Harry From Sundance: Gracefully Engage & Reach Out With Love

A

Postcard 

from 

Harry Knox

Executive Director

Integrity USA

In the movie Love Free or Die, which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival on Monday, Bp. Gene Robinson asks the question: Who are we to question 2000 years of Church teaching? He then answers his own question: if we don't, who will?

One if the many things I love about this film is that it shows the tremendous possibility for church growth inherent in our willingness to courageously confront dogma that kills while offering life-giving Good News. Is it hard? Sure. But the joy on the faces of those finding their way home to parishes that embrace them as they are, with all their human complexities makes all our struggle worthwhile.

Love Free or Die tells the story of +Gene and how he, and we, have changed the Church. But it is really a story about making the Gospel real for those Christ said we should always have in the front of our minds:  the marginalized. It documents the ways all of us are enriched when people of Godly courage reach out on love to seek to move their neighbors toward greater compassion.

Tied to this powerful film is a campaign of "graceful engagement" - the loving and caring way to reach across our divides to those who are not yet with us. Integrity has 35 years of graceful engagement under our belts and we wholeheartedly support the LFOD Friends and Family project. This project invites everyone in this General Convention and general election year, to think of one person we love who loves us back, but votes against our well-being. It equips us to engage that person in respectful conversation to help them see why we need them to have us in mind when they vote at General Convention or for President of the United States.

Sharon Groves of HRC, Jeff Krehely of Center for American Progress, Rebecca Voelkel of NGLTF, film maker Macky Alston with his daughter Penelope, and Harry Knox of Integrity.

Screenings of the film in local parish halls and at Integrity chapter meetings around the country will be sure to prompt the healing conversations the Church, and the world, sorely need. Contact us at info@integrityusa.org about how to make those screenings happen. You will be blessed and God's beloved world will be changed!

A Postcard from the Sundance Film Festival

From

Harry Knox

Executive Director

Integrity, USA

The beautiful people! The paparazzi! And that was at church!


I’m having a wonderful time representing Integrity at events tied to the premiere of Macky Alston’s new film, Love Free or Die, at the Sundance Film Festival. LFOD tells the story of Bp. Gene Robinson’s election to the episcopacy and highlights his courageous struggle to help the Episcopal Church and the whole Anglican Communion to make real Christ’s universal welcome. The film will debut tonight, but yesterday was a gorgeous sunny, snow-capped Sunday at St. Luke’s, Park City, UT, where The Rev. Charles Robinson is rector.

Bp. Otis Charles filled in for +Gene, who was in Kentucky celebrating the life of his dear mother, Imogene. +Gene will join us this evening. +Otis shared a winsome sermon on his own experience coming out as a gay man. He focused his sermon on the value of integrity; on truth-telling as a discipline that leads to freedom and joy. I was gratified to hear him describe how Integrity USA helped him find his own voice and companions on the journey out of the closet in the 1990s.

The congregation stayed for our panel discussion on graceful engagement of our neighbors around the need for full inclusion of LGBT people in the life of the Church and the gift that blessings of same-sex unions in our congregations will be.

Love Free or Die will be a vehicle for expanding that conversation in local parishes and Integrity chapters nationwide in 2012. Keep an eye out for more on that in coming days. In the meantime, check out : http://www.sundance.org/video/meet-the-artists-12-macky-alston/.

Six Answers About Same Sex Marriage From a Minnesota Priest

Integrity Province 6 Coordinator the Reverend Scott Monson [pictured left] serves in Minnesota and so is bracing for a long and potentially polarizing campaign upcoming after state lawmakers there agreed to allow voters to decide whether to limit civil marriage to heterosexual couples – a prohibition that already exists in state law.

Much discussion is going on about the issue. A commentator in the The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently published an article titled "Six questions for supporters of same-sex marriage to answer -- forthrightly" and asked for responses.

A friend and clergy colleague of Scott's who is a straight ally and supporter of same sex marriage, the Rev. Lisa Cressman, sent in a response which the Star Tribune liked and published. (See below.) Scott wants to share her answers with our readers to file away and use when necessary. He says, "Her responses are loving, compassionate and wise—in a word, Christ-like. I think that is why they ring so true."

Here is that article:

Marriage Questions, Asked and Answered

• Article by: The Rev. LISA CRESSMAN
• Published January 17, 2012 - 11:21 PM

Editor's note: The Jan. 14 commentary "Six questions for supporters of same-sex marriage to answer -- forthrightly" inspired an unusual outpouring of response, with scores of readers submitting answers to commentator Dan Nye's questions. Although each counterpoint writer brought a unique voice and perspective, their answers were similar in substance. We have selected this rebuttal as representative:

1. Were our ancestors all dumb and bigoted?

Our ancestors knew many truths, but not all. A common example of what our ancestors held to be self-evident, biblically sanctioned truth, which we now hold in abhorrence, is slavery. It's appropriate to ask ourselves whether a particular societal tradition is the best way for us to continue.

2. Don't our sexual organs exist for reproduction?

Reproduction is one of their purposes, but so is intimacy. If our sexual organs existed solely for reproduction, couples would have sex only at the times necessary for procreation. Moreover, if this were the case, physical fulfillment in marriage wouldn't be enjoyed by couples who cannot have children (for medical reasons or by virtue of advanced age) or who choose not to do so.

3. Do we just give in to our sexual desires?

Our sexual desires have been channeled through the worthy tradition that people choose one mate and make a promise of fidelity through marriage. A mutual, joyful and public commitment, permanently held, one to another, is the healthiest way to build stable families and a stable society. This would argue for encouraging members of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community likewise to make a commitment of marriage as the appropriate avenue for their sexuality.

4. Adultery, pedophilia and bestiality are wrong. So homosexuality?

Adultery is a problem because of the trust shattered when marriage vows are broken. Pedophilia and bestiality are anathema because there cannot be mutual consent -- an adult always holds power over a child or an animal. Homosexual commitment is mutual between consenting adults.

5. Changes in norms require universal acceptance. Prevalent homosexuality will not work.

Many changes in our country have taken place without universal acceptance. Indeed, many laws in our country were designed to protect the very people who do not receive universal acceptance.

As to prevalent homosexuality, the long-held estimate is that roughly 10 percent of the population is homosexual. No law has the ability to increase or decrease those numbers.

6. The religious question: Shouldn't we be trying to encourage others to repent of a wrong?

The assumption is that homosexuality is wrong. Assumptions are fair to question, even religious ones. We understand now, in a way our biblical ancestors could not, that medically and psychologically, homosexuals are born, not made. Would a loving God deliberately create someone who is fundamentally a mistake?

If it's a question about "love the sinner but hate the sin," the way we discern whether something is, in fact, sinful, is to look at its consequences. The consequences that result from committed homosexual relationships are as positive as they are for committed heterosexual relationships: stable, tax-paying, caring-for-one-another-through-thick-and-thin families. These are the kinds of consequences that benefit all of society.

Marriage matters to the GLBT among us as much as it does to the rest of us. Surrounded by family and friends, to make a promise to cherish that one other person until parted by death, matters.

This is a big change, surely. I am persuaded, however, that change based on a commitment, a lifelong commitment of mutual joy, will benefit us all.

* * *

Lisa Cressman, of Lake Elmo, is assistant priest at St. Mary's Episcopal Church-Basswood Grove.

© 2011 Star Tribune

The Rev. Scott Monson
Province VI Coordinator
Integrity USA
1015 Sibley Memorial Hwy. #310
Saint Paul, MN 55118-3684
651.785.5103
scott@integrityusa.org
www.integrityusa.org

Celebrating Victory, Pursuing Truth: Transgender Equality Bill Becomes Law in Massachusetts

Speeches in the Senate Reading Room

By the Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge
cross-posted at TransEpiscopal

On this bright January morning, as the hour of 11am neared, I emerged from Boston’s Park Street T stop, turned left and began walking up the hill toward the State House.  Today (or rather, at this late hour, yesterday) marked the ceremonial signing of the Transgender Equality bill here in Massachusetts.  This legislation, first filed in 2007, passed on November 15^th, and officially signed on November 23^rd, adds gender identity and expression to the state’s existing hate crimes law and the nondiscrimination statutes in the areas of housing, employment, education and credit. In a fitting twist, the week of its official passage was also Transgender Awareness Week, a time of educational and community events leading up to the eleventh annual observance of Trans Day of Remembrance on November 20th. 

The Senate Reading Room, where today’s signing took place, was packed with observers, a joyful crowd savoring the celebration.  Lawmakers were clearly also buoyed, as their inspiring comments demonstrated.  “You have no idea how beautiful you are as you stand here beaming,” said state Auditor Suzanne Bump.  “Remember that you are powerful,” offered Senator Brian Downing, followed by fellow Senator Sonia Chang Diaz: “it's days like this that remind us why we ran for office... Thank you for reminding us [legislators] of our own power, in addition to showing us your power.”  Representative Byron Rushing, who joined Representative Carl Sciortino in co-sponsoring the bill from its very first days, declared, “this hasn't just been a discussion of gender identity but of the identity of Massachusetts, and hopefully it will become a discussion of our national identity.” 

Representative Rushing, photo from masstpc.org

In his Episcopal Church context, as a longtime member of the Diocese of Massachusetts’ deputation to General Convention– Deputy Rushing inspires us to  pose that question of church identity.  Faith communities can ask, and indeed are asking, what do we stand for as people of our respective traditions?  In the Episcopal Church we might well ask—and have asked at the 2009 General Convention and various diocesan conventions before it– what does it mean to declare in our baptismal covenant that we strive for justice and respect the dignity of every human being? In 2009 the Convention passed resolutions putting The Episcopal Church on record in support of transgender equality in the civic sphere (D012 and C048), and pledging within our ecclesial life to make administrative forms accessible to gender identities beyond male and female and to protect transgender lay employees from discrimination (D090 and D032, respectively).   As our collective conversation continues, we might allow the varied lives of transgender as well as intersex people – communities and individuals whose lives are textured not simply by complex embodiments of gender but also by race, class, sexuality and ability-- to deepen our understanding of the human person.  How do we interpret and live out the mystery of being created in the image and likeness of God?

At the signing this morning, I was reminded of a startling moment in the November 15 debate that I watched on my laptop. Representative Sciortino was speaking movingly in support of the legislation when he began to describe the Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR) held at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul the year before.  He made a point of detailing the apology that my bishop, the Right Rev. M. Thomas Shaw, had offered on behalf of Christians who had condemned trans people and in the process had “misrepresented God to” us.  The apology had been stunning enough in its own right, but to hear it reported, in some sense repeated, on the floor of the House of Representatives, was positively astounding.  As I sat there dumbfounded—actually, calling out to my partner to come see this!--  receiving these words afresh in an unimagined context, I was reminded of a strangely parallel moment at General Convention three years earlier.  The Convention had managed to pass D012, the Trans Civil Rights Resolution, on the same day that the Massachusetts Judiciary Committee was holding a hearing on its own Trans Equality legislation—an earlier version of what has now finally passed.  As a team of trans people and allies worked toward the resolution’s passage in Anaheim, a fellow Episcopalian in Massachusetts learned about it (on his laptop, while waiting to testify in the stultifying heat) and shared it in the course of his testimony three thousand miles away.  The Episcopal Church supports this bill, he was proud to be able to say.  It all came full circle.

Also on my mind today were the words (viewable here as blurry video), offered by Bishop Shaw at this year’s TDOR.   Speaking at the end of the program, he welcomed us to the Cathedral and then offered a word of gratitude that felt almost like a meditation: “because of your honesty, because of your integrity, because of the way you so pursue the truth of your identity, you tell me about the nature of God, because that is how I think God is.  And so I thank all of you not only for the way that you enlighten my understanding of God but how much you preach to the rest of the world about courage, and about bravery, and about truth and about perseverance of identity.  We owe all of you a huge debt of gratitude.  Thank you.” 

I got the sense people were both honored and stunned by his words, working to digest and contemplate them— I know I was.   His comments about perseverance in pursuit of the truth of identity—language I had not heard him use before— reminded me of words from the Gospel of John that I first really took in at a middle school summer Bible camp: “you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free” (Jn 8:32). 

From this chair, at the end of this day, looking out at the striking vista of falling snow, it strikes me how the process of knowing the truth and being freed by it is both lifelong and communal—by turns grueling and wondrous, and inextricably relational, even as it is distinctive to each person. 

Governor Deval Patrick signs the bill, photo from masstpc.org

An important truth about the MA trans equality law is that it is far from perfect: it does not include protections in public accommodations—access to public gender segregated spaces.  Everyone was resolved to come back and get that done.  And as I think about how far we have come, how much more free we are than we were just a few short months ago, I know that what we need more than anything else is the will, the support, the conviction to keep pursuing the truth.

Cameron Partridge is the Episcopal Chaplain at Boston University and a Lecturer at Harvard University

Forming Relationships to Change Hearts and Minds

A Relection
by
 The Rev. Dr. Caroline Hall
President, Integrity USA

One of the wonderful things about being Episcopalian is the freedom we have to believe something slightly different from the person next to us in the pew. Our liturgy provides such a strong connection that we do not need a confessional statement to keep us together. Of course that’s not comfortable for everyone, and it certainly isn’t convenient. It would be much more convenient for us if General Convention were to decide that every diocese and every parish had to be fully inclusive of LGBT people. That isn’t going to happen, because we respect each other, we respect diversity, and we respect the Holy Spirit leading us through the councils of the church. Where there is disagreement over a controversial innovation, we allow local flexibility.

As a result the LGBT advances we make at the national level are not always reflected locally. One example of this is the November election of the conservative Gregory Brewer as Bishop of Central Florida. He still has to be confirmed by a majority of diocesan bishops and standing committees but unless there is a big surprise, by mid-March Central Florida will have a new bishop whose theology is very similar to his predecessor’s.

In his responses during the process of Bishop selection, Brewer stated,

“Simply
put, there
is
no
Biblical precedent
that
allows
us
to
redefine
marriage
or
to
open
ordination
to practicing gay
people. I agree
with
that portion
of
the
Windsor
Report that
states
that
to
move
forward with
either
gay
marriage
or
the
ordination of
practicing
gay
people
breaches
the bonds
of
affection
within
the
Anglican
Communion, and
I am
committed
to
staying within
the
boundaries
the
Windsor
Report
requests.”

Bishop-elect Brewer is not likely to approve blessings for same-gender relationships in his diocese anytime soon, regardless of what General Convention decides. This is a big disappointment for those of us who had hoped for a new perspective, especially those who are members of, and minister to, the large number of gay people living in Central Florida.

But Bishop-elect Brewer also talks the talk of relationship, “The
task
is
to
find
a
way
to
be
both
Biblically
clear
about
our
ethics
but
also
equally clear
about
demonstrating
(not
merely
professing)
the
call
to walk
in
love,
as Christ loves
us.

Knowing
that
relationships
can
be
trampled
by
politics, we
have
to
work together
to
both
form
policies
that
reflect
both Biblical
clarity
as
well
as
compassion, and
form
relationships
that
do
the
same.”

If you’re like me, the implication that having a relationship with LGBT people somehow requires “compassion” in a way that relating to straight people does not, grates on the nerves. But if we read the Bishop-elect’s words with compassion ourselves, we can see that there is an opening here.

Bishop Jack Spong who became a champion of LGBT inclusion in the Church was once on the other side of the aisle. What changed him? Relationships with the LGBT clergy and lay people in his diocese. People, even Bishops, rarely make the move from opponent to ally unless they come to know, trust and respect gay people.

That is why the work of local Integrity networks, chapters and partners is so important. How will Bishop-elect Brewer ever come to see things differently unless the people of Central Florida who have themselves experienced God’s call to be gay and Christian, work without ceasing to form relationships with him and to tell him our stories? This is hard work, sometimes discouraging, but it is the work that changes hearts and minds. It may mean refusing to be silenced, refusing to be forced to meet in secret, insisting that Brewer put into action his language of relationship.

Looking back over the early issues of the Integrity newsletter, we see Louie Crew and others doing just this - constantly knocking on the doors of bishops, writing to them, asking questions and going back again and again. I am grateful to them for their work. I am grateful to all those who have seen the oppression of LGBT people and chosen to take action. I am grateful to the LGBT people in Central Florida and all our straight allies there who will take heart from the parable of the widow and the unjust judge. Her persistence eventually paid off, and so will theirs.

And let us all support their work and that of Bishop-elect Brewer in prayer, asking that he may come to a new understanding of the Biblical imperative of justice and equity.

Integrity Applauds Episcopal Diocese of New York

Integrity USA applauds the Convention of the Diocese of New York which adopted by a vast majority the following resolutions regarding marriage equality this past weekend. Thanks in part to the Bishop"s Committeee on LGBT Concerns on which Integrity's Board Member Elisabeth Jacobs sits and Integrity Lifetime Member Michael Cudney is Chair. These resolutions move forward to General Convention 2012.

Here is the resolution:

[ 7 ] RESOLVED, That, the 235th Convention of the Diocese of New York urges the 77th General Convention to revise the current Canons of The Episcopal Church with regard to marriage, to provide for the marriage of same-gender couples in those jurisdictions that have or will have civil
marriage for same-gender couples; and be it further


[ 8 ] RESOLVED, That the Diocese of New York urge General Convention diligently to continue the work called for in its Resolution C056, to "collect and develop theological and liturgical resources" for the blessing for same-gender couples;, and be it further


[ 9 ] RESOLVED, That the Diocese of New York, in light of its continued support of faithful and committed same-gender couples, including the support for civil marriage equality by the 232nd Convention of the Diocese and our Diocesan Bishop and other leaders, encourages the Bishop to interpret Resolution C056 of the 76th General Convention ("bishops, particularly those in dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same-gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of
this Church") to mean that clergy throughout the Diocese are permitted (but not required) to sign marriage licenses and officiate at marriages for couples legally eligible for marriage in the State of New York.

Bishop Gene Robinson & Bishop Mary Glasspool to Lead Pasadena Celebration of 20 Years of Blessing

Integrity joins with All Saints Church in Pasadena in:

January 2012 marks the 20th anniversary of the first blessing of a same-sex couple — Mark Benson & Phil Straw — at All Saints Church in Pasadena. The milestone will be celebrated with a series of events and programs the weekend of January 28/29 both celebrating the past and mobilizing for the future!

Saturday, January 28
9am—5pm
Confirmed participants include:

All Saints Rector Ed Bacon - Bishop Mary Glasspool - Rector Emeritus George Regas - Bishop Gene Robinson

Morning program in the Forum will include a multi-media look at the last twenty years; reflections from our “God, Sex & Justice” history makers; remembering Beyond Inclusion's beginnings and the Claiming the Blessing years. There will be opportunities for Q&A and conversation with Bishops Glasspool and Robinson. Come be informed and inspired!

[The morning program will be live-streamed on the All Saints website.]

Afternoon workshops will include Faith-based advocacy; Civic Engagement on LGBT issues; Keeping Kids Safe from Bullying (with Bill Brummel’s brilliant documentary “Bullied”); A la familia — a bi-lingual guide to LGBT inclusion from our HRC colleagues; Strategic Storytelling for changing hearts and minds, offered by IntegrityUSA; Reclaiming Scripture as a tool for inclusion with Soulforce founder Mel White ... among others. Come be equipped and empowered!

The afternoon will conclude with a Festive Holy Eucharist: Mary Glasspool, preacher and Gene Robinson, celebrant.

Then Saturday is “Movie Night!”

All Saints is thrilled to be hosting the West Coast “sneak preview” of “Love Free or Die” — the just released documentary on the work and witness of Bishop Gene Robinson ... premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23.

"Love Free or Die" begins with the story of a man whose two defining passions are in conflict: his love for God and his love for his partner, Mark.

Gene Robinson is the first openly gay bishop in the high church traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bullet-proof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats nearly every day since. Bishop Robinson refuses to leave the church that has taught for centuries it has no place for people like him. And he refuses to leave the man he loves, even though he has been taught it is God's will for him to do so. And of course he is not alone. Bishop Robinson lives in a nation and a world in which many are caught in this ultimate double bind.

Love Free or Die documents the lives of Bishop Robinson and a host of others in the church/state struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) equality in America. Shot over three years, Love Free or Die reveals from the intimate inside how our culture and our laws change due to the convictions, courage and commitments of specific individuals and communities. Bishop Robinson as he changes hearts and minds on the LGBT equality issue, from working class towns in the northern mountains of New Hampshire to the Lincoln Memorial at Barack Obama's inauguration. In the All Saints Forum at 7pm.

Sunday, January 29

The celebration will continue on Sunday morning at All Saints Church where both Bishop Glasspool and Bishop Robinson will be with us for the 9:00 & 11:15 services. Gene Robinson will preach and Mary Glasspool will celebrate on a morning as we conclude our celebration with a very special Rector’s Forum.

For more information on email All Saints staffer Linn Vaughan or call 626.583.2744.
To register online [beginning January 15] visit the All Saints website.

An All Saints Church Celebration,
with thanks for generous support from HRC (Human Rights Campaign) and Integrity USA

"The Gifts of God for the People of God"

guest blog by the Reverend Canon Susan Russell

One of the gifts of God for the people of God we celebrated on Sunday here at All Saints Church in Pasadena was the gift of sharing with the Reverend Jeff Martinhauk in the celebration of his first Eucharist as a priest in the Church of God.


Ordained on Saturday at St. John's downtown with this great crop of newly minted priests (pictured here with Bishops Bruno, Bruce and Glasspool) ...


... Jeff will return to Austin in the Diocese of Texas where he is currently serving as chaplain at a Children's Hospital. He was sponsored for ordination by All Saints, Pasadena and was for a time a member of the Integrity Nat'l Board, serving as our Treasurer before heading off to seminary.

So won't you join us here in Pasadena in rejoicing in this new chapter of ministry for Jeff ... and join with us in praying for the time when the fullness of that ministry will be as celebrated throughout the whole church as joyfully as it was celebrated in the Diocese of Los Angeles last weekend. Because there's still work to be done to make that 1976 resolution about "full and equal claim" a reality ... but the Holy Spirit has a stubborn streak that we're counting on as we keep on working for the full inclusion of all the baptized in all the sacraments.

Let those with ears to hear, listen!

[And if you'd like to send a "mazel tov" to the new priest ... you can email him here.]