Monday, November 26, 2007

12,000 TO BE HONORED ON THE DC MALL


To honor LGBT military personnel fired under 10 USC Sec. 654, better known as the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, (enacted November 30, 1993) 12,000 Flags on the Mall will take place starting on the 14th anniversary of the policy's enactment, November 30, 2007, and continue through Sunday, December 2nd. During that weekend, each of the 12,000 flags installed on Washington's National Mall will serve to honor an individual service member discharged under "Don't Ask."

Saturday, November 24, 2007

DANIEL, an "e" partner ...

On a more personal level...

I belong to a number of blogs. One of them, LECTIONARY EPISTLE NOTES is committed to reading, studying and commenting on each week's lectionary epistle reading. It was monitored by Rev. Daniel Berry. One day I became aware that the weekly email NOTES had stopped coming.

In the back of my mind I started to think: was my junk mail collector getting better; was I too liberal; did I offend someone? I was too busy to do the fact checking until tonight when I got a "NOTE" saying that Daniel -- who kept it going -- had died of a massive heart attack over the holidays. So who cares? I do for one.

You see Daniel was on the opposite end of the theological spectrum as I am. After we began a series of private messages, we both knew it. That did not stop us from communicating albeit just over the internet.

And it was Daniel I wrote to when, after all these years, I realized I did not have a concrete understanding of "salvation." Driving home one night something told me, "Ask Daniel." I asked the right man. Despite our differences he walked me though my own exploration. Though him and with Him, I re-discovered salvation.

I don't claim to "know" this blind pastor from a tiny Texas town, I cannot go to his services ... I was not even aware he was married ... I just know that for weeks on end we wrote back and forth about a host of issues; one very important one for me, and that this self described "Orthodox Presbyterian" help me along the way.

Daniel, Daniel may flights of angels see thee to thy rest ...

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR...

Part of being able to appreciate this bit beauty might come being familiar The Episcopal Church in American or in this particular case the Anglican Church in England.

I remember a priest saying to me once, after a state funeral at the National Cathedral in Washington DC: "We really know how to do worship." He had every right to claim what is a fact. This is one of those moments ... a song is sung and it marks the beginning the holy season of Christmas.

Friday, November 23, 2007

MARRAIGE SOLUTION, a blessing...


The solution to all of the issues surrounding marriage today is simple: disallow the clergy from carrying out a legal state function. Clergy can not divorce, why permit them to marry.

Some churches have already questioned their participation in a state role. "We are looking at the function of our church in marriage ceremonies," says Anita Hill, a pastor at Saint Paul-Reformation, Saint Paul, MI. "We're not in the wedding business; we're in the blessing business."

Rev. Hill’s church joins dozens of congregations and clergy persons who now refuse to carry out a state function. All couples may use the church for blessings, this solution reasons. The only difference is that heterosexual couples take the added step of finding a court house to make their "contract" legal.

The United Church of Christ(UCC) says dozens of its churches across the country have begun to forsake the legal aspect of marriage and that individual clergy persons are refusing to sign marriage certificates. “When a law is not morally right, we are not going to follow it," says Reverend Don Portwood of Lyndale, MI.

“Jettisoning the legal portion of marriage has only reinforced the spiritual aspect,” Rev. Hill says. "As a congregation, we started coming back to the importance of marriage as an institution to the understanding of the importance of having a communal ritual."

All people need the essential aspects of faith communities; in particular persons broken by divorce. As it is today, marriage is a blessing and divorce a curse. Jesus did celebrate at his friend's wedding but his entire ministry is summed up in the story of the Good Samaritan.

Rethinking the legal aspect of marriage will clarify and enhance the roles both the church and government must play in a healthy society. The role of the church is to bless the union and pick up the broken hearted; the role of the government is to legally bind and dissolve a contact. Each should do their part well.

NO UNITER HERE...


During an interview (here) with the Christian Broadcasting Network's David Brody, Senator Barack Obama (D-IL), seeking the presidency in 2008, responded to a question on special rights for LGBT citizens.

Obama disagrees with the notion that things like hospital visitations for same-sex spouses are special rights. "How would Jesus feel about somebody not being able to visit somebody they love when they're sick?" He asks.

But that response is a dance around the simple issue of full equality. Perhaps it is his way of sticking to his campaign pledge of being a “uniter.” The question is, Mr. Obama, “Why aren't the basic rights of LGBT citizens important to you?

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

SOMETHING-OR-OTHER DAY





Now, this is really cool...

I went to Grandparent's Day at Az's school ... let's get something straight, I totally object to the name of this yearly event, and everyone who goes is way older, like hundreds of years older than me but, to be honest? ... I don't know what else to call it.

During the morning the Head Master keep saying, "I know what an effort it is for you to come to this event." ... I wanted to smack him! After the classroom did their shows, I told him that it was NOT an effort ... how could it be! ... not if I get to see Az on stage doing her show and singing "We Are the World" (LOLOLOLOL) and, showing me her classroom, projects, talking to her teacher.

In the play yard she did one of those, "Frank" and ran-over-and-jumped-into-my-arms things ... almost got my back but it was worth it ... and, finally, I understand why Tyler calls her "monkey" ... I mean, in the yards she is all over the place. And this second grader can put together one of those USA puzzle maps (without outlines) in like two minutes ... and, knows the names of the states!

Two years ago, I gave her a plant to take to school. Why? because here brown thumbed parents gave her an azalea; the kind that die in two weeks ... but, "Mr. Gardener" here knows that one particular broad-leaf succulent will last for six months without water ... so there, by her classroom door was our plant and a picture of her ... I love Grandparents' day!

There is nothing better in the world...

Monday, November 19, 2007

TUTU ON THE CHURCH TODAY




In an interview with BBC Radio 4 (here)
, Nobel Peace Laureate and South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu said the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, had failed to demonstrate that God is "welcoming".

He also repeated accusations that the Church was "obsessed" with the issue of gay priests and it should rather be focusing on global problems such as Aids.

"Our world is facing problems - poverty, HIV and Aids - a devastating pandemic, and conflict," said Archbishop Tutu, 76. "God must be weeping looking at some of the atrocities that we commit against one another.

Friday, November 16, 2007

A SIMPLE EMAIL ... draft 2

This was my own way of explaining one sense of my faith in light of the media attention given to some high-profile, fundamentalist Christians and their attitudes. It's not complicated.

In your email you mentioned our "buddy," the Rev. Fred Phelps! God love 'em! A reporter said recently that when he wrote a story about Phelps (and his family church) he came away feeling "dirty." I have had two run-ins with him -- once at church and once at a community event. I’d say feeling “dirty” is a good word!

And if you have not heard last week Rev. Phelps lost an 11 million dollar law suit for taking one of his "Glad American Soldiers are Dead because America is Tolerant Towards Fags" protests to the grave site memorial of an American Soldier who was killed in Iraq. That is just hateful.

That same reporter said that when he mentioned Phelps to other pastors in Topeka, Kansas, where Phelps is from, that they would turn away as if in disgust. But the point is well taken; those same pastors preach from the same Gospel and in some, but not all, cases may preach a similar but less public version of the "Phelps interpretation" of the Bible.

The reason I said "God love 'em" is because more than anyone I can think of the Rev. Phelps, and his "God Hates Fags" ministry, continues to draw attention to the hatred and prejudice that gay people face and how it continues to be used to justify social inequity and individual attacks on them. Like it or not, Phelps’ brand of theology is the natural extension of any so-called Biblical interpretation that says "homosexual practice is sinful."

The "light on the hill" here does not come from that Biblical misread but more importantly from the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. It gives equal rights to all of us not just to him and his despicable attendance at military funeral. In fact the idea of equality under justice seems lost on a host of believers.

What I don’t understand is why folks call out a small group of Christians: “the Phelpses and the Pat Robertsons and the Benny Hinns” of our world and lump their version of the Bible together to indict all Christians.

I've been lucky enough to meet two of the great Christians prophets of our time, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And there are many, many others ... Historically, the Anti-Baptists, Quakers, Mennonites, St. Francis of Assisi… so, in the ways they “reconcile” their faith, you could say, so do I.

Forgive me, but I think your time would be better spent in reading about the likes of Dr. King than spending time with a few nut cases who will eventually be relegated to the dust bin of history.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

KICKED OUT .... DRAFT #2

1) The City of Philadelphia is essentially kicking the Boy Scouts of America out of its building.

2) The North Carolina State Baptist Convention is kicking Meyers Park Baptist Church out of its convention.

Now, what do these two seemly unrelated events have in common? The former groups are upset with the way the later groups are treating gay persons. The City of Philadelphia says its laws prevent persons from discriminating because of sexual orientation ... NCSBC says that they will discriminate because of the way a member church treats gay persons. In both cases the later groups are being kick out of something, one a building; one a "social" group.

Confusing huh? Probably unrelated, too. But as a former Boy Scout and church leader I can tell you that most of that leadership is lives in a cocoon.

Boston Globe Op/Ed by Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) said:

"I've heard the reasons for opposing civil marriage for same-sex couples. Cut through the distractions, and they stink of the same fear, hatred, and intolerance I have known in racism and in bigotry.

Some say let's choose another route and give gay folks some legal rights but call it something other than marriage. We have been down that road before in this country. Separate is not equal. The rights to liberty and happiness belong to each of us and on the same terms, without regard to either skin color or sexual orientation."


Are the Democrats running aware of this?

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

HEADLINES ...

Tuesday's Headline: BUSH signs largest Pentagon Spending Bill in History.

History's Headline: Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword." - Matthew 26:52

AT ISSUE: BEING WELCOMING ..

Well, the delegates to the annual meeting of the N.C. Baptist State Convention voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to expel Charlotte's (NC) Myers Park Baptist for welcoming gays and lesbians without trying to change them.

There was no roll call vote; delegates overwhelming raised their hand to signify that the Christians from Myers Park were no longer welcome! Now let's see, one group welcomes; the other does not.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

IT MIGHT BE FUNNY IF... - an 8th draft

A friend of mine called yesterday. "WHY do you HAVE to blog about that creepy Craig "thing," it's disgusting ... the least you could do is give (Senator David) Vitter equal time with the hypocrisy issue!" Then without missing a beat this former actor created some hilarious ideas for a two man Craig/Vitter stage show.

Now in case you live under a political rock, the “ethics” of Senators David Vitter (R-LA) and Larry Craig (R-ID) have come into question; Mr. Vitter has been visiting prostitutes for years and Mr. Craig likes to troll the toilets. Both conservative Republicans ran on “family values” platforms. Mr. Vitter’s type of “ethics” has not damage his Senate career but Mr. Craig says that he was “not only thrown under the bus but it has backed and ran over me again.”

So thinking about equality and tired of "driving a bus," I did a little research and found this interesting tidbit about the Vitter/Craig "whatever-you-want-to-call-thems." It seems that one influential gay lobbying group is tying the two of them together (figuratively) and is objecting to the Craig Senate Ethics Committee investigation.

Why? Because they say there is an "inherent contradiction between your (the ethics committee's) treatment of allegations of ethical misconduct by Senator Larry Craig and Senator David Vitter ... There is no explanation for the diametrically opposed responses to these two situations other than hypocrisy tinged by homophobia."

Now, let’s see, what can we name this "Vitter/Craig" stage show? It's a comedy right?

Monday, November 12, 2007

ALL IN ONE DAY ...


A few days ago I was musing about justice movements in the so-called Red States. And now look at this, all in one day: Jim Neil (right) a political unknown is running for the Senate in North Carolina. Unlike Senator Craig and that whole group who have sought to hide their sexuality, Neal volunteered his in a public forum. "I am indeed," Neal said when asked whether he was gay. "No secret and no big deal to me -- I wouldn't be running if I didn't think otherwise."


Rev. Stephen Shoemaker, Senior Pastor
And then there is Myers Park Baptist Church in Charlotte, a congregation of nearly two-thousand people, that may find itself expelled from the North Carolina Baptist Convention this week because its unconditional welcoming of gays and lesbians.

Perhaps Mr. Neil's matter-of-fact attitude will be helpful to the church. But, you know, as I wander around the web I read similar stories ... small signs of hope; of justice. I just might move to North Carolina, vote for Mr. Neil and attend Myers Park Church. I just don't know about the Baptist part ... thanks guys!

Saturday, November 10, 2007

MLK ...A VISION THEM AND NOW...

Cannon Julian Bartlet(2nd), Rev. King (m), Bishop James Pike (l) Grace Cathedral,1965

If you get to a certain age you become witnesses to the great events ... think of one, the World Trade Center, Vietnam, the assassinations – place yours here. Either by choice or circumstance they embrace our lives.

I have a piece of the old Berlin Wall on my library shelf. It came from a Lutheran Pastor whose church meetings and peaceful demonstrations in the late 1980's helped bring down the last East German Communist government. When I look at that little piece of concrete I marvel at the courage of those who march against the policies and the environment of that time.

Similarly the concept of equal justice that was embodied within our Civil Rights movement was given substance in own faith. On Saturday, March 20, 1965 I read a headline in the San Francisco Chronicle: "Negro to Preach at Grace.”

The next day I sat in an isle seat when the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. stepped in to the beauty of San Francisco's Grace Episcopal Cathedral. He had just completed the march at Selma Alabama.

As he began to preach I took one of those little golf pencils from the back of the pew and scribbled down some of his words. “One day all men in this country must come together or parish as fools … we can no longer preserve the old order … no state has the right to do wrong … I do believe some day we shall overcome, some of us may not make it, but the Lord will see it some day.”

Note too long ago I found that sermon on the Grace Cathedral web site and once again heard Dr. King’s eloquence. His words are as stunning now as it was them … but nothing could ever substitute the electric atmosphere of being thereand feeling a sense of transformation in his voice. That service leaflet now sits along side that piece of the Berlin Wall.

I am grateful to God that Incremental events continue to move us forward and to know that that journey is at the heart of the American experience.

Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Freedom of Speech?


A reporter said recently, I felt dirty writing about it. I feel the same. And I don’t know how to get that feeling out of my system. It is odd how it brought together my hometown, my faith and my life.

York, Pennsylvania is scattered throughout my writings; probably all writers invoke the places they grew up; "beginning places" are part of your DNA. To keep in touch I take to reading the online version of the York Dispatch … ever so often a name or place has a unique meaning.

In March of last year I read an OB for a soldier killed in a war I deeply believe is wrong. There was a picture of a 20 year old boy, “killed in a non combat-related vehicle accident in Anbar Province.” Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder. I played with “Snyders” when I was a kid.

The paper said he was a good Catholic boy; his aunt: "He was a wonderful son, and we're very proud of him and he served our country well.” I could not look at his picture without remembering the friends I’ve lost in other wars and thinking again, "what a waste."

Then yesterday in the on line Huffington Post I found a John Ridley column which began, “God Hates Fags? – NOT ANY MORE -- the Fred Phelps (of the) "God Hates Fags” family of the loving Christian Church (sic) in Topeka Kansas (has) finally being sued for protesting a soldier's funeral and a jury awarded the plaintiff $11 million for invasion of privacy and emotional distress.”

Who sued Phelps? The plaintiff was Matthew Snyder’s father who lives down the street from my third grade friend Richmond, in York. “The goofy jury threw a fit at God," Phelps said -- an eleven million dollar fit!

I’ve had my own experiences with the Rev. Phelps; two of them. One at church, and a more vivid one at an annual Pride Parade in West Hollywood at which I had been coxed from sidewalk viewing and into the parade by friends from church. It was exhilarating, waving to thousands of people until we came to that large intersection at Beverly and Santa Monica Boulevards.

There our little band of gay Christians, lead by an acolyte carrying his church’s golden cross, paused because of the parade's movement and encountered Phelps' "God Hates Fag" signs, drums and all. When his group saw the cross, it drove them into a frenzy. The commotion so mesmerized me that as the group moved, I stood there watching as they spewed out curse words.

In that moment I lost touch with the larger theatre around me. I don't know why I raise my hand and made the sign of the cross over them. But when I did several hundred people in 15 levels of bleachers behind me stood up, roared and applauded this guy standing alone in the middle of street, doing something he’d done before.

“What happened?” said my friends after I ran and caught up, “You’re blushing.” All I remember asking was, “Who ARE those people.” “Some Christians from Kansas.”

Christians! How could they be Christians? Why did their disfigured, hateful existence lead them to yell and scream at the symbol that has been at the center of my life; how can they bring their sick, distorted lives to a funeral of a grieving family whose son fought and died for his country.

Research reveals their aborted theology says that: God hates America and American soldiers because this county has a permissive attitude toward gay persons. And all of that precedes from a literal reading of the Biblical book of Leviticus.

The Huffington Post author suggests that there is little difference between Phelps and the so-called “mainstream,” right wing speakers at last month's Values Voters Conference at which all the Republican candidates for President appeared or Ann Coulter or Peter Pace or Jerry Falwell ... the list goes on and on.

That “list” would like to set themselves above the Phelps of the world; it is reported that other fundamentalist Christians in Topeka turn their heads away when someone mentions his name … but they all quote the same bible verses and preach the same gospel of intolerance making gay persons, as William Sloan Coffin says, the “last respectable minority to hate.”

As I grow older I begin to feel things changing. I think they are because I am. Stories abound about tolerance emerging from Utah, Kansas City, Nebraska, all of this in spite of red state labels, anti-gay marriage amendments, and a dying breed of sick Christian preachers. Even the consternation within my own Episcopal denomination speaks to a better future.

I guess that sense of change found its roots in the Susquehanna River bottom country; in cathedral sermons; in twenty year olds like Matthew Snyder who fight and died for a cause he believed in and for a county, that despite it aches and pains, grows toward acceptance and tolerance. And that washes away the dirt.
------------------------

Psalm 20:1-2
1 May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble, *
the Name of the God of Jacob defend you;
2 Send you help from his holy place *
and strengthen you out of Zion;

Monday, November 5, 2007

LA TIMES THIS MORNING.

Under the title: Gay? Who cares? the following op/ed piece by Gregory Rodriguez appeared in this Morning's Los Angeles Times.


Last Tuesday, the New York Times ran a front-page story on the diminishing allure of gay enclaves in the United States. The next day, the San Francisco Chronicle published a Page 1 story explaining how same-sex couples in California are a lot more socioeconomically and ethnically diverse -- read: less white and less wealthy -- than you might believe. The Williams Institute at UCLA Law School will release a report today by demographer Gary Gates that all but poses the question: Is gay the new straight?


READ MORE HERE
, it is excellent.

REPUBLICANS, PUBLIC RESTROOMS, ETC

And now another, yes another, Republican has been nabbed by the toilet police ... this time it is a Daytona Beach City Commissioner named Mike Shallow. Perhaps the Republican Party should start recruiting at the nation's public restrooms? Think of the possibilities! Why use those flimsy wooden voting booths? It’s costing the city of Minneapolis $15,000 to fix up Senator Larry Craig’s old stall. Save on Taxes, Vote in a Stall! On second thought perhaps Craig's appeal on the constitutional grounds of Free Speech with reference to his actions "in the stall" should succeed first.

And, there is this sidebar on the Craig story ...
David Phillips, pictured above, is the man reported to have "tricked" with Craig, you know -- in the public restroom. Phillips' license plates read: "POOFTER" which the dictionary says is a negative British colloquialism for gay men. Ya' learn something new ever day! Anyway, after 13 years the Commonwealth of Virginia apparently has caught on and is recalling his "vanity" plates. Why? Sounds like the cover fits the book!

FLAT EARTH PEOPLE!

They say that Al Gore is happy now ... that being out of politics, for him, is a good thing. I understand that point of view, that being away from a dysfunctional work setting is a good thing. Finding happiness should be everyones main goal ... especially when you can speak out against flat earth people! Gawd!




One of the great, forever unanswered questions will be, what kind of world would we be living in if the Presidency had been given to a good man instead of Bush.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

TORTURE IS NOT LEGAL

Dana M. Perino, the White House press secretary said Thurday, “I can’t imagine the Democrats would want to hold back his nomination just because he is a thoughtful, careful thinker who looks at all the facts before he makes a judgment,”


He made that statement because the real CAREFUL THINKERS who happened to be senators want to know if a future Attorney General of the United States thinks that torture is legal in this country.


WHY DOES THAT QUESTION EVEN HAVE TO BE ASK? DAMN IT! TORTURE IS NOT LEGAL. And that, of course, is the real issue; if he does say it is illegal than anyone in the past who has carried it out or authorized it, like Bush, could be found liable for their actions!

Friday, November 2, 2007

ah, EXCUSE ME BUT WHERE DID THIS COME FROM?

"It's time for Congress to repeal a law that prevents students with marijuana convictions from receiving federal financial aid for college." -- The New York Times editorial board -- Friday opinion piece.


Ah, excuse me but when did this become a law? College kids? Pot? Oh come on!

"Closet” Hurts Employee & Employer

And now this story: A survey of gay and lesbian employees across the U.S. has found that "fears about disclosing a gay identity at work had an overwhelmingly negative relationship with their career and workplace experiences and with their psychological well-being."


I came to realize this on a deeply personal level at the last two places I worked. The interesting one was about the other guy "in the closet" who damaged my career because of his own fears of being disclosed. The other? That's another story for another time.

WHY THE HELL ...

...does this man think it is okay to torture people?

WHY THE HELL ...

does this man think that torture is okay ... WHY?

NOW NANCY ...

When asked about President Bush at her weekly news conference this week Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives and second inline for the Presidency said: “What does he have to show for his presidency? He’s the president of the United States and already talking about his library. What is he going to have in a library: a tax cut for the wealthiest people in the country at the expense of the middle class and a war without end that is a total failure?”


Now Nancy, would you just do your part to end the war? And why don't "we" ever remember the poor? Just the middle class?

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS (MDGs) ???

Several months ago my friend Bruce (aka Anthony, danceTM) came back from one of his "churchy" things in Seattle talking about the Millennium Development Goals or MDG. I had never heard of them.


Then today I came across this: The Millennium Development Goals set a framework for how the world could see the end of extreme poverty. In September, 2000, The United States joined with 188 nations to affirm a set of international development goals in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. (The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (MDGs) reflect an understanding of the devastation caused by global hunger and poverty and aim for a world that is free of such suffering.


On simple local level, I’ve spent a lot of time working toward these objectives. Somehow those "small things" seemed more manageable. But imagine what would happen if we could change the larger mindset… Pretty amazing.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

AN OCCASSIONAL SELECTION OF THE MORNING NEWS

Poll Shows Vermonters In Favor of Impeachment (61% Favor) from Democratic Underground.com:


Former Navy Instructor Offers Another Waterboarding Primer for Mukasey from MPuckraker.com:


"ANOTHER CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN CAUGHT IN GAY SEX SCANDAL." For your video view pleasure on Utube via CNN:


Would someone please tell me why all this goes together?