Day 5 of General Convention
August 3, 2003
As I went to sleep last night, I failed to set a morning alarm, and I didn’t wake up until 9:15. This means that got eight hours of sleep last night. It also means that I’ve missed morning worship for a second day in a row. Not a good thing!
If you are praying for me to get some sleep, how about quitting it! I got a job to do and you’re messing me up! (I am only kidding!!)
I decided that I would watch a Sunday church service on the television. This is only the second time I’ve turned the TV on in the week that I’ve been here. And for good reason. In switching through the channels (as rapidly as I could) I passed by camera shots focusing on particular parts of the female anatomy, profanity, partial nudity, and other images that I just don’t care to ingest at a time when I’m fighting for the very future of my Episcopal Church.
If this sounds prudish, I don’t mean for it to be. I am not prudish by nature. I love life and love everything God created. It’s just that I know that I can’t allow myself to be distracted from the task He’s given me to do.
I think of Philippians 3. St. Paul says, "Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus."
St. Paul goes on. "He says, I say with tears, many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven."
Right now, I just can’t afford to be distracted.
I found a service from Emmanuel Christian Center in St. Paul, Mn. (Speaking of St. Paul!)
It was your typical mega-church as far as visuals go. The preacher was good. Preaching on Jonah, he reminded me that there is no place you can go where God isn’t. And when God says I want you to do a particular job, you are the one who’s going to have to do it. You can’t escape from it. If He wants to for a job, you can’t try to give the job to someone else. You, and you alone have what is needed for that particular task, and that’s why God picked you for it.
Hmmmmm.
Well, this is the day.
As I walked to the Convention center there was not another soul on the sidewalk. Eerily quiet. Uncomfortably quiet.
I arrived at the House of Deputies at 1:55. The afternoon session starts at 2:30. The place was already half full with delegates. The gallery, where the non-delegates and visitors sit, was almost full. This is the day.
Kendall was busy meeting with the press. In the picture below he is talking with the Boston Globe and the Cincinnati Press:
At 2:30 the gallery was SRO:
As we began to day, the chaplain prayed. The opening words to his prayer were, "This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it." Yep. This is the day.
There are 412 Clergy present today and 415 laity. As we get into the real reason that we are here today, the total number present won’t matter as much as it would in other votes. We will have a vote by orders, which means that the motion will have to carry in both orders – both lay and clergy. Each order in each diocese will have one vote. There are 109 delegations here – So 54 or 55 votes in each order will be needed to win. They will announce the exact figure at the time we vote by order.
After housekeeping, we welcomed the Diocese of Puerto Rico into the Episcopal Church. They will join province 9.
Next, we had nominations for the Vice President of the house. Bonnie Anderson of Michigan was nominated. Next, Jim (what’s your hurry?) Bradbury, Southern Virgina was nominated.
At the close of the nominations people scurried like mice in a maze trying to get to the microphones. As mentioned yesterday, there were to be three microphones - a "for," an "against," and one for procedural issues.
This is the "for" group:
This is the
"Against" group:
This is the Procedural
line:
(By the way - recognize the man in the middle of the procedural line? It's Wade Logan.)
Here we go. Special order X011. Committee chair speaks 2 minutes to the report. Following which, a minority report will be read..
The minority report said, "This minority report is aimed at no one." In the course of the report the speaker asked, "Should not Scripture take place over debated experience?" It’s a good question.
President Werner spoke to the Gallery. He said we have a way of doing business that is based on the New Commandment and on 1 Cor 13. Love bears all things, believe all things, hopes all things. He said we believe that silence can be and is often holy.
He said, "The rules to order at this time are that there will be no demonstrations. We will have a recess, and then get on with the other business of the church. The matter before us now is C045. We’ll start with Microphone 8."
Note: below is a summary of every single speaker that got up to speak at a microphone during the 45-minute debate. The wording in each is accurate. When I can’t resist interjecting a personal comment, I’ll put the comment in a different color in [brackets].
Microphone 8 was the "For" microphone, and Microphone 5 was the "Against" microphone. Microphone 6 was used for procedural matters, and was unavailable for the first 30 minutes of the debate.
Microphone 8:
Bonnie Anderson – Diocese of Michigan. [yes, the same Bonnie Anderson just nominated for Vice President of the
House] Ms. Anderson spoke to those who
haven’t made up their mind. She said, Fear is the absence of faith. The vote may have
repercussions at home. You may be afraid of schism, of cut budgets. Don’t be afraid,
fear is the absence of faith.
Microphone 5:
How do I tell my parishioners that we left the faith of the Church? I don’t have a
clue what I will tell them about what we did. And so I stand in profound opposition of
this motion.
Mic 8:
Some have said wait. This is not a new question in this church. The Righter trial showed
that it is there in no core doctrine prohibiting ordination off homosexuals.
[Bishop Righter ordained as a priest a
homosexual man living with a partner in a homosexual relationship. He was brought up on
charges by orthodox bishops. The trial ruled that there was nothing in our canons that
said you couldn’t ordain homosexuals, thus he could not be charged. They also said
that they recommended that the church put something in the canons to prevent future
occurrences. We never did.]
This church has already made its decision on
where it stands on this issue. We have already made the decision; we have already decided
the opinion.
Mic 5:
This is the mountaintop Bishop Curry spoke of yesterday. The world is watching and
waiting. If you are motivated by temporal concerns like being nice and voting for a nice
man, you are operating under the wrong pretenses. Gene Robinson is a nice man. He has
everything going for him except that he has a homosexual relationship, and proclaims that
it is blessed by God. This is against what the faith teaches. We can not give our consent.
Mic 8:
As a member of the standing committee, I often sign off on bishops I know nothing about.
For once I can sign off on someone I know. Gene Robinson helped me and taught me how to
grow when I first became a priest. Then and since, I’ve seen his many gifts for
ministry. We need not fear. God will keep God’s church in unity if we follow God in
God’s spirit.
[Burwell’s note - Above wording is accurate. The "progressives" do not refer to God as "HE" or as "Lord." They sometimes wind up sounding like Elmo on Sesame Street. ("Elmo thinks Elmo wants to play with Elmo’s toys.")]
Mic 5:
You’ve heard the testimony. I have one short note to add, You are deputies. You are
to carry out the intentions of your own heart. And if you have searched the Scriptures,
and have any doubt in your mind, I respectfully submit to you that this doubt means no.
Mic 8:
Youth presence – [Cute young teen] ‘’I was unsure of what my soul was
telling me. Now I know. Canon Robinson is following his calling. It must be right. Why are
we worried about the fact that he is gay? What’s the big deal? If it’s because
the Bible is against it, we must remember that much of the Bible was written for the
people of a different time and is not for us. Let me quote [bishop] Barbara Harris:
"The Bible was written by men who condoned slavery. Do you want to put us back in
slavery?" Vote for Gene Robinson."
Mic 5:
Archbishop of Canterbury said about Cannon Jeffrey John: "There is an obvious problem
about ordination of someone who will not be accepted by a large portion of the
Church." Because there is a non-consensus, he further inferred that these fractures
would impoverish us in every way. I respectfully submit that we vote no.
Mic 8:
He spoke of all the people down through history who had been excluded by other
denominations and down through history, we have Included. Let’s include once again!
Mic 5:
[An African-American, picture below] My opposition is based on Holy Scripture. Nowhere
is homosexuality confirmed. For those who say that Jesus replaced the scriptures that
oppose, I call your attention to St. Matthew 5: I have not come to abolish. Some have said
Scripture condones slavery. It doesn’t. This can not be compared to slavery. Some
have said this has to do with justice. No, it has to do with morality.
Mic 8:
It is about morality – Homosexuality is not a sin. It is no different than the
arguments we had over slavery, or women. Consenting to Gene Robinson strengthens the
church’s teaching against promiscuity. It would be a moral act. Love and
faithfullness to God and in a lifelong partnership.
Mic 5:
I’ve been married almost 45 years. I have children and grandchildren. I should be
happy. Unfortunately I have pain. My children don’t go to church anymore. The church
has left them. It is an instiutiution that doesn’t know who it is or why. This will
not make the church more popular in the eyes of others,it will only show we don’t
have the nerve to stand up for what is right. For the sake of my children, Do Not Do This
Thing!
Mic 8:
Gene has helped me so much in his role as a canon in the diocese. He’s such a great
example.
Mic 5:
This is not about approving what another diocese has decided – to ratify the result.
We are called to take a close look at all consents. Section 2 of the Constitution says it
is our obligation. It is not enough to say that impediments exist. If we are honest, we
have to admit that this will change our church, perhaps forever.
Mic 8:
They’ve elected a man they know – they trust him, they love him. Listen to them.
Let them have their bishop.
Mic 5:
It’s been so frustrating in all the
debate. We [the side against confirmation] give left brain arguments about why he
shouldn’t be consecrated. The other side is right-brained. They give speeches that
pull at your heartstrings. Very effective. On the one side you have "The Bible
says," on the other, Experience. "We say the Bible says," they say, "I
feel." In spite of how you feel, please do what is right. Press no to Gene Robinson
and yes to obedience to our God.
Mic 8:
It’s about trust in this process, We need
to respect the New Hampshire decision and acknowledge their findings. Whether you are from
a conservative diocese or a liberal diocese, do you want to establish this as a precedent?
The next time you have a bishop to be confirmed, is this what you want to have to go
through? As you vote, remember this process. I urge you to vote yes.
Mic 5:
In a sermon long ago, a bishop spoke about us as a body, and because of this, we are
forced to confess when we do something that causes a mutual contradiction. This motion is
causing confusion – this should make us realize that the Spirit is not speaking here.
I plea to you to not do this. Don’t pit neighbor against neighbor.
30 minutes have passed. The President called for procedural motions.
Mic 6:
Clergy of Florida, laity of SC, laity of Ft. Worth, and clergy of San Joaquin requested a
vote by orders.
Done.
Mic 8:
It is essential not to be intimidated by threats of schism. Since the first church
councils, God has been challenging the church to bring us into the radical inclusiveness
of God’s own heart. This same argument was made on Bishop Harris’s ordination.
It was not about gender, it was about power. This is not about homosexuality, it is about
power. There is a wall of separation, and God has called us to tear it down.
Mic 5:
Two contingencies not being considered here today. The first is the very wealthy, whose
charity funds so much of the work that we do. The other is the saints that have gone on to
their reward and are with us now in spirit.
Mic 6 – procedural - [Whoa! Our guy at the microphone!] Wade Logan:
Wade request the debate to be extended by 15 minutes, from 45 minutes to one hour. The motion failed. 56% for, 44% against extension. This motion required 2/3 vote for approval.
Mic 8:
[Stunningly beautiful woman priest
-picture below] – Told a story
about her father who was a priest, and how he resigned his orders when we voted to accept
women as priests. After he died, she became a priest. Her son - now 6 [or 7] -was asked what he wanted to do when he grew up. Said this and that. Someone
asked him, "Would you like to be a priest?" He said, "A priest? Oh no,
that’s a girl’s job."
[See the implication here? Wait, it gets even better!] After laughter and applause from all over the house, she
continued. She said, "Last night I had a dream. In my dream, it was my father
speaking to me, and my father told me, "Go ahead and vote for Canon Robinson, my
daughter. Fear not, let Gene do his job."
Mic 5:
It is with great sorrow that I speak against this. If we here who vote are divided, know
that our people are divided. When the folks at home vote, they vote with their feet. Many
will vote because of this. I know that Gene’s ministry is one of reconciliation, but
what he has come to symbolize divides us. It’s not fair to divide us.
Mic 8:
[Woman priest] I and many others respectfully disagree with those
who say that we must be in agreement with Scripture before we act. 15 years ago I went
through ordination and was placed at a parish. Many people were opposed to me. After my
first sermon an old woman came up to me and said, "I was against you being our
priest. Now that I’ve experienced your love, I’m all for you." [see the implication?] "God calls ALL people into leadership."
Mic 6: |
Procedure –another move to extend the debate by 15 minutes this time by the
"for" side. This time the vote was 48 to 52 against.
Mic 5:
I am a life-long Episcopalian. [Told a
story about a beautiful childhood in this church.] I can’t go with you if you do this. Don’t do this.
Mic 8:
Today I find myself on the threshold of my dreams– don’t turn me back –
please allow my dream of inclusion in this church to be fulfilled. Don’t turn your
back on me.
Mic 5:
[Woman priest] I woke up this morning weeping. Weeping for
the church. How can we turn our backs on the millions who will no longer be in communion
with us? See their faces with me! Please, for the sake of the whole church, vote against
this!
Mic 8:
Saw a movie – "Trembling for God" – about gay Orthodox Jewish rabbis
who were struggling to understand their gayness in their faith. They came to realize that
God can change God’s mind – God gave them truth that they are not ready for. I
believe it is happening in our own time.
Mic 5:
Ask 2 questions – How sure am that I am
right, and what if I am wrong. Should we trust our hearts, or trust the word of God –
What if we trust our hearts and our hearts are wrong? How sure are we that we are right,
and what happens if we are wrong?
President Werner: The time for debate has expired.
Deputy Strauss (in charge of voting) explained the vote. Puerto Rico was added to the list of eligible voters– one vote in clerical, one vote in lay
As Chair of our delegation, I filled out a vote-by-orders sheet that recorded our votes.
Our entire delegation voted no. Clergy: No. Laity: No. Unanimous.
After the vote, we went on to miscellaneous minor stuff that affects no one. Passed about 35 resolutions while we waited for the tally.
5:20 – The tellers come back in and hand the papers to the secretary. We are in the midst of a "nothing important" resolution. At the end of our vote on the nothing important, the Secretary read the vote – C045 passed. Just barely –but it passed.
63 to 45 lay
65 to 43 clergy.
Kendall says this is a close vote. He says this isn’t a "We love this!" vote. He says the bishops will have to look at the divided closeness of this vote - they will have to keep this in mind. We’ll see.
Something to think about: If 9 additional people had voted no, the motion would have failed.
At this announcement, the chaplain was called forward and we prayed. The chaplain clearly didn’t know what to say. He ended up saying, "God, some of us rejoice. Where there is rejoicing, let us rejoice. Some of us weep. Where there is weeping, console us. Some of us feel confused. Where there is confusion, send your Holy Spirit." Oh brother!
At this we adjourned for the day (It was 5:45). Some of the delegation went to supper, others went back to their hotel rooms. None of us are happy about this. None.
Bishop Salmon will be meeting with us tomorrow after the vote in the House of Bishops. I believe that it is safe to expect that the vote in Bishops will come later in the afternoon – 3:00 p.m. (4:00 edt) or later. As I said yesterday, if you are betting on this, I suggest you take Gene Robinson.
It will be interesting to see if Canon Robinson brings his partner to the podium with him for the obligatory congratulation given to newly approved bishops.
As I wrap this up tonight, let me just make a couple of important points:
First, it’s not over. Not yet. If the Bishops do the idiotic tomorrow, it still won’t be over. Remember that we in SC and others have appealed to the Primates. I am certain that there are also other things in the works as well. It’s not over.
Secondly, [and this is for my parish, Holy Cross] nothing has changed as far as our mission is concerned. Nothing has changed as to who we are and what we believe. Holy Cross will keep right on serving the Lord, even if this goes through. I believe I can speak for our vestry in saying that we will not recognize this novelty as valid in any way, and we will not allow it to detract us from what the Lord is calling us to do. I guarantee you this, and you’ll just have to trust me here – We are going to be just fine. Bank on it.
Lastly, since stories seem to be so big up here, let me tell one to you.
Ten years ago, one week before Christmas, my dad developed stomach problems causing him to be hospitalized and emergency exploratory surgery was ordered. They opened him up, found him to be in the later stages of terminal intestinal cancer, and just closed him back up. The next day, I held his hand and he sensed my uneasy spirit. Dad was of the Old School; he didn’t talk much about his faith, but it was deep and strong. He looked over at me and said, "J.B. – It’s going to be all right. And even if it’s not all right, It’s going to be all right." Dad died a few days after Christmas. I miss him so much, even ten years later. But I know that it won’t be long before I see him again. It’s going to be all right.
Good night from Minneapolis. See you tomorrow.