ELCA

Dear Jack,

So the ELCA has officially opened up the ministry to LGBT persons in committed relationships. This is great. Yeah ELCA and TEC. That's about all I got right now.

I've had some good interviews, and life is going great. I feel so free. It is amazing how much brighter the sun shines when the clouds move away.

Favorite Quotation - 0004

Dear Jack,

This quotation comes from the Most Rev. Edmund Browning upon his installation as Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in 1986. It is one that has been quoted often by those of us who are in support of LGBT full-inclusion in the Church. In 1991 General Convention, t-shirts were even created with this grand quotation:

This church of ours is open to all. There will be no outcasts.

-- The Most Rev. Edmund Browning, 1986

Favorite Quotation - 0001

Dear Jack,

This is a quotation that has stuck with me since I first heard it uttered by Fr. G. Leon Watts, my former rector at St. Simon's. This verse is used in the BCP as an offertory sentence, and it reminds me of my old home parish and my early formation in the Episcopal Church.

καὶ περιπατεῖτε ἐν ἀγάπῃ, καθὼς καὶ ὁ Χριστὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ παρέδωκεν ἑαυτὸν ὑπὲρ ἡμῶν προσφορὰν καὶ θυσίαν τῷ θεῷ εἰς ὀσμὴν εὐωδίας.

Walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God.

--NRSV translation

from the Epistle of Paul to the Church in Ephesus (5:2)

Proud of our Female Bishops

Dear Jack,

Well we visited St. Luke's again. It was really nice. A lot of the issues that Michael and I find important they find important... like Jesus Christ and the Trinity. It is such a relief to realize we have possibly found a real place to call home.

I thought I'd post a picture of the pride of the Anglican Communion, or what should be the pride of the Anglican Communion. It's a shame it's only the current bishops, and not the retired ones too. That would be a sweet picture.

It reminds me of the poster of all the Black bishops, and there have been a lot more of them in The Episcopal Church then all the female bishops in the communion.

Last night I had a sleepless night. I had all kinds of anxious thoughts going through my head. I really couldn't get some of the thoughts out of my head. I thought about how things could have been different in College with Daniel W. and Dr. Stokes, and about how I could have done things differently at General and fought to stay better, and I thought about what I could have done to hinder Svetlana. I thought about my current situation and how I am underpaid. All in all it was not a great night sleeping.

I am so glad that today went well. Fr. Hugh's sermon on Roman's was very appropriate for my thoughts. I felt God saying that I was in the right place and to not worry.