Sad irony

[Listening to the debate in the House of Deputies on C045. In one of the quirks of General Convention, that year the deputations from Vermont and New Hampshire were right across the aisle from one another.]

On Sunday 3 August 2003, five years ago today, the House of Deputies voted to consent to the election of the Rev'd Gene Robinson to be Bishop Coadjutor of the Diocese of New Hampshire.

As ENS reported that night:

Gene Robinson’s journey to becoming bishop of New Hampshire passed a crucial milestone Sunday afternoon when the House of Deputies voted to consent to his election as bishop coadjutor. While the bishops appear poised to follow suit, the response by the rest of the Anglican Communion — and the wider church — could prove a rough road.

In a vote by orders on resolution C045, lay deputations voted 63 yes, 32 no, and 13 divided. Clergy deputations voted 65 yes, 31 no, and 12 divided. With the deputies' action, the final decision now rests with the House of Bishops, which will take up Robinson’s consent Monday afternoon.

We know that things got bogged down over the next two days but ultimately, the House of Bishops voted to concur with the House of Deputies on Tuesday 5 August 2003. And when that vote came through, the 1200 or so of us who stood in the worship space watching the HOB at work did not whoop or holler. When they started singing Uib caritas, we joined in, linked by a video camera.

So it's a sad irony that five years later, to the day, the Archbishop of Canterbury is putting heavy pressure on The Episcopal Church not to go forward with any more consecrations of honest LGBT people and to stop blessings of same-gender couples. I will spend time later sifting through the emissions from Lambeth and the various commentaries out there but I couldn't let this moment of irony go by unnoticed.

This arc that swings to justice is a very wide and slow one, I think.