After our fairly eventful and amazingly long trip (four hours in the Charlotte airport), by now we are well at home at St. Columba Conference Center in Northwest Memphis. We’ve been to church on Sunday (where Ellen saw one of the three people she knows in Memphis,) been swimming at the center a couple of times, experienced the National Civil Rights Museum and Beale St., prayed at night in our lodge and prayed in Elmwood Cemetery around the grave of the Martyrs of Memphis. We were disappointed in Mud Island, which claimed to be a water park and delighted at the water slide on the conference center property—home made.
All in all, memories are being made, community deepened (hard to think these kids could get to be better friends, but they are.) There are some challenges—heat indices of more than 100 degrees—high, high humidity with sun and temps in the 90s, the inevitable rub of personalities one against another. But pilgrimage does its work, and it certainly is doing that here.
We’re grateful for all the help getting here, and for the hospitality of this place. We are grateful for the kind folks of Memphis, who talk to us, laugh at us and instruct us, gently, with their thoughts about our voiced questions and strong opinions. Most of everyone’s spending money has been spent (for which the chaperones are grateful) and several of us are learning to cook. Parents, they are even cleaning up, without having to be reminded much!
There are, of course, many more stories to tell, but some of them, anyway are under the category of “What happens on pilgrimage stays on pilgrimage!” And in our hearts.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Morning en route to Memphis
Morning en route to Memphis
Well, we're negotiating the first change-up of the trip, the first among many if this is a typical journey. Sitting in Bradley airport with four excited/sleepy teens. Our flight is delayed and they have had to rebook us out of Charlotte, so instead of a 1:50 arrival we are looking at a 6:30 one. Somehow we will get these kids fed tonight and start to sketch out the rest of the week. They look great in their purple Team Trinity Torrington T-shirts.
"Sometimes when I'm falling, flying, tumbling into turmoil I say, Oh, this is what she means--she means we're bouncing into Graceland..."
Well, we're negotiating the first change-up of the trip, the first among many if this is a typical journey. Sitting in Bradley airport with four excited/sleepy teens. Our flight is delayed and they have had to rebook us out of Charlotte, so instead of a 1:50 arrival we are looking at a 6:30 one. Somehow we will get these kids fed tonight and start to sketch out the rest of the week. They look great in their purple Team Trinity Torrington T-shirts.
"Sometimes when I'm falling, flying, tumbling into turmoil I say, Oh, this is what she means--she means we're bouncing into Graceland..."
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Rumors of our death are greatly exaggerated
I'm reminded in all of this of the remarks of a now-long-deceased bishop to the wife of the Rector who went to him to complain that she was being beaten by her husband and asked for help for their family. She was told that, if she were a better wife it wouldn't be happening and, anyway, it was her duty to stay in the relationship and make it work even if it wasn't.
Stephen Bates may be my new hero. (read the long artile)
Stephen Bates may be my new hero. (read the long artile)
articles in England--pro and con
To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/16/episcopal-anglican-communion-gay
The Anglican church's crumbling foundations
The Episcopal church's decision on gay clergy may well signal the end of the
Anglican communion as we know it
Stephen Bates
Thursday July 16 2009
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/16/episcopal-anglican-communion-gay
There have been many predictions of dawning schism in the worldwide Anglican
communion over the last six years ? as the Guardian's former religious affairs
correspondent I wrote some of them myself ? but the decision of the US Episcopal
church to affirm its belief that gays, lesbians and transgendered folk are
eligible to be considered for ordination may indeed mark a watershed.
Behind the studiously constructed words of resolution DO25, passed by the
church's triennial general convention in Anaheim, perhaps better known to the
secular world as the home of Disneyland, lies the potential for a Christian
milestone that may ultimately rank the Los Angeles suburb alongside the Council
of Nicaea, the Synod of Whitby, or the Edict of Nantes. Or possibly not.
On the face of it, and perhaps in the depth of it as well, the resolution simply
states the Americans' belief that God has called and may call such individuals
to any ordained ministry within its portals. It does not, technically, end the
moratorium the church agreed at its last convention three years ago not to elect
any more gay bishops, following its experiment with the consecration of Gene
Robinson, a partnered, gay, clergyman, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. It
just signals that it may do so, just as Christian churches including our own
dear CofE have done, knowingly if discreetly, for centuries.
But of course the symbolism of the resolution is much more than technical, the
culmination of a six-year split since Robinson's election by his parishioners
and one which has been anticipated with varying degrees of relish by both sides,
especially the conservatives opposed to gay people, ever since. They have
responded characteristically to the convention's vote, although their outrage at
the thought of any accommodation with gay people who might actually want to
belong to their church has been well-honed and practised for years.
As Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, expostulates in the Times, it gives active
expression to any and every sexual desire. This, as Wright ? a clever if
conceited man ? ought to know, is simply not true. The sort of relationship that
the Episcopalians might sanction is not any old promiscuous or abusive
perversion, but a lifelong, loving commitment between two persons of the sort
you might think the church would welcome and which Wright could find any day of
the week among the currently ordained clergy of the Church of England. In a
church which marries without question promiscuous heterosexuals, sometimes
several times, and blesses pets and nuclear submarines without a qualm, you
might think the expression of mutual commitment, which may or may not have a
sexual element if you are prurient enough to ask, would be welcomed rather than
spurned. After all, the church some time ago accepted the reality of divorce
(its founder Henry VIII was rather keen on the idea) about which the Bible has
much more disobliging things to say than homosexuality.
As it is, this week's Anaheim resolution will probably become the occasion for a
split in the ranks of worldwide Anglicanism, the third largest Christian
denomination. The Americans insist they don't want it and indeed it has almost
exclusively been the church's conservative, largely evangelical, movements and
pressure groups which do and have done all along.
The conservative forces are ready to go and have their organisations and
lobbyists already in place and flexing their muscles, keen to take over the
communion and reshape it in their image ? though, interestingly, the
conservatives are already falling out among themselves, united in what they
oppose rather than what they agree. In England certainly if the conservative
evangelicals get their way the established church will look very different from
the broad, tolerant institution that it has been up till now ? even Tom Wright
might find himself anathematised. Some of them insist that the 17th-century
Reformation did not go far enough and needs to be finished, which may come as a
surprise to the high church Anglo-Catholics with whom they have allied, whose
dearest wish is to reunite with Rome. Perhaps someone should tell them.
If the Americans are shown the door the consequences for worldwide Anglicanism
are incalculable and not just because the wealthy US church largely pays for and
sustains the communion, including in those parts of the world where the church's
mission would not otherwise survive. In the Church of England there are many who
find they have more in common with their American brethren than with the
strident, coercive voices they hear from the conservatives.
All of which leaves poor old Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and as
such nominal head of the Anglican communion, with a dilemma which has loomed
over his head ever since his enthronement six years ago. Who ultimately to run
with? As he sits lonely and anguished in his study at Lambeth Palace, or heads
off with his bucket and spade to a lonely beach in Wales this summer, he may
wonder whether it has all been worth it.
His tactics of delay, procrastination, conciliation and appeasement ? so often
useful weapons for Anglicanism in the past ? have failed to reconcile the
irreconcilable. Now it may be too late to be firm. As a bishop once said to me:
Rowan's been too damn Christian towards them ? meaning the conservative
splitters ? a verdict that on the whole the archbishop might appreciate, but
which hasn't worked in stemming the rift. Turning the other cheek might be a
virtue, but not necessarily against opponents determined to get their own way.
Time for a prayer?
Stephen Bates was the Guardian's religious affairs correspondent from 2000-2007
and is the author of A Church at War: Anglicans and Homosexuality (Hodder 2005)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/16/episcopal-anglican-communion-gay
The Anglican church's crumbling foundations
The Episcopal church's decision on gay clergy may well signal the end of the
Anglican communion as we know it
Stephen Bates
Thursday July 16 2009
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/jul/16/episcopal-anglican-communion-gay
There have been many predictions of dawning schism in the worldwide Anglican
communion over the last six years ? as the Guardian's former religious affairs
correspondent I wrote some of them myself ? but the decision of the US Episcopal
church to affirm its belief that gays, lesbians and transgendered folk are
eligible to be considered for ordination may indeed mark a watershed.
Behind the studiously constructed words of resolution DO25, passed by the
church's triennial general convention in Anaheim, perhaps better known to the
secular world as the home of Disneyland, lies the potential for a Christian
milestone that may ultimately rank the Los Angeles suburb alongside the Council
of Nicaea, the Synod of Whitby, or the Edict of Nantes. Or possibly not.
On the face of it, and perhaps in the depth of it as well, the resolution simply
states the Americans' belief that God has called and may call such individuals
to any ordained ministry within its portals. It does not, technically, end the
moratorium the church agreed at its last convention three years ago not to elect
any more gay bishops, following its experiment with the consecration of Gene
Robinson, a partnered, gay, clergyman, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. It
just signals that it may do so, just as Christian churches including our own
dear CofE have done, knowingly if discreetly, for centuries.
But of course the symbolism of the resolution is much more than technical, the
culmination of a six-year split since Robinson's election by his parishioners
and one which has been anticipated with varying degrees of relish by both sides,
especially the conservatives opposed to gay people, ever since. They have
responded characteristically to the convention's vote, although their outrage at
the thought of any accommodation with gay people who might actually want to
belong to their church has been well-honed and practised for years.
As Tom Wright, Bishop of Durham, expostulates in the Times, it gives active
expression to any and every sexual desire. This, as Wright ? a clever if
conceited man ? ought to know, is simply not true. The sort of relationship that
the Episcopalians might sanction is not any old promiscuous or abusive
perversion, but a lifelong, loving commitment between two persons of the sort
you might think the church would welcome and which Wright could find any day of
the week among the currently ordained clergy of the Church of England. In a
church which marries without question promiscuous heterosexuals, sometimes
several times, and blesses pets and nuclear submarines without a qualm, you
might think the expression of mutual commitment, which may or may not have a
sexual element if you are prurient enough to ask, would be welcomed rather than
spurned. After all, the church some time ago accepted the reality of divorce
(its founder Henry VIII was rather keen on the idea) about which the Bible has
much more disobliging things to say than homosexuality.
As it is, this week's Anaheim resolution will probably become the occasion for a
split in the ranks of worldwide Anglicanism, the third largest Christian
denomination. The Americans insist they don't want it and indeed it has almost
exclusively been the church's conservative, largely evangelical, movements and
pressure groups which do and have done all along.
The conservative forces are ready to go and have their organisations and
lobbyists already in place and flexing their muscles, keen to take over the
communion and reshape it in their image ? though, interestingly, the
conservatives are already falling out among themselves, united in what they
oppose rather than what they agree. In England certainly if the conservative
evangelicals get their way the established church will look very different from
the broad, tolerant institution that it has been up till now ? even Tom Wright
might find himself anathematised. Some of them insist that the 17th-century
Reformation did not go far enough and needs to be finished, which may come as a
surprise to the high church Anglo-Catholics with whom they have allied, whose
dearest wish is to reunite with Rome. Perhaps someone should tell them.
If the Americans are shown the door the consequences for worldwide Anglicanism
are incalculable and not just because the wealthy US church largely pays for and
sustains the communion, including in those parts of the world where the church's
mission would not otherwise survive. In the Church of England there are many who
find they have more in common with their American brethren than with the
strident, coercive voices they hear from the conservatives.
All of which leaves poor old Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury and as
such nominal head of the Anglican communion, with a dilemma which has loomed
over his head ever since his enthronement six years ago. Who ultimately to run
with? As he sits lonely and anguished in his study at Lambeth Palace, or heads
off with his bucket and spade to a lonely beach in Wales this summer, he may
wonder whether it has all been worth it.
His tactics of delay, procrastination, conciliation and appeasement ? so often
useful weapons for Anglicanism in the past ? have failed to reconcile the
irreconcilable. Now it may be too late to be firm. As a bishop once said to me:
Rowan's been too damn Christian towards them ? meaning the conservative
splitters ? a verdict that on the whole the archbishop might appreciate, but
which hasn't worked in stemming the rift. Turning the other cheek might be a
virtue, but not necessarily against opponents determined to get their own way.
Time for a prayer?
Stephen Bates was the Guardian's religious affairs correspondent from 2000-2007
and is the author of A Church at War: Anglicans and Homosexuality (Hodder 2005)
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
A new day
Well, it will surely have hit the papers that the bishops found a way forward on blessing same-sex unions, however they are allowed or not by state law. A group of bishops--I think with a variety of positions/thoughts/stances on the question met together for several hours and crafted a resolution that they thought could pass the house. I heard that +Gene Robinson said that it was the most grace-filled conversation he had been a part of in the house of bishops.
In our house, we did several things which just make me think that it is a new day and maybe the church can go on to grow from here--they were actions of integrity, of justice, on a variety of subjects that we just couldn't have accomplished three years ago--or six, or even twelve. Pensions for lay employees over 20 hours a week, new disciplinary canons that have reconciliation as a model and plan; a budget that made severe cuts but expressed our commitment to the MDGs, the poorest of the world. And new money for some initiatives that we've talked about for a long time. We'll have to do more locally and in creative ways, especially with Hispanic ministries--that part of the budget was cut severely. But local ministry can be alot more effective than something bureaucratic. They are reducing the ask from dioceses over the next three years, again releasing money for local initiatives. Convention will be two days shorter in 2012, and the committees and groups that meet in the meantime will have to do less face-to-face and more by the web.
We repudiated a 15th century idea (the "Doctrine of Discovery"), which said that indigenous peoples were there to be conquered, defeated and subdued in order to "convert" the world to Christianity. A huge admission. We also passed a framework for our conversations with persons of other faiths and interfaith dialogue (somethign we know about in Torrington)
A huge day. And worship in the Emergent model with Brian MacLaren tonight; he's preaching tomorrow at the eucharist.
Feels pretty full. And very hopeful and realistic. A good day for our church, at least in my view.
In our house, we did several things which just make me think that it is a new day and maybe the church can go on to grow from here--they were actions of integrity, of justice, on a variety of subjects that we just couldn't have accomplished three years ago--or six, or even twelve. Pensions for lay employees over 20 hours a week, new disciplinary canons that have reconciliation as a model and plan; a budget that made severe cuts but expressed our commitment to the MDGs, the poorest of the world. And new money for some initiatives that we've talked about for a long time. We'll have to do more locally and in creative ways, especially with Hispanic ministries--that part of the budget was cut severely. But local ministry can be alot more effective than something bureaucratic. They are reducing the ask from dioceses over the next three years, again releasing money for local initiatives. Convention will be two days shorter in 2012, and the committees and groups that meet in the meantime will have to do less face-to-face and more by the web.
We repudiated a 15th century idea (the "Doctrine of Discovery"), which said that indigenous peoples were there to be conquered, defeated and subdued in order to "convert" the world to Christianity. A huge admission. We also passed a framework for our conversations with persons of other faiths and interfaith dialogue (somethign we know about in Torrington)
A huge day. And worship in the Emergent model with Brian MacLaren tonight; he's preaching tomorrow at the eucharist.
Feels pretty full. And very hopeful and realistic. A good day for our church, at least in my view.
Wednesday(or, in GC parlance, Legislative Day 8)
I am taking a little time off this morning to recoup. My committee (Ministry) met, though, to finish our business and hold hearings on two last resolutions that came to us--one about cleaning up canonical language and one about dioceses in a transition between bishops and pastoral care for clergy and congregations in that situation.
Our Church is so diverse--we have dioceses with less than two dozen congregations and dioceses with more than two hundred. Somehow the challenge is to listen to each other, to try to do ministry in these different contexts and, in the context of Convention, to craft laws and resolutions that will bind us together across such diversitites. Sometimes we manage better than other times--and too often the "middle" makes it so that the smallest or most innovative dioceses are isolated. Since I came from one of our smallest and now minister in one of the largest, I have a unique vision, though not a singlar one. I do love this church.
Caught up on a very little of the news that's being reported in the wider world about us. Actually, we haven't moved quite as far as they say, though we also haven't gone back. The secualr press has trouble with nuance. And nuance makes bad headlines. "Episcopal Church affirms its identity and practice" wouldn't sell papers.
We are rushing to get legislation through and onto the floor--we've been a little constipated by arguments over what seem like small things to some but big deals to others. Trying to keep good relationships while getting some things done is always the challenge of convention. A friend on the World Mission legislative committee (the one that had all the hard resolutions) reports that the committee was wonderful and transformative. That's good news. And my own committee functioned really well and worked hard. Makes it worth doing.
Now I'm bemoaning the fact that I've come all the way to Anaheim and will not even get to Disneyland. Oh, well.
Our Church is so diverse--we have dioceses with less than two dozen congregations and dioceses with more than two hundred. Somehow the challenge is to listen to each other, to try to do ministry in these different contexts and, in the context of Convention, to craft laws and resolutions that will bind us together across such diversitites. Sometimes we manage better than other times--and too often the "middle" makes it so that the smallest or most innovative dioceses are isolated. Since I came from one of our smallest and now minister in one of the largest, I have a unique vision, though not a singlar one. I do love this church.
Caught up on a very little of the news that's being reported in the wider world about us. Actually, we haven't moved quite as far as they say, though we also haven't gone back. The secualr press has trouble with nuance. And nuance makes bad headlines. "Episcopal Church affirms its identity and practice" wouldn't sell papers.
We are rushing to get legislation through and onto the floor--we've been a little constipated by arguments over what seem like small things to some but big deals to others. Trying to keep good relationships while getting some things done is always the challenge of convention. A friend on the World Mission legislative committee (the one that had all the hard resolutions) reports that the committee was wonderful and transformative. That's good news. And my own committee functioned really well and worked hard. Makes it worth doing.
Now I'm bemoaning the fact that I've come all the way to Anaheim and will not even get to Disneyland. Oh, well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
