There was a time, early in my episcopate, when it looked like the choice was either inclusion or communion. It looked binary, with no gradations between these two poles, and it looked as if it might be that way for a long time. The season after General Convention in 2003 was fractious, to say the least. Now, however, it looks like both inclusion and communion are available to us, at least provisionally. There are still issues of maintaining unity, both in our common life in this Diocese and in the lives of many of our congregations. I know this. And we must keep an eye on the horizon of the Anglican Communion.

But things are also changing, and changing much more quickly than I could have imagined. In the eighteen months following General Convention in 2003, for example, issues of human sexuality took over my life. Letters, phone calls, meetings, and email. Oh my the email. After Mary Glasspool’s election and consent to become bishop suffragan in Los Angeles in 2010, only seven years later, I got exactly one email. One. No one even took the trouble to ask me if I gave consent, or not. Something had shifted.

Read it all if you did not last time.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • General Convention • --Gen. Con. 2012 • TEC Bishops • TEC Diocesan Conventions/Diocesan Councils • Sexuality Debate (in Anglican Communion) • Same-sex blessings • * Theology • Ecclesiology

1. Luke wrote: More equivocation; more and more readjustment of the Gospel delivered to us by the saints. Suger coating doesn’t change things, except to make them more palatable to some. December 20, 7:10 am | [comment link]

2. venbede wrote: “Something has shifted.” The orthodox have left the building. December 20, 12:00 pm | [comment link]

3. MichaelA wrote: “My friend and colleague Ian Douglas, the Bishop of Connecticut, puts it this way: The Anglican Communion is in the process of inventing itself, ...” Errr, what would Ian Douglas know about the Anglican Communion?  He appears to have obtained his position as Bishop of Connecticut through holding “politcally correct” views.  Certainly there has been no indication of special expertise, as his diocese has continued its marked downward trend.  Given his obvious lack of achievement as a bishop, one is left with the conclusion that he owes his position on AC organs to the same source - he has opinions that 815 likes so they reward him with sinecures. So why bother asking his opinion about the Communion? December 20, 5:41 pm | [comment link]

4. MichaelA wrote: On another note, how is the diocese of Missouri doing? December 20, 5:42 pm | [comment link]

5. dwstroudmd+ wrote: http://www.episcopalchurch.org/sites/default/files/average_sunday_attendance_by_province_and_diocese_2001-2011.pdf The “radical stability” has endured with a stable decline of -17.1% ! All is well! December 20, 8:17 pm | [comment link]

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