Dancing with Myself

The Gay Nazi Pope Speaks

Benedict, the former Nazi who is now pope, thinks that two people of the same sex wishing to live a life of committed love are a threat to world peace.  Now that's hilarious.  Oh, and he also said that abortion and birth control were also threats to world peace.  Among the great threats he identified, were global warming, nuclear proliferation, same-sex marriage, birth control, and abortion.  What an asshole.

If Catholics aren't embarrassed by this kind of tripe, then they're not paying attention.  Just what did Jesus say about homosexuality?  Oh yeah.  Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Only obsessed, homophobic cretins who cherry-pick biblical scripture to support their ignornace and prejudice worry about homosexuality.  Jesus didn't.

The American Episcopal Church Responds to the Ultimatum from Dar es Salaam

It is incumbent upon us as disciples to do our best to follow Jesus in the increasing experience of the leading of the Holy Spirit. We fully understand that others in the Communion believe the same, but we do not believe that Jesus leads us to break our relationships. We proclaim the Gospel of what God has done and is doing in Christ, of the dignity of every human being, and of justice, compassion, and peace. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including women, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church. We proclaim the Gospel that stands against any violence, including violence done to women and children as well as those who are persecuted because of their differences, often in the name of God. The Dar es Salaam Communiqué is distressingly silent on this subject. And, contrary to the way the Anglican Communion Network and the American Anglican Council have represented us, we proclaim a Gospel that welcomes diversity of thought and encourages free and open theological debate as a way of seeking God's truth. If that means that others reject us and communion with us, as some have already done, we must with great regret and sorrow accept their decision.

Read the whole thing here.  If there is a schism, it won't be us walking away from them.  It'll be them, walking away from us.

Asshole of the Season Award

Goes to Rabbi Elazar Bogomilsky who hired a lawyer and threatened to sue the Port of Seattle if it didn't add a menorah next to its display of Christmas trees.  Bogomilsky reacted with surprise to the removal of the trees by the Port of Seattle by saying, "Everyone should have their spirit of the holiday." Yeah, right. Call a lawyer, asshole.  Nothing puts spirit into the holidays like threatening to sue someone.  Bogomilsky is employed in Seattle at the regional headquarters of Chabad Lubavitch, a Jewish education foundation.  Oh the irony, the irony.

Okay, first of all, Christmas trees are not a Christian religious symbol.  No no way, not no how.  Anyone who thinks otherwise should do a bit of investigating.  Do Christians use the tree?  Sure, we do.  It's a festive symbol of the winter holiday.  Do Christians often put religious symbols on the tree?  Yes, but more often than not there is nothing even remotely religious about the decorations.  The Seattle Airport trees were adorned with red ribbons. 

Going hand-in-hand with Bogomilsky's award of Asshole of the Season, a special Chicken-Shit Award of the season goes to the Port of Seattle for its total capitulation in the face of an unreasonable demand from an ignorant asshole.

Congratulations to both recipients.

"They've darkened the hall instead of turning the lights up," said Bogomilsky's lawyer, Harvey Grad. "There is a concern here that the Jewish community will be portrayed as the Grinch."  Harvey came in second for Asshole of the Season for not telling Bogomilsky to go fuck himself. 

Pope Nazi and the Gays

The Roman Catholic Church says Gays are welcome in the Church, just as long as they don't have sex and don't talk about their sexual orientation. By implication, you can be as nelly as you want and swish to kingdom come.  They don't say you can't, so I guess you can cross-dress if you want to, although you might get mistaken for a priest.

Finally, Some Good News

Evangelicals fear they are losing their teenagers. 

"Their alarm has been stoked by a highly suspect claim that if current trends continue, only 4 percent of teenagers will be “Bible-believing Christians” as adults. That would be a sharp decline compared with 35 percent of the current generation of baby boomers, and before that, 65 percent of the World War II generation." - Laurie Goodstein, NYTimes

We can only hope and pray.   So to speak.  Perhaps with so few, they can go back to being Christians rather than christianists.

The Good Shepherd

This is the letter of acceptance from Bishop Marc Andrus upon hearing of his election to be bishop of the California Diocese:

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Sheila and I are gladdened, and humbled, by the trust you have placed in me, in us. Publicly, I want to say that my heart is with the other nominees and their partners.    They are uniformly splendid people, and I was honored to be in their number.

Also, to all of you who have been so prayerfully working to bring this moment for your diocese, the election of a new bishop, you must know that you have exhibited every  trait of a Christian community.  You are a witness to  the vitality of the Church in your very way of being.

We must all understand, and here I address the diocese of California and those listening from elsewhere, that your vote today remains a vote for inclusion and communion  – of gay and lesbian people in their full lives as single  or partnered people, of women, of all ethnic minorities, and all people.  My commitment to Jesus Christ’s own mission of inclusion is resolute.

And I share with you your strongly expressed commitment to youth, to those who do not yet know Christ, our calling as evangelists, and to God’s waiting, expectant creation.

I take this election to be an expression of  our common desire to be part of the whole, the Communion and  the world, in what may be a new way. 

We will work together in the listening process, lending the unique voice of the Bay Area Episcopalians to this great conversation and working to end global human suffering.

Finally, let me say that being nourished as  bishop by the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama, fed by the historic  and living witness of so many heroes of the struggle for human rights, whose words and deeds of compassion and justice have inspired and sustained me, I say to you the words of a west coast hero – “In the cause of peace, we cannot be sprinters,  we must be long distance runners.”

Please join me in prayer.  God Be With You.

“Oh God of unchangeable power and eternal light:  look favorably on your whole church, that wonderful and sacred mystery; by the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquility the plan of salvation; let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raised up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things are made, your Son Jesus Christ and Lord” Amen.

As a Gay man struggling with my feelings about whether or not religion is worthwhile, I celebrate the election of Marc Andrus to be the new bishop of the California Diocese.  Gays and Lesbians in our church have no better advocate than Bishop Andrus.  No one could serve our position in the church better than he.  No one.

He was not my first choice because I thought god would want someone a little more diverse than Bishop Andrus.  Just what we need, I thought, another white heterosexual male from the South.  Actually, I had an email from god this morning.  She said, among other things, "trust me on  this one."

Also elected today were two other White males who are also considered Gay-friendly and Spirit-filled.  In Northern California Barry Beisner was elected bishop, and in Eastern Michigan, Todd Ousley was chosen.  The Diocese of Tennessee did not elect a bishop.  After two or three week-ends of voting which highlighted the split between the clergy and the laity, they now go to an Interim Bishop.  In Tennessee, the laity was supporting a candidate who promised to take the diocese of Tennessee out of the American communion.  The clergy strongly opposed the laity's candidate. Unlike here, the Diocese of Tennessee requires a supermajority to elect their bishop.

This struggle in Tennessee was orchestrated by the American Anglican Council which is composed of mostly conservative Republicans who would destroy the Church in pursuit of their agenda.  Bishop Don Johnson of the Diocese of Western Tennessee publicly condemned the AAC for pursuing a secret agenda while publicly saying that it was working within the church.  I know a lot of AAC people are disappointed that we did not elect a Gay or Lesbian bishop.  I don't believe they want reconciliation.  They want schism.

It's Andrus!

   On the third ballot, Mark Andrus, the suffragan bishop of Alabama received a majority of the votes from  both the clergy and the laity.  If the conservatives want to schism, they're going to have to keep looking for a provocation.  I'm sure it won't take long for them to find it.

I liked Bishop Andrus.  He's the one who spoke about the difference between worshiping Jesus and practicing the teachings of Jesus.  There was a lot of sympathy for him during the week.  More than one person saying it would be nice if he could be rescued from Alabama.  He took a lot of body blows from the conservatives in Alabama for his vote to consecrate Gene Robinson as a bishop.  He's a very bright and complex man. He was asked how he would be different as a bishop from retiring Bishop William Swing.  He said, "well, we're both married white guys from the South," but he went on to say that they were different in as many ways as they were similar.  I think he's a very worthy successor to Bishop Swing.

Jane Gould's support was thinner than I thought.  Eugene Sutton's support folded faster than I would have thought as well.  And the lay vote surrendered pretty fast.  One priest told me that traditionally the clergy folds and goes along with the laity.  But not every time.

Electing a New Bishop

I asked Rosalie Harden, the rector at Holy Innocents, if I could join her and her congregants in the discussion about the election of the new bishop of the Diocese of California .   I'm representative of the largest group of Episcopalians in the U.S. (those who do not go to church), and while there has been no coordinated effort by the diocese of California to include us in the selection of the new bishop, Rosalie and the congregation at Holy Innocents graciously invited me to join them in the process of discernment that precedes the election.  It has been a very rich and rewarding experience for me.

On Sunday last a group of us met following the service and discussed the seven candidates.  Wednesday night I met with another small group at Holy Innocents in San Francisco for the purpose of talking about the election of the bishop this Saturday and the process itself.  We began with a celebration of the Eucharist and then retired to a potluck and a discussion. 

We were joined in the conversation by Neela Banerjee, a reporter for the New York Times.  The story she wrote appeared in this morning's New York Times.  No, I'm not quoted.  Rosalie Harden was quoted, though.  The Times story itself is okay.  It is more about the conflict in the Episcopal Church over the possibility of another Gay bishop and what it would do to the Episcopal Church than it is about our election, but that's the part that makes the election national news.  I did have a nice opportunity to visit with Ms. Banerjee (May I call you Neela?).  She's a homey from St. Charles Parish just outside of New Orleans. 

I'll be very surprised if either of the Gay candidates is elected.  There's a better chance of the Lesbian being elected, but no one was giving her good odds.  From our conversation, it looks to be a three-way race between Mark Andrus, the suffragan bishop of Alabama, Jane Gould, a minister from Massachusetts, and Eugene Sutton, who serves at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.   My preferences are Andrus and Gould with Sutton a distant third.

By the way, I'm going to New Orleans next month.  I want to see what's going on, look up old friends, check on some of my cousins and then run off to South Beach (Miami) for a week's vacation. 

 

Letters? Yes. Fan mail? Not exactly

Kristin wrote:

You’re taking a few words of scripture and spinning it to mean David and Jonathan were homosexual.  Not everyone you love do you have a sexual relationship with.  Just because they loved each other, does NOT in ANY way mean they were involved sexually!!!  COME ON!  How incredibly much can you TRY to spin things to endorse your sinful chosen lifestyle???

A polite letter, compared to some I've received.  I did answer Kristin.

Dear Kristin:

And how far will you go in your denial that men have been loving men since the beginning of time? 

Look, sugah, my lifestyle is chosen only in the sense that I believe I have the right to a whole and complete life.  If you want to restrict yourself to a bunch of nonsense written by a bunch of fanatics a couple of thousand years ago, go right ahead. 

Do me a favor though.  Keep your religious teachings out of my life. 

Good luck to you.

Kristen falls into that category of apostates that worship THE Bible rather than follow the teachings of Christ.  I consider that idolatry, but it's not my job to go around judging the sin and heresy of others.

Meeting the Bishop Candidates

My first opportunity to meet the candidates was Monday night at Grace Cathedral.  Even though I don't feel very religious these days, the selection of bishop is very important.  It's even important, even for us "UNchurched" Episcopalians.  Add the fact that there are some in the American Episcopal Church who want to schism because of the selection of Bishop Gene Robinson back in '03, and have threatened to do so if we elect another Gay to the episcopate.  These are heady times to be an Episcopalian.  Of the seven candidates, two are Gay men and one is a Lesbian.  It might surprise you, but I'm not necessarily in favor of electing another Gay, at least not just because he's Gay, nor would I vote for a woman because she's a woman or a Lesbian.   Our present bishop, the Rt. Rev. William Swing, recently wrote a column about the challenge facing us:  "We are where we are because we allow the Holy Spirit to move us into the chaos as a precursor of a fresh order of a new creation.""

Briefly summarized, here are my impressions of the seven cadidates.

The Rt. Rev. Mark Handley Andrus, Bishop Suffragan in the Diocese of Alabama.  Very strong candidate.  He's calm, intelligent, quietly spiritual.  He briefly touched on an issue that I would like to hear him preach on:  what's the difference between worshiping Jesus and following his teachings. 

The Rev. Jane Gould, Rector of St. Stephen's Church, Lynn, Massachusetts.  Smart and empathetic.  She may become a bishop in the church, but I don't think she'll get chosen by us this time.

The Rev. Bonnie Perry, D.Min., Rector of All Saints' Church, Chicago, Illinois.  An interesting woman.  She's very small and has the gift of story telling.  Personally, I think she needs a few more years in the trenches before becoming a bishop.

The Rev. Canon Eugene Taylor Sutton, Canon Pastor of Washington National Cathedral.  Great candidate.  He was the only candidate who spoke of the need to offer same-sex couples the covenant of marriage within the church.  To be fair, each of the candidates addressed the importance of the inclusion of Gays and Lesbians in the body of Christ, but only Rev. Sutton spoke to the need of same-sex couples to have their marriages recognized and blessed by the church.

The Very Rev. Robert V. Taylor, Dean, St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle, Washington.  Wise for his years, but maybe a little young still to be bishop.  He's already the dean of a cathedral, so I suspect he'll go far in the church.  If not here and now, he willl be a bishop.

The Rev. Canon Michael Barlowe, Officer for Congregational Development, The Diocese of California.  Michael was the most impressive of all the candidates to me.  He spoke wisely about the mission of the church and the problems we are facing from the schismatics.  If the election were held tomorrow, I'd vote for him.

The Rev. Donald Schell, Co-rector of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church, San Francisco.  He's the one candidate whose church I have attended and heard preach.  I like him.  He would make a good bishop.  His greatest handicap was to be in such a strong field of candidates.