July and August 2010
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Mitregate

When my family began going to the Episcopal Church when I was about 10. women and girls were still expected to cover their heads in church with little lace caps that looked like doilies. (I’m sure there is some arcane ecclesiastical word for those things.)

I don’t remember when the doilies disappeared, but by the time I was a teenager they were gone, and females went bare-headed in God’s house. Somehow the church survived.

The brou-ha-hat, which has been dubbed “mitregate,” involves Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, head of the Church of England, who have already been involved this year in one theological smackdown (as writer Diana Butler Bass aptly called it).

A mitre is the pointy hat that bishops wear. It is not the most flattering of headgear. But flattering or not, the pointy hat is a symbol of a bishop’s office and authority; they are expected to wear them

Mitregate began with an invitation to our Presiding Bishop from the dean of Southwark Cathedral in London to preach and preside at the Eucharist there last month. She accepted.

Then she received a letter from Lambeth Palace, the London home and office of the Archbishop of Canterbury, instructing her not to wear her mitre at the London cathedral.

The archbishop’s office also pressured her to provide proof of her ordinations as deacon, priest, and bishop – a sort of ecclesiastical background check on the leader of the Episcopal Church. Or perhaps more correctly, the ecclesiastical equivalent of demanding to see Barack Obama’s birth certificate.

And so on June 13, Bishop Jefferts Schori went to church carrying, not wearing, the symbol of her office. “It’s silly; it’s bizarre. It’s beyond bizarre,” she later said.

It is, indeed, silly and bizarre, but it is also insulting. Pictures quickly surfaced of former Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank Griswald, and other American bishops, participating in worship services in England in all their mitred glory.

So what’s going on?

Several things. First, the Church of England, which was almost 20 years behind the Episcopal Church in allowing the ordination of women, still does not permit women to be bishops. Its General Synod is due to consider controversial legislation on that issue soon. Williams is already equivocating about what will happen if that legislation passes.

It is hard not to believe that our presiding bishop’s gender had something to do with the rude way in which she was treated.

But mitregate is only the latest manifestation of tenseness between the leader of the Episcopal Church and the chief of the Church of England, who is also the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, the association of churches with roots in the English church.

This spring Williams issued a “pastoral letter” to all members of the Anglican Communion, in which he said that he was going to remove Episcopalians from several international committees because we had ordained a partnered lesbian, the Rev. Mary Glasspool, as an assistant bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles, even after he had warned us not to do it.

Williams, who was a quite good theologian before he became the archbishop, seems to think he has the authority to tell the Episcopal Church how to run its affairs.

He doesn’t. As the title of a Facebook page puts it, “The Archbishop of Canterbury hath no jurisdiction in this realm.”

In a response to the archbishop’s letter, Bishop Jefferts Schori put it a bit more tactfully. “Unitary control does not characterize Anglicanism; rather, diversity in fellowship and communion does,” she wrote.

Ah, that devil diversity raises its ugly head again.

In trying to justify banning Episcopalians from international meetings ad ecumenical dialogues, the Rev. Kenneth Kearon, secretary general of the Anglican Communion and one of Williams’ right-hand men, recently had this to say to a group of Episcopal leaders: “The problem of increased and growing diversity in the Anglican Communion has been an issue for many years.”

Keeping Episcopalians out of ecumenical dialogues is necessary because “the viability of our meetings is at stake,” he said.

As we all know, viable meetings are at the heart of the Christian gospel.

Anyone who wonders why so many people find the Church irrelevant need only listen to these desperate voices clinging to male-dominated hierarchy, bemoaning diversity as a problem to be punitively dealt with, issuing edicts telling female leaders how to dress, going to meeting after meeting after meeting and thinking they are following Jesus.

How different from the Episcopal Church that I know and love – a church that see the God-created diversity of peoples, languages, races, sexual orientations, and even faiths as a divine gift; a church that proclaims the good news of the Gospel not to meetings of the like-minded, but to a world suffering from environmental disasters, wars, and economic meltdowns; a church that strives to respect the past while being open to fresh movements of the Spirit.

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Announcements

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Prayer for the nation

 

Gracious God, who has given us this good land: We humbly beseech you that we may always prove ourselves a people worthy of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and justice for all. Save us from violence and discord, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people all the multitudes brought here from many races and tongues. Endue with wisdom those to whom we entrust the authority of government. In the time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, help us to trust in you.

 

Amen

 

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Congratulations

Congratulations to Grace Hancock, rising junior at Galloway School, who received two major awards at the end of the school year. She received the Scholar Athlete Award for lettering in two varsity sports while maintaining an A average, and the Mind, Body, Spirit Award for lettering in a varsity sport, participating in a drama production and maintaining an A average. Way to go, Grace!

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Graduates

Jesse Dyer graduated from Georgia Tech with a Masters of Business Administration.

Audrey Dyer graduated with honors from the University of Texas. She majored in Economics and was a Collegiate Scholar in the university’s College of Liberal Arts.

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Keep in Touch on the Web

Thanks to Steve Mark, St. Dunstan’s now has a Facebook page. If you are a Facebook user check it out and become a friend of St. Dunstan’s. If you have pictures of church activities to post on the page, please let Steve know. Facebook is a great way to spread the news about St. Dunstan’s.

And remember to regularly check out St. Dunstan’s website for up-to-date news about what is going on in the parish, and to read the St. Dunstan’s blog, which has new postings weekly, if not more frequently. All parishioners are invited to comment on blog posts, or to write their own.

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The Flower Guild at St. Dunstan's

Summertime: During the summer, we are more relaxed and the Flower Guild opens its door to parishioners who might want to arrange the flowers themselves or with their children. Please feel free to sign up to arrange and/or to donate flowers. What a glorious way to praise God!

Donate:
One of the many ways we can glorify God is by donating flowers in honor of or in memory of someone.  Please sign up (more than one or two on a Sunday is fine!) in the Narthex.  We will print in the bulletin what you print on the sign up sheet.

Join:
It is a holy and sacred experience to be on the Flower Guild. The congregation is invited to join the Flower Guild; contact Gilda.

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Angel Yoga

6:30 – 7:30 pm every Monday

What if you had angels to help you stretch?  This class is especially geared toward folks who are inflexible, but want to increase their flexibility to improve their life.   Yoga improves balance and memory and teaches us to relax.  We focus on breathing in the breath of God and remembering that we are holy. 

Shoulder Stretch

- Inhale as you lift your shoulders up and exhale as you press them back and down
- Breathe into it and repeat several times

Tthe secret of yoga is in the slow intentional breathing.

There is no charge, but donations are accepted; most folks donate $10 a class. Join us! Donations go to the rector’s Discretionary Fund.

Questions?  Contact Gilda Morris, Certified Yoga Instructor: 404-842-2163 or via email.

Angel Yoga Retreat

Gilda Morris will be leading a yoga retreat based on the 23rd Psalm at St. Dunstan’s from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on September 11. Yoga is a gift we can give ourselves. We will breath in the breath of God as we strengthen, stretch and relax our body and mind. We will ponder and pray the 23rd Psalm. All are welcome.

Participants are asked to make a donation to LaAmistad, an outreach program of Peachtree Presbyterian Church to the Hispanic Community. The program, in which Gilda is involved, tutors children and teaches English to their parents.

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Thriftique

Buckhead Christian Ministry ’s thrift store, Thriftique, is in need of donations. The store provides free clothing to people in crisis and sells affordable clothing to the community. The store gives almost $8,000 worth of clothing away each month.

“We provide clothing to people who otherwise wouldn’t have appropriate attire for school, work, or interviews,” says manager Robyn Hazelrigs. “Through this ministry, we are able to help people get and keep jobs, or feel confident on their first day of school.”

Clean, gently-used clothing, small electronics and household items can be donated Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at the store at 800 Miami Circle, Suite 160, Atlanta 30324.

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Thanks from Tanzania

This month’s Treasurer’s Report, which is posted on the bulletin board in the ‘Dining Room’ area, contains a new line item in the ‘Cash Positions’ section. It is labeled ‘Grounds cash.’ This is a petty cash account managed by Peachy Horne for cash payments to workers and cash outlays to places such as Home Depot or Pike’s for plants, mulch and such. It will float right around $250, and the figure shown has not yet been spent. We keep track of payments to workers for possible 1099 reporting, as well as regular expenses which mostly come out of the Grounds Expense or Grounds Fund account, but are paid out of cash instead of the checking account income, and should all balance out with expenses by the end of the year.

~Dick Harris

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