by Louie Crew

Absorbed in the work of my legislative committee on National and International issues, I did not have time to notice the details of the sexuality resolutions before General Convention until the sixth day I was in Denver and attended the open hearings conducted by Committee 25, the special group appointed to address all resolutions related to human sexuality. Speakers alternated for and against the issue of blessing lesbian and gay relationships, each given two minutes. The ballroom was packed. Lesbians and gays told stories of their experience of Jesus. Straight clergy told of how their parishes had flourished by being inclusive. Parents told how important it is that their children grow up in parishes that are welcoming. And on the other side persons warned that the Episcopal Church would be kicked out of the Anglican Communion if we pursued such apostasy. Many testified that their own parishes would leave the Episcopal Church if the General Convention were to endorse the blessing of lesbian and gay relationships. Several persons told of their own deliverance from lives of "sexual addiction" and implied that all lesbigays are trapped in the addictions from which they had been delivered.

Committee 25 discharged most resolutions about Human Sexuality in favor of D039:

Resolved, the House of Bishops concurring, That the members of the 73rd General Convention intend for this Church to provide a safe and just structure in which all can utilize their gifts and creative energies for mission, and be it further

Resolved, We acknowledge that while the issues of human sexuality are not yet resolved, there are currently couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church who are living in marriage and couples in the Body of Christ and in this Church who are living in other life-long committed relationships, and be it further

Resolved, We expect such relationships will be characterized by fidelity, monogamy, mutual affection and respect, careful, honest communication, and the holy love which enables those in such relationships to see in each other the image of God, and be it further

Resolved, We denounce promiscuity, exploitation and abusiveness in the relationships of any of our members, and be it further

Resolved, This Church intends to hold all its members accountable to these values, and will provide for them the prayerful support, encouragement and pastoral care necessary to live faithfully by them, and be it further

Resolved, We acknowledge that some, acting in good conscience, who disagree with the traditional teaching of the Church on human sexuality, will act in contradiction to that position, and be it further

Resolved, That in continuity with previous actions of the General Convention of this Church, and in response to the call for dialogue by the Lambeth Conference, we affirm that those on various sides of controversial issues have a place in the Church, and we reaffirm the imperative to promote conversation between persons of differing experiences and perspectives, while acknowledging the Church's teaching on the sanctity of marriage.

That resolution passed 119 to 19 in the House of Bishops and by an overwhelming voice vote in the House of Deputies. An eighth resolve failed in both houses:

Resolved, that desiring to support relationships of mutuality and fidelity other than marriage which mediate the grace of God, the 73rd General Convention directs the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music to prepare for consideration by the 74th General Convention rites for inclusion in the Book of Occasional Services by means of which the Church may express support.

In the House of Deputies this eighth resolve passed in the clerical order (55 yes; 34 no; 19 divided; 55 needed to pass) but failed in the lay order (51 yes; 39 no; 17 divided). Hence, it failed in Deputies. In the House of Bishops it failed by a vote of (63 yes; 85 no; 4 abstentions)

In final issues of convention publications, Integrity and Beyond Inclusion stressed that they already are planning a lesbigay witness for 2003 when General Convention will meet in Minneapolis. The American Anglican Council also announced its intention to be there to witness that lesbigays must be cured into heterosexuals if they want to be blessed.

In Acts the Jewish leader Gamaliel counsels that rather than take action against the new Christian sect the community should wait and see: :If it is of God, it will flourish; if it is not of God, it will fail. For 26 years gay Christians have been coming to General Convention bearing testimony to God's work in our lives. "Just how long will we have to keep coming to hear these assaults on our experience of Jesus?" I asked my friend Kim Byham, who was sitting next to me in the hearing. "As long as we are willing to listen," he replied.

At some point the time will come when we recognize that the discourse itself is inappropriate. As Conrad wrote of Kurtz in Heart of Darkness: "Mister Gamaliel? He dead."

Louie Crew is a member of the Episcopal Church Publishing Company board (publisher of The Witness). He chairs the General Convention deputation from the Diocese of Newark and at the 2000 General Convention was elected to a six-year term on the Episcopal Church's national Executive Council. Visit his Anglican Pages at <http://newark.rutgers.edu/~lcrew/rel.html>.