January 2009
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Still a Long Way to Go

Over the holidays, Joe and I had a rare adult night out at the movies. We chose to see Milk, the excellent film about Harvey Milk, the first openly gay man elected to public office in this country, who was assassinated in 1978, not long after his election to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Part of the film focused on Harvey Milk’s leadership in the fight against Proposition 6, an initiative that would have banned gays, lesbians, “and their supporters” from teaching in California public schools.

Among the proponents of the movement was Anita Bryant, the singer and television star who became better known in the 1970s for her virulent campaign against gays and lesbians.

Claiming God on her side, Bryant compared homosexuality to bestiality and pedophilia, and warned that gays and lesbians wanted to teach so that they could recruit children to “their way of life.”

Proposition 6 was defeated. But 30 years later, Milk is sadly current and relevant.

This fall instead of Proposition 6 in California it was Proposition 8, a successful ballot initiative to ban gay marriage.

And instead of Anita Bryant leading the battle it was televangelist Rick Warren. Warren’s anti-gay rhetoric sounded chillingly familiar. Claiming God on his side, he compared gay relationships to incest and pedophilia.

His megachurch website until very recently contained this message: “Someone unwilling to repent of their homosexual lifestyle would not be accepted as a member of Saddleback Church.”

In 1978, Anita Bryant’s stance was condemned by then-President Jimmy Carter and former California governor Ronald Reagan.

Three decades later, President-elect Barack Obama has invited Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

Obama’s embrace of Warren has drawn surprisingly little criticism. Even liberals have praised him for reaching across the divide that has polarized this country in recent years. Others have defended the pick as an example of inclusivity.

But reaching across the divide and striving for inclusivity do not mean that everything is acceptable. The objections to Rick Warren are more than simply a difference of opinion, or differing positions on policy issues.

Rick Warren, despite his sunny smile and cheerful Hawaiian shirts, is a perpetrator of Christian hate. He demeans and dehumanizes an entire group of people. There is nothing Christian about it.

If we substituted the word “black” or “Jew” for “gay” in Warren’s statements, the nation would be in an uproar at the idea of him being center stage at the inauguration. And rightly so.

In fact, historically the same kind of hate speech has been used against blacks and Jews, rhetoric that has inflamed violence in this country and around the world.

Such violence should not be surprising. It is the natural progression of dehumanizing rhetoric. Words have consequences.

The rhetoric of Christian hate espoused by those like Anita Bryant and Rick Warren contributed to the murders of Harvey Milk and Matthew Shepherd.

It has contributed to the bullying of countless young people on school playgrounds and in locker rooms, and to the self-hate that has led to suicide by too many gay men.

Barack Obama knows all of this. He knows better.

On election night I wept at Obama’s victory. His election was a powerful statement of how far this country has come in its battle for equality for all of its citizens.

But on the day of his inauguration, a day which should be cause for celebration for all who have been marginalized and dehumanized throughout history, we will sadly be reminded instead of how far we still have to go.

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Announcements

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A Prayer for the New Year

Lord, we ask your blessing this New Year on your gift to us of time.

Bless our clocks and watches. May they make us aware of the miracle of each second of life we experience. May these our ticking servants help us not to miss that which is important, while you keep us from machine-like routine.

Bless our calendars, those ordered lists of days, weeks, and months, of holidays, holy days, fasts and feasts – all our special days of remembering. May they remind us of birthdays and other gift-days as they teach us the secret that all life is meant for celebration and contemplation.

Bless Lord, this new year, each of its 365 days and nights. Bless us with new moons and full moons. Bless us with happy seasons and a long life. Grant to us, Lord, the new year’s gift of a year of love.

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Adult Christian Education

Sunday school for all ages resumes January 11 at 9:30 a.m. Adults will hear guest teacher Tom Lombardo, the editor of the poetry anthology After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life Shattering Events. Tom is a poet and free-lance medical editor and founding editor the website WebMD. His anthology includes poems from more than 100 poets from around the world on topics such as grief, war, exile, addiction, and divorce.

In a forward to the book, Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann notes that “in this remarkable volume, Tom Lombardo has done a peculiar service to us all. He has gathered the aching words of loos from many zones of the human condition from a panoply of poets. The sum of these poems is to tell the truth and by the telling to find relief and sometimes healing. The ones who read and hear these poems can share the loss that is so common among us, and perhaps also share the healing that comes through bold voice.”

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Christian Education for Children and Youth

A Change in the All Things New Class:

Jane Lamkin , who has faithfully taught Sunday school for many years, has decided to take a sabbatical. Jane did more than teach our children; she also mentored new teachers and created a beautiful classroom which supported and enhanced our children’s learning.

Thank you, Jane , for the commitment and creativity that you brought to teaching Sunday school at St. Dunstan’s!

We are blessed that Marilyn Stansbury has agreed to become the third Sunday school teacher working with our 1st through 4th graders. She will join Monte Kimball and Jocelyn Bowman, the other teachers in that class.

Please thank Marilyn for stepping up to take on this responsibility. Come to think of it, please thank all of our Sunday school teachers for the fantastic job that they do!

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Treasurer's update

The good news is that November was another cash-flow-positive month for the church:

It’s important to note that 16 of our pledgers have paid more than their pledge for this year. We would not be in nearly as good a position without those additional gifts. You know who you are …. Thank you!

Stewardship 2009

This article is being written on December 11 in order to meet the deadline for the January 2008 Bellows.

We are nearing the end of the Stewardship drive for 2009 pledges and budget-writing time is upon us. As of today, 10 people/families who pledged last year have not yet submitted a pledge card for 2009. We hope that number will be out-of-date by the time you read it! There’s no question but that things easily slip between the cracks at this time of year. But if you happen to be one of those 10, it’s never too late! If your pledge card has vanished, call Susan Teat in the office and she will supply you with one, or just email your pledge to Nancy Elliott. If you can’t remember whether you sent in your card, call or email Nancy and she will check the roster.

As you consider your charitable gift-giving for 2009 – whether it be by pledge or by regular or occasional gifts to the collection plate – please remember St. Dunstan’s. As you know, the 2008 budget was tight. For 2009 we have increased our commitment to the Diocese by $5,000 to $20,000 for the year (still below the 10% assessment the Diocese initially requested). Whether we can include an operating budget commitment to Outreach next year will depend on our final pledge numbers.

New Treasurer

Dick Harris has agreed to assume the responsibility of Treasurer of St. Dunstan’s. He has already spent many hours in the office with Nancy getting started on the ins and outs of the job. Nancy will continue to work with Dick over the next couple of months as he gradually takes over completely. Thank you, Dick!

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We celebrate the November 7 birth of Marshall Price Blankinship, grandson of Bill and Kathy Blankinship, son of Brandon and Lissa Blankinship, and brother of Addie.

We celebrate the December 5 birth of Matthew Kieran Painter Taylor, son of Matthew Taylor and Kieran Cannistra; brother of Josie Mae, Maggie, Babe, and Cooper; and grandson of Josh and Jeanne Taylor.

We celebrate the January 4 baptism of Elias Andres Reyes Morris, son of Carson Morris and Pablo Reyes, and grandson of Lee and Gilda Morris.

Transferred out – Danny, Rhonda, and Victoria Woodard to St. Benedict’s.

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