| # | Name | Comments |
|---|
| 151 | Jeramie Judd Harbin | I grew up in the evangelical Southern Baptist Church and attended college at a United Methodist school. My religious education fell firmly in the conservative, traditionalist, literalist camp. Five years ago, a series of life events having little if not nothing to do with my affectional orientation spurred me to question my loyalty to that dogma. Through what appeared as random coincidences at the time, I attended a few services at a local Episcopal Church. Roughly six months later, I was confirmed into the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. Part of what drew me toward the Episcopal Church was the compassion, kindness, gentleness, humility, patience, wisdom, and courage of the people whom I knew who were Episcopal. I saw Episcopalians involved in a variety of social justice issues from homelessness and domestic violence to racism, sexism, and heterosexism. No church I had attended in 32 years had ever done so much or acted so boldly, and certainly no church I had known in 32 years had vocally objected to violence against gay and lesbian people. No church in 32 years had ever even hinted what I already understood through meditation and prayer: As a gay man, I am exactly as God created me to be, and I will be held to the same "sexual" ethic as any heterosexual person. While the psychological and emotional wounding that societal hatred inflicts is a Paulinian "thorn in my side," the Episcopal Church is for me the healing balm of Gilead. Within the loving embrace of the Church, I find external verification of my own meditations: God loves me just as I am. Within that loving embrace of the Church, which I believe to be an earthly surrogate for the Divine Hug, I feel liberated from the handicap of those wounds of hatred, and I feel free to share selflessly the love of God with others. Within that warm embrace of Divine Love, I strive to be the best man whom I can be. I strive to love humankind with Divine Love and to love The Lord My God with all that I am. The apparently random coincidences that led me to a few Episcopal services five years ago seem, in hindsight, to have been guidance by The Spirit. I am where this soul needed to be so God could expunge the toxins of societal hatred from me. That job is well underway and yet still incomplete. While I continue my spiritual convalescence within the Episcopal Church, I am glad for opportunities to replace spiritual poisons with spiritual nutrients, and I appreciate that the Episcopal Church welcomes me--all of me--into God's Service. Perhaps in my lifetime, the Episcopal Church will welcome me--all of me--into the full life of the Church. |
| 152 | Roger Franklin | |
| 153 | Steve Thoresen` | |
| 154 | Robert E Bennett | I was delighted when you were elected Archbishop of Canterbury. I write in remembrance of that hope. |
| 155 | C. Hendershot | |
| 156 | Wade Christopher Evans | |
| 157 | Anonymous | |
| 158 | William Jenkins | |
| 159 | Ken Keeton | |
| 160 | Brent Camden | |
| 161 | Jo Belser | Member of Grace Episcopal Church, Alexandria, Virginia |
| 162 | Larry Jordan | |
| 163 | The Rev. Jason Samuel | |
| 164 | Kay Smith Riggle | |
| 165 | Milton McGorrill | |
| 166 | Robert G. Brown Jr. | |
| 167 | Diana Hoover | |
| 168 | Chas Marks | |
| 169 | Sarah T. Smith | |
| 170 | Al Yarbrough | As a friend of gays and lesbians and as an Episcopalian I request that they be treated as God's children |
| 171 | Anonymous | |
| 172 | Richard Anderson | |
| 173 | The Rev. Ted E. Durst | |
| 174 | Paul F. Goercke, Ed.D. | |
| 175 | Russell Graham | |
| 176 | George V. Bullock | |
| 177 | Howard Preston Burkett | Please, ++Rowan -
When you measure the blood of the martyred, weigh the blood of those killed by their Christian brothers especially heavily. |
| 178 | Andy Delscamp | Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. That's it.
We are NOT in the business of judging others - that is God's job! |
| 179 | Dan Beavers | I fully support the above statement as a member of The Episcopal Church. |
| 180 | Lanny O. Green | "You have sinned against me.
You have condemned me in His name.
You have said, 'Love the sinner, hate the sin.'
But you have not loved me.
And you have denied my love.
How long, oh Church, how long shall I wait?
For you to love me
As He loves me...
As I love you." |
| 181 | Margi Austin | Your Grace-You have been blessed with the opportunity to make the moral statement which will impact the world today in a manner which will lead the way for a more just, Christian, and loving world tomorrow, and for all future ages. |
| 182 | Sean McFerran | |
| 183 | Terence Dear | |
| 184 | Raymond Harbort | |
| 185 | Joe Baldwin | prayers for you and all gathered to limit your destructive judgements of God's creations and to do the right thing according to our calling from Jesus Christ. |
| 186 | Dennis Sheridan | |
| 187 | Marc Purintun | Not only does the Gospel call us "to work for the marginalize", but also calls us to look for the signs of the Spirit of God working in the lives whom God has chosen and not to call unclean what God has made clean. The Church's mistreatment and willingness to bare false witness against LGTB persons is as offensive to God today as it was in the First Century when certain Christians believed that scripture required Gentile converts to circumcized and to follow the Law. God requires no spiritual circumcism of LGTB Christians and those who preach so are preaching a false gospel. |
| 188 | Anonymous | |
| 189 | John Deuel | |
| 190 | Andrew Innes | |
| 191 | Dr Rosie Miles | |
| 192 | Carol Gibbs | I beg you to do all in your power to end this overt discrimination and hate. |
| 193 | Peter Laidig | Jesus says: all people are my brothers and my sisters. |
| 194 | Eric P. Morris | |
| 195 | Sian Tati Howell | |
| 196 | R. Jane Williams | |
| 197 | LaNiece I. Bower | |
| 198 | The Rev' d Geoffrey Howson | if we accept the exclusive claim of Jesus Christ as the Son of God then we cannot reject his inclusive love for everyone. That is the challenge and the hope of the gospel. |
| 199 | The Rev Canon James Flagler | In my 40 years as a Faithful Anglican I tried to answer my calling within the AC but was always told I was too out. Living within the geographical Diocese of Albany, but outside the communion is painful, I miss my friends in the church and I miss working along side them, yet I know I have done the right thing to answer God's call. I experience personally and minister to those who daily experience the terrible weight of anti-gay oppression in the Church. It is time for the Shepherds to start protecting their flocks. |
| 200 | Brenda Harrison | |