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Resolution D025: Commitment and Witness to Anglican
CommunionResolved, the House of Bi shops concurring, That the 76th
General Convention reafrm the continued
participation of The Episcopal Church as a constituent member of
the Anglican Communion; give thanks forthe work of the bishops at
the Lambeth Conference of 2008; reafrm the abiding commitment of
The Epis-copal Church to the fellowship of churches that constitute
the Anglican Communion and seek to live into thehighest degree of
communion possible; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention encourage dioceses,
congregations, and members of TheEpiscopal Church to participate to
the fullest extent possible in the many instruments, networks and
rela-tionships of the Anglican Communion; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention reafrm its nancial
commitment to the Anglican Commu -nion and pledge to participate
fully in the Inter-Anglican Budget; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention afrm the value of
"listening to the experience of homo-sexual persons," as called for
by the Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988, and 1998, and acknowledge
thatthrough our own listening the General Convention has come to
recognize that the baptized membership ofThe Episcopal Church
includes same-sex couples living in lifelong committed
relationships "characterized bydelity, monogamy, mutual affection
and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love
whichenables those in such relationships to see in each other the
image of God" (2000-D039); and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention recognize that gay
and lesbian persons who are part ofsuch relationships have
responded to God's call and have exercised various ministries in
and on behalf ofGod's One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and
are currently doing so in our midst; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention afrm that God has
called and may call such individuals, toany ordained ministry in
The Episcopal Church, and that God's call to the ordained ministry
in The EpiscopalChurch is a mystery which the Church attempts to
discern for all people through our discernment processesacting in
accordance with the Constitution and Canons of The Episcopal
Church; and be it further
Resolved, That the 76th General Convention acknowledge that
members of The Episcopal Church as ofthe Anglican Communion, based
on careful study of the Holy Scriptures, and in light of tradition
and reason,are not of one mind, and Christians of good conscience
disagree about some of these matters.
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Making Disciples Building Congregations For the Life of the
World
We arrive at adulthood with perceptionso the world and o its
people rom stories we
have heard throughout childhood. These storiesinorm us o people
who are good and those whoare bad, o whom to trust and whom to
avoid, orules to keep and rules to test.
The Catholic theologian John DominicCrossan has written a book
entitled The Dark In-terval, Towards a Theology of Story. In this
book hegives a label to the teachings we trust through thestories
we hear, and these he calls myths. Mythdoesnt necessarily mean the
story is untruthul;it simply is a term to include all that we
acceptas unquestionable act. These acts make inter-relationships
proceed more smoothly when weaccept them as norms o our
society.
Crossan is aware that there are other sto-
ries that question the accepted norms. These hecalls parables.
Parables illustrate outcomes thatare contrary to societys
myths.There are numer-ous parables in both the Old and New
Testa-ments o the Bible. In the parable o the GoodSamaritan, the
priest and the Levite, who ought tohave helped the wounded man,
ignored him. TheSamaritan, who was an outcast to the
Israelites,stopped, bound up the mans wounds, took him toshelter
and paid his rent and the cost o his care.
According to Crossan, the outcome oparables is that, They are
supposed to overturnones structure o expectation and therein
andthereby they threaten the security o ones estab-lished world. In
the parable o the tax collectornamed Zacchaeus, Jesus calls him
down rom thetree hed climbed to get a better view o Jesusapproach
and then invites himsel to dinner atZacchaeuss house. Jesus knew
the myth that alltax collectors cheated on what they collectedand
were thereore dishonest and persons to beavoided. Jesus overturned
the myth and treatedZacchaeus as a trusted riend.
I was astonished and embarrassed recentlyto discover how
thoroughly I had accepted amyth about homeless men, street people,
whoare known to be unkempt, with addictive per-sonalities, who
inhabit downtown streets and aregiven to panhandling and are
capable o robbery,physical assault and assaultive language. Theyare
lazy, and they do not seek employment. As a
sociologist, I am aware that most o these mythsare incorrect,
but as a pedestrian I experiencedear when I was crossing Broadway
at 10th streeton a Sunday morning and saw a street
personapproaching rom across the street with a dirtyblanket thrown
over his shoulder. He was car-rying on an imaginary conversation
with parkedcars, empty o people, and or my protection,there was
neither another pedestrian nor anoccupied vehicle in sight. I
experienced FEAR.Hes going to pass me in the street! What will
he do? What should I do? I wasdisgusted with my thoughts, but
orthe moment I couldnt shake them
or the strength o the myth Idlearned was too heavy upon me.
Wepassed one another in the middleo Broadway, and neither o
usacknowledged the presence o theother. The man, however,
stoppedtalking to himsel until he wasentirely across the street
where hebegan to chatter with unoccupiedcars again.
I believe that there are manybusiness owners downtown whoshare
this myth or I have readabout eorts to curtail the num-
bers o street people, perhaps by removing thebenches which they
oten occupy, especially on
9th Street. Im not privy to where they shouldbe dispersed, but
Im aware that these thoughtsare a part o the accepted myth. There
arecitizens living in Columbias suburbs who avoiddowntown because o
their animosity to streetpeople. These suburbanites have heard the
samemyths as I have and they too have become ear-ul.
O the parables written about Jesus, onething is clear. He taught
o Gods love orindividuals by doing rather than lecturing.And what
he did wasusually unexpected.He healed the womanwho had had an
issue
o blood or twelveyears. He dined withZacchaeus at that
taxgatherers house. Hepermitted Mary towash his eet in costlyperume
and then drythem with her hair.He orgave the womancaught in
adultery.
Parables dont give a trite, compact answerto problems or needs,
but they lead to layers omeaning. With eyes o aith we see an
unoldingo the parable. When some parishioners learnedthat Columbias
street people had nowhere toeat on Saturday morning, they became
engagedin a parable with these citizens by inviting themto breakast
on Saturday morning rom 8:30 to10:00 at the church. Not only are
these broth-ers and sisters treated to breakast, but
Calvarysmembers who participate in the preparation othe meal and in
hosting it, sit down at Godstable and eat and talk with their
guests. To beinvited to tell ones story is a git and to havesomeone
listen to it respectully is an experiencethat seldom occurs. It is
a way o being honored.And or the parishioners, the breakast
openstheir minds and hearts to observation.
Small quantities o personal hygiene itemssuch as soap, razors,
deodorant, frst aid andhand wipes are laid out in colorul
plastic
baskets on a table, and the guests are invited tohelp themselves
according to their needs. Thusar, no guest has taken too many o
these gits.Instead, an item will be picked up and examinedand then
returned to its basket and another itemwill be looked at and then
perhaps chosen, butthe idea o enough seems to apply. Perhapsit is
partly because homelessness gives little orno room or storage, but
it is also because ourguests have learned how to get by with the
littlethat they have. Enough sufces.
Another layer o meaning or one o thehosts occurred when a man in
his early twen-ties came as a guest. He was clean shaven andnicely
dressed but had allen on hard times andwas living at St. Francis
House. His appearancereminded her greatly o her son, and she
otenreturns to the thought but or the grace o Godthat could be my
sons situation. Parables are tostories as the Golden Rule is to the
Ten Com-mandments. It is spreading the gospel with actsinstead o
words.
There are many levels o participation in theongoing parable at
Calvary Church, and each ous can be attuned to the Spirits leading.
Someare called to bake the mufns and pastries andto buy the ruit
and cheese and others are calledto serve them. Some are diners at
the table andthey listen to the guests stories. Since most oour
guests are men, it is especially meaningul i
male parishioners participate in these conversa-tions. Some
parishioners provide toiletries orsmall items o clothing such as
hats or bandanasto ward o the hot sun, while others contributemoney
or purchasing ood and needed items.Everyone can spend time in
prayer or the con-tinuation and success o the Saturday
morningbreakast. Several helpers have commented onthe sense o
community this activity has providedor Calvary Church and how much
they appreci-ate the way the congregation continues to come
orward to provide resources tocarry out the parable.
The guests themselveshave been courteous. No one
leaves Calvary Church withoutthanking us or our ood
andtoiletries, and several peoplehave expressed, throughouttheir
meal, their appreciationor what we are doing.
On a recent Sundaymorning we saw several oour guests o the day
beoreat the coee hour between
our services. They seemed totally comortable inour presence as
they enjoyed coee and cook-ies. Perhaps they will attend our
worship servicesometime in the uture.
In sharing the good news o God, St. Francis
o Assisi is reported to have said, I preaching isnecessary
fnally do it with words. But frst mustcome actions that demonstrate
the love o Godwhich enriches all who participate. That is whatwe
are doing in our parable at Calvary Churchon Saturday morning.
Mary Faith Russell,married to William since1953, mother of
three,retired from teaching in1992. Raised a Method-ist, she joined
the Episco-pal Church in 1971 andhas been a member ofChurch of the
Holy Com-munion, University City,Trinity, Central WestEnd, and is
presently aparishioner at Calvarywhere she is active in
theNewcomers Committeeand has served as a Eucharistic Minister.
Would you like to contribute an essay on mission in
yourcommunity? Submissions preferred by email, publication isnot
guaranteed. Submission deadlines for diocesan publica-tions are
listed in the online calendar at diocesemo.org.
Intersection at Tenth and Broadway, Columbia
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