In a little over an hour, at 10:00 a.m. EDT, I’ll be joining a good bloggin‘ friend, the Rev’d Peter Mayer on the air. We’ll be guests of Dave Kane on a local radio station in Woonsocket, RI. We’ve been on his show several times, and the conversations are always lively. Today we’re talking about, among other things, the recent U.S. Religious Landscape Survey by the Pew Foundation. We’ll also talk about the recently passed Rhode Island budget, which was balanced on the backs of the state’s poorest citizens.

If you want to tune in, you can listen online at www.wnri.com. Locally, you can find us at 1380 AM. If I can get a recording, I’ll see about putting it online after the show.

It’s a call-in, so please feel free to call in with your questions. Just remember that most local listeners won’t know the difference between DEFCON and GAFCON.

Ann has done it again, finding this interview with Archbishop Peter Jensen, attempting to explain why some of Leviticus counts and other bits don’t.

BabyBlue has created a video of GAFCON scenes. Ann sent it to me, and I encourage you to watch it.

In the Interwebs it’s easy to demonize those with whom we differ. I’ve used the term “gaffe-con” in good fun, I hope. But I recently received a thought-provoking email from a friend gently reminding me that one person’s fun is another’s derision. In our struggle for unity, if we are take it seriously, we must decide how to treat one another, especially those who differ from us.

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Image via Wikipedia

Today the brown UPS truck stopped in front of the house. The driver brought a little something I had been waiting for — an original 1874 Vanity Fair print of Bishop John William Colenso.

I sometimes give talks on Anglican polity, and I like to use a slide showing this man. I put up the slide and then ask if anyone knows who he is. Of course they don’t, so I add, helpfully, “this man’s actions helped to shape the modern Anglican Communion.” Again, blank stares.

Then I go on. This man is Bishop John William Colenso, late Bishop of Natal. He taught many controversial things, including the idea that the church — in its zeal to teach monogamous marriage — must not force African men to divorce their several wives when they convert to Christianity. Otherwise, women were left in abject poverty. Better to allow them to join the church as a family, but to take no more new wives. Morality is sometimes more complex that we might like it to be.
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Here on the East Coast of the US, it’s just about time for the premiere of “Traces of the Trade” on PBS. This documentary chronicles the story of a slave-owning family in the Northeast — here in Rhode Island in particular. The notion that slavery was an evil that affected only the South is proven wrong. There are ties between the moral evil of slavery and the Episcopal Church. One member of the DeWolf family was both Bishop of Rhode Island and Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

Here’s a trailer:

Check out the show, which starts at 10 p.m. here. Your listings may vary.

UPDATE: It seems that things may be OK on my end, after all. I’m grateful for all the notes of support, righteous indignation, and financial help. I’ll contact those who gave money to arrange return of it, since I’m unlikely to need it. If you’re inclined to help with Lambeth Conference progressive coverage or the work of building a church where no one is banned, please make a donation to the Canterbury Campaign or to Inclusive Church in the UK. I don’t much like personal drama, so I apologize for the on-off-on-again nature of all this. I guess I’ll chalk it up to Anglican life these days. Your support shows that there is much life among Anglicans, and it gives me much hope for the future of the church. Thanks to be God.

I’ve had some fun being banned from GAFCON. It was my first official banning. May it not be the last.

Along with the fun side, there was a cost. I had planned to go to the Lambeth Conference where I was to serve as a volunteer photographer and communications staffer for an entity that I’ll leave nameless. It seems that my infamy is now seen as a liability for them, so I am not able to serve in that capacity. I had used some frequent flyer miles to get myself a ticket to London, and the unnamed entity was to help me with food and lodging.

Here’s the deal. I’d like to go to the Lambeth Conference. If I’m there, I’ll work closely with my friends at Inclusive Church, who are planning a progressive presence with a marketplace stall and many events. Some of you may remember my blogging coverage of the Primates’ Meeting in Dar es Salaam. I’ll fill the Interwebs with regular reports, photos, and analysis of what’s happening. I think it’s important to have progressive bloggers there. Otherwise you’re coverage will be limited to a few conservative blogs.

You can help send 7WD to the Lambeth Conference!

If you have a few extra dollars, please consider donating some funds. I’ll cover some of the expense myself, but a priest’s salary does not leave much room for three weeks in England with a weak dollar! As a vegetarian teetotaler, my costs are low. Anyway, you can use PayPal to make a contribution. If you’d rather send a check, just email and I’ll give you the details. If you’re planning a larger gift and want to ensure that it’s tax deductible, please contact me.

I’ll gladly give a penny-by-penny accounting to any donor who wants it. You’ll be paying for lodging, some meals, travel from London to Canterbury, and customary incidentals. If there are extra funds, I’ll donate that money to Inclusive Church UK for its ongoing work ensuring that there’s room for everyone in our church and that no one is banned.

Bishop Geralyn Wolf has sent a letter to the House of Bishops with an update on the Rev’d Ann Holmes Redding. As you may recall, Mother Redding is an ordained priest (canonically resident in the Diocese of Rhode Island) who seeks to follow Islam and Christianity together.

When this story broke about a year ago, the usual suspects on the right used it as an example of ways in which the church has lost its way. And yet she was placed under discipline quite quickly. That kind of took the wind out of the naysayers’ sails. The Episcopal Church may seek to follow the Gospel call to welcome all, but there are boundaries. This reality is not convenient for those on the right, so they continue to use the “Muslim priest” in their mythology, despite the fact that she’s been under a Pastoral Direction since June 2007.

Most sensible people will agree that you cannot be both a Muslim and a Christian priest together. From either perspective, it would seem, these two traditions cannot coexist in one person. Bishop Wolf has dealt with this in a most gracious way, I think. She has respected Mother Redding’s dignity and authenticity, even as she has had to mete out discipline. It seems downright Christian.

I’ve reproduced the most recent letter, below the fold.

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7WD’s breathless breaking-news coverage of the GAFCON ban continues. There’s a facebook group, started by the Rev’d Peter Carey, “I want to be banned by GAFCON, too!” If you’re a facebook type, make sure you join right away. It’s a public group, so the GAFCON command center will see your request. If you are lucky, you can be on the list along with the GAFCON 8.

UPDATE: As of 1:00 p.m. EDT, there are now 40 people requesting a ban from GAFCON. Why not join the party?

UPDATE: At 4:00 p.m., we’re up to 70 aspirants to banishment. Want to be banned? Y’all come in! (Ironic, isn’t it?)

UPDATE: As of 10:30 a.m. EDT on June 24, there are 238 people seeking to be banned. If we keep this up, there will be more ban-fans than GAFCONites.

UDPATE: At 4:30 p.m., June 29, there are 645 members.

See this post for more on this theme song.

Wow. I just read Ruth Gledhill’s blog, only to learn that I have been banned from GAFCON. Apparently, I am such a threat to “orthodox” Anglicans that immediately upon my appearance, people should break into singing “All hail the power of Jesus’ name” — should I manage to breach security. I guess one could do worse in a theme song.

I’m baffled. Look at the cast of characters. There I am with Bishop Robert O’Neill, Davis MacIyalla, Colin Coward, Louie Crew, Susan Russell, and Deborah and Robert Edmunds. Of course, I am honored to be listed in this company. I’m tempted to start a campaign to raise money so that we can all get together and have a “Banned in GAFCON” dinner party. So far that’s my best plan. I’d be open to other suggestions.

This is my first experience at being banned, so I would welcome any advice that my good readers might have.

I strongly dislike meetings that waste time. In churches, a high percentage of time in meetings is wasted. My usual coping strategy is to check out, fiddling with my email or updating 7WD. Sometimes that won’t work. I found an article that describes the problem of wasted meetings, and it even offers some solutions. Slow Leadership describes it this way:

One of the most frustrating and irritating experiences at work is not just the number of unnecessary meetings — although they test anyone’s patience — but the endless talk, conversation and sharing of thoughts that takes place and leads to nowhere.

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Louie Crew has graciously allowed me to share one of his emails to the House of Bishops/Deputies email list. The conversation was about the value of ECUSA being in the Anglican Communion. Louie writes:

There are so many, many more reasons for us to remain in the Anglican Communion:

• collaboration with other Anglicans in doing ministry
• sustaining our rich heritage of common traditions of worship
• discovering our flaws from those bound to us with affection
• bearing loving testimony regarding flaws we see elsewhere
• receiving the insights of those who live out their faith powerfully with remarkably less resources than we have
• having a wide network of friendship when we collaborate with others to respond to natural disasters
• major checks on our spiritual pride and arrogance
• major help in avoiding making God in our own image, by encountering God in so many people who do not look like us or agree with us
• major ways to see Jesu in the neighbors we have from Jesu

And so many, many more.

TEC has no monopoly on the Truth, nor does any one of the other 37 provinces of the Anglican Communion. We need each other, especially when we find ourselves not liking each other.

Let’s stay at that table prayerfully, lovingly even should some physically try to eject us. Love does not insist on having its own way. Love is patient and kind. Love bears all things.

Thanks, Louie. Your words are a gift to the church. You are a gift to the church.