Reconciliation

I am on the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations. We thought our work was done when we reported on a resolution to continue the ecumenical relationship with the Church of Sweden, who we have a long standing relationship with. We also dealt with a resolution to reinforce the need for dioceses, parishes and all levels of Church to engage in interreligious education. The reasoning is simple, we are the little "c" catholic church. We believe that God exists most fully when we are in relationship with one another. So, we are hoping to reduce the Islamaphobia and Anti-Semitism because it is a disgrace to the Kingdom of God it spit hate at our brothers and sisters. Jesus died for everyone, not the ones who agree with us.

So we did all that, and we thought we were off the hook.... Little did we know...

We got a resolution that aimed to provide a quick route home for the folks who have left The Episcopal Church in the last 15 years or so. They have gone for ideological differences and have caused a lot of legal and spiritual heartache for those left behind. Unfortunately, there isn't really an easy way to come back. That is terribly sad in my opinion. We had to change the resolution to make it so that dioceses around The Episcopal Church weren't harmed in their ongoing litigation. How horrible is that? We have to work around the breaking off of Christ's Body so that we can protect ourselves? From what....? It all felt prideful, but in some ways I guess we have to survive in the world that the world created. So, the heart and soul of the resolution was to welcome members back into The Episcopal Church, but they will have to pay the toll. At least it is a step toward reconciliation.

I also attended the Integrity Eucharist. If you are not familiar with Integrity, you should be. Get acquainted here (http://www.integrityusa.org/). They are basically a group started by Louis Crew, a gay man, who moved to California in the 70s with his husband in hopes of finding an Episcopal Church that would accept them. That's not what he found, so he founded Integrity which has worked tirelessly for 40 years (Wow! 40 years!) towards full integration and acceptance of the LGBTQ community in The Episcopal Church.

This week, we are voting to change the Canons so that Marriage is understood as a union between two people rather than and man and a woman. When that happens, the official marriage rite will be accessible for LGBTQ folks. This is the first of 2 consecutive Convention votes that are required for a Canonical change, but it's going to happen! Really it is!! The people who oppose it have already left in the aforementioned break off. It's sad that they have chosen to leave, but the result is a more tolerant and accepting Episcopal Church that is actually, really, fully allowing that anyone who pledges love to a partner can have that marriage recognized in the eyes of the church.

That is what reconciliation is all about and that is what the Eucharist tonight was all about. It was a celebration of 40 years of hard work! It was an acknowledgment of the work still yet to come. There is so much that is required to really be the most inclusive church there is, but we have come so far in 40 years. The President of the House of Deputies, Gay Jennings, acknowledged that there are some (like me) who have never known a world without Integrity. What a beautiful reality I have been born into! And get to live into. That's the important part.