Impressions from the Week of the Bishops

I've already written about going to the ecumenical service on Thursday night but wanted to add two comments:

(1) The archbishop's presence, just having him there, was a blessing to all who attended. Grace flowed from that impish look, all that facial hair, his smiles, his speech, his fragility. I can't explain it. You had to be there. So what if he clapped feebly and to the wrong beat when Irvin Mayfield was blowing his horn. (Nobody else on the stage could clap to the beat either, a disgrace to the local church. When we get the beat right, maybe we can sort out the meaning of the universe.)

(2) As the procession was leaving, the archbishop passed in front of our seats. My Anglo-Catholicism kicking in, I bowed and Rowan made the sign of the cross over me. I couldn't see this, because my head was down, but Kay said afterward, "Do you know what he did!"

The next night, Friday, I was part of a Creole Evensong at Grace Church, chanting half of Psalm 19 in French. Later, in the parish hall, a Cajun band (not Zydeco, as some claimed) played, and I danced with Kay and several other women. Two-step and waltz, going counter-clockwise around the dance floor, that's how we do it. The band was led by Gina Forsythe on fiddle, who also plays on Sunday nights at Tipitina's with Bruce Daigrepont. We are old friends, so I enjoyed dancing all the more. Here's a bon mot: America is full of great dance halls, which unfortunately are cluttered with pews. Grace doesn't have any pews since Katrina, but the worship space is cluttered with chairs. Fortunately, the restored parish hall has a good slick floor.

On Sunday we went back to Grace for mass. I was on loan from my new parish, Trinity, to my old place, so they could have a deacon on a Sunday of many bishops. Wayne Wright of Delaware was the presider and laid both hands on my head for the pre-gospel blessing. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire was preacher, talking about an open and inclusive church, mentioning his partner Mark (who was with him). I had a nice chat with Gene about a mutual friend from Bayou Lafourche. Now there's a good and kind bishop, whom his people must love.

Why are we having all this fuss over gays and lesbians? I don't understand it. I've served for thirty-six years in three parishes, bringing the sacrament to men dying of AIDS, going through my own turmoil, my own sequential growth, from having contempt of gays (as we were taught in our youth, especially in the South), to accepting them as sinners, to welcoming them as normal people. It's absurd, totally absurd, that so many people, so many who call themselves Christian, are having a fit, throwing themselves into an uproar, over people who are perfectly normal Christians.

And that's my take on the Week of the Bishops. They can issue statements and pass resolutions until their hair falls out, so long as they act like Christians.