Saint Andrew’s Net | March 2005 | Vol. XX No. 2 | Page 1

It has been two summers now since the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire was approved at General Convention—first by the House of Deputies and then by the House of Bishops. The actual approval happened when we were on vacation in Oregon. As we made our way home two summers ago, I knew that this was going to be a big issue at my parish. Like many churches across the country my former parish, St. Timothy’s in Apple Valley, was really a mixed bag of people, and so the reaction to this election was going to be mixed as well.

Before I left for vacation, I had held a couple of parish forums, letting the congregation know about General Convention and, in particular, Gene Robinson. I told them that I believed his election was going to be confirmed, and that I agreed with that decision. As you can imagine, there were some angry people who wanted to meet with me privately to express their opinion. On the other side, there were some people who felt blessed to be a part of a church that would take such a bold move. Unfortunately, this group of people, for whatever reason, felt they could not outwardly express their joy.

We spent another two months talking about the election and the greater issue of sexuality. It was an exhausting, dividing, and gut-wrenching process. We finally got to a point where I thought we needed a break, and we got one—although it was a strange way of getting one. Due to a generous gift from a parishioner, we were putting in new doors at the entrance of the church. We decided to paint the doors red. Now, there is a tradition of painting church doors red—one of the reasons for that tradition being is that it symbolizes the church as a place of refuge. Anyway, the first couple of coats were really ugly, and—wouldn’t you know it—the congregation forgot all about arguing about sexuality and preceded to complain about those red doors. I’m not sure what this says about congregations, but it was a much-needed reprieve—at least for a couple of weeks.

One of the things that I have learned about the Episcopal Church—and for that matter, the Anglican Communion—is that we are a church that believes in process. This whole issue of sexuality, in the life of the church, is going to be one long conversation. We are going to continue to be in the papers and on the television (as we were last week). In the meantime, we will continue talking and praying as God moves in our midst. On Sunday, March 13th, we will gather together at 9 a.m. to talk about the latest Primates meeting, and to check in on how we are all feeling.

As you can see on page 3 of this issue of the Net, there are a lot of services scheduled as we make our way onwards to Easter. I hope and pray that you will all join me in this journey for it is not one that we should make by ourselves alone, but one with our brothers and sisters at our sides.

God’s Peace,

Peter