‘Go West, young man’ (and South)

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

As you read this, I will be beginning a three month sabbatical leave, as prescribed for clergy in this diocese every five years. To say the least, the last five years have been busy for me – at times busy and exhilarating, at other times difficult and challenging. I am ready for a rest.

Most memorable for me in these last five years was the day of my election – not just because of being elected, but because of the feeling of the presence of the Holy Spirit in that church on that clear June morning in 2003. To have been called to this ministry by the very peers with which I had served for nearly thirty years was an indescribable blessing. I cannot remember a time when I have felt so humbled, so unworthy and so wanting to fulfill the hope you placed in God working through me. Whether or not I was ever confirmed by the larger Church mattered less than the confidence you expressed in me.

The drama over your election of me as Bishop continues to play out. In the end, God will have God’s way. Episcopalians in America and Anglicans around the world continue to seek  God’s guidance in dealing with the challenge that my election represents. On a daily (and sometimes hourly) basis, I remember the phrase so often repeated in the Old and New Testaments by the God  who loves us: “Be not afraid.”

Now it is time for me to rest a while. I intend to do so. I also will be doing some things that I have wanted to do, and which this time will permit me. For a month, I will be traveling in the Pacific. I will be traveling to several parts of the Anglican Communion to learn about the Christian life in different contexts. I hope to make a contribution to the ongoing life of the Communion by meeting personally with some of the Anglican Church Primates who are willing to receive me – to hear about the challenges that they face in THEIR contexts, to learn about the spread of the Gospel in far off places, and mostly to build relationships with some who do not know or understand OUR context for ministry. The Primates have no way of knowing who I really am, beyond what the press has said. I hope that my building relationships with some of them might, in some small way, contribute to reconciliation in the Anglican Communion. These “stops” include Hong Kong, a remote diocese in the Solomon Islands (Province of Melanesia), Australia and New Zealand. My partner Mark will join me “down under” for some “down time” in Australia and New Zealand, two places we’ve always wanted to visit, but have never had the opportunity.

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Pray for the church

September 2007

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

On my many official visitations and informal visits to parishes and with individuals, I am often asked about the state of the Anglican Communion, about my not being invited – yet – to the Lambeth Conference of Bishops next summer, and the future of our Communion. Allow me to update you on where things stand at the moment.

It is true that I have not received an invitation to the Lambeth Conference of Bishops, to be held next July 16 – August 4 in Canterbury, England, although the archbishop has stated that he is considering some sort of invitation for my participation. The Archbishop of Canterbury is in a difficult and delicate position, and I don’t envy him in this difficult choice. There are those who have communicated with him that they will not attend if the Bishop of New Hampshire is a participant; others have gone so far as to threaten not to attend if anyone associated with my consecration (even those who voted “yes” on my consent, but were not present for the consecration) is in attendance.

On the other side, there are those who have threatened not to attend if the Bishop of New Hampshire is NOT invited, out of solidarity with the American church. Obviously, this is a Gordian knot as yet to be untied.

I am in conversation with the archbishop’s staff about how that might all work out. Those with whom I have been talking, by phone and in person, seem to agree that it makes no sense for me to be entirely excluded – especially given the Lambeth Conference’s “commitment” to a listening process of hearing the stories of its gay and lesbian members. What sense does it make to exclude the one openly gay voice available among its membership? We are searching for a way for me to be present without unnecessarily excluding those people for whom my consecration is problematic.  I have made it quite clear that I am open to reasonable options which do not deny my canonical status as a duly elected and consecrated bishop of the Church. That would be an affront, not only to the Diocese of New Hampshire, but to the entire American church. Time will tell whether or not such a “status” can be carved out that both preserves the integrity of the American church’s right to follow its own canons in

the election of a bishop, and also acknowledges the discomfort and objections of those who disagree.

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My brothers and sisters in Christ,

On Thursday, I took an action which some of you have applauded and to which some of you have thoughtfully, respectfully and reasonably made objection.  In publicly endorsing a candidate in the coming primary, I have attempted to do what I hope all of YOU will do, exercising what I see to be the rightful role of religion in public, political discourse:  review the values you hold as a person of faith, survey the candidates for the one who best embodies those values, and then work as a part of the political process for the election of that person -- no matter who the candidate or what the party.

Many will say that religion and politics don't mix.  I would counter that religion and politics MUST mix.  But not in the way we have seen from the religious right.  We are not attempting to force our beliefs on anyone else; we are not trying to move toward a Christian theocracy, where the tenets of one brand of Christianity are imposed on the electorate, but rather we are seeking to have our Christian beliefs and values INFORM our politics and our political decisions. 

Let me be clear:  I don't care which party or which candidate you choose to support.  That is YOUR business.  But I do encourage you to contemplate the values you hold as a Christian before deciding, making sure that the person you support is commensurate with those values -- noting, of course, that NO candidate is perfect or even close to it, humankind and politics being what they are.  There is no candidate with whom you will always agree, no candidate who perfectly embodies those values.  But politics is the art of the possible, and we must make choices among those candidates presented to us.

I believe that our country stands at a threshold as it faces an uncertain future.  I believe that we need a way out of the polarizing atmosphere within which we try to have a civil discourse about the nation.  I believe that we need to look at the future -- not of one party or another, but of the country.  I am looking for a candidate who has a vision for reconciliation in this country, not further polarization.  Reconciliation is a Christian value.  I believe that we must end the demonization of our enemies, whether they be members/candidates of the "other" party, or our "enemies" around the world.  It is time to worry less about narrowly "winning" a vote, and work more to achieve a consensus about how this country needs to move and act, both at home and abroad.

As for the HOW of my announcement -- and this is very important -- I have checked all the IRS regulations about what I can and cannot say as a religious person:  I (or any of us) can say anything I want as a citizen -- free speech-- as long as it is not from a pulpit, not at a church meeting or gathering, not in a church publication, and as long as I do not attempt to speak, or insinuate that I am speaking, for the church or the diocese.  To that end, you will never hear me speak in a pulpit, on our website, in the Episcopal News, or on a visitation, about any candidate.

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A Letter to the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire from your Bishop

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The following article appeared in the Concord Monitor on Saturday, October 28 and in the New Hampshire Sunday News on Sunday, October 29, 2006.

The killing of police officer Michael Briggs is a horrible crime, not only against this fine public servant and his family, but against all of us.  There is no finer example for us of someone who daily puts himself at personal risk for the sake of us all.  Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than to lay down his life for another.” 

            However, the responses to this heinous crime from politicians and citizens of this State cause me to wonder about our buying into the very uncivilized and dehumanizing behavior exhibited by the murderer himself.  In recent letters to the editor, we hear calls not only for the speedy workings of justice, but, in one case, for the dispensing of a trial altogether, forgoing the “waste” of the cost of such a trial and proceeding with the execution.  And in a letter to the editor that simply took my breath away, one of our state senators requested that he be given the honor (or is it the revengeful pleasure) of administering the lethal injection himself!

            This is a difficult and moral dilemma with which we are presented.  We are horrified at what has happened to a fine and worthy public servant.  Although the perpetrator must be held accountable, what is to be gained from such calls for public execution and a suspension of the rules of justice – except a diminishment of our commitment to due process for ALL.  When our search for justice becomes a desire for blind revenge, is not the memory of this fallen officer and hero demeaned?  He gave his life for the administration of law and order, and justice.  What a cruel legacy it would be to shortcircuit that process as a way of honoring him.

            Some will argue that if the death penalty is ever justified, it is in this case.  The key word in that question is “if.”  In my understanding of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, all of life is to be hallowed and honored.  Just because someone has killed someone else, are we to join the murderer in abandoning that moral principle, in order to exact revenge?  In doing so, we are in danger of BECOMING that which we decry.  By my reading of scripture, we are NEVER justified in the taking of another life.  Period.  Full stop.

            What then to do?  Why is a life sentence without possibility of parole not a justifiable and honorable punishment for such a crime against us all?  It removes the dangerous person from society, while preserving our own commitment to the sanctity of life.  Some will argue that the costs of lifelong incarceration are exhorbitant – but every study I’ve read shows that the costs associated with execution (with its mandatory appeals to higher courts) far exceed the costs of lifelong incarceration.  Some will argue that such a life lived in prison is “too good” for such a murderer – but how good can it be to live every day of your life behind bars, with 24 hours of every day of your natural life to contemplate the unspeakable act you have committed?  A speedy death might be the “easy way out.”

            Whether in war or in conflicts in our public life, we always run the risk of adopting the very tactics of our enemies.  How does the killing of another human being EVER bring us closer to a world where NO human being is killed?  At a time when the City of Manchester is considering a $400,000 cut in community improvements to balance its budget, how can we so easily find $400,000 to prosecute this capital murder case?  Would Officer Briggs not be MORE honored by a contribution of $400,000 to the people he served, than the use of that money to kill another?  In doing so, we might just save our OWN souls.

The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Bishop Robinson issues a challenge to all

By the time this message reaches you, we’ll be in the middle of the Easter season. As Christians, we believe that Easter trumps Good Friday, life triumphs over death, love dispels fear, and hope replaces anxiety. If we don’t believe that – and act it out in our lives and ministries, we might as well close up the pretty red doors of our churches and go home to a faithless world.

As I travel around the diocese, I hear two expressions of regret, time and time again, from large congregations and small. I want to challenge YOU to join me in doing something about that.

First, I hear many people lamenting the fact that financial realities forced us to eliminate from the diocesan budget the half-time youth and young adult ministries position dreamed of in our Reimagining the Diocese project. Why, many of you have asked, have we named youth and young adults as one of our three mission priorities, and then undercut it before it even gets out of the starting gate? Why say we value our young people and worry about keeping them in the Body, then put little funding towards this priority in our parish and diocesan budgets? Isn’t it time we put our money where our mouths are, some have asked? Indeed.

Second, vestries and bishop’s committees have lamented the fact they have to spend so much time worrying about local finances, that there is little time to lead the congregations in ministry – to one another and to the world. What if we had the resources we need, and could spend our time and energy reaching out to one another and to the world?  As far as I can tell, this is not a spending problem; expenses have been cut to barebone necessities in almost every congregation. No, this seems to be an income problem.

So I’ve been thinking. What if the Bishop “found” some money, and challenged the diocese to match that money, dollar for dollar, in order to fund a half-time Youth and Young Adult Ministries Missioner and a half-time Stewardship Missioner, for a period of three years. These missioners would not be at Diocesan House much, but rather in local congregations helping local leadership respond to these two needs.

I have been impressed, even moved, by your efforts to fund your ministries. Some of you have gone into reserves and endowment in order to continue your mission. The Bishop ought to be willing to do the same. And I am. I am going to invest in our future by going into funds given to the Bishop (not the diocese) over the years. I now pledge $50,000 per year for three years, to fund half the cost of these two part-time missioners, provided that it is matched by the diocese.

Now for the challenge: I need FIFTY of YOU to pledge $1,000 per year for three years toward these ministries. There are many individuals in the diocese who could make such a pledge. Groups could, too: a youth group, a vestry, an ECW or other women’s group, an EFM group, or a local men’s group might make such a commitment. A small congregation might want to do it as a whole. 

March 7, 2006

 Dearly beloved Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

As I return to work this morning, having returned from the Caron Foundation treatment center in Wernersville, Pennsylvania, last Thursday, I am so very grateful: for your love and prayers and notes and kind wishes over this past month, for a supportive family, for the gift of a meaningful life and ministry, and mostly, for a loving, forgiving and sustaining God whose presence I've felt every step of the way.

I return to you in a very good place indeed -- refreshed, focused, clear-headed and happy. The education, personal insights and tools for the journey ahead which I received in treatment empower me for the future. The unimaginable grace given to me by God fuels my passion for bringing that Good News to all who are desperate to hear it. And my learnings about what makes for REAL community -- which I experienced as part of my treatment -- will inform my ministry for years to come. How could I not be grateful?

A common reminder during treatment was taken from the instructions given by flight attendants on every plane, describing what to do in case of a loss of pressure in the cabin: put your own mask on first before attempting to help others. Not a bad reminder for clergy. I will be taking steps to continue my own recovery over the next weeks, months and years. In addition to attending 12-Step meetings (perhaps in some of your congregations), I will be working with an "addiction coach," daily for a month, then regularly for a year. These commitments will obviously take time in my schedule, whether at home or when I'm traveling -- but they are essential to my continuing recovery, health and well-being. In the end, the new life they promise will allow me to be present with you and to serve you MORE fully.

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