The Rev. Jim Flowers
July 29, 2009
California Dreamin’
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church affects me in a similar way that our liturgy does. Both are at once a celebration of who we are, of our life and labor together, of shared ministry and mission; but they are also imaginative speculations as to what we might become, or perhaps more rightly said, what we are in truth becoming.
Our liturgy is an enacted dream, an intentional speculation of what our world is intended to be, prophetic utterance speaking the future into being. At General Convention we imagined how the world would be healed via the millennium development goals, by tearing down the wall between Israel and the West Bank, by advocating steps to environmental sustainability, by addressing global warming, demanding just wages and worker justice, by decrying racism. We left California
dreaming of a world intended by our God as best we could discern it: a just world of mutuality and compassionate interdependence.
Our liturgy is the way from week to week we Episcopal Christians imagine, dream of God’s promised future. We recount who we are in the word of God. We remember that God acts among us, calling us forever into relationship. We remind ourselves that it is God’s intention to heal and clothe and feed and dignify. We gather at God’s table as equals who are all made in God’s image, reminding ourselves that life begins at table together. We are reminded that it is our common
life that feeds us and empowers us for this future dream that trembles into being as we speak; and then we are sent into the world as waking dream acting as if it were true.
Dreams are not fantasy, but artifacts from the future, grounded in profound reality. If we but look we will see evidence of their already becoming, taking root in our world and in our lives. The dawn is coming, perhaps sooner than we know, when we will awake and find our dream, which is God’s dream, to be true.
July 12, 2009
Of what’s going to happen
It is clear that once again the issue around which the General Convention’s energy is centered is the issue of human sexuality. Some would ask, “why don’t we get about the mission of the church, and get past matters pertaining to sex?” There is a part of me that agrees, but we will not as a church ever get about robust ministry of bearing kindness and justice to our world until we deal with matters of kindness and justice in our own house.
In this convention we have a golden opportunity to move past the so-called Anglican Communion imposed moratorium on Episcopal elections of persons “whose manner of life” causes grief among some in the communion. There is an overwhelming mood in the House of Deputies, and among visitors who have testified in hearings, that favor full inclusion of all the baptized in the full sacramental life of the church, including the eligibility of our lesbian and Gay sisters and brothers to be elected to the Episcopate. The resolution calling for the full inclusion of all the Baptized relative to ordinations, including gay and lesbian persons, (D025) passed overwhelmingly, 68%, in the House of Deputies. I proudly cast my vote for this resolution. We are not a church of moratorium; we are a church of inclusion, hospitality and blessing.
In spite of such inclusive sentiment, the bishops as a whole seem to be balking. They fear moving too fast, the acute matters of justice in our midst notwithstanding. They, many of them but certainly not all, say that we need more time for the Anglican Communion to catch up with the reality that homosexual persons are not perverse, but human beings like you and me, who have great gifts to offer the church. The reality in truth is that we already have moved on in the church. Homosexual persons are already serving with distinction as deacons, priests and bishops, and that will continue. Part of the overwhelming support stems from the wish that we name what already is the truth. The support was diverse: men and women, youth and older adults, people of color,fron dioceses north and south. It is high time. The bishops will most likely take up this matter on Tuesday.
What will happen? The resolution could be rejected approved or amended, but no matter, the church will continue on its road to justice and welcome and conclusion, and we will continue to get healthier because of it, and we will become more relevant and empowered to speak the truth of the Gospel, because we will be practicing what we have been preaching. All people, all people are made in God’s image, and we now have a golden moment in time to hold up this truth outwardly and visibly. That is what will happen, now or later.
