Poll: Most in Conn. support gay marriage ruling

While I was away, the CT State Supreme Court made its ruling.

You can also read about it here.

Does it change anything for us? "Religious institutions would not be forced into providing marriage venues for same-sex couples when the state recrafts the civil-union statute into a civil-marriage law." - so says one article.

Right now, it doesn't change anything for St. Peter's. Although I agree with the court's decision and am pleased to see that all in CT can get married, this is a step that our congregation will make when it is ready.

As for Governor Rell's comments that it doesn't reflect the majority of the people of Connecticut, the latest poll would seem to indicate otherwise. I do agree with her that amending the State Constitution will not meet with success for those opposed. In fact, I think it is a waste of time.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) -- A new poll says 53 percent of Connecticut residents support last week's state Supreme Court ruling that legalized gay and lesbian marriages. The University of Connecticut surveyed 502 adults over the weekend for The Hartford Courant. The poll says 42 percent of state residents don't agree with the ruling, and it shows Democrats and Republicans differ widely over the issue. Seventy-two percent of Democrats say they support the court's decision, while 69 percent of Republicans are against it. Fifty-two percent of independent voters agree with Friday's 4-3 ruling. The poll's margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Opponents of gay marriage are leading an effort to try to change the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

"Over the weekend, I read the Connecticut Supreme Court's gay marriage decision. It's actually a rather moving document: a cogent defense of gay rights that efficiently demolishes the chief arguments against marriage equality, while offering what struck me as a reasonable defense of judicial intervention in the matter." by Richard Just, read his article here.

Living in Fear

In the midst of these troubling times, we are reminded that God is our refuge and strength. In the midst of fear of what might happen next, we can pray.

Some prayers for these days:

Be present, O merciful God, and protect us through the hours of this night, so that we who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life may rest in your eternal changelessness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and confidence shall be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Episcopal Church, Slavery & Apology

Expressing "profound regret that the Episcopal Church lent the institution of slavery its support and justification based on Scripture," Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori issued a public apology October 4 for the church's involvement in the institution of transatlantic slavery.

She went on to state that "after slavery was formally abolished, [the church] continued for at least a century to support de jure and de facto segregation and discrimination."

The historic gesture of remorse drew hundreds of Episcopalians, both black and white, to St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia October 3-4 for the Day of Repentance -- a two-day solemn observance which included presentations that examined racism in the past, present, and future.

Read the entire Episcopal News Article here.

Read Presiding Bishop Schori's sermon here.

You can view the video on "Day of Repentance" - Hundreds of Episcopalians journeyed to St. Thomas African Episcopal Church in Philadelphia on October 3 to participate in the first of a two-day solemn observance that will culminate with the Episcopal Church publicly apologizing for its involvement in the institution of transatlantic slavery - view it here.

Traces of the Trade

Northerners like to think they bear less guilt than Southerners for our nation’s ugly history with slavery and the slave trade. They are dead wrong, according to Katrina Browne, a committed Episcopalian from Boston. Browne learned that the hard way. Now she’s spreading the word to compatriots, North and South, in a manner she hopes will help to heal what she describes as our country’s greatest wound.

Brown, 37, has created a documentary film to tell the story of her ancestors from New England, to spell out the legacy white Americans have inherited from the history of slavery. The DeWolf family of Rhode Island was the largest slave-trading family in early America. More than 10,000 Africans – kidnapped, chained, beaten – made the hellish middle passage across the Atlantic in the holds of DeWolf-owned ships. Over the course of three generations, from 1769 to 1820, 47 of these ships made runs, building trade and the family’s fortune. Katrina Browne is refusing to side-step that unsavory history. Instead she is facing it head on in a very public way … with her 80-minute feature film, five years in the making.

Learn more here and here and here.

Can you eat cage free eggs?

All Creatures Great and Small, a campaign of Animals & Religion (of the Humane Society of the US), aims to raise awareness about our responsibilities to all animals, including those raised for food. In recent decades, agriculture has taken a harsh turn and animals on factory farms are treated like mere objects. Eating is an activity that has moral and spiritual significance.

Take a pledge to make more humane food choices for the month of October.

Endorsements for this campaign:

The Right Reverend John Bryson Chane, Episcopal Bishop of Washington

Our faithful stewardship of creation includes being mindful of the animals entrusted to our care. The principles that underlie the All Creatures Great and Small campaign are consistent with the religious spirit that compels us to show them our mercy and regard. More humane and sustainable dietary choices can be a powerful testimony of our faith and service to the Lord, especially in a time when the whole of creation depends so heavily upon our goodwill.

The Very Reverend Samuel T. Lloyd III, Dean, Washington National Cathedral

At the center of the Christian faith is a belief that the whole of God’s creation deserve reverence and respect. Washington National Cathedral is honored to support the All Creatures Great and Small campaign as an expression of our commitment to be stewards of the earth and its inhabitants. We believe improving farm animal welfare is part of a broader moral imperative to honor all living creatures and we look forward to hosting the kick-off of the campaign at the Cathedral.

The 74th General Convention of the Episcopal Church approved a resolution which "encourages its members to ensure that husbandry methods for captive and domestic animals would prohibit suffering in such conditions as puppy mills, and factory farms… [and committed to] educating its members to adhere to ethical standards in the care and treatment of animals [and]… advocating for legislation protecting animals…" (General Convention 2003 – D016. Support Ethical Care of Animals)

“Animals, as part of God’s creation, have rights which must be respected. It behooves us always to be sensitive to their needs and to the reality of their pain.”
-Dr. Donald Coggan, former Archbishop of Canterbury

Sermon: St. Francis (Blessing of Animals)

“If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men.” ~ St. Francis

It is St. Francis that reminds us that everything is connected. How we treat animals is the way we also deal with each other. On this day, when we remember this great saint of the Church and his words and works, it behooves us to remember the creatures we care for, our pets, and all living creatures.

I recently came across All Creatures Great and Small, which is a campaign of Animals & Religion of the Humane Society, which aims to raise awareness about our responsibilities to all animals, including those raised for food.

“In recent decades, agriculture has taken a harsh turn and animals on factory farms are treated like mere objects. Eating is an activity that has moral and spiritual significance.”

Indeed the Eucharist, a Christian sacrament is deeply rooted in eating and drinking and having a meal, it is an example of the relationship between food and faith.

This year, the All Creatures Great and Small Campaign focuses on the cruel and inhumane system of battery cages for hens.

"While many of us picture an idyllic Old MacDonald's farm when we think about where our eggs come from, nothing could be further from the truth. Most eggs produced in the United States come from industrialized factory farms confining hundreds of thousands—if not millions—of laying hens in overcrowded battery cages."

This October, we are being asked to switch to cage-free eggs (or eggs substitutes), a simple commitment that can make a big difference. You can take the pledge online.

“They too, are created by the same loving hand of God which Created us...It is our duty to Protect them and to promote their well-being.” ~ Mother Teresa.

A story of St. Francis:

Once, when he was staying in the town of Greccio, a hare was caught in a trap and brought live to Francis by a brother. Seeing the hare, Francis was moved to pity and said, "Brother hare, come here. Why did you let yourself be fooled in this way?" As soon as the hare was released by the brother, he dashed over to Francis and, without being forced to do so, jumped into his lap as the safest place available. When he had rested there a while, Francis, stroking him with maternal affection, let him go so that he could return to the wild. Each time he was placed on the ground, the hare ran back to Francis' lap. Finally Francis asked that the brothers carry him to a nearby forest.

May we have the same care for animals as St. Francis did in his time. Amen.

Sermon: October 5

What does God expect of you?

I think there are times we live in fear of God’s expectations, that we could never be the person God wants us to be, we assume that God wants us to be perfect. Too often we set the bar too high, never able to meet those expectations that are often our own and not God’s expectations.

The collect of the day that we prayed earlier reminds us that it is God who is always more ready to hear than we to pray. Our God who created us, gave us breath and life, is ready to hear our prayers, what’s on our minds and hearts. And God is ready to give more than we either desire or deserve. I am reminded of a poem I read recently by Claytia Doran (God sees us as we can be):

You sometimes feel so worthless and you feel so all alone.
but you don't have to feel that way, my friend.
i've got happiness to loan.
Here's the words i'll say to you,
to make your troubles seem far,
'god sees us as we can be. but, he loves us as we are.'

He sees you striving to be the best, in everything you try.
but, he's happy with you, now.
so my friend, don't you cry.
Be glad to be who you are.
you are special, near and far.
for, god sees you as you can be. but, he loves you as you are.

It is God who sees beyond us, knowing what we could be, but loving us as the imperfect beings we are. I hear that reflected in the second sentence from that collect where we ask God to pour upon us the abundance of mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask. And we pray in Jesus name. For it is our faith in Jesus that leads us to pray for God’s love and mercy.

We hear that echoed in Paul’s letter to the Philippians, as he writes that he relies on his faith in Jesus to lead him to righteousness. That is our faith too, to rely on Jesus, the cornerstone of who we are, even as we don’t always get things right. God loves us as we are. But that is not to say there are no expectations from God for we hear in the reading from Exodus, the giving of the Ten Commandments which still guides us in how we ought to live our lives today. And we hear it, in the Gospel, in Jesus’ parable of the wicked tenets. Jesus tell us about…

A landowner leases his vineyard to some tenants. When he sends slaves to collect his produce at harvest, the tenants beat some, kill others and refuse to do what they had said they will do. When the son comes, they kill him thinking that it all will be theirs. What will the owner do? Jesus asks. They reply, the landowner will get rid of the tenants to a miserable death and give it to others who will indeed give the produce.

Jesus is telling his parable in the midst of those who do not believe in him, they do not understand Jesus as the cornerstone but they understand his parable that he is the son and they are the wicked tenants and they want to arrest him but fear the crowds…

And yet if we think about the parable, we are now the generations who are the tenants in God’s great vineyard called earth. How do we give of the harvest today? Do we give back to God a generous portion of the produce?

The warning of the last line, “The kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom.” is a reminder that God has expectations that we produce fruit. Not unblemished, perfect fruit, but fruit of who we are, our time, our talent, our treasure. Our generosity of giving these away to others is an expectation of God even as we stumble in doing this, even as we hoard and forget to be generous in difficult times. God is not waiting for us to fail so God can scold and punish us. No, God is waiting for us to follow the way shown to us by Jesus, to live in faith so we can truly have joyous and generous lives, even when our world says it knows a better way, even when others say no…

I think of a story…

For 17 years, she had been a member of the custodial staff at an elementary school, cleaning classrooms, bathrooms, offices and the teachers’ lounge. Every student and teacher at the school knew and liked the generous and hard-working janitor. Every morning, before beginning work at 1 P.M., she took courses at a local college.

After seven long years of juggling her studies with the demands of her work and caring for her family, she completed her degree in education. She then applied for a teaching opening at the very school where she had mopped floors and cleaned toilets for so long. But the principal felt that since everyone knew her as a janitor, she could not be effective in the classroom in the role of teacher. So the would-be teacher reluctantly accepted another one-year contract for a custodial position.

But one principal’s reason for rejecting her was exactly what made the janitor the ideal candidate at another elementary school. The principal there had once been a teacher at her school and remembered the care and pride she demonstrated when cleaning the classrooms. “Our kids are one step out of the projects. We want them to know what they can achieve. [She] has it, and I’m hoping she can give it to our kids,” the second principal said.

The onetime custodian now teaches fifth grade where she is beloved and respected by her students. There is one link in to her past: At the end of the day, her room is always clean: “I try to help the custodians.” [The New York Times, September 22, 1993.]

That teacher who does not forget her former days as a custodian, is one in whom God’s expectations are realized who produces the fruit of the kingdom even if some could not see beyond her former duties. God likewise is calling us forth to produce such fruit, to live by faith, to see God’s expectations as not the “do this” / “don’t do that” like our world thinks it is, but God’s expectation of us living our lives as fully as we can, in faith and hope and love.

“I have been all things unholy.” St. Francis of Assisi once said. “If God can work through me, God can work through anyone.”

Indeed, God is working through you and me right now. May we live in faith in Jesus being generous in all things, and know that God sees us as we can be, but, God loves us as we are. Amen.

Follow-up to my sermon on Greed

Greed, to put it mildly, is no longer good.

Today, Gordon Gekko could not get away with the paean to greed that he delivered in the 1987 movie “Wall Street.” Not after Alan Greenspan denounced “infectious greed” before Congress in 2002. Not when every third book about finance and corporate power has the word “greed” in the title. Not when the presidential nominee of the traditionally pro-business party is blaming Wall Street’s greed for the current financial crisis.

Denouncing greed, however, appears easier than defining it.

Read it here. Modern Market Thinking Has Devalued a Deadly Sin by PETER STEINFELS

Of course, it’s all Gordon Gekko’s fault! “Greed and irresponsibility,” blasted Barack Obama. “Greed and excess and corruption,” charged John McCain. President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva could tell from as far away as Brazil that the “boundless greed of a few” blew up the American financial system. Why didn’t I think of that?

With the eureka moment behind us, I would suggest that this insight offers a way to try to restore the abused financial markets to health. If greed is to blame, the question is whether we can line up a reasonable array of alternative incentives — and disincentives — to do away with greed for good.

This will be no easy task. From populist opprobrium to elitist disdain — standard social behavioral devices have proved unable to dent humanity’s greedy nature.

Read it here. A Cure for Greed By EDUARDO PORTER