Today I received my copy of ChurchWork, the official journal of the Diocese of Louisiana. The former newspaper style is now a magazine. The latest issue is not yet on line, but I wanted to post this from Bishop Charles Jenkins to the members of the diocese:
...The Bishops of the Episcopal Church will be meeting at the Hotel Intercontinental from Sept. 18-25. I ask you to join me in praying for Divine Grace that we may be faithful to Jesus, who, in His High Priestly prayer, asked the Father (that)"we may be one as He and the Father are one."
I need not state anew my traditional and unchanged thoughts on the questions before us. However, I do wish to share several observations, which have expanded my thinking a bit. As our Lord taught in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, it was the Samaritan who proved the good neighbor because it was this racial and religious outcast who demonstrated the quality of mercy. Our Lord's command around mercy was simple, "Go and do likewise." We in Louisiana have seen and experienced mercy from the hands of many for the past two years. People from radically differing perspectives around sexuality have come together in a mission of mercy, and have found their lives changed and the seeming hot button issues put in the proper perspective. Why can we as Anglicans not demonstrate the same mercy toward one another?
A failure to find a way forward together shall not simply hurt each and every one of us, but as sin is always communal in its effects, our failures will hurt the poor and needy whom we serve and to whom mercy is a symbol of hope. The Anglican Communion is engaged in a huge ministry of justice, mercy, and compassion around the world. If we give in to the sin of self-absorption, our souls shall surely be hardened but it is the poor who will suffer most. No matter which side of the issue of human sexuality you believe to be of God, I suggest that if you really want to break the heart of God, you should work to make the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as absorbed with itself and her disagreements as is possible.
The time and the place of the Archbishop's visit is significant. I think we in Louisiana and Mississippi have demonstrated the truth of mission to the Communion. The Morial Convention Center was the place of such suffering and death. Just several weeks after the second anniversary of our being brought so low, we come together to thank God and the church throughout the world for the mercy and support which has enabled us to begin our recovery.
The bishops and their spouses will take off Saturday and Sunday to do work in Louisiana and Mississippi.I need your prayers as I try to get a building for All Souls in the Lower Ninth. The Bishops are bringing offerings to pay for this new Church and I hope they will be able to finish it come September. You will likely have a guest Bishop in your parish Church on the Sunday of the New Orleans meeting. If you want to hear the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, plan to come to Christ Church Cathedral on that Sunday morning at the 10:00 a.m service....
What a wonderful letter. I know you've been concerned about him, but this writing along with what was reported earlier about his difficulties since Katrina bode well, doesn't it, all things considered? Strange to think that despite all the horrors of Katrina and its continuing aftermath that it may have actually helped the Bishop see what he otherwise might not have seen, at least not as clearly.
ReplyDeleteDo you have any intention or desire to see PB Katharine?
No matter which side of the issue of human sexuality you believe to be of God, I suggest that if you really want to break the heart of God, you should work to make the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as absorbed with itself and her disagreements as is possible.
ReplyDeleteI finally gave up worrying about this matter (well, also because I had matters of my own to worry about, but still) and stopped reading the blogs which had come to focus on it (my loss, again), but that is so beautifully said, and is so precisely what I would want to say.
I'm glad you posted that.
Klady, I do want to see her - very much. I admire her so. Here's my chance. I'll probably have to stay in New Orleans overnight and get to the cathedral early to get a place. It's not a large building.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. Maybe not that many folks around here will want to hear her. In my church, her name is not mentioned, except in the Prayers of the Faithful.
I wanted to post the bishop's message without comment. I had to type it out since this issue is not yet online - no copy and paste job here.
Rmj, it is nicely put. And it's something of a scoop, with the issue not online yet. How often do I get a scoop?
You'll see my classmate, David duPlantier, at the cathedral (he's the dean).
ReplyDeleteI hope you get to meet +KJS, Mimi. She exudes calm and graciousness. I took communion from her hands the week before she went to Tanzania, and it seemed a great blessing.
ReplyDeleteYour bishop has written two powerful things lately. Good for him! (I'm still mad that he didn't answer you personally, though...)
Caminante, you're Lee, aren't you? Will that be enough to identify you to David?
ReplyDeleteDoxy, I've moved on. Bp. Jenkins has had a lot to deal with and is suffering from PTSD. Since the folks in the alphabet soup seem to be doing themselves in rather quickly, I'm not as concerned about him taking the diocese out of TEC.
Mimi - if you get to meet ++Katharine, be sure to tell her you're the one who asked about dresses. She will laugh and love you for it.
ReplyDeletePiskie, I will, I will.
ReplyDeleteI'm jealous that you get to go hear her. How wonderful!
ReplyDeleteSounds like your bishop and I would get along, Mimi.
ReplyDeleteI hope it all works out, and I get to meet the PB, or at least to hear her preach. I'm planning on it, God willin' and the bayou don't flood.
ReplyDeleteMimi---I had missed that about Bishop Jenkins and the PTSD. My prayer list is getting longer by the day, but I will add him to it. I appreciate his gracious comments in this letter--as well as his truth-telling to President Bush a couple of weeks ago.
ReplyDeleteFame for Grandmere Mimi.
ReplyDeleteOh my, Ann, thank you. It was a bit of a scoop, wasn't it? It's still not up at the diocesan website.
ReplyDeleteYou ARE famous Grandmere Mimi.
ReplyDeleteBut, I didn't like the letter. It sounds to me like he is saying that if we could just go back to the good old days when we didn't have the homos to contend with then the poor would be better off,but as long as the self absorbed queers are around stirring up trouble it'll be bad news for the church and for the poor.
I've got no patience for the sort of talk that tells me the world would be better off if I'd just be happy as a second-class Christian.
Hope you get to see KJS!
Lindy
Lindy, he has come a way, and I'm pleased with that. I don't agree with his views, but I see movement on his part, a softening.
ReplyDeleteI call myself a recovering homophobe, because not so very many years ago I was homophobic. I am in no position to point the finger at anyone, because, but for the grace of God, I'd still be there.
Have you read my four-part "Confessions"? You may not have patience with me after reading them. It took me a long time to begin to let go of my prejudices.
I have no idea what it's like to be on the receiving end of homophobia, and I don't blame you for being impatient.
I do hope I get to see Bishop Katharine.
Get there early, sit up front!
ReplyDeleteFrank, me? Early? I will try. Tardiness is one of my habitual faults. Lord, have mercy.
ReplyDeleteI see that Matt Kennedy at SF has taken note of the letter, and he is not pleased. I am not giving a link.
ReplyDeleteMy response to Matt and his commenters is that I am thankful that, in the end, it will be a loving god who judges Bishop Jenkins.
These words from "The Letter of James" come to mind:
For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy; yet mercy triumphs over judgment.
I may not like where Jenkins is, but I do like the softening that I see on this issue of sexuality. Good for him and for us. He has apparently seen that hate of the marginalized is a sin.
ReplyDeleteGrandmere Mimi, set a time that is way early to arrive, and then you can be a bit tardy.
Ann Drake, welcome. I agree with you about Bp. Jenkins.
ReplyDeleteYes, I will try all my tricks to get to the cathedral before time.
Amen, Bishop Jenkins. Amen. And thanks for posting this, Grandmere.
ReplyDeleteQueerForChrist, thanks for visiting.
ReplyDeleteIt's a powerful letter. I like it that the bishops and their wives will be working in Louisiana on Saturday and Sunday. It's working there that helps one to grasp the reality of the immensity of the tragedy.