Many of the readings are similar, with just a slight difference in the verses selected. However, in the Easter Vigil, the Revised Common Lectionary includes Baruch 3:9-15,32—4:4 or Proverbs 8:1-8,19-21;9:4b-6, rather than Isaiah 4:2-6.

The SCLM envisions using the collect for “God’s Presence in a renewed Israel” for the Baruch or Proverbs reading. Although it doesn’t match either reading thematically, the commission decided not to try to propose a revision of a text in the BCP.

Here’s the full list of readings for the Vigil this year:

The story of Creation:
Genesis 1:1—2:4a
Psalm 136:1-9,23-26

The Flood:
Genesis 7:1-5,11-18;8:6-18,9:8-13
Psalm 46

Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac:
Genesis 22:1-18
Psalm 16

Israel’s deliverance at the Red Sea:
Exodus 14:10-31; 15:20-21
Canticle 8

God’s Presence in a renewed Israel:
Baruch 3:9-15,32—4:4 or
Proverbs 8:1-8,19-21;9:4b-6
Psalm 19

Salvation offered freely to all:
Isaiah 55:1-11
Canticle 9

A new heart and a new spirit:
Ezekiel 36:24-28
Psalms 42 and 43

The valley of dry bones:
Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 143

The gathering of God’s people:
Zephaniah 3:14-20
Psalm 98

At the Eucharist:
Romans 6:3-11
Psalm 114
Luke 24:1-12

Although this effect was at times unintended, we have explicit evidence of preaching in which the Jews were demonized from the pulpits of Europe.[1]  We find this especially in the preaching which took place during Holy Week, and most particularly in the intense focus on the death of Jesus on Good Friday.  Preachers did not hesitate to remind their hearers of the guilt of all Jews for the death of the Lord, with the consequence that quite commonly on Good Friday Jewish families would remain hidden in their homes in order to avoid abuse and even death.[2]

This history places an enormous responsibility upon preachers today to remain alert for any comment in their preaching which might give renewed support to this anti-Jewish prejudice which was often communicated by parents to their children from their earliest years.  The hearing of the Scriptures and the interpretations offered by preachers had a determinative effect in the shaping of anti-Jewish attitudes as characteristic of a Christian identity.  A potent example of this is the use of the term “the Jews” as a factor in the shaping of anti-Jewish attitudes within a congregation as being appropriate for people of Christian faith.  Such preaching shaped an identity in which these anti-Jewish attitudes might become embodied in words and actions against one’s Jewish neighbors.

Our goal in this commentary for Holy Week 2013 is to focus on certain ‘difficult’ issues which emerge from a consideration of the Holy Week readings.  Since we are in Year C of our lectionary cycle, our initial attention must be given to the Gospel of Luke which plays a primary role in this year’s cycle.

The Sunday of the Passion:  Palm Sunday.

The proclamation of the Passion holds primary place on this Sunday.  This tradition predates the introduction of what we know as Holy Week, including the Liturgy of the Palms, which was introduced in the fourth-century in Jerusalem.  The normal day for the assembly of Christians was Sunday, the Day of the Lord, and so the Sunday one week prior to Easter was the day on which the Passion would be read, being the last day of assembly prior to that on the Day of the Resurrection.

The Liturgy of the Palms was a later addition at the time of the historicizing in the liturgy of the events prior to the death of Jesus.  This development took place quite naturally in Jerusalem since that is where the events occurred.  It was from there that the Holy Week rites spread to other parts of the world.  In Jerusalem, the Liturgy of the Palms was not attached to the reading of the Passion at the Eucharist, but rather became the first part of the evening liturgy of Vespers, thus quite separate from the proclamation of the Passion.  The people gathered on the Mount of Olives in the late afternoon and from there moved in procession into the city.  The Palm liturgy thus began the “second layer” — the weekday sequence — commemorating the daily sequence of events leading up to the Sacred Triuduum, the Three Days which took as their focus the final meal, the crucifixion of Jesus, and the Easter Vigil and first celebration of the Eucharist of the Resurrection.

The proclamation of the Passion in cycle C, being drawn from the Gospel of Luke, immediately faces us with the significant distinction between the Passion in the three synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke and the Passion of John.  In the synoptics, the death of Jesus has the appearance of defeat — he is, as it were, a martyr, and the Jews are given the blame.  In Luke, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate declares Jesus to be innocent and is prepared to release him, but in the end submits to the Jewish leaders and the crowd by authorizing the execution.  But the preacher must make clear that by the time of the writing of Luke’s Gospel, the hostility between the Christian disciples (most of whom were themselves Jewish) and the Jewish leaders had become acrimonious.  It is likely that this hostility affected the way in which the recounting of the events of the Passion were presented.

It is not special pleading to suggest that the account in Luke may exaggerate the culpability of the Jewish leaders for its own polemic purpose.  At the very least, the presentation of the Jewish leaders and of Judaism in general is complex.  The early part of the Gospel dealing with the events around the conception and birth of Jesus, his circumcision, and his presentation at the Temple all place his life in the context of a faithful Jewish community, which sets these chapters in sharp contrast to the harsh descriptions of the Pharisees in later chapters.  New Testament scholars generally agree that the Gospel of Luke was the work of a Gentile writer and was addressed to Gentile readers, and so looks at the events, as it were, from ‘outside’ Jewish religious experience.

Maundy Thursday.

The lectionary of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, offered Luke 22:14—30, as an alternative to John 13:1—15.  The Revised Common Lectionary does not offer the Lucan alternative, but expands the Johannine reading:  John 13:1—17, 31b—35.  This expansion articulates the particular perspective in John that the crucifixion of Jesus is his glorification:  the Cross is the sign of victory, as in the ancient hymn Vexilla regis (Hymnal 161), “God is reigning from the tree.”  Thus the Gospel reading for Maundy Thursday links us to the proclamation of the Passion of John on Good Friday.

This supports the claim that the liturgies of the Triduum are actually one great liturgy in three ‘parts’ which are celebrated over that number of days.  This understanding is further supported by the rites themselves in that there is no dismissal given in the prayer book for either the Maundy Thursday or the Good Friday liturgies.

Another dimension of the Maundy Thursday rite which invites an exploration of the common heritage of Jews and Christians is the presumed character of the Last Supper as a Passover seder, as it is presented in the Gospel reading.  Many Christians have had the experience of participating in the Passover meal with Jewish friends.[3]  For me, this experience has been much more rewarding than that of a so-called ‘Christian seder’.  It is worth remembering that in 1979, the Standing Liturgical Commission issued a document in which such Christianization of the Jewish rite was strongly discouraged as a presumptuous use of a Jewish ritual that removes it from its appropriate context.[4]  When I last attended the Passover with Jewish friends, I was profoundly moved by the many moments in the ritual when within me the connection of the Passover to our Lord’s final meal was made real in its own terms.  If a preacher on this day chooses to talk about the Last Supper, it offers an occasion to again emphasize the common heritage in which both Jews and Christians are rooted.

Good Friday.

Finally we turn to what is in many ways, along with Passion Sunday, a rite that offers particular challenges to the preacher.  Albeit allowing for differences of emphasis, it is in both of these rites that the Passion is proclaimed, and thus where anti-Judaic attitudes have most been nurtured.  It is with regard to the Gospel of John in particular that commentators have raised the question of anti-Judaism.  That is, of course, an important question for us, and perhaps particularly for those who preach on Good Friday.

Throughout the Gospel of John there are comments about “the Jews” which have confirmed in the minds of many people that the Gospel is itself anti-Jewish.  But is this claim justified?  In the Gospel of John, who were “the Jews”?  The term appears over seventy times in this Gospel, far more frequently than in the other three.  Whereas the Synoptic Gospels generally refer to specific Jewish groups such as the scribes, the Pharisees, and the Sadducees, John generally refers indiscriminately to “the Jews.”  We have been conditioned to hear those words as applying to the opponents of Jesus, and thus as pejorative.

Commentators have noted, however, that the term is used with various meanings in John.  “The Jews” can refer to the people who live in Judea (John 7:1—18), or it can refer to a sub-group within the synagogue (John 9:22).  At other places, the term is used in reference to people who are clearly friends, like those who comfort Martha and Mary when their brother Lazarus has died (John 11:31f.), or in reference to “the festivals of the Jews.”[5]  We need always to remember that all of the people in the Gospel narrative were Jews, therefore the preacher must avoid any hint of seeing “the Jews” in caricature.

The problem for us is that, although we may assert that the Gospel of John is not anti-Jewish, it seems that it often sounds that way to our ears.  For this reason, it is imperative that preachers — generally, of course, but especially when preaching on the Passion — be very attentive to their choice of words.  Unless we are careful about this, our hearers may not hear what we intend.  In this regard, it is helpful to read a variety of translations of the pericopes assigned for Holy Week in the lectionary.  Every translation offers, of course, an interpretation, and if we are attentive to a variety of voices offering to us nuanced distinctions, we shall be more prepared to meet this challenge, and to proclaim the Passion and Resurrection of our Lord with words that embody the Gospel in its integrity.

SUPPLEMENT

Statement By The Standing Liturgical Commission:

Why a Seder is not appropriate on Maundy Thursday

26 February 1979

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in celebrating a Passover Seder on Maundy Thursday. Sometimes the meal is thinly Christianized; sometimes a traditional Jewish Seder is used without any change. (The word seder means order). Although this practice grows out of an understandable desire to reproduce the circumstances of the Last Supper, and so to participate more vividly and intimately in one of the central events of Holy Week, it is a questionable practice for several reasons:

1. There is a serious disagreement within the New Testament itself as to whether the Last Supper was in fact a Passover Meal. The first three Gospels clearly describe it as such; but the Fourth Gospel declares that the crucifixion occurred on the “day of Preparation” (John 19. 31), and thus the Last Supper fell on the night before the Passover.
2. For another thing, a true Passover Seder is a highly festive occasion, inappropriate during the Lenten fast.
3. But most important, every aspect of the Jewish religion has been transformed for Christians by the death and resurrection of Christ. Even Maundy Thursday is not simply a historical reconstruction of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Although our attention on Maundy Thursday is fixed on the scene in the Upper Room in Jerusalem, nevertheless our primary act of worship on that day is a full Christian Eucharist, during which we proclaim, as we do throughout the year,

“Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.”

Thus, even on Maundy Thursday, Christians worship in the power of the resurrection. On the Passover, Jews remember their deliverance from Egypt, and thereafter from all the enemies of their historical existence. But Christians, in their worship, remember their deliverance from “the last enemies”, sin and death. We say “Christ our passover is sacrificed for us” because we believe that Christ, through his death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter, has brought the fulfilment of God’s promised deliverance. It is the death and resurrection of Christ, rather than the Last Supper, which most nearly correspond to the Exodus from Egypt; and thus the Great Vigil of Easter which most nearly corresponds to the Passover Seder of the Jews.

Christians who celebrate a Jewish Passover on Maundy Thursday are not truly respecting the integrity of Jewish Passover expectancy, for Christians believe that Jewish expectations have already been fulfilled in Christ. (Christians can truly worship only by expressing that conviction, as in the Eucharist. For them to participate in Jewish worship requires a degree of mental reservation: a temporary setting aside of their distinctive Christian identity. ) Also, they are failing to recognize that the fulfilment of those Jewish expectations in Christ is through the whole paschal mystery, through his death and resurrection, rather than in the Last Supper, which was a preliminary anticipation of that hope.

It is a right instinct to celebrate the Lord’s death and resurrection at this time of the year in a more intimate and familial way than usual. The holding of agape meals during Holy Week, especially on Maundy Thursday after the celebration of the Eucharist, is to be encouraged. But these meals should be simple, even austere, in keeping with Lenten fast. They should point forward to the great paschal fast, which begins after the liturgy of Maundy Thursday, is intensified on Good Friday, continues through Holy Saturday, and is concluded by the reception of Easter communion.

Part of the pressure for observing a Passover Seder may arise, even unconsciously, from our desire to experience transition or passage to a new life. Of course, it is the celebration of Holy Baptism within the Great Vigil, and the Lenten preparation for it, which constitutes for Christians our passage to new life, our “Exodus.” When Christian initiation is better understood, and its practice becomes a dramatic part of our celebration of the Easter mystery, the desire for a Christian observance of a Passover Seder may pass away.

http://www.episcopalarchives.org/cgi-bin/ENS/ENSpress_release.pl?pr_number=79055

As hoped, that extension was authorized by the 2012 General Convention.

A note was included with that first article which discussed the terms ‘anti-Judaism’ and ‘anti-Semitism’.  Since this first article and the note are still available on the SCLM BLOG, what was said there will not be repeated here.  We have now arrived at the time for this project to take form in offering to the Church commentary materials intended as a resource for clergy and laity who may be preaching in Holy Week this year (March 24-31), using the Revised Common Lectionary readings for the current Cycle C.  In other words, this commentary will focus on what are regarded as the most problematic texts linked to the sometimes unintended anti-Judaism which these texts have nourished in Christian liturgy.  In general, these are texts which have encouraged a supersessionist understanding of the Church as “the new Israel” — the new people of God in distinction to the Jews.

In its extreme forms, this supersessionist attitude renders Judaism as obsolete spiritually.  At the Second Vatican Council, the Roman Catholic Church took a firm stand against this view, and numerous theologians and biblical scholars have likewise called for a much deeper reflection on the part of Christians in general on this important issue.  Yet anti-Judaism remains deeply entrenched among many Christians who consider themselves faithful to Jesus the Jew.  Increasingly it is seen that this painful issue requires confrontation.

Anti-Judaism was planted in both subtle as well as blatant ways for centuries as, for example, Christians learned the anti-Judaism taught from pulpits during the Middle Ages as well as from the time of the Reformation.  To some degree, all Christian traditions have been affected by the belief that was taught among Christians that the Jews are a people who have been rejected by God for their failure to accept Jesus as the expected Messiah.  This belief was reinforced generation upon generation as it was affirmed again and again by Church leaders.

Since this belief was often supported by what the people heard preached, may we hope that our liturgical preaching might be a means by which anti-Judaism may be confronted effectively in our own time?  With that hope, in early March a commentary will be placed on this BLOG dealing with the texts that are generally considered the most problematic.

That commentary, focused on Holy Week this year, will be followed in due course by other commentaries on texts which occur elsewhere during the course of the liturgical year.

The presentation is designed to:

• be used by someone who is familiar with the whole report  
• be given as a one session presentation in a congregation. 
• give a history and a brief overview of each section of the report. 

It is available as an attachment to this blog or you can email Thad at thadinvt@svcable.net for a copy.

SCLM Presentation Congregation one Session without Liturgy PPT Presentation

“I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing”

[November 27, 2012] The Episcopal Church’s liturgical rite for blessing same-sex relationships, authorized by General Convention for use in the Episcopal Church beginning the first Sunday in Advent, December 2, is now available online free of charge.

The rite and a short theological summary, both excerpted from the report of the Church’s Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music (SCLM) titled “I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing,” are posted here.

The rite, which must be approved by each diocesan bishop before it is used in individual dioceses, is authorized by General Convention for provisional use until 2015.

“We learn as we pray,” explained the Rev. Ruth Meyers, Ph.D, Dean of Academic Affairs and Hodges-Haynes Professor of Liturgics at Church Divinity School of the Pacific and SCLM Chair. “During the next three years, the rite will be reviewed by clergy who use it and the couples whose unions it blesses. The Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music will compile those reviews and make a report to General Convention 2015.”

Resource
The online excerpt includes the liturgy and a summary that includes themes for theological reflection and spiritual practice. “Our covenantal life with God is expressed in relationships of commitment and faithfulness, including those of same-sex couples,” the report reads. “It is the Church’s joy to celebrate these relationships as signs of God’s love, to pray for God’s grace to support couples in their life together, and to join with these couples in our shared witness to the gospel in the world.”

The full text of “I Will Bless You and You Will Be a Blessing,” available for purchase from Church Publishing, Inc., includes:
Introduction
Faith, Hope, and Love: Theological Resources for Blessing Same-Sex Relationships:

•      Preface
•      Overview: Theological Reflection on Same-Sex Relationships
•      1. The Church’s Call: A Focus on Mission
•      2. The Church’s Joy: A Theology of Blessing
•      3. The Church’s Life: Covenantal Relationship
•      4. The Church’s Challenge: Christian Unity and Biblical Interpretation

The Church’s Canon Law and Laws of the States
Hearing, Seeing, and Declaring New Things: Preparing Same-Sex Couples for a Liturgy of Blessing
The Witnessing and Blessing of a Lifelong Covenant: Liturgical Resources for Blessing Same-Sex Relationships
Discussion Guide to I Will Bless You, and You Will Be a Blessing
Appendices:

•      A Review of General Convention Legislation
•      Glossary

The print and eBook versions containing the full resources are available from Church Publishing here.

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.

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

 ++++++++++++ 

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

The Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

April 30, 2012

The work of the SCLM’s The Blessings Project, concerning same-gender blessings and responding to the 2009 General Convention Resolution C056, has been published in its entirety in the “Blue Book,” the collection of reports to the Episcopal Church’s 77th General Convention of the work completed by its committees, commissions, agencies and boards (CCABs), during

the 2010-2012 triennium.  The Blue Book and the SCLM’s Report are available to download at:

(http://generalconvention.org/gc/prepare).

The SCLM’s report regarding same-gender blessings starts on page 166 and the two proposed Resolutions, A049 and A050, are found on page 168.  The Appendix contains all the work of The Blessings Project (the SCLM and its 5 Task Groups) in the section entitled, I Will Bless You, and You Will Be a Blessing:  Resources for Blessing Same‑Gender Relationships, beginning on page 184 and concluding on page 281.

The Blue Book, at more than 750 pages, also contains more than 150 “A” resolutions that the CCABs have proposed to the General Convention, which meets July 5-12 at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis, Indiana, in the Diocese of Indianapolis. (Legislative committee hearings and some other convention activities begin July 4.)

Go take a look and tell us what you think.

El informe de la SCLM sobre la Bendición de Unión de Parejas del Mismo Género ya está disponible en el ” Libro Azul”

Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

30 de abril del 2012

El trabajo de la SCLM El Proyecto de las Bendiciones, sobre la bendición de uniones de parejas del mismo género y en respuesta a la resolución C056 de la Convención General 2009, ya ha sido publicado por completo en el ” Libro Azul”, la colección de informes a la 77 Convención General de la Iglesia Episcopal del trabajo completado por sus comités, comisiones, agencias y juntas ( CCABs), durante el trienio 2010-2012.  El Libro Azul y el informe de la SCLM está disponible para ser descargado de la página de internet: (http://generalconvention.org/gc/prepare).

El Informe de la SCLM sobre la bendición de unión de parejas del mismo género comienza en la pagina 166 y las dos Resoluciones propuestas, A049 y A050, se encuentran en la pagina 168.   El apéndice contiene todo el trabajo de El Proyecto de las Bendiciones (del SCLM y de sus 5 Grupos de Trabajo) en la sección titulada, Yo Te Bendeciré  Y Tu Serás Una Bendición: Recursos para la Bendición de Uniones de Parejas del Mismo género.

El Libro Azul, con su mas de 750 páginas, también contiene más de 150 resoluciones ” A” que las CCABs han propuesto para la Convención General, que se reunirá los días 5-12 de julio en el Centro de Convenciones de Indiana en Indianápolis, Indiana en la Diócesis de Indianápolis. (Las sesiones de los comités legislativos y otras actividades de la Convención iniciaran el día 4 de julio)

Vaya, véalo y díganos que piensa.

The Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

April 16, 2012

 Members of the SCLM and the Task Groups that prepared the SCLM’s report are beginning to present to the pre-General Convention Provincial Synod meetings being held around the church.

 In late March we presented to Province IX and this past weekend (April 13-14) the Province of New England (Province One) spent 2 hours looking at and discussing the SCLM’s work.  The next presentations will be at Province V at the Marriott at O’Hare (April 24-25) and at Province VI at the Doubletree, Omaha (April 26-28).  The purpose of all these presentations is to help Bishops and Deputies understand the work of the SCLM, bring clarity to the various parts of the Report and to answer questions so that at the General Convention the church can discuss and decide how best to move forward in mission and ministry.

 The most important part of these meetings is to allow those present to experience the proposed liturgy, either as a role play or as a theater-style reading.  As one bishop said, “The liturgy always informs the theology and theology always informs the liturgy.  By experiencing the liturgy, rather than just reading it, we help everyone engage the material in an important way. This in turn informs our conversation around the theological work of the SCLM.”

 Let us know what you think about your Synod presentation and how things went.

 Los Sínodos experimentan la Liturgia propuesta

Rev. Thaddeus Bennett

16 de Abril del 2012

 Los miembros de la SCLM y los Grupos de Trabajos que prepararon el informe de la SCLM están comenzando a hacer presentaciones a las reuniones Pre- Convención General de los Sínodos Provinciales que se están realizando alrededor del país.

 A finales del marzo presentamos a la IX Provincia y este pasado fin de semana (13-14 de abril) a la Provincia de Nueva Inglaterra (Provincia Uno) invirtiendo dos horas mirando y discutiendo acerca del trabajo de la SCLM.   Las próximas presentaciones serán en la Provincia V en el Hotel Marriot de O’ Hare (24-25 de abril)  y a la Provincia VI en el hotel Doubletree de Omaha (26-28 de abril).   El propósito de estas presentaciones es ayudar a los obispos y diputados a entender el trabajo de la SCLM, traer claridad sobre las varias partes del informe y responder preguntas, de manera tal que en la Convención General la iglesia pueda discutir y decidir cómo es la mejor manera de seguir adelante en misión y ministerio.

 La parte más importante de estas reuniones es permitir a aquellos presentes tener la experiencia de la liturgia propuesta, ya sea como un estilo de interpretación de roles o lectura teatral.  Como dijo un obispo, ” La liturgia siempre informa la teología y la teología siempre informa la liturgia.  Al experimentar la liturgia, más allá que una simple lectura de la misma, nos ayuda a todos a involucrarnos con el material en una manera importante.  Esto en retorno, informa nuestra conversación acerca del trabajo teológico de la SCLM”.

 Déjenos saber que usted piensa sobre la presentación en su Sínodo y como se dieron las cosas.

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?

++++++++++++++++

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?