturgical resources for blessing same-gender relationships . . .for trial use . . . beginning the First Sunday of Advent 2012, under the direction of a bishop exercising ecclesiastical authority."

If passed, it means that "bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal,may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church, including adaptation of the liturgy and declaration of intention" contained in the liturgical resources.

A second resolution requests General Convention create a Task Force on the Study of Marriage "to identify and explore biblical, theological,historical, liturgical, and canonical dimensions of marriage" and to "consider issues raised by changing societal and cultural norms and legal structures, including legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships between two people of the same sex, in the U.S. and other countries where The Episcopal Church is located," and that they "develop tools for theological reflection and norms for theological discussion at a local level" and report back to the 2015 General Convention.

How did The Episcopal Church arrive at this astonishing point in its history? Well, it took more than thirty years of patient work by faithful lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Episcopalians and their allies. These individuals collaborated with each other and with other justice groups in the church such as the Episcopal Women's Caucus (which led the effort to get the church to authorize ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate), and the Union of Black Episcopalians (the leader in ongoing efforts to eradicate racism in the church) to educate the church about the realities and astonishing diversity of human sexuality; to explore and develop theological and scriptural foundations for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the life and worship of the church, and -- perhaps most important of all -- to put a human face on what had been a theoretical issue for most Episcopalians.

This patient witness and the hard work of education on this subject were perhaps slightly easier in The Episcopal Church than in other denominations because of our Anglican tradition.

Anglicanism, of which The Episcopal Church is the expression in the United States and in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe, famously relies on the three-legged stool of scripture, tradition and reason to make the connections between our God-given reason and the scripture given to us by God. This connection, used in the context of the tradition of the church, enables us to apply our ability to reason to make sense of what scripture is saying to us in our day.

Churches other than The Episcopal Church do this as well, of course. How else would so many Christian churches come to accept divorce, against which Jesus spoke with great clarity in scripture? Even so, along with many other denominations in the mid 1970's, the Episcopal Church changed its canon law about divorce. Our forebears in Christian churches did the same in coming to terms with the evils of slavery, which scripture clearly condones.

Jesus had nothing, not one word, to say about homosexuality. The famous story of Sodom in Hebrew Scripture is not about homosexuality, but about abuse of hospitality. Levitical passages refer to temple prostitution, not committed lifelong relationships among gay people. Indeed, the word "homosexual" did not exist until the mid-1800s. Patient and thorough work by numerous theologians and biblical scholars has undergirded the evolution of thought on this issue in The Episcopal Church.

In the end, I think it all comes down to a theology of baptism. What does it mean to mark someone as Christ's own forever? That is work The Episcopal Church has been doing for the last century, as it works to understand and live out our baptismal covenant to seek and serve Christ is all people, and respect the dignity of every human being.

Bikes blessed; riders relieved; hospital helps

2012-05-16T15:29:30Z

The L.A. Times reports on Bike Week L.A.:

... dozens of cyclists rode to Good Samaritan Hospital for the ninth annual Blessing of the Bicycles. A rabbi talked about living green. A nun spoke of guardian angels. And the Rev. Jerry Anderson, an Episcopal priest and hospital chaplain, sprinkled holy water on bikers and their bikes.
Jody Nathan, a Sun Valley high school biology teacher, came from Pasadena, with a paisley-patterned yellow backpack on her back. In it was Zooma, her Chihuahua, who wore Doggles-brand silver goggles decorated with skull and crossbone stickers.

Nathan, 48, who frequently commutes by bike to work and back, 25 miles each way, has been in three accidents, including one that landed her at Good Samaritan. She had been hit by a car, she said, and ended up with a broken wrist and some stitches.

....

"This bike needs blessing, the way I ride," [Celeste Douglas, 39, of East Hollywood] said as she asked Anderson, the priest, "Do you have one more blessing?"

Researchers make hay of new numbers on acceptance of gays

2012-05-16T12:06:19Z

LifeWay Christian Resources - a product of the Southern Baptist Convention - recently polled 2,144 Americans using an online instrument. They were asked, "Do you believe homosexuality is a sin?"

44% said yes.

43% said no.

13% weren't sure.

It's always important to remember who's asking and why. As an unabashed arm of the Southern Baptists, LifeWay may be trying to ring an alarmist bell, claiming a tipping point is near, and that all it will take to start full-blown culture wars or Armageddon or whatever is just one more state making gay marriage legal.

'Course, if you go with information released by Gallup on Monday, it's more of a done deal, and attitudes have already shifted in favor of acceptance of gay relationships and rights.

We like how Box Turtle Bulletin articulates the kind of careful self-deception that's long fueled outfits like LifeWay.

For many years, conservative Christians have played a word game with themselves and the public. When it came to discussions about sin and love, there was a careful distinction between the person and the behavior. They could joyously love the sinner (but not his sin) so much that they longed for his soul to know God (and give up all that sin). But when it came to individual rights and civil liberties, that distinction evaporated. When talking about whether someone should have job security or the right to rent an apartment, suddenly the Bible declared “it’s a sin”.
This allowed conservatives the comfort of convincing themselves that the American public still agreed with them, still deferred to them on matters of religious conscience. Should Connecticut allow marriage or should Lincoln choose to ban anti-gay employment discrimination, well at least they know that they are accommodating immorality.

Why?

2012-05-16T08:08:18Z

Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ‘What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

“The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions. -- Matthew 22:41-46 (NRSV)

What is worse than a question? Perhaps it is the question to which one doesn't have the right answer, or any answer at all. The Pharisees, guys who thought they had all the answers, found that this was one where the answer they had was wrong.

In my humble opinion, questions are what make the world go around and keep it turning. Every time we think we have answers, it is like the questions change and we're back at square one, looking for answers again. The image of the toddler who is just beginning to wander around comes to mind, along with the inevitable and unending questions they always ask, "What's that?" or worse, "Why?" There are a lot of times we don't have an answer to that "Why?" but we still get our feet held to the fire by a three-year-old for whom "Because" is not a sufficient answer.

I wonder if God gets tired of "Why?" prayers. Why is there suffering in the world? Why do ducks fly rightside up instead of upside down? Why did I survive an accident where someone else died? Why are there mosquitoes? Why was this person born with physical or developmental challenges? Why can't I ever remember where I put my keys or parked my car? Why do I have this illness when I didn't do anything wrong to cause it? I don't think even Solomon could stand up to an onslaught like that. Luckily, God's got patience and, incidentally, all the answers -- the right ones.

One thing about being an EfM mentor is that I get to ask questions, lots of questions, in our TR sessions. What's even better is that I don't have to have the answers because each person's answers are usually different and geared to their own personal journey. The best thing, though, is even though I go into a TR with an idea of how I think it should go, quite often it goes in a totally different and totally unthought-of direction but I still end up having my own insights as well as sharing in the insights of others.

Humankind has always questioned and I don't think that's ever going to change. The disciples had a lot of questions for Jesus, but what they got weren't cut-and-dried, easy answers. We still ask questions of all kinds, silly ones, ponderous ones, wishful ones, even agonized ones at times, but we ask all the same. The answers I get aren't always ones I want to hear, just as sometimes I don't really seem to get any answer at all, which personally drives me nuts. Still, I question, I look for answers and I try to be open to whatever comes from the search.

My question now is what am I supposed to be doing in my life -- oh, and where do those stray socks go when only a single sock of a pair comes out of the dryer?

Linda Ryan co-mentors 2 EfM Online groups and keeps the blog Jericho's Daughter

CWOB resolutions at General Convention study guide

2012-05-16T02:00:37Z

Sharing communion without first baptizing a person is a small but common practice in the Episcopal Church right now. There's been a great deal of discussion on the question here on the Episcopal Café over the past few years. (You can read an essay from 2007 here, and a series of three essays posted last year beginning with Part 1, and then Part 2 and Part 3.) These discussions generate more comments than any other subject on the Café. And now some of the ideas being discussed are going to be voted on at General Convention this summer.

The Diocese of Eastern Oregon has proposed a resolution that would remove any bar to anyone receiving Holy Eucharist. But it's not the only one.

"[There are] two resolutions on this topic [that] convention will consider when it meets July 4-12 in Indianapolis. The Diocese of North Carolina has proposed a longer-term look at the issue. Resolution C029 calls for a special commission to conduct ‘a study of the theology underlying access to Holy Baptism and Holy Communion’ and recommend to the 78th General Convention any amendment to Canon 1.17.7 it believes is needed.
The texts of both resolutions are available here. Eastern Oregon’s is accompanied by a diocesan statement explaining its stance.

This will be the second time in recent years that what is variously called open communion, open table and communion of the non- or unbaptized has come to convention. In 2006, the General Convention affirmed Canon 1.17.7 (via Resolution D084) and asked for the House of Bishops Committee on Theology and the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to provide to the 2009 meeting of convention ‘a pastoral and theological understanding of the relationship between Holy Baptism and eucharistic practice.’"

Mary Frances Schjonberg has collected a huge compendium of resources in an article posted on the Episcopal News Service this afternoon. It turns out that this controversy has been discussed to one degree or another since at least 1982 in the Episcopal Church. The discussion in church history goes all the way back to Didache, written in the first centuries of the Church's life.

Schjonberg's article contains links to all the original Episcopal Church material such as previous resolutions, Ecumenical statements and position papers.

You can find the whole history of the Episcopal Church's Communion without baptism discussion here. If you're preparing for General Convention, this is some must reading.

Church of Ireland reiterates traditionalist stance

2012-05-15T21:11:02Z

The Church of Ireland met in General Synod last week. Last year, Dean Tom Gordon entered into a civil partnership with his long time partner and in so doing created a crisis in the Irish Anglican church. After attempts by the bishops to reiterate the traditional opposition to marriage equality in the church as part of a temporizing compromise, a push by the progressive voices to oppose that plan has highlighted the disagreement within the church.

"In a public display of the disagreements within the Church of Ireland’s leadership on the issue of homosexuality, Bishops Michael Burrows and Paul Colton voted against the motion at the church’s general synod in Dublin, while the 10 other bishops supported it.
Saturday’s debate was the first time that the church had openly debated homosexuality since the News Letter revealed last September that the first serving Church of Ireland cleric had entered a civil partnership.

Yesterday a liberal Dublin minister blamed conservatives from Northern Ireland for having ‘suddenly appeared’ on Saturday to vote through the motion.

But the leading evangelical bishop, Harold Miller – who seconded Saturday’s motion – dismissed that and said: ‘Anyone who wanted to be there could be there.’"

More here.

The motion, which states "faithfulness within marriage is the only normative context for sexual intercourse" and is therefore a rejection of either civil partnerships or "gay marriage", is feared by liberal voices in the Church of Ireland to intended for use in a "witch hunt" against gay clergy. There are no plans as yet to use the resolution as the basis for a disciplinary action against Dean Gordon.

Two of the bishops who voted for the motion stated they were doing so in an attempt to maintain unity within the Anglican Communion. Their speeches were given "loud applause".

The motion does contain language which calls upon the Church of Ireland to "continuing commitment to love our neighbour, and opposition to all unbiblical and uncharitable actions and attitudes in respect of human sexuality from whatever perspective, including bigotry, hurtful words or actions, and demeaning or damaging language.”

The young resist hymnal revision

2012-05-15T16:56:36Z

One of the reports submitted to General Convention this year analyzes the interest in the Episcopal Church in revising the 1982 Hymnal. The task of doing the research was passed to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, and they've posted their long report on the Church Pension Group website. (See update below for more information regarding the report itself.)

The report contains information that might be surprising to some, but not to all. Robert Hendrikson blogs:

"The group that was most resistant to the idea of revising the hymnal are those under 29 years of age. They are the most resistant by a large percentage. The report concludes, on page 57,
‘Respondents in their twenties and younger are statistically different than the rest of the respondents, reporting the least interest in desiring worship music to reflect their personal musical tastes. This proves counter to the ‘common knowledge’ theory that younger congregants are looking for a more modern or popular-music experience at church.’

The survey found that those ‘whose age is significantly above or below 50 are less likely to support revision. Middle-aged Episcopalians are more supportive of revision than younger and older Episcopalians.’

Among clergy, the numbers are striking, ‘Specifically, both the youngest and oldest clerics tend to be more opposed to revision, while middle-aged clergy are more favorably disposed. Clergy who are younger than 30, in fact, are nearly two-thirds in opposition to revision.’"

There was strong support from female clergy for revising the language of the hymns, and less from the male clergy. There was no gender based difference among the laity who filled out the survey.

Bishop Sauls writes to the staff

2012-05-15T11:00:57Z

Bishop Stacy Sauls, chief operating officer of the Episcopal Church, sent the following e-mail to the church's staff yesterday in the employee newsletter. In it he discusses the role of the Church Center staff:

Not Being Overcome by Fear

Our attention as a staff will undoubtedly become increasingly focused on General Convention as we enter the homestretch to July. Some of that attention will be on various resolutions reflecting things that we as a staff are working on. Some of it will be on what it feels like to be micromanaged by a committee of over a thousand people. A great deal of it, no doubt, will be on the budget and the budget’s consequences for the work we do and on our livelihoods. There is no doubt that General Convention is an anxious time for the staff of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society. It is for the Church as a whole, too. And it is even more anxious at this moment of fundamental change, and indeed, crisis.

With that in mind, it is perhaps a good time to remind you of something I said when I first had the chance to address you as a staff last September.

I believe The Episcopal Church is being called to a great adventure at this particular moment, the adventure of reforming the Church for a world unlike any it has ever tried to serve before. All of us, to one extent or another, are having a hard time letting go of what we have known in favor of grasping what is becoming and, indeed, shaping what is becoming. It is true at all levels of the Church’s leadership. It is true of bishops, dioceses, congregations, and individual members. It is true of the General Convention. It is true of us as a staff. It would be untruthful of me to tell you there was no element of risk in this adventure before us. In truth, I think there is a great deal of risk in it.

The very name of our organization, the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society is adventurous. Being a missionary is inherently adventurous. What we are setting out to become is a domestic and foreign missionary society in a much more fundamental way than a mere corporate name, in a much more adventurous way than we are currently doing, in a much more risky way than we have had to do before. I think the world’s salvation may be in that. I know ours is.

We as the staff of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society have the opportunity to lead that adventure, and I am determined that we will. Leadership is risky business as I have certainly found out in the last few days. It is dangerous. I have found that out, too. But the adventure is going to be a lot more fun, I promise you, than attempting to cling to an old way of doing ministry that no longer matters. We might be able to prop up the system we have for a few years more, but the new world God is creating is coming nevertheless. God’s word to us at this moment, I am absolutely convinced is, “Go for it.” For the truth is that we as the DFMS staff will either shape the future or have it shaped for us. And if it is shaped for us, it will then be imposed on us. We have before us the opportunity to shape our own future or stand passively by and let others do that for us. I just don’t think passivity is a very healthy spiritual position to be in. And, as you have heard me say, working for the Church ought not be a spiritually damaging experience. Whether it is or not is largely up to us.

This is where we now find ourselves. What are we going to take the opportunity to shape? Will be “go for it” or not? Will we lead or be led? Will we serve or hide? Will we be active or passive? What the Church needs from us right now is leadership. We have work to do.

So, here’s one other excerpt from my September address to you, then my new colleagues and now my trusted colleagues.

Here’s what really matters. Going for it is always better than not. Adventure is always better than safety. Safety, it seems to me, is at the root of a lot of boredom, a lot of status quo, a lot of disease, and a lot of stuck, but not much at the root of God. That is why it never ceases to amaze me that so much about religion is about playing it safe. Now what I’m about to say, I realize, may be heretical. This, you will come to realize, is not unusual. What is interesting to me is that the word safe is the noun form of the verb to save. Religion may be mostly about being safe. Faith, on the other hand, is not. Faith is about adventure. In truth it involves no small amount of risk. The risks can be material or spiritual, often both.

Being safe is, of course, one metaphor the Bible uses to describe the experience of God, but it is not the only one, and I don’t even think it is the main one. The main one is much more about risking and adventuring. Abraham and Sarah were called to leave their safety in Ur to seek an adventure in God’s promise of a new life. Moses is called to leave the safety of tending his father-in-law’s flocks into a very risky confrontation with Pharaoh. The Hebrew people were called to leave the safety of their lives in Egypt to seek the more difficult path of freedom. Amos was called to leave the safety of dressing sycamore trees to speak on behalf of justice. Jeremiah was called out of the safety of the womb to speak dangerous truth to power. Andrew, Peter, James, and John were called to leave the safety of what they were used to for the adventure of what they were not. I find myself a lot more interested in the adventuring than in the saving. In fact, I think adventure and being saved in the truest sense are actually the same thing.

All this has something to do with why the most prevalent angelic message in the Bible is this: Do not be afraid. It is what the angel told Mary when God had an adventure to propose to her. It is what the angels told the shepherds when suggesting they leave their flocks behind to go in search of something else. It is what the angels told the women who found the tomb empty on the first Easter. Like Mary and the shepherds and the woman at the tomb, it helps to be reminded of this basic message: Do not be afraid, or in other words, “Go for it.” Go for it because what is safe and secure is an illusion, and illusions are never of God. God is in the adventure.

When the people of God choose adventure, there will always be someone urging what is safe instead. Sometimes they will actually do everything they can to prevent the adventure. Safety is admittedly tempting. I just don’t see much evidence that God is much in it. It was the adventure of the Exodus that became the standard for the people of Israel. I’m not sure I can think of a time when Jesus ever chose to play it safe. None of the people we regard as saints were much about safety. “Fear not,” the angels always say, which of course doesn’t mean not to feel fear. It means not to be overcome by it.

Peace,

+Stacy

What are your thoughts about his e-mail?

Hearing the Word

2012-05-15T08:05:46Z

Psalm 78:1-39 (Morning)
Psalm 78:40-72 (Evening)
Leviticus 26:1-20
1 Timothy 2:1-6
Matthew 13:18-23

‘Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.’ Matthew 13:18-23 (NRSV)

Many commentaries (particularly those of a more evangelical-type theology) liken the seeds in this parable to people--ignorant ones who are whisked away in the clutches of the devil, "backsliders," ones who can't resist the call of worldly temptations, and, of course, the pious and righteous ones.

But what if this parable is simply about what it says it is--hearing the Word in all times and all places? Perhaps we fail to hear the power in this parable if we go straight to it being a dire warning about eternal salvation/damnation and fail to consider that it could be about our dull moments in our ability to perceive God's constant call to us.

As we discussed in yesterday's reflection, it's important to remember that only 25% of the seeds in this parable bear fruit. In the first scenario (the seeds on the path) they never got a chance, the birds gobbled them up. It makes me wonder how many times God tells us something but we were just too distracted or too anxious, or too raw, and whatever had our focus had its way with us. In the second scenario (the rocky soil) it's easy to recall all the times in our lives when things started to take off, it all seemed good and right and clearly laid out ahead of us, but without a mentor, or an experienced guide, well...we can only get so far on our own. The time wasn't right or the place wasn't right for it to take root. The seeds growing among the thorns remind me of all the times we can be in toxic environments at home or work or church that choke us out, burn us out, or parasitize us.

Several studies over the years have assessed the speed at which we assimilate and retain knowledge, and it's long been known that it takes a person at least seven times of using or studying a piece of information before it's retained. Yet the way we usually look at this parable is with the (false) assumption we can learn something the first time we hear it. Scripture teaches us that God's call to us never lets up; it's our ability to hear and retain that is the problem.

The people who organize and present review courses for medical board exams constantly remind their attendees of the "It takes seven times to remember something," mantra. However, for two decades I have watched second year medical students studying for Part One of their boards constantly assimilating "more" study materials rather than read and re-read and re-re-read the materials they have.

We probably have that tendency as spiritual beings, too...which is part of the beauty of the liturgy in our beloved Book of Common Prayer. Whether it's the Nicene Creed, the Collect for Purity, or our responses, most of us have several chunks of the liturgy that we know by heart.

Repetition guards us from being swept away like those seeds sown out in the open. It grounds us and helps us take root, so when we grow, we are supported. It spurs us to hang out with like-minded folks rather than be caught up in the thorny world, unable to even see out, as well as calls to us to share the Good News in our thoughts, words, and actions. It's a pretty safe bet that even under huge stress, most of us could remember something from the Book of Common Prayer.

What is heartening, though, is when something we hear in God's call to us really does take root and grow, we are so fecund and so prolific that the amount of fruit borne from the process is staggering. When it's good, it's good--but there needs to be sustenance for that other 75% of the time. In that sense, it is where the words in our Book of Common Prayer matter. We hear them again and again, we know some of them in our hearts, and not only do keep us rooted to God, they send out little runners to each other and weave us into a solid mass of roots. What we lack in depth sometimes, we gain in breadth. If you've ever tried to pull out a bed of plants whose roots are bound up with each other, you know exactly what this means.

What are the words in the Book of Common Prayer that not only root you to God, but to each other? How do these words assist you in hearing God's call to you a little more efficiently?

Maria Evans, a surgical pathologist from Kirksville, MO, writes about the obscurities of life, medicine, faith, and the Episcopal Church on her blog, Kirkepiscatoid

The wrinkled soul

2012-05-15T08:02:22Z

by Linda Ryan

One of the most important parts of our Education for Ministry (EfM) group is the TR, the Theological Reflection. We consider a word, a text, a picture, video, movie, experience or issue, form a metaphor encompassing what stands out for us from the topic or artifact (objects), and then consider the world of the metaphor through the lenses of tradition, culture, position and action. It's a way of teaching us to look for God, faith, meaning and opportunity for learning and ministry in everyday things. The discussion varies from week to week, sometimes very focused and sometimes, as we call it, like herding cats, but the beauty is that something comes out of it no matter how scattered or tightly focused the discussion. That something often goes with us through the week and makes us see things -- people and situations-- in new ways.

On this occasion the metaphor we were using involved considering a washing machine, how it worked, what it did, what could go wrong with it, what could put it right. We spoke of feeling the "thunkety-thunkety" of the unbalanced load, the noise of the spin cycle and other metaphors for life as a washing machine or the clothes in it. Then someone brought up that packing the washer too tightly resulted in wrinkled clothes. I hadn't really considered it in that light but it gave me something to think about, something that said any time something is crowded it often gets crumpled and not able to stretch and breathe. It gets unhealthy and, in the end, produces something wrinkled that doesn't look good or seem clean enough. Someone asked if those clothes got ironed and that's when the fun (and the "AHA!" moments) began. Some owned irons and used them, whether sparingly or frequently. One knew someone with an iron they could borrow if necessary but hadn't felt that need as of yet. I have an iron but am not precisely sure where it is.

I can see myself as a washing machine as well as the clothes in one, but when it comes to an iron and what happens when it is used, that's something else entirely. I'm one who ignores the wrinkles for the most part and just wants to get on with whatever has to get done. I snickered to a classmate that for me, ironing was like the doctrine of substitutionary atonement: I just didn't believe in it. Maybe that's a bit whimsical, but that's how I feel about it. That's just talking about the physical act of ironing --- like clothes, church linens and the like. The metaphorical ironing is a bit different.

I have a wrinkled soul. I know it, God knows it and quite a few people know it as well. Some can deal with it, some can't see how I can deal with it, and occasionally I wonder the same thing myself. In terms of a ministry, the wrinkles show up as wanting to do things but not being able to or not being willing to step out in faith and try. In terms of my personal life, it's in the relationship with different people. With God, however, I sort of look at it as God accepting that I'm wrinkled and ever so gently touching me up with an iron to smooth out the rough spots, but only when I notice and am uncomfortable enough with the wrinkle to really want it gone. God will do that for me, but only if I really want it to happen. I have to invest in it myself for it to have value, just as I have to invest in the right detergent and softener to get my clothes and things both clean and soft. Some wrinkles are unavoidable but most can be, if I care enough to do the things that will help prevent them.

I don't know what others came up with as insights, but for me, it was a change of perspective that I probably need to consider. That's one thing about this part of EfM that we call a TR: it makes me look at how I see things and begin to discern what works and what doesn't, what I need to learn and also to unlearn, what I think, what I believe, and what all those mean to me in my life. The trick now is to take that insight and actually do something with it, along with being glad God is there to help me get rid of the wrinkles.

Now to just remember not to overcrowd the washing machine or overcrowd my life with inconsequentialities. Oh, and I must learn to sort more carefully so the socks won't fade on something important. Come to think of it, black socks are like sin -- they kind of leave a stain, no matter how carefully I think I've sorted it out. I don't want my clothes coming out looking dirtier than when they went in, or more wrinkled than they need to be. Small wrinkles may be easily overlooked like small imperfections, but dingy or spotted clothes are a lot more obvious, like the sins I accumulate during a day or a lifetime.

Gotta love a device that allows me to put my feet (and my mind) in a different place with a different perspective. That's what TRs do for me.

Now if I could just use a TR to help me figure out how to always have socks that come out of the washer in pairs.

Linda Ryan co-mentors 2 EfM Online groups and keeps the blog Jericho's Daughter

Did the medieval church perform same-sex unions?

2012-05-14T22:23:36Z

I lack the theological and historical chops to assess Eric Berkowitz's claim that the Catholic Church celebrated same-sex unions between men in medieval times, or to distinguish his claims from those of the late historian John Boswell. But I would be delighted to hear from commenters who can give us a sense of whether Berkowitz is saying anything new or significant. He writes:

Despite the risks, devotional relationships between men were common in Europe at the time, at least among the literate, and many of these affairs must have included sex at some point. Knights, aristocrats, and especially clerics left expansive evidence of their intense passions for male lovers, relationships that often ended in side-by-side burials.

and

If male hustlers on the Rialto were burned to death and other European sodomites were being cut to ribbons, could long-term, loving relationships among men ever be permitted?
The answer, paradoxically, is yes. In the period up to roughly the thirteenth century, male bonding ceremonies were performed in churches all over the Mediterranean. These unions were sanctified by priests with many of the same prayers and rituals used to join men and women in marriage. The ceremonies stressed love and personal commitment over procreation, but surely not everyone was fooled. Couples who joined themselves in such rituals most likely had sex as much (or as little) as their heterosexual counterparts. In any event, the close association of male bonding ceremonies with forbidden sex eventually became too much to overlook as ever more severe sodomy laws were put into place.

Such same-sex unions—sometimes called “spiritual brotherhoods”—forged irrevocable bonds between the men involved. Often they involved missionaries about to set off on foreign voyages, but lay male couples also entered into them. Other than the gender of the participants, it was difficult to distinguish the ceremonies from typical marriages. Twelfth-century liturgies for same-sex unions, for example, involved the pair joining their right hands at the altar, the recital of marriage prayers, and a ceremonial kiss.

Berkowitz's book is Sex and Punishment. Boswell's is Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe.

Chicago Consultation, Ujamaa Centre hold African consultation on scripture, sexuality

2012-05-14T18:12:16Z

From the Chicago Consultation:

In October, some 25 Anglican leaders from across Africa gathered with more than a dozen Episcopalians from the United States for a consultation on issues of justice and human sexuality.

For three days the group prayed, studied the Bible and listened to presentations about issues of theology, sexuality and culture. When formal sessions ended, they talked into the night, all in an attempt to better understand one another, and the unique context in which each participant lived and ministered.

The Chicago Consultation was proud to sponsor this event at the Salt Rock Hotel in Durban, South Africa with our partners from the Ujamaa Centre at the University of KwaZulu Natal.

The 11-minute video below captures some of the high points of the gathering, including moving personal testimony from several participants.

The “Listeners’ Report", written by a team led by the Rev. Canon Janet Trisk, the Church of Southern Africa’s clergy representative to the Anglican Consultative Council, gives a comprehensive account of the time the group spent together.

The list of participants includes several people who attended at some risk to their careers and ministries, but permitted their names to be made public nonetheless.

Members of eight African provinces participated in the consultation, including a bishop from Nigeria, the general secretary of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa, the provincial secretary of the Church of Tanzania and numerous seminary faculty.

The delegation from the Episcopal Church included Bishops Jeff Lee of Chicago and Mark Beckwith of Newark, the Rev. Gay Jennings, the Episcopal Church’s clergy representative to the Anglican Consultative Council and the Rev. Bonnie Perry, co-convener of the Chicago Consultation.

Interfaith and ecumenical guests included a gay imam, representatives of the Church of Sweden and clergy of the Methodist and Dutch Reformed Church.

During much of the recent upheaval in the Anglican Communion over issues of sexuality we have been told that those of us who favor the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in the church have no partners for conversation, in Africa no brothers and sisters who will join us in ministry.

The experience of the consultation tells us that this is not true, that the bonds of affection that sustain the Anglican Communion remain strong, and that generous-spirited Anglicans around the globe are more eager than ever to enter into the deep, prayerful, scripturally-informed conversations on which the future of the Communion will be built.

Salon: Atheism's new clout

2012-05-14T15:53:08Z

Gretta writes in Salon:

Atheists have been around for decades, and they’ve been organizing for decades. But something new, something big, has been happening in atheism in the last few years — atheism has become much more visible, more vocal, more activist, better organized, and more readily mobilized — especially online, but increasingly in the flesh as well. The recent Reason Rally in Washington, DC brought an estimated 20,000 attendees to the National Mall on March 24 — and that was in the rain. Twenty thousand atheists trucked in from around the country, indeed from around the world, and stood in the rain, all day: to mingle, network, listen to speakers and musicians and comedians, check out organizations, schmooze, celebrate, and show the world the face of happy, diverse, energetic, organized atheism.
Atheists are becoming a force to be reckoned with. Atheists are gaining clout. Atheists are becoming a powerful ally when we’re inspired to take action — and a powerful opponent when we get treated like dirt.

The article isn't making a theological case but a political one. Atheists are becoming better organized, are raising lots more money, and have formed some strategic alliances.

Obama, Christianity and marriage equality

2012-05-14T10:22:09Z

Andrew Sullivan has an excellent round up of reaction focusing on the religious aspects of President Obama's historic endorsement of marriage equality.

This item by Nicholas Beaudrot, "Destroying the Christian Brand", is especially insightful, in light of the data in this item by Rachel Held Evans.

Beaudrot writes:

This should really serve as a wake up call to church leaders. The once near-universal brand of American Christianity is being associated with an ever-shrinking size of the American public. Like Burger King and Axe Body Spray, you may wake up one day and find that the overwhelming majority of the public has simply tuned out everything you have to say. Now, it's always possible that the leaders of the major American churches may want it this way. But for those who don't, the window of opportunity where people might be willing to consider a more relevant form of modern Christianity is closing.