We had a fabulous service this morning in St Mary’s. The place was full of people, good preaching, gorgeous music (Haydn’s Little Organ Mass with organ, full choir and strings) and a glorious time was had by all. We ran out of service books and consecrated hosts (again).
At the end of the service, I made the following announcement:
“I have been giving much thought as to how we should mark the Lambeth Conference this summer. All the duly consecrated bishops of the Anglican Communion have been invited to Canterbury for a conference with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Well, all bar one – the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the first bishop to acknowledge that he is living in a gay relationship will not be there as he has not been invited.
I have been invited several time to go to Lambeth, to campaign and wave banners and speak and generally campaign. I have decided not to do this. We must simply be who we are.
However, that has left me wondering how we can mark this Conference at St Mary’s. My response to this consists of 4 events:
Firstly, Bishop Idris has kindly agreed to meet with members of the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans) group which meet here at this Cathedral.
Secondly, The Most Rev Fred Hiltz, the Primate of All Canada has agreed to come and to preach here at St Mary’s on the Sunday before the Lambeth Conference (13 July 2008).
Thirdly, on the same day, those bishops who will be enjoying the hospitality of the Diocese will be invited here for Evensong. This will be an opportunity to greet them, pray with them and send them on their way to Lambeth with all our best wishes and goodwill.
Finally, it seems to me to be desirable to have someone at the end of the conference to come and preach to us. But who would the best person to have be? After all, all the bishops of Communion will be busy with Rowan Williams in Canterbury at the Conference. Well, all bar one. I’m delighted to announce that the Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire has agreed to come and celebrate the Eucharist and to preach the gospel on 3 August 2008 at 1030 here in St Mary’s.
I have met Bishop Gene, prayed with him and heard him preach. He is well worth hearing and I invite you all to bring your friends along on that Sunday to hear him.
Further details will be announced in due course.”
Dear Kelvin
I would like to compliment you on the quality of the debate within your blog. Most people who post here seem to do so with respect for the views of others.
I am a presbyterian from Portadown in Northern Ireland (boo hiss) but do not have a church background and only became a Christian in my early/mid 20s. I stumbled upon your site via Bishop David’s blog.
I am not sure were I stand on the whole same sex debate within the Anglican communion. My gut (which may be wrong) feeling is that homosexuality may not be God’s choice for human relationships.
What I want to know is, do you think that you could be wrong in your (apparent) feeling that same sex unions are of equal value in the eyes of God? Do you, for example, consider them to be as legitimate an expression of love as marriage between a man and a woman?
If you accept you could be wrong how does that affect your attitude to the debate?
Bishop Gene does not seem to feel he could be wrong and as such his attitude, from my very limited knowledge of same, can appear to be rather triumphalist, i.e., lacking humility.
If anything we are ALL called to humility and the tone of some of the debate (on both sides) is often anything but.
Thanks and keep up the excellent work in providing this useful forum for debate.
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Steven
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new to this but would like to add a comment.If I were in Kelvin’s shoes(black of course) I would also have invited Gene.He is after all a senior figure in the Anglican communion.He is in our city, should we not welcome a fellow Christian brother to share in the worship of Jesus?Yes he is gay but what do we know of the man himself.I for one have never met him so do not feel in a position to pass comment.Kelvin I feel has done the right thing, he also must know it would cause discussion debate and controversy and some people will be upset by this. Only Gene and his family know what pain anguish deliberation and prayer brought him to where he is now in his life.If we are all to be prevented from moving forward from our past then what hope is there for us.This denies God’s forgiveness.I know this doesn’t work if you totally deny someone their sexuality and believe that homosexuality is inhherently wrong.I believe in ;fidelity, honesty love truth and I think we should meet Gene and hear what he has to say
I dont know if any of this will be put on the blog but here are some thoughts i had on not just gene but people who people perceive to be different from them
I am me
Can’t you see, behind the mask of your certainty
The person who lives, breathes, thinks, feels, loves, not their own reality but yours
Can’t you see the small me dying within
Each day I lose more dignity
I compromise
I disappear
To make you secure in your reality
Why do you fear me so much?
Perhaps I threaten the status quo,
The smugness of self-righteousness
And yet I did not choose this for myself
It is my life
My walk with God
God knows me and loves me
He has held out His hand to catch me
When I fall
His gentleness and love sustain me
When human hearts turn cold against me
God is there in the wee small hours
With no T.V. or camera crew
Can’t you give me the time of day to listen to what I have to say
God will know if my heart is true and judge me on the last day
Hi, I learned from a friend that Gene Robinson will be at St Marys on 3 August.
I’m a gay guy who is a member of St Marys. I’ve not been attending services for some time. However my recent attendance at a Catholic Funeral Mass awoke something n me – something spiritual – a need. Also a BBC Documentary this week re GAFCON shocked me greatly!
As far as I’m concerned it’s my relationship with God, Christ and the Holy Spirit thats key.
I’ll be at St Marys on the 3rd
I am an ex-piskie, but still with fond feelings for the church I was raised in. Part of the reason I left was because in the 1970’s, key decade for me, the Piskie church didn’t have room for women in its clergy, alter servers or choirs. I felt excluded then, and I sympathise with the gay christians who are feeling excluded now. I have seen Gene Robinson in interviews, and he comes across as a warm, caring and deeply spiritual man. I would have loved to come to hear him speak in the flesh, and I am glad that he is being given these opportunities to speak.