I am typing this quick update on my husband's computer, because my own still isn't working properly, and won't be until it gets a new keyboard. Demetrius was out shopping when all this happened, and I greeted him at the door with the words, "I think some of the least helpful words in the English language are 'You need to be more careful'. Because invariably you *were* trying to be careful, and *thought* you were being careful enough, right up until the point where something goes wrong." He laughed sympathetically when I told him what had happened, (having experienced similar "D'oh!" moments himself) and set about trying to help fix it.
The real bummer is that I had something I was going to write last night about "speaking of what we know and testifying to what we have seen". It was about half-way written in my head as I was leaving the gym last night, and I was looking forward to coming home and writing it up, and actually making a thoughtful contribution of my own, drawing from my personal experiences, to the discussions about General Convention. But I never got to write it. So that sucks. Another time, I guess. In the meantime, I'll post this update from the Diocese of Southern Ohio and links to blogs that are offering commentary about what's going on right now at convention.
More than 1,500 people filled the Regency ballroom of the Hyatt Hotel in Columbus Wednesday evening to discuss the relationship of the Episcopal Church in the Anglican Communion. The Special Committee on the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion heard testimony for more than two hours about proposed resolutions in response to the Windsor Report. These resolutions explore the Episcopal Church's position on electing homosexual bishops and conducting same-sex blessings as well as the church's relationship with the Anglican Communion.
The Rev. Pete Strimer, a former priest of the Diocese of Southern Ohio and now part of the Diocese of Olympia, called for support and care for gay and lesbian couples. "These blessings should not private, hidden or veiled. They are a public ministry of the church . . . We do not apologize for what is a beautiful, pastoral act of compassion and neither should the Episcopal Church."
The Rev. Kendall Harmon of the Diocese of South Carolina called the resolutions "a fudge." "It likes look a dance away from what we�re really called to do. This is a marriage that is in separation, and it is in danger of having to divorce." Harmon said the Episcopal Church should either heed the warnings of some in the Anglican Communion calling for repentance or "let's be honest and say God is doing a new thing � and pay the price for that."
In an ironic twist, the Rt. Rev. Robert Duncan, bishop of Pittsburgh and a leader in the call for schism in the Episcopal Church, and the Rt. Rev. Gene Robinson, bishop of New Hampshire and an openly gay man in a relationship, testified right after the other. Duncan said he believed the Episcopal Church has reached "an impossible moment" and he expects a split, while Robinson asked whether "we as a church recognize the light of Christ and the mark of the creator in the faces and lives of gay and lesbian people?"
Whether other leaders in the Anglican Communion disagree with the Episcopal Church and want to split is "their decision," Robinson said. " Our job as a church is to discern the will of god as humbly as we can."
See also
Father Jake Stops the World
An Inch at a Time
I know there are others, but I'm running late at this point and need to leave for work. Feel free to leave links in the comments of other blogs that have commentary on the Windsor Hearings.
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