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A MESSAGE FROM THE SENIOR WARDEN
When I first visited St. Nicholas in early 2004, I was worried that my partner, Mike, and I would be given the cold shoulder. We had come to expect disapproval and rejection from organized religion; after all, Mike had grown up Roman Catholic, and I had been raised within the Conservative branch of Judaism. We had both experienced dirty looks, hurtful comments, and open hostility from the faiths of our childhoods. We had heard promising things, however, about the progressive stance of the Episcopal Church on human sexuality issues, and were curious to see if the claims were true.
We were absolutely stunned when the people at St. Nicholas welcomed us with smiles and enthusiasm. I thought that perhaps they hadn’t figured out that we were a gay couple, so I told the priest, Steve, who simply said with a bemused smile, "well, I figured." That day was truly transformational for me, not only because it convinced us to come back, but also because it led me to seek a deep spiritual life as a Christian and as an Episcopalian.
During the Easter Vigil I was baptized, and later that summer, I cemented my commitment to my new faith in the rite of confirmation. Over time, I became engaged in teaching adult education, preparing teens for confirmation, preaching, pastoral care, and leading worship. This involvement nourished and deepened my own spirituality and fostered bonds of trust and affection between me and the congregation. As I grew in God, I felt guided toward a concentrated life of prayer and service, and am now discerning a call to the priesthood.
In 2006, the congregation elected me Senior Warden, the principal lay leader of the church, with responsibility for all of the secular matters relating to the life and property of the congregation. I realized that any church that could elect me to this office of trust and responsibility must be a truly inclusive place. But we don't just include, we celebrate everyone for who they are, including the ways in which we are all different. This is at the heart of our identity and our theology, and it’s why so many LGBTQ people and families have found a home with us.
Unlike a lot of churches, we encourage everyone to ask their own questions and to follow their own spiritual path. You don’t have to bend yourself into a pretzel to be at St. Nicholas; you can be absolutely yourself. The path of spiritual maturity cannot be walked without integrity and authenticity, which is why I drive from Boystown to Elk Grove every Sunday.
Blessings,
Ethan
A LETTER FROM THE BISHOP'S COMMITTEE TO
THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
Dear Archbishop Williams:
As the vicar, assisting priest, and entire bishop's committee of St. Nicholas, we write to express our great disappointment at your decision to exclude the bishop of New Hampshire from the official proceedings at the 2008 Lambeth Conference. Though not surprised, we nevertheless are saddened and dismayed by this action.
While we recognize the many difficulties you face and the great strains in the worldwide Anglican Communion, we believe history will not look kindly upon this and related actions. The Christ who draws people to our church is a Savior whose arms are open wide to embrace all. Indeed, it is hard to imagine a Savior who does otherwise.
At its best, Christianity -- especially in our Anglican incarnation of it -- follows the example of Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who gathers the lambs in his arms and holds us all close to his breast, especially the one(s) who became lost. We know it is difficult, indeed seemingly impossible, to embrace both +Gene of New Hampshire and +Peter of Nigeria.
Yet it is imperative that you do and we do. Just as it would not be right to impose U.S. understandings of human sexuality on other cultures, it is wrong to insist that a particular political interpretation of Scripture, however traditional, must be normative for the Western church in general and the U.S. in particular.
It is quite clear the mainstream church in the West is in decline and, although the reasons for this are complicated, one factor certainly is the difficulty the church has engaging a rapidly changing culture. As a faith, we have much to offer in a time of rapid change, but we also have much to learn from the cultures in which we live and seek to share Christ’s Good News.
The historic difficulty of Christianity in understanding the diversity of human sexuality has been particularly problematic in modern Western cultures and is especially discouraging to us at St. Nicholas, where we see plainly the holiness of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. The lives of our LGBT members reveal a depth of holiness and love that far outweighs those relatively few words of Scripture with which the proponents of "biblical tradition" condemn them.
The decision to exclude Bishop Robinson, whose greatest sin seems to be his refusal to live a secret life, from official participation at Lambeth denies his fellow bishops a powerful witness to the profound truths we have experienced in our community. It is also profoundly disrespectful to our LGBT members and other LGBT Episcopalians and Anglicans, and makes the proclamation of the Gospel more difficult to LGBT people everywhere. It is likewise disrespectful to many other non-LGBT people, including many in our congregation, who have been drawn to St. Nicholas or the Episcopal Church precisely because we lovingly embrace all God’s people.
We are proud to be Episcopalians and proud to be part of the Anglican Communion. There is much in our tradition that could enable our denomination to be a beacon drawing others to a more holy and nuanced understanding of human sexuality.
Although we do not question your good intentions, we lament the failure to embrace both +Gene and +Peter. It leaves us chagrined for Bishop Robinson and the Diocese of New Hampshire and for the many in the United States and throughout the world who rejoice in the episcopate and the grace of Bishop Robinson, but especially for our Anglican Communion, which right now is casting institutional shadow rather than the light of the Gospel upon human sexuality.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
The Rev. Stephen Martz, vicar
The Rev. Paul Brouillette, assisting priest
Mr. Ethan Jewett, warden
Ms. Mary Anne O’Rourke, warden
The Rev. Manuel Borg, bishop’s committee member
Mr. David Fleer, bishop’s committee member
Ms. Pat Kalicki, bishop’s committee member
Ms. Karen Martin, bishop’s committee member
Mr. David Taylor, bishop’s committee member
cc: pboffice@episcopalchurch.org
bishop@episcopalchicago.org
bishop@ednin.org
Bruce@wydiocese.org
tely@dioceseofvermont.org
grinnh@aol.com
NW SUBURBS LGBTQ SPIRITUALITY MEETUP GROUP
May LGBTQ Spirituality Meetup: "Christian Sexual Ethics
Friday, May , 2008
7:00 PM
In May, the Rev. Liz Stedman, Episcopal chaplain at Northwestern University, will lead the group in a discussion of Christian sexual ethics. More details will be forthcoming.
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