Silence = Death

Christians are called, in the Book of Common Prayer (p.260), to “contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression.” But that is exactly what Katharine Jefferts Schori has done by choosing to ignore the organized, national scapegoating of Gay and Lesbian persons in Nigeria, so that she could come home with the Anglican [...]

Lord in your mercy, hear our prayer

I am trying to get Davis Mac-Iyalla, the great and prophetic Gay Anglican activist from Nigeria, to come to the United States before he gets killed.
It may take 5-10 thousand dollars. The U.S. may not not grant him a visa unless it believes he has a financial reason to return to his own country. They [...]

Be at peace; God does not make orphans

Alleluia! not as orphans
are we left in sorrow now;
Alleluia! He is near us,
faith believes, nor questions how;
Though the cloud from sight received him
when the forty days were o’er
shall our hearts forget his promise,
‘I am with you evermore’?
—William Chatterdon Dix, 1867

Souls that hurt

Tanzania is over and the damage is done.
Many Gay and Lesbian souls are hurting today. The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Anglican Communion have turned their backs on us, and on our millions of Straight friends. We are humiliated, again. Scapegoated, again. By Christians—again.
True, a couple of bishops have risen to our defense in [...]

In Essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, charity

St. Augustine said that about 1600 years ago, and yesterday Kendall Harmon repeated it on The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.
His debate opponent Susan Russell managed not to respond to it, when she could have easily clarified what the schism in the Episcopal Church is all about. So I will say it for her:
“The schismatics [...]

Nigeria Scapegoat Law Advances

Changing Attitude Nigeria
13 February 2007
Urgent appeal to the Primates of the Anglican Communion
Dear Archbishops,
The bill to ban same sex-relationships has been dormant for some time in the
Nigerian House of Representatives. Due to recent pressure from Nigerian LGBT
Rights Organizations and other international defenders of LGBT Human Rights,
the bill is going to be debated again tomorrow, 14 [...]

Conference of Lay Ministers 1.0

Bonnie Anderson, president of the House of Deputies, is the top layperson in The Episcopal Church
Over the past few weeks, as I’ve gotten into the first stages of contemplative prayer, I’ve wondered if lay ministers in the Church would benefit from forming an association for mutual recognition and support.
I belonged to a great one [...]

Megachurch vs. Episcopal Church

Today on my main prayer site, dailyoffice.org, I posted a new poll question. We’ve been dealing with evangelism and church growth lately, and there’s a new survey out called “Faith Communities Today 2005.” It’s the biggest congregational survey ever done in the U.S., with over 3000 participating worship communities, including Christians, Muslims and Jews. To [...]

UCC welcomes the Cathedral of Hope

Since the first of the year I’ve been watching the video feeds of Sunday services at the Cathedral of Hope, a Gay/Lesbian megachurch in Dallas. The services there are absolutely wonderful. I urge everyone with broadband to check them out here.
The Cathedral of Hope has just been accepted into America’s leading denomination for inclusion and [...]

The day the Lord has made

In August 2004, having just bought my first house, I found myself with a lot to thank God for, so I started a website (dailyoffice.org) to reproduce in handy form the psalms, lessons and prayers of Morning and Evening Prayer. The site currently averages about 100 visitors a day—not huge numbers, but I’m glad to [...]