Reflection on the Boston Marathon Bombing

Dear Friends in Christ,
Life can change in an instant. I was reminded of that again yesterday (Monday, April 15, 2013) when I heard the news of the explosions at the Boston Marathon that killed three and at least 174 more. We grieve those who died and pray for healing for those who were injured and those whose lives have been forever changed through the tragic loss of a loved one. We ask God to give them solace, comfort, healing and strength. I ask you to join me in adding them to your daily intercessions.
My first thoughts went to a friend who runs that Marathon each year. I was grateful to learn today that he and his family were safe. Then I found myself asking what causes people to do such heinous acts as these? What motivates their actions? What level of powerlessness must they feel? I began to think about the Oklahoma City bombing and its perpetrators. I was reminded of the terror I experienced during the days of the DC Beltway Sniper in 2002.
Life can change in an instant. This reminder causes me to do two things. First to give thanks for those I love, family and friends, and ask God to keep them in his loving care. Second to ask God how I might be a change agent for those who believe themselves powerless and oppressed. Could it be that God is calling us to be life changers?
We are called to be people of peace in a violent world. We are called to be messengers of hope in the midst of despair. Christ is counting on us to be faithful to our call.

Yours in Christ,

+Steven

God Lives in a Timeless Now

Sermon:           Advent I 2012, St. Paul’s, K Street, Washington, DC

 

Thank you for the honor of being with you today on this day of beginning— this day when we begin the season of Advent and thus a new liturgical year and also the day when the Rev. Kyle Oliver celebrates his first Mass. It is rare for a bishop to get to be a part of such an occasion, after an ordination we bishops are usually on to the next thing, and I would like to thank Fr. Sloane for his kind invitation to be with you today. Your rector and I were in the same colleague group for seminary supervisors at Virginia Seminary and I have always been grateful for his friendship. I understand that he will be retiring in January after your patronal feast.  Please know that I will hold you all in my prayers as you walk the journey of saying goodbye and looking to the future. I also want you to know how thankful I am for the help you have given in forming seminarians from the Diocese of Milwaukee, not only Fr. Oliver, but also the Rev. Seth Dietrich, now rector of one of the largest churches in my diocese. He asked me to give you all his best wishes and regards. Thank you so much for your role in raising up faithful priests for the service of Christ and his Church.

One of the realities of my life is that I am on a lot of mailing lists. Because I lived in a swing state this past election as I suspect did some of you, I received throughout the months of October and early November daily mailings from presidential candidates and political action committees. these were of course preferable to the incessant robocalls, still I am certain that entire forests are breathing easier now that the election is over.  Since I am a member of the clergy I am on another series of mailing lists.  This means I received regular mailings from vestment manufacturers, purveyors of Sunday School curricula, tour companies inviting me to lead pilgrimages, and advertisements for religious magazines and sermon writing guides.  As a bishop I also receive numerous parish and seminary newsletters, as well as a number of diocesan publications and theological journals.

It is not uncommon to read in the latter this time of year meditations on the season of Advent that proclaim Advent as the authors favorite season of the Church year. I must confess that I have written such meditations myself. Year after year I am struck by this. What is it that makes this season so? Why does the season of Advent speak to us so deeply? Why do it themes resonate within us.

I recall writing as a young priest that I suspected the answer to this question was that advent rings true to our experience of the Christian life. Advent mirrors our experience of the life of faith and invites us to live into the tension between the already and not yet of the Christian journey— Salvation is present and yet in the future, the kingdom of God is in our midst but we wait for its consummation. This reality coupled with this sense of urgency speaks deeply to our hearts and minds.

That urgency is reflected in our collect for today, this much, if not most loved collect of our Anglican tradition.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light now in the time of the this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility that when he shall come in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead we may rise to the life immortal.

In the midst of that marvelous imagery of light and darkness, majesty and judgment the word that leapt at me this year is the simple word now:  Now.

What I have come to believe is that this urgency, this now is not only true for us, it is true to the very nature of God the know in Jesus, the God who was and is and is to come.

As I prepared for this sermon among the things I read was an Advent Meditation by my friend and teacher, DOM Benedict Reid, first Abbott of St. Gregory’s Abbey of Three Rivers, Michigan. In the midst of his meditation I read this simple yet powerful reminder, “God lives in a timeless now.” God lives in a timeless now. The call for us in all of our Christian life but most especially in this Advent season is to meet God in the now. If we are to live in God we must live in God’s now.

As I think about it that is the call of Jesus throughout the Gospels, the call to the now. That is the point of Jesus’ word to his disciples recorded by the evangelists Matthew and Luke to consider the ravens that God feeds or the lilies of the field which God clothes. It is the call of the parable of the rich fool who built large barns and stored up large amounts only to learn that that very night his life was required of him.

And yet to live out that call is easier said than done. Scripture records numerous stories about those who look back. Lot’s wife who looked back at the smoldering Sodom and Gomorrah and was turned to a pillar of salt. The people of Israel who after being led through the waters of the Red Sea and being fed with bread from heaven complained that they did not have meat, melon, leeks or garlic like they had in Egypt. For this and the rest of their murmuring God required them to wander in the wilderness for forty years. Our  Lord Jesus himself tells us that no one who puts their hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

We know that nostalgia and longing for the good old days is a common occurrence. Gathering with old friends most always includes a discussion of the good old days.  I am always struck that styles repeat themselves in 20 and 40 year cycles as witnessed by the popularity of the program Madmen and the return of some of the colors for clothing from the 1980’s. Our past is what has shaped our identity, who we are but it does not shape our destiny and whose we are.

To be on the watch for this is particularly important for us who hold dear the faith once delivered to the saints. Many of  the people of Jesus’s day could not see that He was God’s Messiah, the Christ because their images of the Messiah were so tied to a certain image of kingship in the past that they were unable to see how Jesus embodied all that had been foretold.

We do well to remember the distinction between tradition and traditionalism. I am certain that many of you have heard this adage, Tradition is the living faith of the dead, and traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. I would add that Tradition is the timeless faith of the communion of saints living and dead as in the Eucharist we are made one with our Lord and all the members of his body. In the Mass, past, present and future become one Now.

The call to live and be in God’s now is also a call to reject prognostication and anxious anticipation. In this past year we have seen another round of predictions of the end of the world ranging from the current buzz about the Mayan Calendar which ends on December 21, 2012, which some have posted on Facebook as the reason they are not shopping this season and the New York Times has reported that this is caused such a stir in parts of the Russia that the government called upon bishops to speak out against the notion, to the group that earlier this spring like many Christian sects before them declared the precise date of the second coming.

But an over focus on the future is not just the purview of the religious. Investors wonder what the next big thing will be, websites invite us to watch trends, and we are all told to plan for our future. This problem is exacerbated by the media streaming machines at our fingertips equipped with bells and whistles to let us know a new message has arrived and someone has just posted what they had for breakfast or tweeted out another random thought.  We all know those who are too concerned about the future to live in the present, those who are always on to the next thing.  For some it is so easy to be consumed with these things as well that wondering what will happen next fills our minds and renders us virtually immobile.

Allow me to give you an example from my own life. I am a recovering worry wart. How do you know if you are one? Have you every worried when you’re not worried? Cause that’s when you know something is really going to happen. Join the club. What I have come to see in my own life is that worry is simply another way not to surrender control of my life to God. If I can’t control anything else at least I can worry. Yet what is Jesus’ word to us? Jesus tells us do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. (Mt. 6:34)

Here again the words of Jesus from our Gospel lesson: “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place..… and to stand before the Son of Man.

How shall we do this? We begin by getting dressed. The call to live in God’s now begins with repentance and casting off everything that hinders us “the works of darkness and putting on the armor of light, God’s grace of clothing our shameful nakedness in the waters of baptism, and giving us the gift of his indwelling spirit Christ living in us. It is this vesting that the Anglican Divine George Herbert refers to in his poem, Aaron, a poem especially appropriate for this occasion the convergence of I Advent and a first Mass.

AARON.

HOLINESS on the head,
Light and perfection on the breast,
Harmonious bells below raising the dead
To lead them unto life and rest.
Thus are true Aarons drest.*

Profaneness in my head,
Defects and darkness in my breast,
A noise of passions ringing me for dead
Unto a place where is no rest :
Poor priest ! thus am I drest.

Only another head
I have another heart and breast,
Another music, making live, not dead,
Without whom I could have no rest :
In Him I am well drest.

Christ is my only head,
My alone only heart and breast,
My only music, striking me e’en dead ;
That to the old man I may rest,
And be in Him new drest.

So holy in my Head,
Perfect and light in my dear Breast,
My doctrine tuned by Christ (who is not dead,
But lives in me while I do rest),
Come, people ; Aaron’s drest.

For the Christian to live in God’s now is to put on Christ as Paul writes in the letter to the Romans that inspired today’s collect. It is to know in the words of the Apostle that I no longer live but Christ now lives in me. “Christ is my only head, My alone only heart and breast, My only music, striking me e’en dead ; That to the old man I may rest, And be in Him new drest.”

Because Christ is God’s, Christ is God incarnate, God present, God immanent. And God lives in a timeless now.

May God accomplish that in us through the grace of his Son and the power of his indwelling Spirit: Amen

Convention Adddress 2013

From his fullness have we all received grace upon grace.
Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Grace upon Grace. That is the theme for this the 165th convention of the Diocese of Milwaukee. As I begin this my tenth address to you as your bishop, please allow me to begin by acknowledging before you the grace I receive daily by working with such a dedicated group of people who serve you with me as the staff of Nicholson House.
I am privileged to work with gifted colleagues in ministry—the Nicholson House staff who serve with me in serving you the people who are the Diocese of Milwaukee —David Pfaff, Canon to the Ordinary, Peggy Bean, Assistant for Congregational Development, Carla McCook, Assistant for Christian Formation, Diane Blank, Finance Officer, Patty Jaffke and Barbara Klauber.
That grace is magnified by my loving family who support me in my work and ministry, my wife Cindy, and our daughters, Lauren and Haley.
I also wish to take a moment to thank Margaret Schumacher, who completes her term as Treasure of the Diocese at the conclusion of this Convention. Margaret’s ministry as treasurer has been a true gift of grace helping this diocese for the past four years as we sought to navigate through challenging economic times while continuing to keep assessment percentages from increasing. Margaret’s manner and presence when presenting the budget and finances of the diocese evoke confidence and trust, confidence and trust earned by the outstanding job she has done in service of us all. A resolution honoring her time as treasurer will be before us as part of the report of the Committee on Resolutions of Courtesy. I ask you now to stand and join me in giving her a well-deserved round of applause as a sign of our gratitude for her gracious gift of her talents.
Last night at the banquet, I introduced you to this year’s Bishop’s Shield recipients; Marshall Williams of St. Peter’s, West Allis and the Rev. Michelle Mooney a deacon of this diocese currently assigned to St. Mark’s, Milwaukee. Both of these persons are further examples of grace in action. Through their work of advocacy and mentoring lives are being changed and God is being glorified.
Two agents of God’s grace who meant so much to this diocese entered into the nearer presence of God this year. The Venerable Thomas Frank Winslow, the inaugural recipient of the bishop’s shield award, whose acts of service to this diocese and its bishops as deacon, archdeacon and priest, as well as his service to the law enforcement and recovery communities, are too many to number died on August 23rd. For me, and I suspect for many of you Tom’s absence is palpable. It seems strange not to have him seated with me at the head table for this convention. I suspect that something appears to missing from the dias for many of you veteran convention delegates as well. I am so thankful for the gift of grace Tom Winslow was to me as I began and served my ministry as your bishop. To say that I miss him is an understatement.
Four days later on August 27th, the Rt. Rev. Roger White, tenth bishop of this diocese died due to complications following a brain aneurysm. Roger touched the lives of many in this room and across the Church during his nineteen years of service to this diocese. Roger was the first Episcopal Bishop in Wisconsin to ordain women to the priesthood. He continued and strengthened our diocese’s long tradition of ecumenical leadership not only here in the state through his leadership in the Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee and the Wisconsin Council of Churches but also by helping to establish relations between the Episcopal Church and the Church in Russia at the end of the Soviet era. His book with Richard Kew “New Millenium, New Church” raised significant issues that the Church as a whole is just now beginning to address.
Both of these men were signs and agents of God’s grace. We give thanks for their ministry among us and pray that they and all those of our diocesan family who have died this past year, may go from strength to strength in God’s perfect kingdom.
At our last convention, I reported to you that “One decision I hope we will need to make in the year ahead is the future of St. Edmund’s property.” After a ruling made in December in favor of our request for Summary Judgment, the remaining issues in the case were settled and the Church and rectory have been returned to us. I have asked our Chancellor Stuart Parsons to give a summary of the matter later today. The final ruling from the judge appointed for mediation arrived Thursday. I am hopeful that this matter will come to a conclusion before the end of the year.
I also need to report to you that the congregation of St. Timothy’s, Milwaukee made the decision to close this year. With the assistance of the Commission on Mission and Development, the people of St. Timothy’s discerned that it was time for that ministry to end and new life to begin. Members of the parish, the majority of whom no longer live in near proximity to the church, have found new church homes. At the end of last month, we sold the property to our neighbors at Krause Funeral home who had been using some of the space prior to the parishes closing. A tithe of the sale is being used as seed money for an Episcopal Service Corps site, a program for young adults ages 21 to 30 giving them the experience of living in Christian community while serving others. The experience of many dioceses is that these programs have become an incubator for future leaders of the church, lay and ordained. This is Grace upon Grace. Resurection; God bringing new life.
This past year was also a General Convention year. The most publicized resolution was number A049 entitled Trial Rites for Blessings. At the end of the day what convention adopted was a provisional rite for use subject to the permission of the bishop. What does that mean for the diocese of Milwaukee? Those of you have read my paper “yes to bless or Christian Marriage for all:” available at my blog site, milwaukeebishop@wordpress.com, know my thinking on this matter. I continue to believe the rite endorsed by General Convention is flawed on a number of levels and I would add falls significantly short of our call as Christians. I am also aware of a number of other things. I know that my position is a minority position at least among the members of both the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies and I would suspect throughout the Church. I have not used this issue as a litmus test for clergy we recruit to come to the Diocese of Milwaukee and I know through our clergy gatherings after convention that the majority of the priests in this diocese are willing to offer blessings if episcopal permission is given. I am also aware that the election of my two immediate predecessors was in many ways a referendum on the hot topic of that day the ordination of women. I do not want the election of the 12th bishop of Milwaukee although it is a number of years away to bear the same burden. My position is further complicated by the fact that I have been named to the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music of The Episcopal Church the body which will evaluate these provisional rites and report to the next General Convention. So where are we? We are a diocese were both positions are respected with a bishop who is opposed to the rites as adopted, who has written a cogent and well received theological case for same gender marriage which these rites say they explicitly are not by intention although closely resembling the same and the enabling resolution for these rites adopted by General Convention allows for local adaptation in dioceses where same sex marriage is legal, situated in a state where same gender marriage is banned by the constitution, in a diocese with a stated desire to remain in the highest degree of communion possible with our sisters and brothers across the Anglican Communion the overwhelming majority of whom have a different view on this subject than that of the Episcopal Church as expressed by General Convention and which has covenanted with our ecumenical partners not to do anything that would create a further stumbling block to unity while being ourselves a community of believers which seeks to welcome and honor all members of our diocese in fulfillment of our baptismal vow to respect the dignity of every human being. As you can see there is much to consider as a way forward is discerned. I am still discerning.
Another issue that came before General Convention was the issue of Communion of the unbaptized, a resolution which sought to overturn the ancient, dare we say, seminal practice that the reception of the sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ is for those who are the body and blood of Christ, the baptized members of the Church. Why, because in the Eucharist we receive what we are the Body and Blood of Christ. The doctrine of baptism before communion is enshrined in our Church’s constitution. I would add that in our the Book of Common Prayer, this churches most important theological document, baptism, chrismation, and first communion even of infants is the intended trajectory of our rites of initiation and incorporation. I am grateful that General Convention affirmed “that baptism is the ancient and normative entry point to receiving Holy Communion and that our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to go into the world and baptize all peoples.” What does this mean? It means that we have affirmed that teaching of the Church but we are not going to card people at the rail. It also means that we need to be clear in our bulletins and teaching that in this Church it is all persons baptized in the name of the Trinity, who believe Christ to be present in this sacrament and are communicants in their own traditions unless forbidden by their own faith community who are welcome to receive Holy Communion in this Church.

Some of you may wonder why I am going on about this. That the issue of communion of the unbaptized has even come up points to a painful reality in our church that while we have worship centered on the Holy Eucharist, we have done little to teach eucharisitc theology and piety to the members of our congregations and perhaps even the students in our seminaries. To that end, in the coming year, together with Carla McCook and the task force for Christian Formation I will be preparing an instructed Eucharist that I am asking each congregation to use as a means to deepen understanding and devotion in this the central act of our worship.

Secondly, it points to the disturbing trend that many in the church place all the responsibility for hospitality and welcome on the liturgy. All the “All are welcome” statements in bulletins, newsletters, and announcements don’t mean a thing unless it is match by a spirit of welcome and hospitality in the hearts and actions of the congregation as manifested by intentional acts to welcome and incorporate those who come through the doors of the church coupled with and undergirded by an intentional evangelism program to invite others to follow Jesus. I have visited enough congregations across this church to know that words are easy and real welcome takes intentionality and practice.

But finally, I think it points to a cheapening of the Gospel as evidenced by disturbing trend in the church exacerbated by a narcissistic culture that seems to reduce the Gospel to being principally about welcome and acceptance rather than the reign of God in our lives and in allthe world.

The Gospel is not only about acceptance. It is about healing, redemption, salvation, and sanctification. Yes, God accepts everyone, embraces everyone but there is more. God loves us so much that he does not leave us there. Grace upon grace.. in the words of that much loved hymn there is welcome for the sinner and more graces for the good there is mercy with the Savior. There is healing in his blood.

Our Anglican Tradition is a tradition that emphasis sanctification. At confirmation, we pray that those being confirmed may increase in grace more and more. Even when we commend the departed to God our prayer is that they will continue to grow in grace. Perhaps a prayer chant I have learned recently says it best. Take, O take me as I am. Summon out what I shall be. Set your seal upon my heart and live in me.

Our call is to preach the whole Gospel of Jesus’s love, acceptance, redemption, and sanctification.

We live in a time that I believe is more like the first days of the Church than it is like the era of Christendom that preceded it, the gasp of which breathed its last just a few years ago.

In my address to you last year I said, “A part of our reality is that we have 19th and 20th century structures in 19th and 20th century locations seeking to do ministry in the 21st century. We need to look at all this seriously. What is the shape of parish ministry in the years to come? Will churches and synagogues continue to be exempt from property taxes as local governments in a climate of scarcity seek new revenue streams? Will a culture increasingly hostile to faith forget the importance of religious presence and witness in society and change its place in the public sphere? And if so what will that future look like? How can we be best prepared to meet the challenges of the years to come? What contingencies might we wish to have in place?”
And I called for our diocese to enter a new season of strategic planning. The question before us is how do we do mission and ministry most effectively in the 21st century? What is required of us to give God our best which is his due? We are not alone in seeking to address this new and ever-changing context. A Strategic planning task force has been established and begun its work. You will hear more concerning this work in the months ahead in the E-news and other communications from me and the task force.

Which relates to perhaps the most important action of General Convention was Resolution C095 which called this Church to reimagine itself through the lens of the Five Marks of Mission. It reads in part:

Resolved, … That this General Convention believes the Holy Spirit is urging The Episcopal Church to reimagine itself, so that, grounded in our rich heritage and yet open to our creative future, we may more faithfully:
• Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom
• Teach, baptize and nurture new believers
• Respond to human need by loving service
• Seek to transform unjust structures of society
• Strive to safeguard the integrity of creation and sustain and renew the life of
the earth; nd be it further
Resolved, That this General Convention establish a Task Force under the Joint
Rules of Order, whose purpose shall be to present the 78th General Convention
with a plan for reforming the Church’s structures, governance, and
administration

Our diocesan strategic planning initiative and this action of General Convention bear witness that many within our Church realize that business as usual is no longer acceptable. The task before is to discern how God is calling us to be the Church in this time. To discern that which is holding us back from embracing God’s mission and ask for grace upon grace to let those things go. To behold the new life God places in our midst and ask for grace upon grace to receive that new life, accept it and embrace it.

I believe we can do that because God is faithful and the God who gives grace upon grace will continue to pour that grace upon us the Episcopal Church in this place.

Being displayed on the screen are a few questions that I would like you to discuss in table groups, inviting your input into this discernment process. This will not be your only opportunity but it is an initial opportunity. Please take 30 minutes to discuss them and then ask one person from your table to right down your responses. The tellers will collect them after the break.

The questions are these.

How is your congregation experiencing new life?
How do we, continually ourselves and others to see the new life God is calling forth and deepen our relationship with God?
How can diocesan structures and ministries help you in these efforts?

In conclusion, Thank you for the privilege of serving God by in, among, and through you the people of this great Diocese. May God bless us all as we go forward receiving grace upon grace.

Post General Convention Letter

 

Dear Friends in Christ,

 

I write to you following the close of the 77^th General Convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana which concluded one week ago today on Thursday, July, 12^th. This was my fourth General Convention as your bishop and I can best describe it as typical.

 

I was pleased to see that many deputations, including our own, contained younger members of our church both clergy and lay. The energy  around a more nimble and streamlined structure was palpable as evidenced by the unanimous vote in both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops to engage the question of how best to order our common life for mission and ministry.

 

On a personal note, I was honored to be elected of the General Theological Seminary. I look forward to serving my alma mater, the only seminary,  started by the whole Church in this way.

 

As was to be expected the issue that received the most attention in the press was the adoption of Resolution A049 which authorized for provisional use a liturgy and other materials related to the blessing of same-sex unions. I voted against the resolution in accordance with the position paper published on my blog site milwaukeebishop.wordpress.com. This paper was sent to the bishops of the Church and many forwarded it on to their diocese’s deputations.  Still the resolution passed and the rites may be used beginning on the first Sunday of Advent  with permission of the diocesan bishop.

 

Prior to General Convention wrote and shared with you that “I have learned, in my almost nine years as bishop, that there will be plenty of opportunity to discern how best to respond and follow through on the decisions of General Convention following General Convention, for it is only after convention that  we would know what has been approved and mandated.”

 

We are now in that time of discernment.  To that end I invite the clergy of the diocese to meet with me to begin this discernment. These meetings will again follow the Indaba format we used when we gathered before General Convention to discuss this resolution.  The first of these sessions will be held at Good Shepherd, Sun Prairie on July 31^st and at St. Bart’s in Pewaukee on August 9^th  from 3 to 5 p.m. on both dates.   I realize that vacation plans may keep some from attending these first sessions. Additional sessions will be scheduled in the near future.  It is my hope that every priest of the diocese will be involved in these discussions over the next few months.  I also look forward to hearing from other members of our diocese in the months ahead.

 

In conclusion, I would like to remind you of these words from my earlier letter, “As your bishop, I am confident that we will go forward together regardless of what is or is not decided at General Convention. This ability to go forward together may in fact be our most important witness to a world which is more and more divided along economic and ideological lines. Remaining in community with each other is a crucial witness of our understanding of what it means to be the Body of Christ, even when (or maybe especially when) we disagree on certain issues.”

 

Let us go forward together.

 

Yours in Christ,

 

The Rt. Rev. Steven Andrew Miller

Bishop

Yes to Bless or Christian Marriage for all?

Yes to bless or Christian Marriage for all?

Do we love all the members of our Church enough to take the time to get this right?

The Rt. Rev. Steven Andrew Miller

Bishop of Milwaukee

I write to share my thoughts regarding Resolutions A049 “Authorize Liturgical Resources for Same-Gender Relationships” and A050 “Create a Task Force for the Study of Marriage” which will be considered at the 77^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church that begins next week. I am in full support of the latter and opposed to the former. What follows is my reasoning for this position.

In the General Thanksgiving found on page 836 of the Book of Common Prayer, we thank God for “for setting us at tasks which demand our best efforts and leading us to accomplishments that satisfy and delight us.” I believe the full inclusion of all persons in the life of the Church is such a task. My question is, “Do we love all the members of our Church enough to take the time to get this right or do we want to risk taking an action that will fall short?” I believe such an action will have the unexpected consequence of delaying the true full inclusion of all members of our church. It is easy to say, “Yes to Bless,” but might our yes have the unintended consequence of delaying what is the end goal for many, marriage equality.

At the 76^th General Convention in 2009, I was part of a group of bishops who met in an Indaba session to address an impasse we faced over resolution CO56 “Liturgies for Blessing”. Later I was part of a group of 5 bishops who drafted a substitute resolution which later passed with amendment in the House of Bishops and with which the House of Deputies concurred. The original substitute resolution called on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to “collect and develop theological resources and design liturgies.” It was later amended to read “collect and develop theological liturgical resources,” with those proposing the amendment saying it meant the same thing. While I did not support their reasoning, I voted for the substitute as amended because of my belief that it was through the creation of a liturgy that we as a Episcopalians would best be able to do the theological work necessary around this issue. For me that has been the case. I am grateful to have been a part of a group of bishops who responded to and commented on early drafts of the proposed rites.

The Episcopal Church has been wrestling with issues surrounding human sexuality for many years, a wrestling made more urgent because of the approval of an openly gay partnered person to be Bishop of New Hampshire, the authorization of same sex blessings in the Diocese of New Westminster in Canada, and the Windsor Report published in October of 2004—a report written in response to these actions. All throughout this time the General Convention passed nuanced resolutions open to broad interpretations on the matter, many of which are reviewed in the Report of the SCLM and depending on where emphasis is placed can be understood to say very different things.

This issue has been one which I have wrestled with a great deal. Like many in this Church I have known the faithful witness and wise counsel of openly gay clergy. I have had the privilege of working with life-long partnered persons as the rector of a parish. And like many of my generation I have wept for people I loved who died from AIDS. On the other hand, as a bishop I have promised to guard the faith and unity of the Church, a unity which has been challenged by the actions of this Church and the responses to it both within The Episcopal Church and around the world. I have taken seriously the concerns of our mission partners in Africa. And I cannot think about this issue without recalling the memory of a young Egyptian boy, the grandson of a former bishop of that diocese, telling me the effect our actions had on him as a member of the Christian minority in a predominantly Islamic country.

I am also aware that, in our context and that of much of Western Europe, this issue will cease to be one in a very short period of time. This is already true for many people under 30. A number of states have already legalized same-sex marriage. This is also true of a number of European countries. As I write the British Parliament is considering similar legislation. This means that the Church in many places will find itself ministering in a culture where same gender marriage is legal. This is a part of what Phyllis Tickle describes in her work, The Great Emergence as the “once every 500 year fire sale” of Western Civilization.

What is our call as the Church at such a time as this? We know that the understanding of marriage has changed over the course of history. Is it possible that it needs to change again? The question I am asking myself is, “What is ‘Christian Marriage’, or more specifically what makes Christian Marriage Christian?” Is there a hermeneutic that could allow for what is, in the culture at large, commonly called ‘marriage equality’ that would both expand and strengthen marriage? Would such an interpretive framework, also provide clarity to all that the proper place for sexual relations is within the bounds of a life-long monogamous marriage?

The hermeneutic of course is Jesus Christ. He always is. Christ is our life. For us, to live is Christ and to die is gain. We read in Paul’s letter to the Galatians that in Christ there is neither male nor female, slave nor free, Jew nor Greek. In 1976 The Episcopal Church, claiming this truth, approved the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate.

In our catechism we make a distinction between prayer and Christian Prayer (BCP p.856 ). Do we not need to make the same claim for marriage? Could we not make the claim that Christian marriage is between two Christians who vow to minister Jesus’ love to one another until they are parted by death? What makes such a marriage Christian is Holy Baptism and the confessing of Jesus as Lord and Savior by the couple.

Unfortunately, our canons and Book of Common Prayer do not help us make this distinction for in them only one of the parties is required to be baptized. I suspect this the result of the heritage from the era and image of Christendom in which the church functions as an agent of the state. Even today, clergy are authorized by the states to perform marriages, and in some places the civil authority requires those who do to be registered and receive authorization. Others require a posting of a bond. The canons of our church also require that marriages conform to the laws of the state (BCP, p. 422).

If we believe that marriage is an honorable estate ordained by God, that Jesus adorned this manner of life, that it signifies for us the mystery of the union between Christ and his Church, and that it is the proper place for sexual relations, then what has become clear to me is that the proposed rite for blessings falls short of what we are called to as the Church. This is not a criticism of the Rite itself which I believe as a liturgy has much to commend it. Rather it has to do with what it is not. It is not specifically marriage.

Some have argued that there is nothing other than the enabling resolution that makes what is proposed in A049 specifically a same-sex liturgy. What is to prevent the use of this rite for two 70 year old heterosexuals who want the churches blessing on their living together because if they were to marry it would cause them economic hardship? Does not a liturgy of blessing create a second class of citizens in the Church – - those who have blessings rather than marriage? There are others who are opposed to same- sex marriage but in favor of blessings that reject the proposed rite because it looks too much like a marriage rite. I would submit that is precisely because it is marriage which is the ideal.

As Christians we believe in marriage. We see it as a calling, a school for character, a source of blessing. Our catechism tells us it is a sacramental rite, and as such, it is a means of grace. Every sacramental rite has proper matter, minister, form, and intention. I believe we could also agree that sacraments are administered by Christians. As I have reflected on this issue, Jesus’ words in the Gospels “Let your yes be yes and your no be no,” and the words from the Revelation to John, “because you are neither hot nor cold I spit you out,” have run through my head. With these words in mind, I ask the question, “If in Christ there is neither male nor female could it not be that the proper matter for marriage is simply two human beings?”

I propose this because it is my opinion that the blessing rite falls short of our call as Christians. By failing to offer a new hermeneutic it invites the church to bless something for which it has no warrant to bless. Moreover, it creates a second tier of relationships, clouds the teaching on the appropriate place for sexual intimacy, and may delay much needed work on this matter.

I realize that this is a leap. And I realize that this stands in opposition to the traditional position on Christian Marriage articulated in the study commissioned by the Theology Committee of the House of Bishops entitled Same-Sex Relationships in the Life of the Church. The same can be said of any position that makes accommodation for same-sex relations. But it seems to me the advantage is that it provides clarity to our teaching about the proper place for sexual intimacy in a church that accepts same-sex attraction. As I stated earlier same-sex marriage will most likely become a non-issue in the next 50 years just as interracial marriage has become. Moreover, the expansion of marriage using this hermeneutic will have a significant advantage in our ministry to young persons as they seek to live godly and moral lives. I also fear the adoption of a blessing rite is simply anachronistic, and while it may have made sense some years ago if a proper hermeneutic could have been found, at present it is too little too late.

So here is what I am proposing—the rejection of blessings and the affirmation of Christian marriage.

I am wondering if they best way forward would be the proposal and adoption of a substitute to Resolution A049 calling for the amendment of the Book of Common Prayer and the Constitution and Canons to allow for marriage between two persons regardless of sex while at the same time requiring that both parties be baptized, and removing any role of the civil authority. Those who wished to be civilly married could do so if they considered a civil marriage to be most advantageous for them but the Church would have no part of it. This proposal provides the additional advantage that those who could not be civilly married because state law forbids it or because to do so would cause economic hardship could be married in the Church. As I stated earlier in this letter I propose this because, “it is my opinion that the blessing rite falls short of our call as Christians.”

I suggest considering this action at this General Convention prior to the study of Marriage because if the study proposed in Resolution A050 finds in favor of same-sex marriage then the findings will be able to be enacted on second reading at the 78^th General Convention. (The Book of Common Prayer is a constitutional document. Amending it requires affirmative votes at two successive General Conventions). Moreover, this will give us the next three years to consult with our global partners.

I realize that this means the authorization of a blessing rite would be delayed and that those who have waited for this Church to do so will be told again to wait. However, the provision for generous pastoral response from Resolution C056 would still be in effect, a provision which has allowed for some bishops whose dioceses are in states that have approved same-sex marriage in the civil realm to permit clergy in their diocese to officiate at these marriages and others to allow blessings. The adoption of Resolution A049 as it is now written would continue this practice. This would mean in effect that the Episcopal Church would have approved same-sex marriage without laying the theological groundwork to do so while still stating in a constitutional document, the Book of Common Prayer, that marriage is between a man and a woman. I believe we owe it to God and to all the members of our Church to get this right.

I ask you to prayerfully consider this proposal. Allow me to conclude by asking your prayers for all the members of both Houses of General Convention. Pray that the Holy Spirit will guide our work.

To Him who can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine be all power, majesty, dominion and glory now and forever.

Hello world!

Welcome to my new blog. I have created this blog to journal about issues in the Church and discuss the General Convention of the Episcopal Church which begins next week. God bless you

+Steven A. Miller