A Unicorn at the White House

By Patrick S. Cheng

When I came out of the closet in college in the late 1980s, I thought I was a unicorn.  That is, I believed that I was a mythical creature; surely I was the only gay Asian American person in the universe.  All of the gay spaces that I belonged to were white, and all of the Asian American spaces that I belonged to were straight.  There couldn’t possibly be others like me!

Never in my wildest imagination did I think that, some twenty-five years later, I would be attending a national conference of some 350 lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT or queer) Asian American activists and allies in Washington, D.C.

Nor would I have ever imagined that I would be invited to a White House briefing about issues of interest to the queer Asian American community.

The conference, “Presence, Power, Progress,” was organized by the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA), an umbrella organization of LGBT East Asian, Pacific Islander, South Asian, and Southeast Asian organizations in the United States.  This was only the second national NQAPIA conference, the first one being in Seattle in 2009.

On Thursday, July 19th, the day before the conference officially began, I attended an interfaith convening of LGBT Asian Americans who were interested in faith-based issues.  It was an amazing experience to sit around a table with queer Hindu, Muslim, and Christian Asian Americans and talk about how we could support those in our communities who were struggling with issues of race, sexuality, and spirituality.

Later that afternoon, I was privileged to attend a briefing at the White House by Obama administration officials about issues that were of interest to the LGBT Asian American community.  The three-hour briefing touched upon a number of important issues, including immigration, bullying, international human rights, and HIV/AIDS.  We even heard from Chris Lu, the President’s Cabinet Secretary and the highest-ranking Asian American in the administration.

The conference itself lasted three days – from Friday, July 20th, through Sunday, July 22nd – and offered numerous panels and workshops to the participants.  One highlight for me was speaking at a workshop for LGBT Asian American Christians who were wrestling with heterosexism and homophobia in their churches.  The workshop was led by Jess Delegencia, the Asian Pacific Islander Roundtable Coordinator at the Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry in Berkeley, California.

We also had a lot of fun.  There was a queer Asian American performing arts festival on Friday night, and there was also a festive banquet on Saturday night emceed by Tamlyn Tomita of The Karate Kid II fame (and who played Mike Chang’s mom on Glee).  On Sunday morning, I attended Eucharist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church on K Street with Weiben Wang, a friend of mine from New York City.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the conference for me, however, was the fact that my mom, Deanna Cheng, also attended the conference and visited the White House.  My mom had been invited by the conference organizers to participate in a gathering of Asian American parents of LGBT children and to film a public service announcement for the Asian Pride Project.  Thinking back to when I first came out to my mom, I can only attribute how far we’ve come to God’s amazing grace.

It was an incredible blessing to attend the NQAPIA conference and to visit the White House as an openly gay Asian American man.  I am grateful to the co-directors of NQAPIA, Ben de Guzman and Glenn Magpantay, for making the conference happen.  Most of all, however, I am grateful for my fellow LGBT Asian American activists around the country for ensuring that no queer Asian American person ever has to feel like a mythical creature for being honest about who they are – racially, sexually, or spiritually.

Patrick S. Cheng is the Associate Professor of Historical and Systematic Theology at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  For more information about him, see his website at http://www.patrickcheng.net.

Jewish-Christian Dialogue

By Kwok Pui Lan

Some 200 people gathered from July 1-4 in Manchester, United Kingdom, for a conference organized by the International Council of Christians and Jews. The theme of the conference was “New Neighbors, New Opportunities: The Challenges of Multiculturalism and Social Responsibility.”

Dr. Kwok Pui Lan and Baroness Rabbi Julia Neuberger

The conference was co-sponsored by the Council of Christians and Jews in the United Kingdom. William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury, was one of the founders of the British Council, together with Chief Rabbi, Dr. H. J. Hertz. The Council first started in 1942 during the dark days of the Nazi era. It was born of the cooperation between Christians and Jews in caring for the victims of Nazi persecution who had found refuge in Britain.

Today there are about 270,000 Jews living in Britain, and the majority of them live in London. Manchester is a city with a very vibrant Jewish community, with 48 Jewish congregations and more than 400 different Jewish communal organizations.

I was invited to deliver a plenary address on “Jewish-Christian Dialogue in the Non-Western World.” The respondent to my address was Baroness Rabbi Julia Neuberger of the West London Synagogue. She is a member of the House of the Lords and laughed when I told her that I have never met a rabbi who is also a baroness!

In additional to the plenaries, there were workshops on the themes multiculturalism past and present; Israel, Islam, and interfaith relations; social responsibility; international interfaith developments; and the dialogic interface.

The majority of the participants came from Europe, but there were also people from Australia, Canada, Israel, the United States, the Philippines, and Uruguay. The International Council of Christians and Jews has chapters in 38 countries worldwide. In North America, there is the Council of Centers onJewish-Christian Relations, which is an association of centers and institutes in the United States and Canada devoted to enhancing mutual understanding between Jews and Christians. It publishes an electronic journal Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations.

This was the first time that I participated in Jewish-Christian dialogue in Europe, although I have worked with Jewish colleagues at the American Academy of Religion and other feminist organizations. I learned much about the diversity of the Jewish communities in various countries. The Jews first came to Manchester in 1780 to look for economic opportunities, since Manchester was a center of the industrial revolution. Other had arrived to escape the Nazi persecution.

I sat next to a Jewish leader from Munich at a dinner, who told me that there are about 100,000 Jews in Germany, who have come mostly from Russia after the German Jews were wiped out. I did not know that there are as many as 55,000 Jews in Uruguay, and only about 1,000 in Finland.

Although the focus of the Council is on Jewish and Christian dialogue, many felt that it is important to expand the dialogue to include Muslims, given the changing demographic in many European countries. Several years ago, the International Abrahamic Forum was formed to foster such conversations. Although Muslims are a tiny minority at the conference, it is hoped that their participation will increase in the future.

Given the European composition of the conference, the shadow of the Holocaust loomed very large. Yet Clive Lawton, co-founder of Limmud, which promotes Jewish learning in many parts of the world, said that we should not just look back to the past, but also look toward the future to see what the Jews can contribute to the 21st century.

One of the most sensitive issues, as expected, concerned the State of Israel and the plights of the Palestinians. I attended a workshop on “Karios Palestine,” a document issued by Palestinian Christians concerning the military occupation of their land. I was struck by the openness of the conversation and learned from seasoned participants who have worked for justice and peace in the Middle East for a long time.

A highlight of the conference was a gala dinner at the Knight’s Lounge at the famed Manchester United Football Club to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Council of Christians and Jews in the United Kingdom. One could also take a tour of the Club by paying 10 pounds. As a football fan, I regretted that I had to leave early and miss the fun of visiting the Football Club, yet I still enjoyed the conference very much.

Kwok Pui Lan is the William F. Cole Professor of Christian Theology and Spirituality at the Episcopal Divinity School and her most recent book is Globalization, Gender, and Peacebuilding: The Future of Interfaith Dialogue. 

Dip or Plunge? The General Convention Waters for the First Time Swimmer

By Susan B. Taylor      

Some people like to slowly acclimate to water. They first dip in their toes, then gathering courage they slowly inch in deeper while quickly calculating if retreat is possible before the next wave breaks. Others, such as myself, prefer to plunge-in. That’s how I approached the water off Cape Cod a few days before I arrived in Indianapolis under a blazing hot sun. And it’s how I decided to approach my first General Convention.

I wasn’t really nervous. After all, there are plenty of lifeguards on duty! And I had done my homework. Episcopal Divinity School had prepared me with a week-long intensive course taught by the Rev. Canon Edward W. Rodman with daily guest speakers included the Right Reverend Barbara C. Harris, Dio. MA; Dr. Bonnie Anderson, President, House of Deputies; The Honorable Byron Rushing, Senior Deputy, Dio. MA; Mrs. Susan Pettingill Wood, House of Bishops' Secretariat; Dr. Fredrica Harris Thompsett; The Rev. Canon Mally Lloyd and members of the Massachusetts Deputation.

And EDS hasn’t been the only shelter at General Convention. (Remember that blazing hot sun?) My own Diocese of Vermont has been an oasis here too.

Truly, the effort of scrutinizing resolutions and other resources prior to plunging into the turbulent waters was handsomely rewarded. Buoyed along with my color-coded, schedule-containing, bright orange journal I haven’t drifted out too far.

I’m navigating the channels between throngs of people to find my way into committee hearings.

I even surprised myself by speaking on A010 which calls for identifying “information to be included in the changes to the Parochial Report form based upon current changes and new realities in TEC” and to authorize and implement such changes. Resolutions can be tracked at www.generalconvention.org/gc/resolutions which is a lot easier than paddling to the display board at the far end of the corridor.

I’m swimming laps between the House of Bishops and House of Deputies; between hearings, committees, sessions, and gatherings. I’m learning the language of parliamentary procedure. I’m decoding report numbers, committee numbers, resolution numbers, message numbers, consent calendars, daily calendars, and supplemental calendars. I’m surfing the resolution ride: discharge, refer back, adopt, amend, reconsider, call the question, divide the question, divide the resolution, etc.

I’m gaining appreciation for the deep engagement of all who are working so diligently to find creative ways to look critically and pastorally at how we as Episcopalians do church. And I’m filling with hope and love as I participate in this drama unfolding as we struggle to renew and rebuild our faith community.

There’s little time for food, especially when I heed my mother’s warning “not to swim for at least a half-hour after eating.” My main meal is the spiritual nourishment I receive at the daily Holy Eucharist. The water here is deeper than I’ve ever swam in before. We must be feeding more than 1000. And the temperature here is hotter than I’ve ever been in, reaching 115º the other day.

The temperature in debate on the other hand moves up and down between fiercely passionate on hot-button issues like Open-Table, Confirmation, and Same-Gender Blessings to tepid when the amendments to the amendments begin. But I’ve not touched icy waters, yet. Sometimes, unpredictable weather conditions turn calm seas into turbulent waters over a topic such as—the Bible!

When there is a brief free moment, I don’t go sun-bathing! I swim laps around the exhibit hall, float in the Ecclesiastical Art Exhibition, or tread water in the passage-way hawking postcards, crying out “Fredrica for Executive Council!”

Drying off a bit to share a meal with friends and colleagues ensures the energy boost to dive back in! Beribboned name tags adorning the necks of all GC swimmers serve as navigational aids.

The General Convention waters are deep and brimming with life but beware of submerged obstacles, unknown hazards, and a bit of flotsam - jetsam. My lifeline is prayer and worship, helpful people, the droid phone, lots of planning and my orange journal. Do the Episcopal Church’s General Convention waters look inviting to you? Come on in. The water is fine!

Susan Taylor is a postulant in the diocese of Vermont in her third year of her MDiv program at Episcopal Divinity School. An artist and hiker, Taylor is married with two children and lives in Western Massachusetts when not on campus. You can find her blog at  http://hikingwithhope.blogspot.com/.

Young Adults...where do we belong? #gc77

By Meg Johnson

As I have mentioned before, I struggled with figuring out what my role here at General Convention is. I have figured that out. However, I am beginning to wonder where young adults really fit it at GC. It seems to me that we all get lumped together when, in reality, we play very different roles and have vastly different obligations.

There is the Official Youth Presence that has seat and voice in the HOD, but no vote. There are 18 of them, ages 16-19 and there presence at the GC thus far as been powerful. I have heard many of them speak up for their passions and fighting for the future vision of the Church.

There is also our group, which is the Young Adult Initiative with Episcopal Peace Fellowship. We strive to advocate for peace and justice issues that we feel strongly about. We work towards testifying to any resolution that inspires us to give it a voice. We vehemently follow and track resolutions. We share our work and our reflections through every moment of GC through social media.

There is also the Young Adult Festival that is focused more on ministry during the GC and simply observing and learning more about GC in general.

With all these different groups that include Youth or Young Adult in the their names, I can see how it could become confusing and convoluted to keep track of work of the young adults at GC. However, an effort could be made by all at GC to know all the different groups and what each of their roles are here at GC.

This is an exciting GC because of all the discussion centered on including more young adults or ensuring that they are better represented. This is a step forward. But I cannot stop thinking that if everyone’s, and I mean everyone’s, mindsets about young adults doesn’t change, than we’ll all be in big trouble. Older generations need to view us as equals and realize the fact that though we may not have the experience, we tend to be folks that have a whole lot of vision and a lot of passion to see that vision brought forth to life. I find that quite exciting—especially in our time of desperate need for renewed visions.

Young adults themselves also need to change their mindset about themselves. We need to accept that we may not be treated as equals, but that we will not give up efforts to assert ourselves in a way that persuades others to see us equals. We also need to believe in ourselves. It is easy to say to ourselves that we don’t have experience and that our opinions don’t matter. Or we use our age as an excuse to not be involved or not speak up.

If we ourselves do not begin to see ourselves as equals and assert ourselves as equals, than no one else will begin to treat us like equals. It is true that we all have work to do if we want to be taken seriously, but it begins with the young adults. I know it is easy to give up. It is hard to keep going when you finally are courageous enough to speak up and then you feel like no one is listening or taking you seriously. This is the easy way out though. We must continue to raise up and make ourselves known because one of these days they are going to notice us and one of these days, they are going to realize what they’ve been missing out on for so long—our joy, energy, enthusiasm, and most importantly, our valid voice of vision and hope.

This blog post was reprinted with permission from the author and from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Young Adult Initiative at General Convention 2012 blog.

Meg Johnson is a 2012 graduate of St. Catherine University in education and french. She is originally from Green Bay, Wisconsin and currently lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Beginning this fall she will work as an english teacher in Rennes, France. She is part of the Young Adult Initiative with Episcopal Peace Fellowship at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.

Open Letter to Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III

Editor's Note: The following is an open letter to Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III, senior pastor of the Friendship-West Baptist Church by Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin, a member of the Episcopal Divinity School's Board of Trustees. Rev. Dr. Haynes recently delivered a sermon on President Obama's recent remarks in support of same-sex marriage. You can learn more about the sermon and see excerpts here. 

June 13, 2012

Open Letter of Gratitude to
Rev. Dr. Frederick D. Haynes, III
Senior Pastor, Friendship-West Baptist Church

Dear Dr. Haynes:

I want to offer a note of gratitude for your willingness to step up and out by honoring and showing respect not only for President Obama in a recent sermon you gave, but also for affirming the dignity of all human-beings, specifically the marginalized and "outcast," and even more specifically same-gender loving people.

Just as President Obama has used the highest office of our country to call for inclusion of all in our democracy, you have used the highest platform of the church, specifically that of the Black church, the pulpit, to give voice to what too often remains unspoken. Thank you for using your position and the pulpit in a manner that reminded me of our roots in finding in spirituality a call to do justice and an obligation to challenge the system and status quo at all levels. I trust that your witness to the gospel as you understand, and apparently live into it, will be an example for others to add their voices to a call to do right by all and for all. Your affirmation of the sacred value of lesbian and gay persons is courageous, righteous, and inspiring. And I, for one, want to thank you.

As an out gay minister with the Metropolitan Community Churches on staff at the Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale, FL and former Baptist, your words touched a part of my spirit that reminded me of what the Baptist church was and can still be - a courageous, autonomous, prophetic voice crying out and answering the call "To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6.8

Please know that I believe that the mustard seeds of your words will and have already had an impact not just on you and your local congregation but also on our nation. Your voice was needed for such a time as this!

Thank you and may God continue to bless you, your family and your ministry.

Sincerely,

Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin

How can the Church Survive? Reflections from “A Conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson”

By Rev. Dr. Grace Ji-Sun Kim

Membership is falling in many mainline denominations. In 2011, National Council of Churches reported that there was a decline in church membership by about 2% in denominations such as the Lutheran, Episcopal, PC (USA), and Methodist confessions. With this kind of statistic, what is the future of the mainline denominational church? How can we survive and be meaningful and relevant to a society where the importance of belonging to a church has been forgotten or dismissed. Is church membership going to continue to drop because the churches lose the ability to assist those who have been pushed to the margins of society? What can we do to help our churches grow and survive?

This past spring semester, the Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. visited Lehigh University and Moravian College and participated in two public lectures called, “A Conversation with Rev. Jesse Jackson” moderated by Dr. James Braxton Peterson and myself.

The conversations were lively, energetic, and prophetic. At the end of each session a 30 minute Q&A period followed. A Lehigh University student asked Rev. Jackson, “What is your greatest achievement and why?” Rev. Jackson had a smile on his face and swiftly and unexpectedly responded “surviving,” to which the audience clapped and roared with laughter. After the audience calmed down, he quickly gave a moving, serious, and more elaborate answer to this question by telling a story from his childhood about his father and his brother. The fuller answer to the question was very moving, but it was the first impulsive, quick, and unanticipated one that caught me off guard and has stayed with me to ponder.

Reflecting on his answer that ‘surviving’ was his greatest achievement, it seems astounding when you consider that Rev. Jackson has worked on and continues to work on his fight for justice and equality. Rev. Jesse Jackson is well known for civil rights, racial justice, economic equality and many other issues of our time. He realized early that the economic, racial, gender, sexual, and social structure of society needed to be changed. For the past 50 years with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King and later with his own organization, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, he has continued this important work.

Perhaps there is some wisdom in Rev. Jackson’s quick answer and that ‘surviving’ is, indeed, one of his great achievements. After all, the impact of Rev. Jackson’s activism has been felt both across the nation and around the world. His fight for freedom and his work with progressive grassroots leaders has endured and been very fruitful. And it all stems from his survival.

With all the problems and difficulties of doing “ministry” in this environment, he has managed to survive all the criticism, racism, and systemic problems that society imposes on those who challenge the status quo. At Rev. Jackson’s 70^th birthday celebration at Georgetown University (Nov 7, 2011), Dr. Eric Michael Dyson described Rev. Jackson by quoting Shawn Corey Carter, that “there has never been a guy this good for this long.” Yes indeed, he has survived.

Presently, we have come a long way from the 50’s and the 60’s but there are still many obstacles that block us from achieving our full humanity and moving forward to the next generation of churches. In certain ways, the church has played a major role in maintaining the status quo rather than being a prophetic voice to challenge it. The same churches blessed slavery, when they should have spoken out against it, stayed quiet during the slaughter of 6 million Jews when it should have stopped it, stood by during the invasion of Iraq when it should have sought peace and kept women in “their place” when it should have empowered women. Churches have excluded people who are different, marginalized and not part of the majority or the ‘norm’.

All these things leave me with the question—how are we to survive as a church that becomes a beacon of light and hope in this world—a world full of injustices, poverty and inequality. How can we reimagine the role of the church so that we can also welcome everyone to the table; to join in the fellowship and communion of all believers-whether we are rich or poor, men or women, radicalized or not, gay or straight. How can the church welcome all people to the table so that the church can be a place where people can encounter God and feel God’s love. How can we survive as a church so that our membership will not decline but actually grow and flourish?

I also need to ask myself, “how can I survive” as a person of color living in a racialized society embedded in racism, sexism, and colonialism. There are lots of battles to be fought and I do hope that I can somehow “survive” them and encourage others to do so.

Grace Ji-Sun Kim is Associate Professor of Doctrinal Theology and the Director of the MATS program at Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She is the author of The Holy Spirit, Chi, and the Other: A Model of Global and Intercultural Pneumatology (Palgrave Macmillan) and The Grace of Sophia: A Korean North American Women's Christology(Pilgrim Press). 

Dispatch from China: Gained in Translation

By Angela Bauer-Levesque

Sofia Coppola's 2003 film Lost in Translation was on my mind when I arrived in Shanghai, China, a little over a week ago to join a group of students, faculty, and staff from Episcopal Divinity School for a Travel Seminar.

What would be clouded by a non-alphabetical and non-cognate language? I do not speak nor read any Chinese. In my few attempts at learning some basic phrases (hello; please; thank you; excuse me; and the like), I have found the nuances of intonation difficult to duplicate. Having witnessed the laughter at unintended meanings due to what amounts to a slight change in tone to my ears, I have shied away more and more from even trying.

In the reverse direction, Western cartoons making fun of translations from Chinese into English are legion, and I do not intend to contribute to a racially problematic and cross-culturally insensitive dynamic. While sometimes indeed amusing, the signs we have seen in any of the cities we have visited (Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Nanjing, and Xi'an so far, with Bejing still ahead on our itinerary) speak to the effort at bilingual access—for sure with business interests in mind. The cognitive dissonance creating the apparent funniness usually stems from word for word literal translations. Indeed, meanings get lost in translation in any direction. Nevertheless, it is amazing how much signage appears in both Chinese and English.

The much bigger issue is another aspect of translation altogether that has captured my imagination. What is said? What is left unsaid? And if it's even possible to understand with such little exposure and so much cross-cultural complexity, what is said between the lines? In various places we visited we had translators to help us communicate with our hosts. Welcome and introductions were usually followed by a time for questions and answers. The rhythm for the most part conformed to the usual short paragraph in one language being translated into the other, back and forth, and back and forth. There has been a lot of nodding and smiling led by those among us who understand both English and Chinese. And I keep wondering what is communicated.

Let me share an example: when I asked about whether something was “customary not to do” (i.e. cultural convention) or “not allowed” (i.e. prohibited), I was told that it was “required not to go." The nuance has struck me as profound, being both/and and neither at the same time. It is an answer without answering. It gave me a sense of expectation, both cultural/social and legal. Not knowing enough about either to say more, I was left pondering the additional space created by such way of thinking. The Aristotelian linearity deeply engraved in my own way of socio-culturally constructed thinking finds this concept of additional, rather than alternative meaning both intriguing and challenging. What am I told here to do and/or not do? Pushing for an answer a bit more, I receive the exact repetition of the earlier response. Clearly, I do not yet grasp the concept of additional space, translation for more options, enough to know what might be possible.

Not having a clear read on our Chinese hosts' restrictions on what they can or cannot tell us, I keep wondering about translation as it pertains to communicating across cultural differences of world-views, understanding of human relations in general and ethics in particular. How much there is to learn with each other and from each other's ways of thinking! (Let me also state that I know the bills need to get paid here as well as back home in the end, wherever the funding originates; which is to say that I understand that people need to say what they need to say, as I am aware of the privilege of such musings.)

Almost needless to say, translation is a form of interpretation. Thus, to move one step further and apply the rhythm of translation to more remote ancient texts, interpretation of interpretation takes center stage. Having listened to speeches as well as sermons in China that appear to embrace literal translations of biblical passages, I wonder what it would take to make space for “interpretation” that will empower all the people.

Professor Angela Bauer-Levesque is the academic dean of the Episcopal Divinity School. She also serves as Harvey H. Guthrie Jr. Professor of Bible, Culture and Interpretation. Her most recent book is The Indispensable Guide to the Old Testament (Pilgrim Press).