Also Sprach Rowan Williams

Today the Archbishop of Canterbury released both his Advent Letter to the Primates and his Christmas Message to the Anglican Communion. Reactions and conversations to the Advent Letter abound in the blogosphere. Check out Father Jake Stops The World, TitusOneNine, In a Godward Direction, Stand Firm, An Inch At A Time, and BabyBlueOnline, for just a few examples. You can find links to others on each of those, if you wish to read more. It is quite clear that neither "side" of the current Anglican Tempest in a Teapot is really happy with his letter to the Primates.

One of the few to address both letters is Mark Harris on his Preludium site. I think he hits the nail on the head when he writes:

The message to the Communion is much the better letter. It soars. At its close he asks, "Let us ask ourselves honestly whose company we are ashamed to be seen in - and then ask where God would be. If he has embraced the failing and fragile world of human beings who know their needs, then we must be there with him." Meditations like this is [sic] why so many of us have had such hopes in the ABC.

Having had time to digest the Advent Letter, however, I can understand why everyone is so upset--why I am upset. We wait for Rowan Williams to display our version of decisive leadership, and the Archbishop issues yet another tiptoe through the tulips. I see him trapped in the belief that the Windsor Report, the "Instruments of Communion," and the mythical Covenant will save the Anglican Communion, which itself has achieved mythical status in the eyes of many. The reality is that the Anglican Communion as we thought it was has ceased to exist, if it ever really did. What will emerge from this time of discernment, debate, and procedural maneuvering remains to be seen.

Perhaps the Archbishop understands what swirls around him more than we give him credit for. Maybe that explains officially releasing to the wider Communion his Advent Letter to the Primates on the same day as his Christmas Message to the Communion. Or, maybe he is simply grasping at anything to keep the Communion from falling apart on his watch.

The jury is still out.

Peace,
Jeffri

Enough Already - Part 2

A couple of things happened this morning that have caused me to re-evaluate my "update" of last evening. I was having a conversation with a colleague this morning about Antiracism workshops she had conducted over the couple of weeks. People wanted to know what they could do to combat racism as individuals. She said the internet is one place where everyone can have an effect is the internet. Do not participate in racial jokes, or blond jokes, or fat jokes, or ethnic jokes. Call people to account. That set me to thinking.

Then I opened my email. While they are not many--not even five--derogatory comments about Bishop Schofield's weight have been popping up on a couple of my mail lists. One writer referred to the bishop as "his plumptitude." Even ONE such comment is too many. To me such jokes are as inappropriate as fag jokes aimed at Bishop Robinson--or anyone else, for that matter. They belong on the list with racial, ethnic, and yes, even blond jokes. NOT ACCEPTABLE.

So I say again, ENOUGH ALREADY. No more jokes about Bishop Schofield's weight--or his sexuality for that matter. They are inappropriate an unacceptable.

Peace,
Jeffri

Enough Already

The recent vote by the Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin to disassociate itself from the Episcopal Church and affiliate with the Province of Southern Cone has caused a lot of heated commentary on both sides of the issue. However, there is a disturbing trend I am observing in some of the liberal blogs. Several writers and commentators have made inappropriate, and in some cases nasty, remarks about Bishop Schofield's weight--sometimes using a now familiar media photo, which I refuse to show here, taken of the Bishop during the Convention.

Let me be clear here, Bishop Schofield is fat. He is not the only overweight bishop in the church. And there are plenty of overweight (okay, fat, and that goes for bishops, too) clergy and laity, as well--including me. But his weight has absolutely nothing to do with his political views, his theology, nor his ability to be a bishop. It does not make him a bad person, or a good one. It simply means that he has a health issue that he, and only he, can do something about.

By all means, take Bishop Schofield to task for his actions. Refute his statements and arguments. Disagree with his views. But knock off the jokes and insinuations about his weight. They are inappropriate and downright mean. I expected better of my colleagues.

Peace,
Jeffri

UPDATE: After a couple of conversations with others, I took this post down for a while. I went back and reread the blogs where I saw the comments I'd written about. Either some of the comments had been deleted, or I'd overreacted to what was there. Since there doesn't seem to be a rash of deletions in the comments sections, and in fact, I found comments of concern about Bishop Schofield's health, I can say I did overreact. Not that there weren't some rather derroguatory comments about Bishop Schofield's weight, they just were not as numerous as I perceived.

Two things happened yesterday that brought all of this to a head. First, as I was out getting lunch yesterday I happened to bump into someone by accident. Their response was "Watch where you're going fatso, you're taking up too much room!" Second, last evening I was talking to a friend who lives in the Midwest who'd been hospitalized last week. I'd heard from friends about it, and last night was the first chance we'd had to touch base. It turns out he was hospitalized for a mild stroke. This friend is my age, and by no stretch of the imagination is he overweight. He eats a fairly healthy diet--he has to for a number of other health reasons. And yet he had a stroke. Scary.

My overreaction brings another point I'd like us all to think about. In this day of electronic media, the web, blogs, etc., we have a tendency to react first and think later. We all need to be more mindful of our tendency to do that.

Enough said.

Peace,
Jeffri

San Joaquin Departs

Today the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin officially changed its constitution, disaffiliated itself from the Episcopal Church, and moved itself into the Province of the Southern Cone under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Most Rev. Gregory Venables. You can check out the news stories by visiting both TitusOneNine and EpiScope for collections of news stories and commentary.

This is not the first time Bishop Venables has extended his "protection" to a diocese outside of his province. In September of 2005 the Diocese of Recife in Brazil--or at least its bishop and the majority of its clergy--was "recognized" by Bishop Venables. Nor will it likely be the last, given Bishop Venables offer to disaffected dioceses in the Episcopal Church. The dioceses of Fort Worth and Quincy are also considering affiliating with the Southern Cone.

Nor are the Igreja Episcopal Anglicana do Brasil and the Episcopal Church the only places where the Southern Cone has cast its nets. Bishop Venables and the leadership of the province extended the same invitation to dissenting dioceses in the Anglican Church of Canada. Two retired bishops from the Anglican Church of Canada have already moved to the Southern Cone.

And so the sundering begins in earnest. It started in dribs and drabs, congregation by congregation and bishop by bishop, but now begins the surge. I have no doubt that lawsuits will abound and that the lines drawn in the sand will become cast in concrete. The issues confronting San Joaquin have a greater significance than many folks on both sides of the issue realize just now. How much longer before some of the liberal and moderate dioceses in more conservative provinces follow in the footsteps of their sisters and brothers in San Joaquin, Forth Worth, Quincy, and Pittsburgh and seek to affiliate with provinces more in line with their way of doing things?

San Joaquin will be a test case in more ways than one. How will congregations who wish to remain in the Episcopal Church be treated? We did get one hint from Bishop Schofield during a break in this mornings prodeedings at the Diocesan Convention. The cameras and mikes of Anglcian TV were still on while the bishop had a conversation with one of his clergy who clearly disagreed with what the diocesan convention had just done. The bishop was promising the priest whatever support he needed, including the option of oversight by a bishop from another diocese. Someone must have realized that conversations were being overheard, because the camera and the mikes were soon shut off. If Bishop Schofield keeps that promise, the resulting model may prove beneficial throughout the Anglican Communion.

If the trend of dioceses leaving their current provinces and affiliating with other provinces along ideological lines, then we need to work out ways to make that happen with as much grace as possible. Perhaps that includes ceasing lawsuits and allowing parishes to take their property with them--for a payment to the province they are leaving. Otherwise, there may be many empty church buildings on both sides of the aisle, so to speak. Better to create goodwill and face reality than to drain our resources in rancorous fighting where no one really wins.

Peace,
Jeffri

The Decorations Are Up

Last evening I pulled the Christmas boxes down from their shelf in my back closet and put up my small tree and the Nativity scenes. I also went shopping earlier in the day and bought a new tablecloth at Home Goods, along with a runner and napkins. Here's what the table looks like:


The stack of file drawers that served as a place to put the tree last year went to Goodwill, so I had to find a different place. The nice thing about having a small tree is that it fits in many different places. Here is this year's:

You can see a corner of the mantelpiece on the left. The room with the table is just past the bookshelves on the left. Here is a close-up of the tree:

My collection of Nativity scenes and figures is mostly on the mantelpiece, except for one that is sitting on the dining room table. I've been introduced to Picasa, and it seemed like an ideal way to show you the collection. So here's the slide show:

Peace,
Jeffri

Saint Nicholas Day

When Brian and I were together he would usually take vacation at the beginning of December and go someplace warm. Most of the time, I was not able to get away at that time. Since Saint Nicholas Day usually fell during his vacation, I would pick a weekend afternoon and invite my friends to at tree-trimming Saint Nicholas celebration. I began celebrating Saint Nicholas Day in college, when the German Club would celebrate the festival every year. Even though Brian and I are no longer together, I have kept the tradition of putting up the tree and decorating the house on or near Saint Nicholas Day.

In my current apartment I have a small tinsel tree that I put up. Small being the key word when one lives in 450 square feet. For a number of years I would get a small live tree in a pot, which then would often be put out in the yard. Once I started going to Pennsylvania to spend Christmas with my brother, however, I lost a couple of them due to lack of water. The first year I lived in this apartment I had no tree at all but found I missed having one, even though I decorated the apartment. Two collections also vie for space when I decorate. One is various Saint Nicholas and Santa Claus figures, and the other consists of creches, nativity scenes, and nacimientos (really three different terms for the same thing) from around the world. Many of them were given to me by friends, and some of them I collected on my travels. Sometimes it seems like overkill, but I love to look at them and remember who gave them to me, or the trips during which I bought them. My parents gave me my very first nativity set--white ceramic with just Mary, Joseph, and the baby Jesus--when I was in college.

When my brother and I were little, Honey and Grandad, our maternal grandparents, would give us each an ornament every year. Our boxes would be brought out on Christmas Eve, and before going to bed, we would hang the ornaments around the living room. Christmas morning all of them would be on the tree that Santa set up when he came that night. When we outgrew Santa Claus, we would hang our own ornaments on the tree when the family set it up. For a number of years the family would exchange ornaments on that day. We no longer do, mostly because Mom and I each have more ornaments than we use on any given year. My brother and his wife still give their kids ornaments every year, so each of them, like my brother and me before them, will have ornaments of their own when they set out on their own.

Deciding when to put up the tree always resulted in a "discussion" once Scott and I were old enough and Santa Claus no longer brought the tree. My mother's family tended to put their tree up the day after Thanksgiving; my father's on Christmas Eve. Until my father died, it was rare that the tree was up more than a week before Christmas. When Brian and I were together the discussion was about what color lights. My family always had blue lights; his multi-colored ones. We compromised with white. After we separated, and I lived again with Mom for a few years, we put both blue and white lights on the tree, so some nights we lit the blue ones, some nights the white ones, and some nights both.

When we were kids, no matter when the tree was put up, my parents would pick a weekend in the middle of December to decorate the house. That included baking Christmas cookies. The highlight of that day was unpacking and setting up the creche. The rough wooden stable and ceramic figurines dated to my parents' first Christmas together. Once the stable was set up on its fabric "field," my father would hand my brother and I, in turn, a wrapped figure from the box. We would unwrap it and carry it carefully to Mom, who would place each one in the creche. It was a big deal to us who got the Baby Jesus to unwrap!

It is interesting to look back and see how our Christmas traditions have evolved over the years, with each family doing things a bit differently. But no matter how we celebrate those traditions, we have memories and stories that are shared every year. The traditions and the stories connect us as a family. So tomorrow, after I clean the apartment, I will unpack my Christmas boxes and remember the traditions and stories as I decorate.

Peace,
Jeffri

Advent I

Last Sunday I wrote about plunging into the "holiday season," and how difficult it is to find the quiet to engage in Advent. Obviously, my body decided otherwise. This morning I woke up to find that the cold I have been fighting off since returning from the Dominican Republic had finally settled into a head cold. As a result, I spent most of the day in bed and did not even get to church. Of course, I was not totally without church. I checked Elizabeth Kaeton's Telling Secrets to read her sermon for today. As always, Elizabeth's sermon provided lots of food for thought.

And a day in bed provided lots of time for reflection. I found myself thinking about Advent, Christmas, and the furor they provoke. Calls for boycotts of stores where employees do not wish customers "Merry Christmas," or of those where "Happy Holidays" is the norm. Sermons and blogs about the "true meaning" of the season, as well as those on how to keep a "Holy Advent." Sometimes I am not sure which is worse, the rampant commercialism and consumerism or the strident sermonizing against them. Since most of our treasured Christmas traditions predate the celebrations of "Christ's Mass," and Christians appropriated the Solstice Holiday rather late in the game, one wonders how "true" any of it is anyway.

As for the stress of the season, churches are as responsible for it as the merchants. Holiday bazaars, Advent and Christmas Pageant, extra services, choir rehearsals only slightly less in number than those leading up to Easter, charity baskets, gift drives, and, and and... Enough already!

The dark days surrounding the Winter Solstice have prompted celebrations and gift giving for generations beyond historical memories. We can enjoy those aspects of the holiday, in whatever form we celebrate it, without letting ourselves get totally caught up in the frenzy. I will wish my Jewish Friends "Happy Hanukkah" and my pagan ones "Blessed Yule." When I decorate the house, I will display my creche collection complete with its baby Jesuses before Christmas and the Wise Men before Epiphany. I will go to parties. I will finish buying presents for family and friends. I will find my quiet time when I need it, and not when someone else says I should be having it. I will play Christmas music. I will not let the Advent Police dictate when and how I enjoy the traditions and celebrations of the season.

Now if you will excuse me, I feel the urge to go bake gingerbread for Thursday.

Peace,
Jeffri