Saturday, July 7

7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Downtown Marriott,
Marriott Room 5 – 10

Sign up begins at 6:30 p.m.

This process is posted:

• On the Web: Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music at (www.liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com)
• At the Information Desk: On the hearing schedule board
• At the Hearing: Available at the sign-up at 6:30 p.m.

Speakers may sign up to testify in one or both parts of the hearing. If a speaker testifies in Part 1, the speaker’s name will move to the bottom of the list in Part 2.

If you have suggested changes to the materials

Those who wish to submit specific suggestions for the resources, Blue Book (pp. 184-281) may post those on the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (www.liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com), no later than 7 a.m. EDT on Sunday, July 8, or give them in writing to a legislative aide for Committee 13 by the end of the hearing.

7:00 – 8:00pm

Resolution A049 (Blue Book, p. 168)

Indicate on the sign-up whether you are speaking for or against Resolution A049. Speakers will alternate “pro” and “con,” in order of sign-up.

8:00 – 9:00 pm

“I Will Bless You, and You Will Be a Blessing: Resources for Blessing Same-Gender Relationships,” (Blue Book, pp. 184-281)

• Speakers may offer comments on or suggestions about any or all of the resources.
  The committee asks speakers who have specific suggestions for emending the text to submit their suggestions for changes in specific wording in writing to the legislative aide immediately after testifying; include name and diocese on the submission.
• Order of testimony: The committee will hear from the first 5 bishops or deputies or alternate deputies who have signed up to testify, in order of sign-up, then from 5 others who have signed up to testify, also in order of sign-up. Speakers will continue to alternate in that pattern: 5 deputies/alternates/bishops, then 5 others.

To introduce the resources for blessing same-gender relationships, members of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music and the task groups that developed the materials have been making presentations at provincial synod meetings in each of the Episcopal Church’s nine provinces.

At most of the meetings, we have recruited volunteers to read through the liturgy in a reader’s theater format, enabling those present to hear and imagine how this liturgy would be celebrated. It’s generated lively discussion.

The presentation in Province VIII was webcast, and you can access it here.

The slides from the presentation in Province V are available here. It’s the last document on the list.

At several of the presentations, we’ve shown a video from St. Paul’s Church, Fayetteville, Arkansas, discussing their process of discerning whether to bless the relationships of same-gender couples in their congregation. The video can be found here. The St. Paul’s website has a narrative about their process and links to many of the resources they used during their process.

Ruth Meyers
Chair, Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music

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Para introducir los recursos para las bendiciones de uniones de parejas del mismo género, miembros de la Comisión Permanente de Liturgia y Música y los grupos de trabajos que desarrollaron los materiales han estado haciendo presentaciones en las reuniones de los sínodos provinciales en cada una de las nueve provincias de la Iglesia Episcopal.

En la mayoría de las reuniones, hemos reclutado voluntarios para que lean la liturgia en un formato de lectura teatral, permitiendo a aquellos presentes escuchar e imaginar cómo esta liturgia podría ser celebrada.    Esto generó discusiones dinámicas.

La presentación en la Provincia VIII fue publicada en el internet, y puede acceder a esta aquí.

Las diapositivas de la presentación en la Provincia V están disponibles aquí. Es el último documento en la lista.

En varias de las presentaciones, hemos mostrado un video de la Iglesia San Pablo en Fayetteville, Arkansas, discutiendo su proceso de discernimiento sobre de bendecir o no las uniones de parejas del mismo género en su congregación.  El video puede ser encontrado aquí. La página de internet de la iglesia San Pablo tiene una narrativa sobre su proceso y enlaces a muchos de los recursos que utilizaron para su proceso.

 Ruth Meyers
Coordinadora, Comisión Permanente de Liturgia y Música

Helping a Congregation and Same-Gender Blessings
The Rev. Thaddeus Bennett
March 30, 2012

Some of the SCLM material is public.  Some will come soon with the release of the Blue Book.  In this later material there is a whole section on working with your congregation to discern whether or not your Christian community will have same-gender blessings as part of its life in Christ.  The material is designed not to convince anyone of what is right or wrong.  Rather, it is designed to open the conversation so that God’s people can share their thoughts and insights.

What!  Have a conversation where all can be heard and respected?  Well, yes, that is what God’s people have been doing for centuries, admittedly sometime better than others.  However, the SCLM wants everyone to know that such open and balanced conversations can happen.  Indeed, we offer you a chance to hear the story of one:  St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Go to:  www.stpaulsfay.org/id541.html  and watch the 7 minute video.  Listen to the slow and deliberate process they used to have such conversations.  Listen to how everyone got to speak.  Hear how they used church resources to help them design a good process.  Note at the end of the video that they offer you those same resources from their church web page.

Go.  Watch and see.  Listen.  Then, ask if you might do the same in your congregation.  What might God be calling you to do?

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Ayudando a una congregación y a las bendiciones de parejas del mismo genero
Rev. Thaddeus Bennett
30 de marzo, 2012

Parte del material de la SCLM es público. Otra parte vendrán pronto con la publicación del Libro Azul.  En este material posterior hay una sección entera sobre el trabajo con su congregación para discernir si su comunidad cristiana tendrá o no bendiciones de parejas de personas del mismo-género como parte de su vida en Cristo. El material esta diseñado no para convencer a cualquier persona de que es correcto o incorrecto. Al contrario, esta diseñado para iniciar la conversación, de manera tal que el pueblo de Dios pueda compartir sus pensamientos y entendimientos profundos.

¡Qué! ¿Tener una conversación donde todos pueden ser escuchados y respetados? Bueno, si, esto es lo que el pueblo de Dios ha estado haciendo por siglos, y hay que admitir que algunas ves mejor que otras.  Sin embargo, la SCLM quiere que todos sepan que tales conversaciones abiertas y balanceadas pueden ocurrir.  De hecho, le ofrecemos la oportunidad de escuchar la historia de una conversación: La Iglesia Episcopal San  Pablo en Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Visite la página: www.stpaulsfay.org/id541.html  y vea el video de 7 minutos.  Escuche el lento y deliberado proceso que ellos utilizaron para tales conversaciones.  Escuchen como cada persona va a hablar.  Escuchen como utilizaron recursos de la iglesia para ayudarles a diseñar un buen proceso.  Note que al final del video ellos les ofrecen los mismos recursos de la página de internet de su iglesia.

Vaya, observe y vea.  Escuche.  Entonces, pregúntese si usted puede hacer lo mismo en su congregación.  ¿ Qué podría Dios estar llamándole a hacer?

Witnessing a Blessing
The Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

I hope that by now you know that the General Convention Office has released part of the SCLM report.  The section on Theological Reflection, the SCLM’s 2 proposed resolutions and the Trial Liturgy have been released.  The House of Bishops is discussing it during their meeting this week and House of Deputies (HOD) will discuss the excerpts in the online forum on the website of Bonnie Anderson, HOD President. http://houseofdeputies.org/deputy-online-forum/. That discussion on the Deputy Online Forum will take place March 16-23 and is available to the public for viewing. In addition, excerpts are also being made available to the wider church on Anderson’s website: http://houseofdeputies.org/blessingexcerpts

So, now everyone is able to see the trial liturgy.  So far, there has been very little reaction.  Might we be coming to a time when we are more interested in supporting a couple who want to make a life-long commitment?  Might we acknowledge that witnessing such a blessing will not only bring insights and blessing to the couple but also to us and to the Church?

 That is the hope.  Indeed, that is always the hope when we ask God to bless – that God’s people will see and remember that God loves us so much that he sent Jesus to show us the way of love and still send the Holy Spirit to bring that message of love to us over and over again.

 Whenever we witness such a thing, may we cry loudly, Amen!

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Atestiguar una bendición
Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

Yo espero que ya sepan que la Oficina de la Convención General ha publicado parte del informe de la SCLM.  La Sección sobre Reflexión Teológica, la segunda propuesta de resoluciones de la SCLM y la Liturgia Experimental han sido publicadas.  La Cámara de Obispos está discutiendo esto durante su reunión esta semana y la Cámara de Diputados (HOD) discutirá los extractos en su foro de internet en la página de internet de Bonnie Anderson, Presidenta de la HOD. http://houseofdeputies.org/deputy-online-forum/.  La discusión en el Foro de Diputados en Internet se realizara los días 16-23 de marzo y estará disponible para el público.   Además, los extractos están disponibles para toda la iglesia en la página de internet de Anderson: http://houseofdeputies.org/download-document/resources-for-same-sex-blessings-excerpt-spanish.html y http://houseofdeputies.org/download-document/resources-for-same-sex-blessings-excerpt-spanish-part-two.html

 Entonces, ahora todos pueden ver la liturgia experimental.  Hasta ahora, ha habido poca reacción.  ¿Podría ser que estamos llegando a un tiempo en el cual estamos más interesados en apoyar a una pareja que quiere hacer un compromiso para toda la vida? ¿Podríamos reconocer que al ser testigos de tal bendición, esto no solo traería entendimiento profundo y bendición a la pareja sino también a nosotros y a la Iglesia?

 Esta es la esperanza.  De hecho, esta es siempre la esperanza cuando le pedimos a Dios que bendiga- que el pueblo de Dios vea y recuerde que Dios nos ama tanto que envió a Jesús a mostramos el camino del amor y todavía envía al Espíritu Santo a  traernos ese mensaje de amor una y otra vez.

 ¡Siempre que atestigüemos tal cosa, gritemos en alta voz, Amen!

On Friday, December 9, the Episcopal News Service published an article about educational materials related to the blessing of same-gender unions that have recently been made available by the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music. Read the article, or go directly to the referenced educational materials or press release.  

The Rev. Keri Aubert
Blessings Project Manager

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We invite your participation in this dialogue. To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly. Our rules for posting are fairly simple: express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.

In January 2011 we posted here the guiding summary documents developed for the theological and liturgical work of the Commission on blessing same-gender relationships. As the work proceeded, those two documents were refined. You can find the final versions at the following links:

• Theological Reflection
• Liturgical Principles

En español:

• Reflexion teologica
• Principios liturgicos

Please offer your thoughts and observations.

Keri Aubert
Blessings Project Manager

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We invite your participation in this dialogue. To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly. Our rules for posting are fairly simple: express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.

On Monday, October 17, 2011, the Episcopal News Service published a comprehensive article about the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy on same-gender blessings. The article, which includes both a history of this work and an update on recent actions by the Commission, is available here.  

Keri Aubert
Blessings Project Manager

 # # #

We invite your participation in this dialogue. To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly. Our rules for posting are fairly simple: Express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.

The Episcopal Church’s Office of Communications will live webcast the plenary sessions of next week’s Church-Wide Consultation on General Convention Resolution C056, Liturgies for Blessing. The event is taking place in Atlanta on March 18 and 19. Click here for the press release with details of the url and times for this webcast. 

After viewing the webcast, please submit your comments either here on this blog or via email to sclm@episcopalchurch.org.

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We invite your participation in this dialogue about blessing same-gender relationships. Your responses and observations here will help inform the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music in our work of developing theological and liturgical resources for such blessings. We hope that this conversation will also be a way to renew and enliven a shared vision of the church’s mission in the world.

To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly.

Our rules for posting are fairly simple. Express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.

The 2009 General Convention of the Episcopal Church directed the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to collect and develop theological and liturgical resources for blessing same-gender relationships (Resolution C056). The Commission is eager to engage the wider church in theological conversation as one among many sources that will inform our work.

The reflection below was submitted by the Rev. Jay Emerson Johnson, Ph.D., chair of the task group preparing theological resources.

Read more about this project.

# # #

As the theological resources task group continues to hone and refine the theological principles in our work, it would be helpful to hear more specifically about the principles themselves. To begin that conversation, I invite some reflection on two of those principles that are particularly intertwined with each other – the “fruitfulness” of committed relationships and the character of “mutual blessing.” In brief, what we are trying to articulate here is how living in a committed, covenantal relationship enables us to engage in our vocations as Christians in ways that we couldn’t apart from the relationship. Thus, the love shared in such a relationship “spills” over into lives of hospitality and generous service. This in turn makes all such committed relationships a blessing to the wider community. We would appreciate hearing how you might have experienced this in your own faith communities. How have committed relationships been a blessing to you? Where you have seen the “fruits of the Spirit” in such a relationship? Specific examples of these principles will help us refine our work – thank you in advance!

# # #

We invite your participation in this dialogue about blessing same-gender relationships. Your responses and observations here will help inform the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music in our work of developing theological and liturgical resources for such blessings. We hope that this conversation will also be a way to renew and enliven a shared vision of the church’s mission in the world.

To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly.

Our rules for posting are fairly simple. Express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.

  

The 2009 General Convention of The Episcopal Church acknowledged the changing circumstances in the United States and in other nations, as legislation authorizing or forbidding marriage, civil unions or domestic partnerships for gay and lesbian persons is passed in various civil jurisdictions that call forth a renewed pastoral response from this Church. In light of these circumstances, the General Convention directed the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to collect and develop theological and liturgical resources for blessing same-gender relationships. At the same time, we were asked to invite theological reflection from throughout the Anglican communion. The Commission has begun its work by articulating Theological Principles and Liturgical Principles to guide the development of resources.

 # # #

We invite your participation in this dialogue about blessing same-gender relationships. Your responses and observations here will help inform the work of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music in our work of developing theological and liturgical resources for such blessings. We hope that this conversation will also be a way to renew and enliven a shared vision of the church’s mission in the world.

To post a comment, your first and last name and email address are required. Your name will be published; your email address will not. The first time you post, a moderator will need to approve your submission; after that, your comments will appear instantly.

Our rules for posting are fairly simple. Express yourself with courtesy, civility, and respect for others, whether or not you agree with them.