General Convention Update from Bishop Alexander

Below is a letter to the clergy from Bishop Alexander. Those of you who may be interested in what’s going on at General Convention, the primary governing and legislative body in the Episcopal Church, the Bishop does a good job of summing everything up.

Sister and brothers in Christ Jesus:

Grace to you and peace in Jesus Christ our Lord!

It is late Wednesday night in Anaheim. We have completed eight of the ten legislative days of the 76th General Convention. I thought I would take the opportunity of a lighter-than-usual evening schedule to write to you and highlight a few matters. If it seems necessary, I will prepare a second communication to you at the end of Convention.

First, let me say that your deputation and bishops have worked faithfully through the Convention. We have two legislative committee chairs among us as well as a number of appointments to major committees of the Convention. Our other deputies have tracked legislation, sought and shared voluminous amounts of information, and have contributed significantly to the work before us. The Diocese of Atlanta is “in the thick of things” at The General Convention!

Secondly, let me share some of the highlights. I share these from my perspective only. Bishop Whitmore and the lay and clergy deputies may see some of this from a slightly different vantage point.

Ecumenical and Interfaith — There have been several important events on this front. The  Convention has approved a full-communion agreement with the Moravian Church in America.  The Convention has also moved forward our growing ecumenical relationships with the Presbyterian Church and opened the way to further bilateral dialogues. Another significant development is a major position paper on our church’s participation and essential witness in interreligious conversations which passed both houses late today.

Church Pension - As you know, the Convention considered a new lay pension plan and a new mandatory denominational health plan. The provisions of these two plans have been well publicized in anticipation of Convention and mammoth amounts of research and background materials have been given to clergy and parishes over the last couple of years. After lengthy conversations, both houses of the Convention passed both measures by near-unanimous votes.  In the Diocese of Atlanta, the vast majority of our parishes and the diocese itself is already with Medical Trust, an affiliate of the Pension Fund. The principal thing that we will feel in the Diocese of Atlanta is that our costs should go down measurably. While there are many details to be worked out, before we came out for Convention we began conversations with Medical Trust in the hopes that the Diocese of Atlanta can begin its phase-in of the plans near the beginning of the three-year phase-in period. The sooner we’re in the new program, the sooner we will be able to accrue savings and redirect funds to other ministries both at the parish and diocesan level.

Human sexuality - Several dozen resolutions on some aspect of human sexuality were submitted to the Convention by dioceses, parishes, and individuals across the church. The Convention, working through its legislative committees on World Mission and Prayer Book and Liturgy, combined most of these resolutions into two.

The first of these — Resolution D-025 — has been widely reported in the press. The press coverage has essentially said that the Episcopal Church has approved the ordination of gay and lesbian persons. Well, no, this Convention took no such action. What this resolution did was simply to reaffirm our own Canons. Back in 1994, the General Convention created a Canon that opened access to the ordination processes of the church — for all holy orders — to all baptized persons. This has been our canonical position for fifteen years and it is consistent with the baptismal theology of the Book of Common Prayer. Discernment for holy orders is serious business and should be. In the Episcopal Church we take such discernment with the utmost of seriousness. There is no “right” to ordination for anyone. Our Canons are clear that all baptized persons are to have access to discernment processes. Whether any persons actually gets ordained is a much more complicated set of questions. To summarize: the principal thing this resolution does is simply to affirm that when our church makes decisions on who can and cannot be ordained, we will discern those decisions in accordance with our Canons. The Canons on these matters have not changed since 1994.

Some will ask, does this ignore the request of the Windsor Report for a moratorium on the election and consent to gay or lesbian partnered priests to the episcopate? Some would say so; I don’t think so. I don’t find the moratorium concept at all helpful, but unless and until a diocese of the church elects a gay partnered person to the episcopate, and the church gives its consent, there is, practically speaking, a moratorium in effect. And again, the only thing this Convention has said is that when any such decision comes before the church, the decision will be made according to our own Canons. The Convention simply clarified that “state of the question” to those who have been asking. The Convention changed nothing.

A very positive dimension of the resolution was its very strong affirmation of our desire as a church to participate fully in the mission and ministry of the Anglican Communion at every level of the church’s life. (On this matter, we are very much ahead of the curve in the Diocese of Atlanta with official partnerships in Ecuador, Brazil, and Tanzania, and less formal but no less important relationships in Honduras, Haiti, Guatemala, and other places.) We also commit ourselves to full financial support of the Anglican Communion. We provide a disproportionally large percentage of the Communion budget and we have committed ourselves to continuing to do so. Let no one question our commitment to the Anglican Communion!

A second resolution - C-056 - is the Convention’s response to a large group of resolutions, mostly from dioceses, concerning same sex blessings and gay marriage. At the heart of the resolution are the difficult pastoral needs particularly in those states in which some form of gay marriage or civil unions is the law of the land. There is also the felt need, by many in the church, to work more carefully through the theological and liturgical issues related to the church’s pastoral and liturgical response to our members who are living in committed, same-sex relationships. I believe the Convention is looking at this in a creative way.  First, we name the “tension”  between those parts of the church in which gay unions or marriage is provided for by law and those parts of the church that serve in civil jurisdictions where no legal provisions pertain. Recognizing that tension is important. Secondly, the resolution asks for more theological and liturgical work to be done on the matter and the results of that work be brought to the 2012 Convention. It is impossible to tell at this point what sort of form that work will take. This provision strengthens the resolution, in my judgment, because as a liturgical and sacramental church it is essential to do theological and liturgical work hand-in-hand, and not as separate endeavors. Thirdly, this resolution invites the Anglican Communion to join us in this theological and liturgical exploration. I am confident that this invitation for collaboration will be welcomed by a number of provinces in the Communion. C-056 passed the House of Bishops late in the day on Wednesday and is expected to reach the floor of the House of Deputies on Thursday.

The obvious question is: does this mean the General Convention has “approved” rites for same-sex unions or gay marriage?  The answer to that is “no.” What the Convention did was to pave the way for more extensive theological and liturgical work to be done in the upcoming triennium. The next Convention will receive a report that will be both theological and liturgical in scope and will almost certainly contain some “model rites” for the church to consider. The 2012 Convention will have to decide whether to proceed further and, if so, in what manner.

With respect to the Anglican Covenant, the House of Deputies has approved a resolution that commits the Episcopal Church to continued participation in the covenant process that grew out of the Windsor Report. It will come before the House of Bishops on Thursday and will almost surely get the bishops’ full support.

A major revision of Lesser Feasts and Fasts to be called Holy Women, Holy Men is also winding its way through the legislative process. The Bishops have approved a resolution for a feasibility study for a new hymnal. . .

. . . and on and on and on . . . with two days to go!

We’re tired and getting weary, but this Convention has done good work — and in many cases — very good work. It is very clear to anyone here that our church is strong and vital and about the work of God’s mission!

To God be the glory!

Faithfully,

+ J. Neil Alexander

The Right Reverend J. Neil Alexander

Bishop of Atlanta

New Episcopal 101 Podcast

The fourth in our Episcopal 101 series is up! This month, we tackle the issue of faith and struggle with the question, “What Do Episcopalians Believe?” Click on the podcast widget on the right of the website to listen!

News Nine Leader: Connie Blackmon

Channel Nine in Columbus regularly features community leaders for outstanding vision and work. Our own Connie Blackmon was featured on the July 14 6 o’clock news. Kudos to Connie! This also marks Tai Jackson’s television debut.

Special thanks to Bob Patterson for sharing the link!

Midnight Musings: I Yam What I Yam

As a young man, I was pretty good, but had my moments.  Anyhow, I was on my way to the Assistant Principal’s Office, courtesy of my English teacher, Miss Taylor.  (“Ms.” wasn’t even a title in 1963).  I went in to his office with a small degree of comfort; Mr. Leister also happened to be my neighbor.  He and his son, and my older brother and I played two on two basketball all the time at the backboard in my driveway.

The greeting wasn’t real warm, “so Bill, I hear you’re being a smart ass again”.  I sagged a little, shrugged my shoulders and replied, “No Sir, not this time”.   “Well Bill, that’s a little hard to believe.  Miss Taylor explained to me that you cut up a little on her latest exercise.  My understanding was that the assignment was to identify what fictional character you most identified with.  Does that pretty much sum up the exercise?”  “Yes sir, it does”.  “Well Bill, you would have to admit that your answer was a smart ass answer.  Of all the charismatic characters, American hero’s and even larger than life villains, your answer was a bit whimsical.  For the record, who was it you mentioned?”  My answer – “Popeye the Sailor Man”.

I think Mr. Leister struggled to not smile, but instead asked, “yeah, but wasn’t that a smart ass answer”.  Once again, I sagged a little, shrugged my shoulders and replied, “No Sir, not this time.”  “O.K. Bill, I’ve got some free time, so what don’t you tell me why Popeye the Sailor Man is the fictional character you most identify with.”

“Well, Mr. Leister, I’ve been a little mixed up lately.  My girlfriend Susie Snodgrass just broke up with me.  She started going out with Larry Eubanks.”  Mr. Leister asked, “Isn’t he the quarterback on the 9^th grade football team.”  “Yes sir, he is, but between you and me, I’ve got to tell you that he is about half way dumb.  I think he’s got muscle in more than his arms and legs.  We were all at a party recently, and he swaggered over and danced Susie right out of my life.”  Mr. Leister replied, “Bill – you are 14 years old, and my bet is that you are going to have a lot more girl friends.  You are going to grow up, get married, and have a great career.  If it is any comfort to you, I don’t think Larry has anywhere near the potential that you have.  In fact, categorizing him as half dumb gives him more credit than he deserves!  Is this all that is bugging you right now?”

“Actually, it isn’t the only thing.  I know that you knew Chris B?”  “Yes Bill, I knew Chris, and his suicide was a real shock to all of us.”  I explained, “Chris was one of my best friends.  I really wanted to talk to him about Susie, and I know that he could have made me feel better.  He was always a person that I could talk to about anything.  I actually came close to calling his phone number and asking for him.  It is just hard to believe that he isn’t here anymore.  I used to think I wanted to be just like him.  He was a favorite of my Mom’s.  She said that he reminded her of a young Paul Newman.  I just miss him a lot.”

Mr Leister was silent for a few moments, but finally said, “Bill, I’m glad that we are having this conversation, I really am.  At the same time, I’m having a hard time understanding what this has to do with what happened in Miss Taylor’s class.”  “Mr. Leister, if I tell you, will you promise not to laugh?”  “That’s easy – I promise I will not laugh.”  “Well, I’ve had a lot and my mind and I’m really struggling with who I am and who I want to be.  The other day, I went downstairs and my younger sister was lying on the couch watching TV.  She was watching cartoons, Popeye the Sailor Man.  I didn’t watch or even remember the whole cartoon, but part of it was Olive Oil leaving Popeye and going out with Brutus.  Some stuff happened, and Olive came back to Popeye.  She came back because Popeye was the right guy.  He didn’t change the way he looked, the way he talked, the way he acted, or anything.  He said something that spoke to me.  He said, “I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam, I’m Popeye the Sailor Man - toot, toot”.  You may not believe this, but I wrote that down and it is posted on the bulletin board in my bedroom.  It just caused me to think that maybe, I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam.  I’m Bill Hogg, and maybe that’s not so bad.  Do you think that is stupid?”  Mr. Leister was quiet as he wrote down a note in big letters, posting the note to his own bulletin board.  “I yam what I yam and that’s all that I yam, I’m Popeye the Sailor Man.”

Bill Hogg

Pine Mountain, GA

July 12, 2009

Bill Hogg is  a member of St. Nicholas, and resident writer of poems, prayers, and late-night musings. You can contact him at bhogg@contractoffice.com.

TAP Presentation

Here is a presentation of the Thompson-Pound Art Program that I was involved in last month. It gives the run-down of the entire week. It is an executable file (.exe) so it should start downloading immediately. Hope you like it!

TAP Presentation

Miss the Music Workshop?

If you weren’t able to come to yesterday’s wonderful music workshop, or if you happened to miss church today, you might kick yourself. But no worries, we’ve got you covered. To the right of the website’s home page, you can click on the podcast box and listen to all three of Trey Clegg’s sessions:

1. Renewing the Spirit: Introduction to Creative Worship

2. Widen Your Repertoire: Introduction to Diversity in Sacred Music

3. Nobody Ever Left Church Humming The Sermon

AND you can also listen to today’s service in its entirety.

It was a truly remarkable weekend as we begin to create our vision for our future music program. Thank you to all who attended, all who provided food, all who sang in the “St. Nicholas Angel Band Choir,” and all who worshipped with us today.

Here are some pictures from today’s service.

Your Week at St. Nick, July 11 – 18

Saturday, July 11

9:00am – 4:00pm Exciting Music Workshop with Trey Clegg (everyone is invited)

Continental breakfast and lunch will be served (both free of charge).

Sunday, July 12

10:30am Holy Eucharist

Ushers

Mark Kurtz

Ben Brooks

Greeter

Karen Kurtz

LEM & 2^nd Chalice

Blackmon/Horne

Altar Guild

Cheatham/Eidson

Flower Guild

Suzie

Lemonade

Lacy

Acolytes

Table Austin

Crucifer Cody

Gospel Abby B.

Offer. Abby B.

Torch Austin/Abby B.

Monday, July 13

6:30pm Flicks at St. Nick’s

Movie: Doubt—starring Meryl Streep

Wednesday, July 15

6:30pm

Holy Eucharist

7:15pm

Episcopal 101 Faith: What Do We Believe? We will talk about how we got to this point, from our earliest faith history, to Church history, to Anglican history, to St. Nicholas history.

Mourning Fr. Ron

Well, last week was certainly an unusual one at St. Nicholas. I was away at Camp Mikell for a week with 100 or so 6th & 7th graders (more on that in another post). A few weeks before I left, I had contacted my friend Ron Davidson to cover for me, which he did last month when I was on vacation. I had gotten rave reviews on Ron, and since he was available and very willing to serve, I called him again.

A little background on Ron and how I know him. Growing up in the Diocese of Georgia, I got to know Ron’s kids, Lee & Diana, at the diocesan camp Honey Creek. Lee, Diana, and I quickly became close friends, co-workers as camp counselors at Honey Creek, and I was honored to be Lee’s best man at his wedding. Diana and I served on the Diocesan Youth Commission and travelled together on a life-changing mission trip to Belize. Over the years, Lee and I have floated in and out of each other’s lives, but last year, we floated back in and like we never missed a beat, reignited our friendship. In fact, it was reconnecting with Lee that helped me discern my call to leave St. Peter’s and begin searching for St. Nicholas. He talked me through a lot of thoughts during that time. Nowadays, Lee and I get together on a regular basis for dinner and a movie since he only lives an hour or so away.

Anyway, back to Ron…Ron had spent the last 3 years serving as interim at St. Anne’s in Tifton. He had recently ended his time there, as they had called their new rector, another good friend of mine, Lonnie Lacy. I was looking for a supply priest for a few dates this summer, and Lee suggested his dad.

The last few conversations I had with Ron were simply wonderful. He wanted to know all about St. Nicholas and was so happy to be asked to supply. Of course, he came and served well in June and was planning to be there on Sunday.

However, as he and his wonderful wife Zibi were about to leave to drive to Hamilton, he breathed his last, suddenly and unexpectedly. Zibi told me that her first thought was to contact St. Nicholas. She first called Ron’s best friend and priest Bill Stewart, who made the call for her.

Luckily, folks at St. Nicholas scrambled and pulled off a successful service of Morning Prayer, thanks to the combined leadership of Gene Demonet, Connie Blackmon, Bill Hogg, and Mabry Collins.

I found out about Ron’s death that afternoon as I checked my e-mail from Gene. My heart broke.

I had only a few conversations with Ron in my life, but all were warm and meaningful. I was also a little scared of him, not because he was scary, but because I respected him so much. He was the kind of guy you wanted to be on your side, and I knew that he was on mine. He was warm and funny, intelligent and caring. When I see him in my mind, I see his fuzzy beard with that smile behind it.

The worst part about having a supply priest for me is that I don’t get to be there to hear their sermons. Ron and I had talked about that a few weeks ago. I really wanted to be there to hear him preach, even more so now.

Molly, the kids, and I left Camp Mikell early to come back for Ron’s funeral on Wednesday in Albany, which is where Ron and Zibi live and also where Ron first served out of seminary. The service was a true celebration. Usually, the Bishop presides over a funeral of a priest, but with General Convention going on in California, it wasn’t possible for him to come back. So Bill Stewart preached a touching sermon and celebrated a beautiful Eucharist and invited Lonnie and me to preside with him, which was an unbelievable honor. Ron was active in the Cursillo community, so the music and spirit of the service was wonderfully jubilant and sincere. We all cried as we sang loudly, “And I will raise them up, and I will raise them up, and I will RAISE them up on the last day!” It was a moving liturgy.

Now as I reflect on Ron’s death, I think about what it means to me. A few of us in my group of friends who were gathered at the funeral talked about how Ron’s death signals a significant shift in our lives. We’re all in our 30s now, we have careers and children. And now we lean on each other as we mourn the loss of our friends’ parents. It’s a new place for us, and one that is difficult, but full of grace as we take the lessons and examples that Ron gifted to us, and continue the mission of God like he did.

Thank you, God, for Ron Davidson. Thank you for the many gifts Ron gave–his love, his example, his wonderful family, and his service to the Church.

Your Week at St. Nick, July 5 – 11

Sunday, July 5
10:30am Holy Eucharist
Father Ron Davidson preaches/celebrates

Ushers
Kenny Hall
Jan Pylant
Greeter
Lynn Hall
LEM & 2nd Chalice
Nordin/Hogg
Altar Guild
Winsness/Cox
Flower Guild
Nancy
Lemonade
Andy
Acolytes
Table Abbey A.
Crucifer Sam
Gospel Dalton
Offer. Dalton

Wednesday, July 8
6:30pm Evening Prayer Service

Saturday, July 11
9:00am – 4:00pm Music Workshop with Trey Clegg (everyone is invited)
Continental breakfast and lunch will be served.

July 1 – 8 Father Jeff away at Camp Mikell

« Previous Page