Cowtown and Kenya?
Is there more than meets the eye in this welcome from Bishop Iker to the news of his friend, Canon Bill Atwood, rising to the level of missionary Bishop in the Anglican Church of Kenya? Canon Atwood, as that missionary bishop, will minister to all the "those here in in the States who have been alienated from The Episcopal Church in recent years" - all those, that is, who aren't already being ministered to by the Church of Rwanda or Nigeria.
So, I wonder who those alienated ones will be? hmmm...let me think...do I venture a guess???
http://www.fwepiscopal.org/news/atwoodkenya.html
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Monday, June 04, 2007
Integrity in Fort Worth - Finally!
Well, we did it! The Board of Integrity met in Fort Worth this past weekend. And we had a service on the Feast of Justin Martyr with the Reverend Susan Russell, president of Integrity preaching and celebrating the Eucharist.
Hell did not freeze over; nor did the stars fall from the sky. But the Holy Spirit did dance amongst us!
The service was held at an awesome church on Pennsylvania Avenue - Celebration Community Church (www.celebration-community-church.com). Approximately 50 people were there to participate and to welcome the Board to Fort Worth. (more than in several diocesan parishes on any given Sunday morning). I won't embarrass the diocese by telling why we met there rather than in a local Episcopal parish.
I would like to thank every one of you who participated in so many different ways -The Folk Group at Trinity (y'all are awesome!!!!!!!!!); Susann and Marvin for the wonderful reception!!!!!!!!!; the Reverend Carol West and the congregation of CCC for sharing with us and to Lisette -- thank you for being with us! Most of all - all of you who came out and witnessed that night - thank you for your love and support. It is good to be a part of your community!
Many thanks to the entire Board of Integrity - what a great blessing to be a part of this dynamic group!
Shalom,
Barbi
APOLOGIA
The Feast of Justin Martyr
June 1, 2007 ~ Ft Worth, TX
On behalf of the Integrity Board it is truly an honor and a blessing to be here with you in the Diocese of Fort Worth this week. There is much on our agenda as we meet over these three days … and – I hope this isn’t “breaking news” – we actually DO have “an agenda.” And since it’s an Integrity Agenda you arguably COULD call it a “gay agenda” … but the truth is, it looks an awful lot like any OTHER church or not-for-profit Board agenda. We have budgets and financials to approve; action items to account for and strategic plans to implement. There are chapter and network reports and membership issues and database updates. It is mostly just plain old hard work … hard work that is holy work as it is all of it … every bullet point and press release and regional report and line item … offered in the service of this holy work to which we have been called … this living out of the Gospel in our day just as the saints throughout the ages have lived it out in theirs.
read the rest at Susan's blog - http://inchatatime.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Holy Eucharist in Fort Worth
Integrity's national Board of Directors will be holding it's semi-annual meeting in Fort Worth on June 1st and 2nd. In conjunction with this meeting, Integrity/Fort Worth is sponsoring a Holy Eucharist on the Feast of Justin Martyr, June 1st, beginning at 8 pm.The service will be held at Celebration Community Church, 908 Pennsylvania Avenue, in downtown Fort Worth. All Integrity members and friends in the area are invited to attend.
Integrity's national Board of Directors will be holding it's semi-annual meeting in Fort Worth on June 1st and 2nd. In conjunction with this meeting, Integrity/Fort Worth is sponsoring a Holy Eucharist on the Feast of Justin Martyr, June 1st, beginning at 8 pm.The service will be held at Celebration Community Church, 908 Pennsylvania Avenue, in downtown Fort Worth. All Integrity members and friends in the area are invited to attend.
Sunday, May 20, 2007
Black Hole of Fort Worth
Check out my article at http://episcopalmajority.blogspot.com/2007/05/black-hole-of-fort-worth.html.
Check out my article at http://episcopalmajority.blogspot.com/2007/05/black-hole-of-fort-worth.html.
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Posturing Imitators...
“The Presiding Bishop of this church has refused to accept the key recommendations of the Windsor Report, has failed to seek implementation of the essential requests of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué, and has denied basic tenets of the teaching of the New Testament. By her statements and actions, the course she wishes to pursue is clear: to lead TEC to walk apart from the Anglican Communion. This is a course we cannot follow. For all these reasons and others, we do not wish to be affiliated with her, nor with anyone she may appoint or designate to act on her behalf.”
My, my, isn’t Fort Worth special? Here they go again, making it clear that their boys’ club not only doesn’t want to play with the new girl but they don’t even want to be on the same block. So once again they are making a bold and broad statement that they are not only dissatisfied but they are going to do something about it. Like what? Stand around preening, patting themselves on the back and slapping each other on the butt? All in a manly way, don’t you know? Once again they have done nothing but blow pompous yet empty rhetoric.
Not only is it empty and pompous but it isn’t even accurate. What recommendations of the Windsor report has the Presiding Bishop refused to accept – the part about not crossing boundaries maybe? No, wait…that was the other guys. The part about listening? No, they already said that no clergy would be made to listen to the stories of a bunch of gays and lesbians. What essential request of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué has the Presiding Bishop failed to implement? She said she would take it to the House of Bishops and she did. There was nothing else that she could do – oh wait…I bet the people on the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Fort Worth were thinking that maybe she could make a mandate since that is the world they live in. What basic tenet of the teaching of the New Testament has she denied? Are they still foaming at the reference to “Mother” Jesus? Get a grip. Are they really that upset to think of a God so large that it is possible that someone could understand the idea of Jesus without having ever, ever heard about him?
Nitpickers…that’s what my grandmother would have called them. Picking at nits until there are festering pustules. Posturing, I call it. They are posturing, stalling for time in an attempt to take all the toys with them. It doesn’t matter how they try to change the diocesan constitution in November 2007. It doesn’t matter if they get the first vote then and the second vote in November 2008. It won’t matter because the constitution doesn’t belong to them…it belongs to the Diocese of Fort Worth and that diocese belongs to The Episcopal Church. Period.
“The Presiding Bishop of this church has refused to accept the key recommendations of the Windsor Report, has failed to seek implementation of the essential requests of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué, and has denied basic tenets of the teaching of the New Testament. By her statements and actions, the course she wishes to pursue is clear: to lead TEC to walk apart from the Anglican Communion. This is a course we cannot follow. For all these reasons and others, we do not wish to be affiliated with her, nor with anyone she may appoint or designate to act on her behalf.”
My, my, isn’t Fort Worth special? Here they go again, making it clear that their boys’ club not only doesn’t want to play with the new girl but they don’t even want to be on the same block. So once again they are making a bold and broad statement that they are not only dissatisfied but they are going to do something about it. Like what? Stand around preening, patting themselves on the back and slapping each other on the butt? All in a manly way, don’t you know? Once again they have done nothing but blow pompous yet empty rhetoric.
Not only is it empty and pompous but it isn’t even accurate. What recommendations of the Windsor report has the Presiding Bishop refused to accept – the part about not crossing boundaries maybe? No, wait…that was the other guys. The part about listening? No, they already said that no clergy would be made to listen to the stories of a bunch of gays and lesbians. What essential request of the Dar es Salaam Communiqué has the Presiding Bishop failed to implement? She said she would take it to the House of Bishops and she did. There was nothing else that she could do – oh wait…I bet the people on the Standing Committee of the Diocese of Fort Worth were thinking that maybe she could make a mandate since that is the world they live in. What basic tenet of the teaching of the New Testament has she denied? Are they still foaming at the reference to “Mother” Jesus? Get a grip. Are they really that upset to think of a God so large that it is possible that someone could understand the idea of Jesus without having ever, ever heard about him?
Nitpickers…that’s what my grandmother would have called them. Picking at nits until there are festering pustules. Posturing, I call it. They are posturing, stalling for time in an attempt to take all the toys with them. It doesn’t matter how they try to change the diocesan constitution in November 2007. It doesn’t matter if they get the first vote then and the second vote in November 2008. It won’t matter because the constitution doesn’t belong to them…it belongs to the Diocese of Fort Worth and that diocese belongs to The Episcopal Church. Period.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Yes, he is...
Well, yesterday was a grand day indeed. I actually met Katharine Jefferts Schori. I even shook her hand. It would be good to tell you that I was able to get in a word about Fort Worth and Integrity. I would have liked to have said "As a member of the Board of Integrity, let me tell you how much we appreciate all that you are doing". It would have been great to even offer a suggestion as to how she might do more. However, that was not to be the case.
For those of you who know Tucker, well, you know that he is indeed Tucker as only Tucker can be. Being the fidgeter that he is, sitting in a chair waiting one hour for the ceremony to begin is just not within his capabilities. Of course, he had to go to the restroom. Being eleven years old, he is allowed to do that by himself. So he went.
He came back fifteen or so minutes later and all grins, his hand held out, palm up and said, "Do you want to touch this?" If you don't have an eleven year old boy in your life, let me give you warning - Always say No to that question and Never, ever reach out to grab the upheld hand. Trust me. There are few things on that hand that you would ever want transferred to your own skin. It is always best to just wait and listen rather than reach out and touch.
So, I merely stared at the palm, wondering what he had gotten in to now. Still grinning, he said…”I am never going to wash this hand.” So the questions began…Why? “Because I just shook hands with Katharine Jefferts Schori.” Wow! What did you say to her? “I told her that I was Tucker and that one of my mom’s is Barbi Click.” Cool! What happened then? (and no, they did not go on to talk about me…) “She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told her that I wanted to be a Paleontologist. She said that was awesome and that she used to be an oceanographer.”
About then the graduation ceremony began so we stood up.
Afterwards, there was a reception for all the graduates in the courtyard of St. Matthew’s. Somewhere, quickly melting into the crowd, Tucker disappeared. Knowing full well that he was on his way to find our Presiding Bishop once again, we set off to find him. Sure enough, I spotted him. In the process of reaching out to grab his arm, he was able to reach out further and faster to grab her arm. As I pulled on him and said, Tucker, no! she turned and saw him. She smiled at him and then looked up at me. “This one belongs to you, I presume?” Yes, I said and I introduced myself. She looked back at him and said, "Well, he is an amazing young man, isn’t he?” What could I do but agree with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Bishop to the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe? I just smiled and said, yes he is, thank you.
An aside from one of the parents of this “amazing young man” – I just learned that he scored a “commended” performance on his TAKS Science scores – 39 out of 40…
Well, yesterday was a grand day indeed. I actually met Katharine Jefferts Schori. I even shook her hand. It would be good to tell you that I was able to get in a word about Fort Worth and Integrity. I would have liked to have said "As a member of the Board of Integrity, let me tell you how much we appreciate all that you are doing". It would have been great to even offer a suggestion as to how she might do more. However, that was not to be the case.
For those of you who know Tucker, well, you know that he is indeed Tucker as only Tucker can be. Being the fidgeter that he is, sitting in a chair waiting one hour for the ceremony to begin is just not within his capabilities. Of course, he had to go to the restroom. Being eleven years old, he is allowed to do that by himself. So he went.
He came back fifteen or so minutes later and all grins, his hand held out, palm up and said, "Do you want to touch this?" If you don't have an eleven year old boy in your life, let me give you warning - Always say No to that question and Never, ever reach out to grab the upheld hand. Trust me. There are few things on that hand that you would ever want transferred to your own skin. It is always best to just wait and listen rather than reach out and touch.
So, I merely stared at the palm, wondering what he had gotten in to now. Still grinning, he said…”I am never going to wash this hand.” So the questions began…Why? “Because I just shook hands with Katharine Jefferts Schori.” Wow! What did you say to her? “I told her that I was Tucker and that one of my mom’s is Barbi Click.” Cool! What happened then? (and no, they did not go on to talk about me…) “She asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and I told her that I wanted to be a Paleontologist. She said that was awesome and that she used to be an oceanographer.”
About then the graduation ceremony began so we stood up.
Afterwards, there was a reception for all the graduates in the courtyard of St. Matthew’s. Somewhere, quickly melting into the crowd, Tucker disappeared. Knowing full well that he was on his way to find our Presiding Bishop once again, we set off to find him. Sure enough, I spotted him. In the process of reaching out to grab his arm, he was able to reach out further and faster to grab her arm. As I pulled on him and said, Tucker, no! she turned and saw him. She smiled at him and then looked up at me. “This one belongs to you, I presume?” Yes, I said and I introduced myself. She looked back at him and said, "Well, he is an amazing young man, isn’t he?” What could I do but agree with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and Bishop to the Convocation of Episcopal Churches in Europe? I just smiled and said, yes he is, thank you.
An aside from one of the parents of this “amazing young man” – I just learned that he scored a “commended” performance on his TAKS Science scores – 39 out of 40…
Friday, May 11, 2007
Coup d'Etat
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d'%C3%A9tat)
“A coup d'État (pronounced /ku de'ta/), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, often through illegal means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. It is also an example of political engineering. It may or may not be violent in nature. It is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system through unconstitutional means.”
Can the establishment of CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) within the geographical jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church and the consecration of Martyn Minns by “His Grace The Most Reverend Peter Jasper Akinola CON, DD Archbishop Metropolitan And Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)”, be seen as anything less that an attempted coup?
From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coup_d'%C3%A9tat)
“A coup d'État (pronounced /ku de'ta/), or simply coup, is the sudden overthrow of a government, often through illegal means by a part of the state establishment — mostly replacing just the high-level figures. It is also an example of political engineering. It may or may not be violent in nature. It is different from a revolution, which is staged by a larger group and radically changes the political system through unconstitutional means.”
Can the establishment of CANA (Convocation of Anglicans in North America) within the geographical jurisdiction of The Episcopal Church and the consecration of Martyn Minns by “His Grace The Most Reverend Peter Jasper Akinola CON, DD Archbishop Metropolitan And Primate of All Nigeria (Anglican Communion) and President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN)”, be seen as anything less that an attempted coup?
Friday, April 20, 2007
A Couple of Glorious Things That Have Happened Since March 14
Who would think? Bluebonnets in Snow! In April, no less!
On that same day, April 7th, we celebrated the 94th birthday of my grandmother, Bula Knipe Click - the matriarch of the Click Clan. And yes, that is her own red hair! It was a glorious day, indeed!
Resurrection of Fear
It has been one month since I last wrote a blog. That gives way to a whole load of thoughts pent up for that while...Gosh, lots of things have happened -Lent is over. Jesus died. Christ is Risen. Alleluia!
Lots of people have died in the past thirty days. We even have a new law in Texas that says it is ok to kill someone who is trying to do you harm. I think that it used to be that you had to yell a warning three times and that the perpetrator had to be fully inside your residence before you shot him (or her). Now you don't have to yell. You don't have to wait until they are inside. The threat can be real or perceived. (at least that it the way it read to me) The possible threat soon turned victim doesn't even have to be exhibiting a weapon. Shoot first and find out facts later. Oh, you mean the guy was just walking past my car to get to his own??? I am so sorry...I thought he was going to attack me.
Ok, so I can see the desire to hurt someone who is trying to hurt you. I can understand the fear that would drive someone to those means. Like an older lady with whom I work - She woke up one night to find a guy standing over her. She carries a gun now. Even the president, God love his little backward thinking mind, in his address to the scarred and scared people at Virginia Tech said that if more people had been properly armed then it would have helped stop the guy that killed and wounded all those people. But somehow, a Law that states you will not be accused of murder or homicide or any other type of crime if you kill someone who you think is trying to hurt you just seems to be a bit twisted.
Ok, so the human in me realizes that it is just basic instinct to want to retaliate, to seek revenge against someone who has hurt you or even scared the living holies out of you. But what is that line, 'Vengence is mine, saith the Lord'? Of course, that is just one of those old lines of text that doesn' t really matter in this modern day, right? yeah...and do we really need more crazy people, stressed out of their minds, reeling from the shock of everyday living running around with 'Glocks' in their pockets? Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy.
At a place where I volunteer, a couple of guys were talking the day after the attack at VT - they were claiming that this would be the time when those "liberals" would once again try to take away their guns. And of course, you can imagine what at least one said after that...'if they try to take away my guns they are going to have to come in shootin'...'and oh my, let's not forget the disingenuous saying, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."I think that we need to stop and think about the one purpose for which handguns are made...and sorry, honey, it ain't for target practice...
This is Texas, after all. We kill people all the time...even when it would be so much easier and cheaper to just do the simple DNA test to make absolutely, 100% sure that the person on Death Row is truly the person that the State claims he or she is. (I am attempting gender neutrality however the person in these instances is almost always a "he" and almost always Black)
Meanwhile, people are dying - lots of them dying - in Iraq. And no one seems to care. Where is the outrage? Where is the moral outcry? Why are we all just letting it go on? and on? and on?
May God have mercy on us all...
It has been one month since I last wrote a blog. That gives way to a whole load of thoughts pent up for that while...Gosh, lots of things have happened -Lent is over. Jesus died. Christ is Risen. Alleluia!
Lots of people have died in the past thirty days. We even have a new law in Texas that says it is ok to kill someone who is trying to do you harm. I think that it used to be that you had to yell a warning three times and that the perpetrator had to be fully inside your residence before you shot him (or her). Now you don't have to yell. You don't have to wait until they are inside. The threat can be real or perceived. (at least that it the way it read to me) The possible threat soon turned victim doesn't even have to be exhibiting a weapon. Shoot first and find out facts later. Oh, you mean the guy was just walking past my car to get to his own??? I am so sorry...I thought he was going to attack me.
Ok, so I can see the desire to hurt someone who is trying to hurt you. I can understand the fear that would drive someone to those means. Like an older lady with whom I work - She woke up one night to find a guy standing over her. She carries a gun now. Even the president, God love his little backward thinking mind, in his address to the scarred and scared people at Virginia Tech said that if more people had been properly armed then it would have helped stop the guy that killed and wounded all those people. But somehow, a Law that states you will not be accused of murder or homicide or any other type of crime if you kill someone who you think is trying to hurt you just seems to be a bit twisted.
Ok, so the human in me realizes that it is just basic instinct to want to retaliate, to seek revenge against someone who has hurt you or even scared the living holies out of you. But what is that line, 'Vengence is mine, saith the Lord'? Of course, that is just one of those old lines of text that doesn' t really matter in this modern day, right? yeah...and do we really need more crazy people, stressed out of their minds, reeling from the shock of everyday living running around with 'Glocks' in their pockets? Lord Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy.
At a place where I volunteer, a couple of guys were talking the day after the attack at VT - they were claiming that this would be the time when those "liberals" would once again try to take away their guns. And of course, you can imagine what at least one said after that...'if they try to take away my guns they are going to have to come in shootin'...'and oh my, let's not forget the disingenuous saying, "When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns."I think that we need to stop and think about the one purpose for which handguns are made...and sorry, honey, it ain't for target practice...
This is Texas, after all. We kill people all the time...even when it would be so much easier and cheaper to just do the simple DNA test to make absolutely, 100% sure that the person on Death Row is truly the person that the State claims he or she is. (I am attempting gender neutrality however the person in these instances is almost always a "he" and almost always Black)
Meanwhile, people are dying - lots of them dying - in Iraq. And no one seems to care. Where is the outrage? Where is the moral outcry? Why are we all just letting it go on? and on? and on?
May God have mercy on us all...
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
From Charles Hill, a parishioner at St. Clement's, Honolulu, written in the early hours of Ash Wednesday
*****************************************
THE LAST RITES FOR A MAN IN A WOMAN'S FROCK WHO VISITS THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
(It is time to call a demon what it is, a devil in primate's robes)
I think I want to wear a pretty flower print frock,
perhaps top it off with an Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it
then knock on the Archbishop's palace door,
and invite him to laugh at my expense,
show him a legion of lesions in my soul,
all what keeps me ever so sore
abandoned by church, nation, and home.
I think I want to proclaim a fast,
shore up my energy for all who have died unjustly in the past
because he wanted to kiss a rose
and she wanted to play basketball too much;
life's joys denied them
all in the name of a God they serve,
they go on killing us all the day long
strip us, burn us at the stake, take away our dreams,
make examples of us to shame our names for love,
call all our goodness wrong.
I think I want to don a fresh frock today
then stop the clocks and after veiling my eyes, weep.
What else is there to do to keep the peace?
I think I want to kiss the hand that feeds me,
kiss the lips of the salty lover at my side who frees me,
and with my best frock on rise to the occasion at holy mass, at holy communion
stand up for Jesus in high and low places
to proclaim
no judge or priest or primate or pope or Archbishop may stop me
from wearing a frock,
from stopping the clock,
from stripping away the veil of ignorance here and now.
So bless me, O Lord, for I have sinned
leaving so much undone that might have been.
I think I'm already buried alive up to my eyeballs
in this crock of clergy shit called
divine right of straight and narrow,
the right of the oppressors to suck out my marrow;
all of them cannibals of truly human soul,
they eat my heart while it beats
and drink my blood as it flows
and call their churchly judgments acts of compassion.
I have been damned to hell like Crazy Jane was judged by her Bishop,
hanged glistening, bleeding from barbed wire
like Matthew Shepard was left out in the freezing Wyoming night,
killed by the same Christians who with their Bibles open to John 3:16
beat my brains out until they ooze into the street,
there is no survival rate available, it's too late to count out thirty coins of silver,
there's always more to betrayal,
and they tell me over and over and over again,
as I breathe my last,
"There is hope for you because God loves you, but not what you are,"
and at last I join my brothers and sisters from the past,
free at last, Thank God Almighty,
I'm free at last.
And when I die please ask them for my body and bury me
or burn me, I don't care,
but put me down in my pretty flower print frock
and before you scatter my ashes or bury my corpse,
stop the clocks,
if only for an hour
because time never ticked for me in this world anyway
where I have had no power, no face, no name, no peace,
only moments of pleasure when I wore a flower print frock
to guide me back to a dream of a lovely place the world might have been,
to a happy home I never had in this life,
and
hope
to
God
will
be
in
the
next
world
to
come.
Let me rest in peace, please, finally, in my frock give me my last rites.
Glory be to the Creator, and to the Christ,
and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
(but please not like it was in my lifetime)
world without end, amen.
charles hill
honolulu, hawaii
February 21, Ash Wednesday, 2007
*****************************************
THE LAST RITES FOR A MAN IN A WOMAN'S FROCK WHO VISITS THE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY
(It is time to call a demon what it is, a devil in primate's robes)
I think I want to wear a pretty flower print frock,
perhaps top it off with an Easter bonnet with all the frills upon it
then knock on the Archbishop's palace door,
and invite him to laugh at my expense,
show him a legion of lesions in my soul,
all what keeps me ever so sore
abandoned by church, nation, and home.
I think I want to proclaim a fast,
shore up my energy for all who have died unjustly in the past
because he wanted to kiss a rose
and she wanted to play basketball too much;
life's joys denied them
all in the name of a God they serve,
they go on killing us all the day long
strip us, burn us at the stake, take away our dreams,
make examples of us to shame our names for love,
call all our goodness wrong.
I think I want to don a fresh frock today
then stop the clocks and after veiling my eyes, weep.
What else is there to do to keep the peace?
I think I want to kiss the hand that feeds me,
kiss the lips of the salty lover at my side who frees me,
and with my best frock on rise to the occasion at holy mass, at holy communion
stand up for Jesus in high and low places
to proclaim
no judge or priest or primate or pope or Archbishop may stop me
from wearing a frock,
from stopping the clock,
from stripping away the veil of ignorance here and now.
So bless me, O Lord, for I have sinned
leaving so much undone that might have been.
I think I'm already buried alive up to my eyeballs
in this crock of clergy shit called
divine right of straight and narrow,
the right of the oppressors to suck out my marrow;
all of them cannibals of truly human soul,
they eat my heart while it beats
and drink my blood as it flows
and call their churchly judgments acts of compassion.
I have been damned to hell like Crazy Jane was judged by her Bishop,
hanged glistening, bleeding from barbed wire
like Matthew Shepard was left out in the freezing Wyoming night,
killed by the same Christians who with their Bibles open to John 3:16
beat my brains out until they ooze into the street,
there is no survival rate available, it's too late to count out thirty coins of silver,
there's always more to betrayal,
and they tell me over and over and over again,
as I breathe my last,
"There is hope for you because God loves you, but not what you are,"
and at last I join my brothers and sisters from the past,
free at last, Thank God Almighty,
I'm free at last.
And when I die please ask them for my body and bury me
or burn me, I don't care,
but put me down in my pretty flower print frock
and before you scatter my ashes or bury my corpse,
stop the clocks,
if only for an hour
because time never ticked for me in this world anyway
where I have had no power, no face, no name, no peace,
only moments of pleasure when I wore a flower print frock
to guide me back to a dream of a lovely place the world might have been,
to a happy home I never had in this life,
and
hope
to
God
will
be
in
the
next
world
to
come.
Let me rest in peace, please, finally, in my frock give me my last rites.
Glory be to the Creator, and to the Christ,
and to the Holy Spirit
as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
(but please not like it was in my lifetime)
world without end, amen.
charles hill
honolulu, hawaii
February 21, Ash Wednesday, 2007
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