Archbishop Desmond Tutu:   

"We are all agents of transfiguration" 

Archbishop Tutu
Hear Archbishop Tutu preached today at
Grace Cathedral.

LGBT champion Archbishop Desmond Tutu called on us to become "agentd os transfiguration" during his sermon at the 11 A.M. Eucharist of Grace Cathedral. He sermon may be downloaded here:
http://tinyurl.com/tutu-grace.

Tutu, a Nobel Laureate, humanitarian and activist, graciously agreed to visit Grace Cathedral in early March even though he has retired from public life.

During the past three decades, Tutu has visited several time.  The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) honored Tutu with its 2008 OUTSPOKEN Award at Grace Cathedral in 2008. Last year, while in San Francisco to promote his recent book, Made for Goodness he preached at a weekday Eucharist. His daughter, the Rev. Mpho Tutu, co-authored the book and presided at the service. Desmond Mpilo Tutu, born in 1931, is a South African cleric and activist who rose to worldwide fame during the 1980s as an opponent of apartheid.

Tutu was elected and ordained the first black South African Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, South Africa. He received the Nobel Peace Price in 1984. He is committed to stopping global AIDS and has served as the honorary chairman for the Global AIDS Alliance. Today, he is chairman of The Elders, a group of world leaders to contribute their wisdom, leadership and integrity to tackle some of the world's most difficult problems.

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from the LGBT Ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of California
 
This Week
Archbishop Desmond Tutu: "We are all agents of transfiguration"
Oasis News Briefs
Rev. Peter J. Gomes dies at 68
Remembering Pastor Peter Gomes
Rhode Island Bishop to Retire..
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Deanery Discussion Set On

Proposed Anglican Covenant


Oasis California opposes the current draft of the Anglican Covenant and urges rejection of this text when it comes before the General; Convention. In response to Resolution D020 passed at General Convention 2009, the Diocese of California is undertaking one-and-a-half-hour deanery discussions early this spring on the proposed Anglican Covenant. Comments gathered from these discussions will be shared with the diocesan deputation for the 2012 General Convention, where The Episcopal Church will take up the question of ratifying the covenant. Feedback from these diocesan discussions will also be shared, along with responses from the other dioceses, with The Episcopal Church's Executive Council.
 
Congregations and other ministries of the diocese are also invited and encouraged to hold their own discussions on the proposed covenant. Feedback will need to be received by April 1 in order to be compiled and submitted by Easter. 
 
You can download the facilitator's guide prepared by the deputation, the covenant study guide, and historical background to aid your conversation. Participants are encouraged to read the study guide and historical background before attending a discussion.
 
The Deanery-level discussions that are currently scheduled:

  • Alameda: Thursday, March 10, 7 PM @ TBD
  • Marin: Saturday, March 12, 9:30 AM @ Our Saviour, Mill Valley
  • Contra Costa: Thursday, March 17, 6:30 PM @ St. Stephen's, Orinda
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LGBT Faith and Aging Conference Set Aug. 17, 2011
 
St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Oakland has graciously agreed to host this sSt. Paul's Oaklandession on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 from noon to 5:30 P.M. Notes on the most recent planning committee session are here.

For updates on this issue please sign up for our 2011 LGBT Faith and Aging Conference e-mail list.
 
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Rev. Peter J. Gomes dies at 68
Rev Peter J Gomes
File photo by Kris Snibbe/Harvard Staff Photographer

The Rev. Peter J. Gomes, a Harvard scholar and one of America's leading preachers, died Feb. 28.  He served as Plummer Professor of Christian Morals and Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church at Harvard University. His death at age 68 was from complications arising from a stroke he had suffered in early December. 

He was an influential Baptist minister and advocate for tolerance, a man who refused to be defined by any one of his many identities. He stunned many when, in response to gay basing on the Harvard campus, he came out as a gay man.
'

The Harvard Crimson reported: "I am a Christian who happens as well to be gay"-with those words, spoken before a crowd of protesters gathered in front of Widener Library, Gomes came out to the Harvard community. The year was 1991 and the crowd, gathered to rally against homophobic remarks published in a magazine, erupted in applause. The announcement was a seminal moment for the gay rights movement at Harvard and quickly made Gomes one of its leaders."'


Gomes' 1996 book "The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart" the best-seller list for years. In refuting the Sodom and Gomorrah narrative (Genesis 19:1-29), he wrote, "To suggest that Sodom and Gomorrah is about homosexual sex is an analysis of about as much worth as suggesting that the story of Jonah and the whale is a treatise on fishing."

Read more:

 

Remembering Pastor Gomes

 

By the Rev. Thomas C. Jackson

President, Oasis California

Rev Gomes
The Rev. Peter J. Gomes at a Divinity School convocation. (photo Jon Chase/Harvard News Office)

 

It was the summer after I (finally) came out and I was still a little shaky in my confidence about being gay. That summer, I headed up to Maine to one of the most important places in my life, a seaside Chautauqua community founded by FreeWill Baptists where I was formed to become the man I am today.  

 

I wasn't sure how I would be received. Sure, I was in the fourth generation of our family that has spent summers in Ocean Park, Maine.

But I wasn't sure if, as a gay man., I'd be welcomed home. I was so unsure I'd wasn't even sure I'd go to Sunday services in the Temple, a six-sided building serving as t he focal point of community life. I decided to attend, slipping in a few minutes before the service started, not even noticing that the Rev. Peter J. Gomes was preaching.  

 

Rev. Gome's sermon soon overshadowed the discomfort of sitting in wooden benches that were as uncomfortable as I remembered from my youth.

 

After the service, as I stood on the fringe of the group outside the Temple, I heard someone call me name. "Tom - Tom Jackson!" I turned and saw the beaming face of Rev. Nelson, the pastor of the Baptist Church in nearby Portland, Maine. Through my elementary school years I had been fast friends with his two sons. Before I could say anything he grabbed my arm and shook hands. "It is so good to see you after all these years!" I was bowled over by the warmth of his welcome. "Here, I want you to meet a good friend of mine," he said, starting to lead me over to the side of the Pastor Gomes.  

 

As we caught up and made small talk, I was struck by the depth of friendship between this man of my father's generation and Pastor Gomes. Then I realized: everybody knew the Rev. Peter J. Gomes was gay but it didn't matter to Rev. Nelson or to the people of this seaside Chautauqua community. I was safe at home.   

 

Peter Gomes was a black Baptist preacher, at times a Republican, a gay Christian and so much more. Yet he refused to be defined - or held captive by - any one of these identities. Instead, his preaching and life reflected having the courage to be who God made him to be. "Always walk into the room as if you are the most important person there," he once told a group of college chaplains, "because to God you are." His courage and example showed me a way to be Christian and gay, opening the path that leads to my work today with Oasis California and as a priest of this diocese. Thank you Pastor Gomes, for a life well lived and a Gospel well preached.

 

Anima eius et animae omnium fidelium defunctorum per Dei misericordiam requiescant in pace. Amen.

 

Rhode Island Bishop to Retire
bishop wollfe
Bishop Wolfe will retire by the end of 2012.

The Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island's annual Diocesan Convocation, The Rt. Rev. Geralyn Wolf announced her intention to retire by the end of 2012. . A podcast of the Bishop's announcement and Mayor Avedisian's words following it, is available here.   Bishop Wolfe recently said in  The Rhode Island Catholic

As the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Rhode Island, I firmly support the traditional definition of marriage as the union between one male and one female. I believe that Holy Matrimony is a sacred religious rite, whose definition should not be re-interpreted by legislation or civil courts.

 

 The Rev. Susan Russel responded in a blog post titled: Holy Matrimony = Apple. Civil Marriage = Orange.

clergy callJoin in the 2011
Clergy Call for Justice and Equality

 

The 2011 Clergy Call for Justice and Equality - May 22-24, 2011 - will be the largest gathering of pro-equality clergy in Washington, DC.  We at Oasis hope you will be a part of it!

 

This May, join us at the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Religion and Faith Program where hundreds of fellow religious leaders from across the country will help expand the faithful movement for LGBT justice.  Now more than ever we need religious leaders like you to keep equality at the forefront of our nation's conscience.  The 2011 Clergy Call for Justice and Equality will be held in Washington, DC and it is an opportunity for you to join with colleagues from California and beyond to organize, learn, worship and bring your witness for justice and equality to Capitol Hill. 

 

Religious leadership has been critical in recent LGBT policy successes: the passage of the "Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act," marriage equality in 5 new states and the District of Columbia, and the recent repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."   As people of faith, an interreligious community committed to pursuing justice, we have made huge strides but muchmore remains to be done our Lesbian, Gay,  Bisexual and Transgender youth, family, and community.   We encourage you to join us this May to continue building a faithful movement that advocates for LGBT rights, locally and nationally.  Register Now.   

 

Registration for the conference is $50 which goes toward offsetting the costs of your conference materials and meals as well as supporting scholarships for clergy who would otherwise be unable to attend the conference.   HRC does not want financial concerns to prevent anyone from participating in Clergy Call.  As such, limited funds are available to subsidize travel - simply apply for the conference and a scholarship request link will be sent to you in your registration confirmation message.

 

Find out more about Clergy Call and register online at www.hrc.org/ClergyCall.  Also, please feel free to follow up with Andrea Foote or Joanna Blotner in HRC's Religion and Faith Program if you have any additional questions.