progreso
With my eye on the clock, Progreso 326x55 arriving from Mexico with vans of general cargo, passing 7H just beyond my Bay window at 5:35 a.m.
"on the clock" because of new Sunday morning schedule being tried today: rise four o'clock instead of long years customary three o'clock. Idle mind because nothing intellectual involved for me at Church today, part of next step of phasing toward, if not yet quite into, retirement. An hour for coffee and nonsense instead of sermon or Sunday school prep, breakfast at five as usual,
then back on schedule for six o'clock shave and shower before leaving for Church at seven o'clock.
Nonsense this morning was reading, I think in The Conversation, about the unique, never before birth in captivity, of a Tortugas giant tortoise. And me thinking, "birth?" Birthing one of those would be quite a travail for the mother. I thought they came from eggs, shouldn't the word be "hatched" and not "birthed"? And googling facts about that wonderful sea and sand animal.
Retirement? BTDT, retired from Navy in 1978, retired from parish priest in 1998, retired from part-time ministry at other parishes in 2001 and again 2009. Somebody wrote that they expect to live forever and so far so good. Still, coming up on 87, I need to do this next step. It's part of the self-discipline of letting go and letting somebody else. Partial retirement, this stage is from mentoring our adult Sunday school class. We'll see what's next.
5:50, still got ten minutes.
The Episcopal Church General Convention is, I think again, considering whether to delete the church canon that says, "No unbaptized person shall be eligible to receive Holy Communion in this church." A passel of seminary theologians have come out against the change, forty or so of them (scroll down) in a written and signed statement to General Convention. It doesn't really matter, you know; half of parishes abide by the canon, I suppose out of theological conviction; the rest of us ignore it, and invite and welcome everyone present on the theology that this is not our Table, it's God's Table and "the gifts of God for the people of God" means everyone. So regardless of General Convention, we do what we believe is good regardless of what General Convention rules is what is right.
It's how women came to be ordained in the Episcopal Church: disregard for the rules and do what is good no matter what.
5:57 a.m., I've got to stop and post this.
Right Shoe First & Praise The Lord
Tom+
Theologians’ statement on open Communion reignites debate among Episcopalians ahead of General ConventionDeputies’ and bishops’ committees to hear public testimony June 27Posted 37 mins ago |
The wine stands on a large credence table behind the altar in the worship space in July 2018 for the closing Holy Eucharist at the 79th General Convention in the Austin, Texas, Convention Center. Photo: Mary Frances Schjonberg/Episcopal News Service.
[Episcopal News Service] The long-simmering debate over the topic of open Communion – allowing anyone to receive the Eucharist, regardless of whether they have been baptized – has reignited among Episcopalians in recent days, particularly on social media.
The practice, though restricted by the church’s canons, is common in many Episcopal churches. A newly proposed General Convention resolution seeking to repeal the canon in question, coupled with a statement from 22 seminary theologians expressing concern about its implications, has sparked arguments for and against such a change.
“I’m not surprised by the passion, because it cuts deeply into how we understand God and what the church is about,” Fond du Lac Bishop Matthew Gunter, who also serves as bishop provisional of Eau Claire, told Episcopal News Service. Gunter is the secretary of the General Convention bishops’ committee on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music. “There are people on both sides who feel pretty strongly about that. So trying to listen to one another is also something we need to do.”
The resolution proposed by the Diocese of Northern California, C028, received a hearing on May 3 and is currently before the bishops’ and deputies’ committees on Prayer Book, Liturgy and Music, which will meet again on June 27 to hear testimony for or against it one final time before the 80th General Convention, July 8-11 in Baltimore, Maryland.
The 22 theologians did not testify at the May 3 hearing but submitted their joint statement May 31 to the committee chairs. The statement asserts that the link between the sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Holy Eucharist is crucial and that it should not be portrayed as “exclusive or inhospitable,” as it has been described by some who favor repealing the canon that restricts the Eucharist to baptized people.
The Rev. Robert MacSwain, the professor of theology at The University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, who wrote the statement, told ENS in an email that “while C028 (and its accompanying explanation) was the initiating cause, the main impetus was a more pervasive sense that The Episcopal Church needs to do a better job of clarifying and communicating its understanding of Baptism and Eucharist and their intimate relationship.”
Crafting the statement
MacSwain said that by writing the statement, he hoped to bring more theological depth and context to the question of open Communion.
“Episcopalians actually have a pretty sophisticated and substantial sacramental theology that has been honed over the past several decades in liturgical scholarship and ecumenical dialogues, but for some reason this vital work doesn’t seem to be informing these conversations at any profound level,” he said. “So, while duly acknowledging the current controversy, we wanted to make a more positive statement about baptism and Eucharist, however tersely, in the hope of kickstarting a fresh conversation in the church about our sacramental theology.”
MacSwain said he reached out to liturgists and theologians who represent “the really impressive range of Episcopal scholars who serve our church faithfully in various ways and who have strong convictions on these matters.” The signers – all but three of whom are clergy – work at 11 seminaries and include the Very Rev. Ian Markham, dean and president of Virginia Theological Seminary, and the Rev. Juan M. C. Oliver custodian of the Book of Common Prayer.
When asked whether he personally supports C028, MacSwain wrote that he is “less concerned about either canons or resolutions (important though they are) as I am about the quality of theological education in The Episcopal Church, among both clergy and laity.”
One of the signers, the Rev. Matthew Olver of Nashotah House in Wisconsin, shared the joint statement on Facebook, adding, “there is no theologically coherent argument to remove baptism as a prerequisite for reception of the Eucharist.” Another of the 22 signers of the statement, the Rev. Dan Joslyn-Siemiatkoski of the Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, responded to a comment on Olver’s post by saying he thought the resolution “has no chance of passing. But the issue requires addressing.”
Open or closed?
The resulting debate on social media has encompassed the theology of open Communion, the specific resolution that would authorize it, the points made by the theologians and their method of addressing the topic.
“It has already generated a vigorous online conversation in both agreement and opposition with hundreds of comments, so that’s good!” MacSwain said. “It’s a conversation-starter, not a manifesto.”
Theologians who did not sign the statement have offered a wide range of reactions. The Very Rev. Gary Hall said he supports open Communion. Hall is former dean of Washington National Cathedral, former dean of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary and current interim dean of Bloy House, The Claremont School of Theology in California.
“Open Communion is the clearest signal the church can send in this moment that we are open and welcoming to all,” he told ENS. “It is true that baptism has traditionally been the prerequisite for Communion, but there are good reasons to change this practice.
“The advocates of closed Communion are right that there is a close link between Eucharist and baptism. Every church I know that practices open Communion does so as an invitation to baptism.”
Gunter agrees with the theologians’ statement, but does not see it as a question of “open” versus “closed.” The current canon, he said, does not require closed Communion – as the Roman Catholic Church and other denominations do – because it is open to any baptized Christian, regardless of denomination or doctrinal belief.
“The invitation [to Communion] is actually traditionally pretty open, compared to some other [denominations],” he told ENS. “I’m fairly convinced that the tradition is right.”