Letter from the Presiding Bishop

An important letter from PB Katharine Jefferts Schori and the Rev Gay Jennings, President of the House of Deputies:

September 1, 2015
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
On June 17, nine members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, were murdered by a white racist during their weekly bible study. Just a few days later at General Convention in Salt Lake City, we committed ourselves to stand in solidarity with the AME Church as they respond with acts of forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice (Resolution A302(link is external)). 

Now our sisters and brothers in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church have asked us to make that solidarity visible by participating in “Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday”(link is external) on Sunday, September 6. We ask all Episcopal congregations to join this ecumenical effort with prayer and action. 

“Racism will not end with the passage of legislation alone; it will also require a change of heart and thinking,” writes AME Bishop Reginald T. Jackson. “This is an effort which the faith community must lead, and be the conscience of the nation. We will call upon every church, temple, mosque and faith communion to make their worship service on this Sunday a time to confess and repent for the sin and evil of racism, this includes ignoring, tolerating and accepting racism, and to make a commitment to end racism by the example of our lives and actions.” 

The Episcopal Church, along with many ecumenical partners, will stand in solidarity with the AME Church this week in Washington D.C. at the “Liberty and Justice for All” event, which includes worship at Wesley AME Zion Church and various advocacy events. 

Racial reconciliation through prayer, teaching, engagement and action is a top priority of the Episcopal Church in the upcoming triennium. Participating in “Confession, Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism Sunday” on September 6 is just one way that we Episcopalians can undertake this essential work. Our history as a church includes atrocities for which we must repent, saints who show us the way toward the realm of God, and structures that bear witness to unjust centuries of the evils of white privilege, systemic racism, and oppression that are not yet consigned to history. We are grateful for the companionship of the AME Church and other partners as we wrestle with our need to repent and be reconciled to one another and to the communities we serve. 

“The Church understands and affirms that the call to pray and act for racial reconciliation is integral to our witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to our living into the demands of our Baptismal Covenant,” reads Resolution C019(link is external) of the 78th General Convention. May God bless us and forgive us as we pray and act with our partners this week and in the years to come. In the words of the prophet Isaiah appointed for Sunday, may we see the day when “waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert; the burning sand shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of water.” 

Faithfully,
The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori
Presiding Bishop and Primate of The Episcopal Church
The Rev. Gay Clark Jennings
President, House of Deputies of The Episcopal Church

Liturgical Resources
The AME Church has developed prayers for use on Sunday, September 6 

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The ELCA has developed liturgical resources for “End Racism Sunday.”(link is external) (click on the Liturgy tab). 

These collects from the Book of Common Prayer may also be appropriate for use:
Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
O God, the Father of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth: deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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http://www.episcopalchurch.org/posts/publicaffairs/letter-episcopal-church-presiding-bishop-president-house-deputies

That’s Episcopal And Don’t You Forget It

For those of us who became Episcopalians over the past thirty years, the 1979 Book of Common Prayer is about all we’ve ever known. It replaced the 1928 BCP, a book held in great reverence by many or the faithful. But the 1979 BCP presented Rite One (language from the 1928 book) as well as Rite Two (modernized language and practice), and it therefore ushered in many changes and allowed for a wider range of liturgical worship than did its predecessor. After its adoption by the wider Church, there was great wailing and gnashing of teeth as the Church bade farewell to its former formulary of Sunday worship, occasioning a number of defections from various congregations here and there, but that is perhaps another topic.

When the 1979 BCP came out, we at St. Paul’s Church (we weren’t a cathedral yet) saw a number of variations occur in the morning service. Not willing to plunge headlong into modernism, we used Rite One during Lent and Advent for a while at the 10:30 service, keeping our toes in the comfortably warm waters of tried and true liturgical tradition. Then, Rite One got reserved for the 8AM service only. We all went along with whatever the liturgist at the time wanted to do, but when we were faced with a combination of Morning Prayer plus Holy Eucharist, discussions arose about the subsequent length of such a pairing (over two hours by the time we ran through a few canticles), and we thought about bringing box lunches into church if this innovation were to continue. Thankfully, it did not.

Then we settled, more or less, into what we have now, and that seems to suit nearly everyone. We worship with a dignified and reverent liturgy that involves the congregation, and generally observes a comfortable rule about sermons: “Talk about God; talk about ten minutes.”

I recently went to church in New York where they haven’t got over the demise of the 1928 Prayer Book, begrudgingly using Rite One from the 1979 BCP, and desperately clinging to rituals and procedures we haven’t seen, perhaps ever, at St. Paul’s. I shall try not to disparage their ways, but I couldn’t help but envision three birds in a lawn, all bending in unison to peck at the same worm, as I watched the three priests at their east-facing altar, choreographing their bowing and sliding back and forth together, accompanied by an attending thurifer who was doing his best to keep them well smoked. There were, of course, no women priests at the altar, but what to my wondering eyes should appear but a female acolyte. So there! Progress!

What impressed me most was the distance that such ritual masses assume, almost as if there was no congregation behind the priests only whose backs are visible. I’d forgotten, if I ever knew, how alienating the east-facing altar is, how remote from the people. The Prayers of the People were prayed by the deacon, thank you, but then I guess he’s one of the ‘the People’ after all. Then he came down among us and we saw his face as he sang the Gospel. The sermon started off with a personal anecdote which turned out to have nothing whatever to do with the lesson from Job, and it’s not as if the preacher didn’t have plenty of time to get around to that great model of patience. It was apt that Job had been the lesson; we prayed for patience.

I apologize now if my review has been too scathing; I really only wanted to make the point that, in the Episcopal Church, we are allowed a wide latitude of worship, and this example presented one of the farther edges of that latitude. Any excursion down Rite One is something of a heavy trip for many of us these days, but a good reminder of how far we’ve come from some of our more hidebound traditions that excluded women priests, women chalice bearers, and in some cases women doing anything at the altar.

Wide allowance of religious practice is a good thing, and one of the strengths of our church. The congregation whose rituals I made fun of just now also has a strong community outreach program, feeds the poor and homeless, finds homes and shelter for unwed mothers, and cares for its elderly. And it is those facets of church life that we need to focus on. Their Sunday worship method may not suit us, their lay readers may fall short of the high quality we’re used to at home, and the sermon might drag on while their straight-backed, oak pews begin to cripple us, but it is the heart of the congregation that should draw our attention as to how that particular church sees its mission in the Kingdom of God and does its best to fulfill that mission.

So, go visit other congregations if you want. You can’t help compare and contrast what you’ll find there with what we have here at St. Paul’s, but be open to finding out what the church is doing for ‘the least of these my brothers’, and you’ll likely come away feeling a lot better about what you’ve learned. Then come on back to St. Paul’s. After all, there’s no place like home.

Robert Heylmun

American Anglicans made me change my mind on church

The Episco-blogs are talking about a column in the British newspaper The Guardian, in which theologian Theo Hobson describes an Epiphany of sorts. Frustrated with the glacial movement of the Church of England towards modernization, he longed for an active, vibrant faith.

Organised religion was intolerably illiberal, but only organised religion seemed able to organise Christian ritual – without which Christianity is just a bunch of vague ideas. My desire was for ritual to be liberated from the institutions but, frankly, I didn't know how this could happen. After a few years staring at this question, I was no nearer to answering it.

Then, last year, I moved to New York. ... curious to see what I would make of the Episcopal church, the American branch of Anglicanism. It is proudly disestablished, and has broken with the homophobic legalism of the rest of the communion, so would I find it a model of liberalism, or still complicit in the various ills of organised religion? I was assuming the latter. But, to my surprise, a taste of Episcopalian worship got me asking: "What's not to like?"

Looking back at the crisis in the Anglican communion, I find that I am impressed by the boldness of the Americans. Instead of backing down over Gene Robinson's consecration, they insisted that a basic Christian principle was at stake: the need to oppose moral legalism, and spread the good news to everyone. This was Paul's project – which is why it is so ironic that Paul also supplies the conservatives with their main ammunition. You could say that the crisis is an argument within the mind of Paul.
...
The air is fresher here. The American branch of Anglicanism has emerged in the past decade as the global pioneer of liberal Christianity. It has persuaded me not to give up on the church just yet.

Just think how many people feel that way without writing about it in a newspaper column.

Should the Hymnal be revised?

Do you enjoy singing? Does music enhance your experience of worship? Whether you sit in the pews, in the chancel, or in the choir, your opinion is being sought! A survey is being conducted to see whether a revision of The Hymnal 1982 is needed and wanted by the Episcopal Church.

From the survey page: "Congregations, music directors, and clergy are invited to participate in the Hymnal Revision Feasibility Study, a landmark research study being conducted via online surveys and focus groups from October 2010 to March 2011. "

Although it's a long survey, reports are that it's actually rather enjoyable! Here are a few suggestions to get you started.

• Have your favorite hymnal(s) at hand.
• Before you start the survey, think of what are your three favorite hymns.
• Consider this question: If you were stranded on a deserted island, what eight songs (religious or secular) would you want to have with you?

Click here to take the survey.

The Advent Conspiracy

Every year, it seems the commercialism of Christmas becomes more extreme: decorations up before Halloween, incessant carols on the radio (if I hear the Chipmunks singing one more time I think I shall go mad!) and of course, rampant consumerism.

The Advent Conspiracy is a movement to try to reduce the consumption, and increase the reflection of this time of waiting. Their slogan is "worship fully, spend less, give more, love all". Sounds like a fine idea, right?

But over on the Episcopal Cafe, a spirited discussion arose around the idea. Some readers felt that the Advent Conspiracy group was rather condescending towards those with less, who (as Jim Naughton put it) rely on Christmas sales to clothe their kids, and use Christmas as the one time of the year when they CAN be a little extravagant. And of course, the economy and those who Make Stuff really can be helped by our spending.

Naturally, being Episcopalians, there was a call for the via media: finding a middle way that can celebrate Advent and upcoming Christmas joyfully but remain mindful of, well, stewardship. (The Cathedral's Alternative Gifts Fair is a great way to make every dollar count in multiple ways.)

What are you doing this year to resist the hype, but still plan the celebration? How are you keeping Advent special?

Seeking and Serving

There is an online Advent exhibition of The Episcopal Church and the Visual Arts called Seeking and Serving.

"Consider the art in this exhibit as a meditative way to challenge yourself during Advent to not only worship Christ within the walls of the church, or the walls of your heart, but also to seek him and serve him in all persons."

Go over and check it out. Just click on the individual squares in the index to see the full sized work.

Evangelizing over dessert

The Rev. Susan Russell of All Saints, Pasadena, is a member of a task force for the Standing Committee for Liturgy and Music (SCLM) that is working on how to implement resolution CO56, to "collect and develop" resources for the blessings of same sex unions.

Writing on her blog, she tells us about the task force's recent visit to the Bishops' Meeting in Arizona to report on progress. The four members of the task force had a working dinner at their hotel, where something amazing happened.

[W]e settled into a long, lively dinner that included a dessert course with a side order of evangelism as three young hotel staff members came up to the table and individually engaged with us about the work the Episcopal Church is doing.

The first one was a waiter – “Michael” – who said as a gay man it had never occurred to him that there were churches that would welcome him rather than condemn him. He thanked us for giving him hope that he hadn’t imagined he’d ever have with an earnestness that was deeply moving.

A few minutes later “Amanda” … our waitress … came up to the table to say that she’d encouraged Michael to come talk to us because she’d found him crying in the kitchen after listening to our conversations. She was raised Catholic but it “didn’t fit” anymore and she wanted to know where she should go to find an Episcopal Church. I gave her my card and told her to email me and I’d hook her up with folks in Phoenix.

The third was “Vanessa” … their supervisor … who thanked us for connecting with them and told us about her experience of finally finding a church home that helped her claim a relationship with God … and then being devastated when that church family rejected her gay friend. She’s going to email me, too.

It blew us away.

While we were obsessing about perfecting PowerPoint slides and refining our messaging about the SCLM project, these earnest young people responded to the few crumbs of conversation they overheard at our dinner table like they were starving for hope. And if those crumbs gave them that hope and energy – and gave them the courage to come up to a table full of “church people” and say, “Wow … we want to know more about what you’re talking about!” then imagine how they and countless others like them are yearning for the banquet we set every time we gather to witness to God’s inclusive love.

Keep talking. Because you never know who may be listening!