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Reflections from the Kansas Deputation

Larry Bingham
July 17

Our two weeks in Anaheim have come to an end. It is too early to tell, but I think that this Convention may be recorded as a watershed year in the history of the Episcopal Church.

In one area of our life together, we have decided to face the realities of the costs of maintaining an organizational superstructure that is overburdened with commissions, committees, agencies and boards, as well as this two-week triennial Convention of more than 1,000 persons. In another area of our life, we have decided to honestly state our beliefs about relationships and human sexuality.

Our Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori, foreshadowed this change of direction for the church when she opened the Convention with an address that told us that we can no longer do “business as usua.l” This mantra was repeated often as we put together a budget that was based upon a decrease of more than $22 million in expected revenues. This financial crisis gave us the opportunity to do what we should have been doing for the last decade – retool the way that we support mission in The Episcopal Church. The budget also reflected the Presiding Bishop’s clear message, “The heartbeat of the Church is mission, mission, mission.” Notwithstanding our drastic cuts in church overhead, we maintained a 0.7 percent line item for the United Nations Millennium Development Goals that will supply $800,000 to fight world hunger and disease as well as adding another 0.7 percent line item to address domestic poverty among the poorest in our country. I believe that this stark change in budget priorities will drive a change in direction that we can be proud of.

In the area of human sexuality, the Convention restated our consistent policy that ordination to all orders of ministry, including that of bishop, is open to all persons without exception for sexual orientation. Our policy requires that the consecration of any bishop must be approved by a majority of dioceses, both bishops and standing committees and it remains to be seen how they may respond to an episcopal election of a partnered gay person; however, our statement of principle is clear.

This Convention made the decision to move forward in our discernment of the appropriate manner in which we will support and respect the relationships of gay and lesbian persons. I have observed the evolution of this issue over my 15 years of participation in General Convention. At the Denver Convention in 2000 we determined that the church should support relationships that are "characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God," whether those relationships be heterosexual or homosexual.

That 2000 statement was reiterated this year as we embarked upon a three-year study and discernment of the appropriate theological and liturgical response to gay and lesbian relationships. This discernment will be open and will involve participation of all persons representing the acknowledged different beliefs within our church and within the Anglican Communion. The decision to turn in this direction was made in the context of a marked increase in the degree of civility, respect and dialogue among persons with different positions, especially within the House of Bishops. The consensus among the bishops was reflected in a vote of 104 to 30, and this consensus was achieved only through a great amount of effort and respect for one another.

My fellow deputies and I thank you for this opportunity to serve the church and we welcome further dialogue so that we may share our experiences with you when we return home to Kansas.