Bishop Gene Robinson's Letter

Cartoon by Dave Walker from The Church Times.

Bishop Robinson has been excluded from full participation in the Lambeth Conference of the Anglican Communion. Although he is the duly elected bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire and has received consent from the Episcopal House of Bishops, he was offered only a place at the margins by Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams - a place to which he already has access without anyone's permission. Here's an excerpt from the whole text of Bishop Robinson's letter in response to being uninvited. From Walking With Integrity:

I first want to thank Ed and Bruce and Tom. (ed.note - the bishops who tried to negotiate with Lambeth for Gene and the House of Bishops) They have been so true to what they were asked to do by the Presiding Bishop. They have been in close communication with me. I have felt very supported by them. They have represented me extremely well.

I want to be clear than I am not here to whine. I learned of the result of this negotiation on Friday evening. I have been in considerable pain ever since.

But I want to acknowledge that I am not the first or last person to be in pain at a House of Bishops meeting.

My own pain was sufficient enough that for 36 hours I felt the compelling urge to run, to flee. My inspiration for staying came from my conservative brothers in this house. I have seen John Howe and Ed Salmon and others show up for years when there was a lot of pain for them. I see Bill Love and Mark Lawrence, and I know it is a very difficult thing for them to be here right now. For me, the worst sin is leaving the table. And that is what I was on the verge of doing. But, largely because of you, I stayed. Thank you for that.

I want to tell you why I declined the invitation as it was proposed. I really had high hopes that something might work out. I have been talking with the Anglican Communion Office for almost a year now. I got my first phone call four days before the invitations to Lambeth went out. I thought something would work out.

The offer to be hosted at the Marketplace is a non-offer. That is already available to me. One workshop on one afternoon and being interviewed by the secular press was not anything I was seeking. I wasn't going to Lambeth to have another interview with the secular press. If interviewed at all, I want to talk with a theologian. I want to talk about the love of Christ. I want to talk about the God who saved me and redeemed me and continues to live in my life. I want to talk about the Jesus I know in my life.

But my mind boggles at the misperception that this is just about gay rights. It might be in another context, but in this context it is about God's love of all of God's children. It's a theological discussion, it's not a media show. I have been most disappointed in that my desire was to participate in Bible study and small groups, and that is not being offered. It makes me wonder: if we can't sit around a table and study the Bible together, what kind of communion do we have and what are we trying to save?

I am dismayed and sickhearted that we can't sit around a table, as brothers and sisters in Christ, and study scripture together.

It has been a very difficult 48 hours sitting here and hearing your plans for Lambeth.

In my most difficult moments, it feels as if, instead of leaving the 99 sheep in search of the one, my chief pastor and shepherd, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has cut me out of the herd.

I ask two things of you. Some of you have indicated that if I am not invited, you won't go either. I want to say loud and clear - you must go. You must find your voice. And somehow you have to find my voice and the voices of all the gay and lesbian people in your diocese who, for now, don't have a voice in this setting. I'd much rather be talked to than talked about. But you must go and tell the stories of your people, faithful members of your flock who happen to be lesbian and gay.

For God's sake, don't stay away.

And second, please don't let them separate me from you. Please don't let that happen. It will be difficult, and we will have to be intentional. I know that the last thing you will need at the end of the day is another meeting just so I can catch up with you. But I hope you will be willing to stay in touch with me.

From the day I have walked into this House I have been treated with respect and welcome, even, and perhaps especially, by those of you who voted no on my consent.

I can never thank you enough for that. I will always and every moment treasure your welcome and your hospitality.

Don't let them cut me off from you.

All this is really sad for me and for my diocese. I won't have the experiences you will have, to share with them. But I will be there in the marketplace, willing to talk with anyone who wants to talk, especially with those who disagree with me. If you know me at all, you know that that's true.

Now, my focus has to change. Maybe this is what God has in mind. I had hoped to focus on the community of bishops at Lambeth, making my own contribution to its deliberations. But now, I think I will go to Lambeth thinking about gay and lesbian people around the world who will be watching what happens there. I will go to Lambeth remembering the 100 or so twenty-something's I met in Hong Kong this fall, who meet every Sunday afternoon to worship and sing God's praise in a secret catacomb of safety - because they can't be gay AND Christian in their own churches. I will be taking them to Lambeth with me. They told me that the Episcopal Church was their hope for a different, welcoming church. They told me they were counting on us. Yes, the things we do in the Episcopal Church have ramifications far, far away - and sometimes those ramifications are good.

I hope we can talk about the ways we can stay in touch in Lambeth. I will be praying for you, all the time. I know it will seem very strange, being separated from you. But we can do it if we want to. I have nothing but respect and sympathy for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the difficult place he is in. I was trying to help him, and it just didn't work.

Pray for me. I will need that. A lot.

I intended to quote excerpts from the letter, but I could not choose what to leave out. I have highlighted the parts of the letter that resonated the most with me.

I confess that I don't understand his exclusion at all, not at all. Bishop Robinson's words from his heart speak for me, however, as painful as it is to me that he is excluded, his pain is much greater. The whole of the Anglican Communion will be diminished by his exclusion from a gathering in the name of Jesus, who included all in his invitation to come.

Thanks to Ann for posting the letter

Middle Name Meme

Padre Mickey tagged me for the Middle Name Meme. My middle name is Florence, which I like better than my given name June. It's also the name of one of my favorite cities - the one in Italy.

Here are the rules:

1. You have to post the rules before you give your answers.
2. You must list one fact about yourself beginning with each letter of your middle name. (If you don't have a middle name, use your maiden name or your mother's maiden name).
3. At the end of your blog post, you need to tag one person (or blogger of another species) for each letter of your middle name. (Be sure to leave them a comment telling them they've been tagged.)

F - Feisty
L - Lazy (sometimes)
O - Odd (at least where I live)
R - Romantic
E - Easy (Grandpère suggested this)
N - Naughty
C - Crazy
E - Earnest (GP gave me this one, too)

This was hard. I had to get help.

I'm supposed to tag eight people, but I'm not. Anyone who'd like to play, go right ahead in the comments here.

The Surge Is Working!

As the members of the Bush maladministration and John McCain continue to assert that the surge is working, here's this from NPR:

A day after the U.S. military announced that overall violence was down in Iraq, eight American soldiers were killed in a pair of attacks. That's the highest single-day toll in months, and it's not the only recent incident of violence.

Bombings throughout Iraq killed and wounded numbers of Iraqis, including members of the Awakening Council in Fallujah, and 20 bodies were found in a mass grave near Samarra.

And this from the AP via Yahoo News:

The flow of blood may be ebbing, but the flood of money into the Iraq war is steadily rising, new analyses show. In 2008, its sixth year, the war will cost approximately $12 billion a month, triple the "burn" rate of its earliest years, Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph E. Stiglitz and co-author Linda J. Bilmes report in a new book.

But how much longer will the flow of blood remain at ebb tide? Perhaps, even now the tide is beginning to turn. I pray not.

The flow of money will continue until Bush runs out the clock in his term in office and beyond, as he leaves the task of cleaning up his messes to the next president.

These numbers don't include the war's cost to the rest of the world. In Iraq itself, the 2003 U.S.-led invasion — with its devastating air bombardments — and the looting and arson that followed, severely damaged electricity and other utilities, the oil industry, countless factories, hospitals, schools and other underpinnings of an economy.

No one has tried to calculate the economic damage done to Iraq, said spokesman Niels Buenemann of the International Monetary Fund, which closely tracks national economies. But millions of Iraqis have been left without jobs, and hundreds of thousands of professionals, managers and other middle-class citizens have fled the country.

So. This is what we have wrought by "liberating" the Iraqis from the cruel despot, Saddam Hussein. This is how the surge is "working".

A Profile In Courage - Lindy

Please go read Lindy's post at Two Fruits in the Sukka on her recovery from an injury which damaged her brain. Her story is one of such bravery and courage that it makes me proud to know her, even if it's only a virtual knowing. Here's a snippet, but I urge you to read the whole post.

I am not the person I was before I got hit on the head. That other person is gone. I used to miss myself quite a lot but now I am a new self and it all seems OK. I am a little stunned at the change. My buddy Wilma from my days on the farm is the only one of my friends who was able to make the transition with me from whoever it was that I was to who I am now. People just couldn't handle it. I understand. I couldn't either at first.

I've Lost A Friend

I've lost a friend.
How did it happen?
A misunderstanding surely.

The timing was bad.
I did not know.
How did it go so wrong?

What could I have done?
Kept quiet, I suppose.
Too many words.

Prayers for his father.
Prayers for his mother.
Prayers for the one who was my friend.

For my offense, forgive me.
If I wounded, Lord bring healing.
Mend broken hearts.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

June Butler 3/10/08

UPDATE: I posted this poem and a few words asking forgiveness of Jonathan in the comments at his site. I've done what I can do, and the matter is in God's hands and his.

Episcopalians, Anglicans,Take Note!

No. 1 on a long list of helpful household hints sent to me by my daughter:

Peel a banana from the bottom and you won't have to pick the little "stringy things" off of it. That's how the primates do it.

Drama And Church Drama

Before I left for New York, I had read the review of David Mamet's play, "November" in The New Yorker. I love Nathan Lane and his larger than life performances and, since the review was favorable, I thought I'd like to see the play. Prices for tickets were quite expensive, so I did not buy before I left. Once I arrived, the ticket agent at my hotel found me a ticket for considerably less than I had been quoted online. A single ticket is often easier to find than multiple tickets. Not that the ticket was cheap, by any means, but I bought it anyway.

I should have paid more attention to the review in the New York Times. The story is of a buffoon of a president of the US who is running for reelection, but whose numbers are abysmally low in the polls. The president is NOT BUSH - or so they say. For the first minutes of the play I wondered if all the humor of the play was to be based on variations of the F-word. The audience was guffawing loudly, but I could not get into the spirit of the thing. I can stay home and say those words, and it won't cost me a dime. It's not that I'm offended by the word, but I wanted to see something more in the way of humor that was not based on one word. Ten or fifteen minutes into the play, things got somewhat better, and although the laughs came from low humor, at least a bit of cleverness began to appear in the dialog. The part of the lesbian speech-writer, who wants to marry her love and has adopted a Chinese baby, is played by Laurie Metcalf, who is superb in her role. Nathan Lane is always a pleasure to watch, but I found the play lacking.

The High Altar and Reredos of Saint Thomas Church

 On Sunday, I attended the 11:00 service at St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue, which was only two blocks from my hotel. Caminante had already told me that I would find no women priests there, and she was right. The only woman seated in the chancel was the lector. At least, they permit women to do that.

The music was excellent, with the men and boys choir singing during the service, accompanied by one of St. Thomas' two magnificent organs. The large church was about three-quarters full.

If the liturgy has not already begun, my custom, as I take my seat, is to greet the people on either side unless they appear deep in prayer. This I did, but no one returned the greeting. I suppose customs are different at St Thomas. The liturgy was east-facing, which is not my favorite (pace, Tobias). The priest seemed remote at the high altar, with the large chancel between him and the congregation. At St. James in Fordham, Tobias does an east-facing liturgy, but he seemed to turn more often toward the congregation, but perhaps I'm only imagining this. I liked Tobias' way more than that of the priest at St. Thomas.

The coffee hour is suspended during Lent, with the exception of Laetare Sunday, which it was the day I was there. The congregation was encouraged to have a taste of the simnel cake. I could be wrong, but the coffee hour appeared to be catered. There was coffee and other beverages, including wine and Bloody Marys with a sign on the table encouraging a $3.00 donation for the alcoholic drinks. There were several slightly different-looking simnel cakes set out. I took a slice of one of the cakes and a glass of red wine, dutifully depositing my donation in the basket. The cake was delicious. As I stood there, no one came to talk to me - no one at all for a good 15 minutes.  Once I could no longer stand being embarrassed for the folks there, I approached several people, and they were quite affable once I introduced myself, and we had brief conversations thereafter. I felt like the hostess. I made a point to introduce myself to the rector to let him know that I was from Thibodaux, Louisiana, for I thought that I might be his first encounter with someone from my town. He knew and liked Bishop Jenkins. Do I sound like a mystery worshipper from Ship of Fools?

Then I was on my way downtown in a taxi to meet with Queer For Christ, his partner, and a friend of theirs. I was going to include my next two meetings with friends in this post, but since I've run rather long on the play and the church service, I'll get to my other meals with friends in another post.

Drawing from The New Yorker.

St Thomas picture from Wikipedia.

New Bishop In Edmonton

From the Anglican Journal in Canada:

Jane Alexander, rector of All Saints Cathedral and dean of Edmonton, was elected on March 8 bishop of the diocese. Chosen on the third ballot, she received 52 clergy votes and 89 lay votes.

A relative newcomer to holy orders, she was ordained to the priesthood in 2001, served several parishes in the diocese and has served as dean since 2006. She began her professional life in 1981 as a music teacher in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England, however her interest in church life was apparent as her B.A. in music from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, earned in 1980, analyzed English liturgical music from 1370 to 1430.

Tim Chesterton, of Tale Spin, who is an Anglican priest, musician, and writer in the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton, sent me the news and the link to the article.

May God bless Jane Alexander in her new ministry as Bishop-elect of the Anglican Diocese of Edmonton.

Brits Send Us Their Best

From Reuters via Talking Points Memo:

BOSTON (Reuters) - Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair will teach at Yale University in the next academic year starting in September, leading a course on "faith and globalization," the Ivy League school said Friday.

Yale, the alma mater of President Bush, said Blair had been appointed Howland Distinguished Fellow, a post that dates to 1915 and which has been occupied by such notable individuals as former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and journalist Sir Alistair Cooke.

How kind of the British to send him over and for Yale to receive him. Why not a class taught jointly with Archbishop Rowan Williams? Now that would be sheer perfection.

Dining With Friends - Part One

Wow! Was it only a week ago? So much activity crammed into one week makes it seem like an age ago since I lived anything like a normal life. My plane was delayed an hour in departing from New Orleans due to mechanical problems. I made it with little time to spare to meet with Tobias, James, and Fran to go to dinner. We met at my hotel and walked a couple of blocks to Molyvos, a Greek restaurant nearby, where Grandpère and I had previously eaten and enjoyed the meals. Since quite a few of the other patrons were going to Broadway shows, the crowd in the restaurant thinned quite a bit after an hour or so. Since we were in no hurry, the staff very kindly allowed us to stay from 6:30 until 10:30. Yes. Four hours.

The food was good, and the company was even better. What pleasure to meet Fran in real life. I had met James briefly at St. James in Fordham, where Tobias is vicar, when I attended a service there on the Sunday after our Friday in October gathering. Tobias and I were seated across from each other, so we did have a chance to talk in October. Anyway, we all hit it off from the beginning and had a lovely dinner, along with absolutely sparkling dinner conversation. Although I had invited everyone, the "boys" gallantly picked up the check.

I offered the extra bed in my hotel room to Fran, so we would not have to rush dinner in order for Fran to begin her trip home to Albany that evening. In true girl slumber party manner, we stayed up until midnight talking, talking, talking, as though we had known each other for ages. In fact, the four of us dove right in from the beginning as though we were old friends. Amazing.

The picture above is the only one I have of any of my meals with blog friends, and you can see that it's dark, and I did not know how to brighten it up. Fran remembered to ask the waitress to take the picture. I wish I had pictures of my other meetings now, but I forgot to ask anyone to take our pictures, and my companions did not ask either. I'm afraid that I'm not a good reporter. Here's a link to Fran's post on the event with a picture that's less dark.

On Saturday, I met with David, aka Reverend Boy, for brunch at The Eatery, a restaurant about two long blocks away from my hotel. David lives within walking distance of the restaurant, too, so it was convenient to both of us. David is such a dear and so good-looking that I wanted to pack him up and take him home with me as an honorary grandson. We had lovely conversation during a very good meal. We caught up on the latest news on both sides. David has taken a leadership position in the Integrity chapter in New York, and has a post about it, which I have not yet had time to read.

If anyone knows how to PhotoShop the picture, you are welcome to copy it and email the PhotoShop to me, and I will post it.

To be continued....

UPDATE: Thanks to the skill of my brilliant dog pal, Clumber, I have posted a brightened and clearer version of the picture of our Friday dinner.