When I was a child, I attended Lutheran parochial school. There was a joke making the rounds that described St. Peter introducing newcomers to heaven, which was a series of rooms, each allowing behaviors that had been denominationally prohibited in life. One door, however, was closed, and all were urged to walk quietly past. St. Peter explained that the room contained Missouri Synod Lutherans, and they believed they were the only ones up there.

This story popped to mind as I read the heartfelt chronicle of diocesan schism by Doug LeBlanc (“The parting of friends,” June). While separation of church and state grabs the headlines, the more important story is that of the separation of church and church. He uses the words “clear theological differences,” and I have no doubt that it is true. At the same time, I am trying to think of a time when Jesus talked about theology. It is my clear impression that theology, doctrine and orthodoxy are human inventions, primarily established to define the unknowable and to bracket concepts that cannot be explained. They are designed to make us comfortable with mystery.

And for all of human history, this division and subdivision has served to redefine groups according to likemindedness, sparing the need for stretch or accommodation. While the 81 percent of Christ Church’s parishioners that voted to exit may agree on this particular issue, I will predict with certainty that it is only a matter of time before that unanimity is fractured by yet some other dispute, each time further redefining the doctrinal purity that is so important to each community.

When Jesus spoke of heaven as having many rooms, I doubt very much that he meant spaces divided by denominational bounds. Unfortunately, his followers too often think otherwise.

My eye caught the article in the June issue about churches collecting household hazardous wastes for Earth Day. While I wholeheartedly support residents actively engaged in environmental issues, I wanted to caution promoting this kind of activity. From the pictures, there is no indication that the wastes were collected in a safe manner -- no one is wearing personal protection equipment (Tyvek suits, eye protection, gloves), nor is the ground protected from spills with tarps, drain covers and spill protection. All sorts of wastes come in -- unlabeled, unstable, leaking, etc. This kind of collection usually is performed by trained professionals who have everything from spill kits to fire extinguishers to access to bomb squads. Our agency has 16 years of experience in running 20-plus events a year -- one never knows what can be brought in to an event like this!

I did read that the event was sponsored by a grant from EPA, so maybe that grant had some safety guidelines built in that are not visible from the pictures, but from my experience they are not. Instead, I would recommend the churches assist existing household hazardous-waste programs, such as the one in Marquette County, by providing information (directions, hours of operation, benefits of participating, what to bring, what not to bring) to the congregations via bulletins, presentations and flyers.

One area where older people need help is to have volunteers sort through wastes, especially after a spouse has passed away or as an older person is beginning the move to an assisted living facility. We often get calls from family members who are overwhelmed by what they find in the house when they go to clean it out. Members of faith communities usually can bring wastes to a facility on behalf of an older person, especially with a letter or, if possible, by driving the older person to the facility. Always contact the household hazardous-waste programs before showing up with large quantities or unusual wastes to get more information. Thanks.

I was pleased to see the Active Voice article by Ann Domini regarding the “crisis” in Social Security. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with some of her opinions.

Since the early 1980s, workers have been paying in “excess” Social Security taxes that were greater than current retirees demands on the system. These “excess” dollars have been held in the Social Security Trust Fund.  This fund is required to buy a special type of Treasury bonds with these dollars. This simply means that all those excess dollars have been loaned to the U.S. government and spent. Where do the funds come from to repay those Treasury bonds? From the same place all income arrives at the treasury: taxpayers.

I deeply resent paying in “excess” Social Security for years to help the system cope with the retirement of the Baby Boomers (my generation) only to have to pay again to prop up this system, because the first trillion or two has been spent/wasted on current government programs as part of the unified budget.

I must inquire why cutting benefits is out of the question? If you look at the total fabric of benefits provided through Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, these programs are proving to be unsustainable without a massive infusion of trillions of dollars. America’s elderly are the wealthiest segment of its population. They have enjoyed a lifetime to accumulate wealth in the most prosperous nation on earth. Why should younger adults, their own children and grandchildren, have to shoulder the burden of change alone?

I believe as Christians we should be questioning why we have by far the largest and most costly defense budget in the world.  I recall that the current appropriation is well over $400 billion or $400,000,000. To spend that kind of money to assure our ability to murder our fellow human beings more effectively than any opponent -- I believe is where our flaw lies within this country.

May God grant us wisdom.

I did a doubletake when I read Sharon Sheridan’s review of the children’s book by Jane Ray, Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden in the July/August  Episcopal Life.  She states, "The book’s one flaw is that it switches the order of creation.  In this version, God first creates Adam, then creates the animals because Adam is lonely. By changing the story in the picture book, children can be needlessly confused about which version is accurate and, in fact, learn a nonbilical one first."

Ms. Sheridan should read Genesis 2:4-23.   This "version" is very biblical.  Yes, indeed, how do we explain to children the two very different creation accounts recorded in the first two chapters of Genesis?  Just which one is the accurate one?

I see that our brothers (did not notice any sisters being mentioned in the article) of Asia and Africa are embarrassed by the presence of open homosexuality in the American churches.  Tough.  I was taught a song as a child: "Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world.  Red and yellow, black and white, all are precious in his sight."

Our black and yellow brothers want to put in a clause that checks their bedroom status before allowing Jesus to love them.  No way.  I hope that those people will not be upset when they find themselves outside the Anglican Communion.  Am I the only one who thinks it is possible that homosexuality is God's answer to rampant reproduction?  In an overcrowded world, people who chose nonreproductive relationships should be welcome.

As far as I can see, the only time someone else's sexuality is my concern is if I want to have a relationship with a person.  Trying to choose how others live is not part of Christianity; loving our neighbor is.

It is unfortunate that the actual resolution adopted by the Anglican Consultative Council during its June meeting in Nottingham, England, was not included in your July/August issue, as it would have provided much-needed balanced to the report by Jerry Hames.

So, let it also be reported that the ACC took note that the primates had endorsed the recommendations of the Windsor Report and reaffirmed "the standard of Christian teaching on matters of  human sexuality expressed in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10." In the ACC's resolution, it "endorses and affirms those decisions."

All four Instruments of Unity have now affirmed Lambeth's Resolution 1.10, and three of the four have affirmed the Windsor Report.  With all due respect, these two decisions strike me as being far more significant than the defeat of "further isolation."

I'm alarmed by Doug LeBlanc's statement in his article of June, 2005: "Even as I regret this separation ... I would have voted for it."
Parish communities have an obligation, in my opinion, to remain committed to all issues from within the American Episcopal Church and not as an interested third party, or member of the Anglican Communion, without the Episcopal Church.

I find far more compelling his statement that "the Episcopal Church and Diocese of Kansas will be poorer in spirit without Christ Church." This goes to the heart of the issue that present and future issues faced by the Episcopal Church will be more effectively discussed by one communion and one body in Christ. Naysayers are more effective within the national and worldwide communion and not in spite of it. I would not have voted for this proposal.

I would like to thank Douglas LeBlanc ("From the edge," April) and Rev. Roberts C. Smith (letter, June) for their sensitive and hope-affirming remarks upon the issue of pets' eternal relationship with us.  When my beloved three-legged cat, Isaac, lost his battle with cancer, I asked my kind and compassionate vet if he believed that our pets await us in heaven, and he answered simply and with assurance.  "I don't know how heaven can be what we say it is if they don't."

Well said, I thought.

Richard Basta (“Terrorism is plain evil,” Letters, June) calls what Madeleine Albright wrote "rubbish." But he himself totally fails to see that what we choose to put the general label "terrorism" on has more than one face.

Not all suicide bombers in the Holy Land act out of religious fundamentalism. Most of them are motivated by anger provoked by permanent humiliation and the denial of reasonable prospects for their future by Israeli forces. And the United States has done nothing to make the Israeli Government commit itself to a just peace, which would mean to recognize -- as the ultimate goal of the peace process -- an independent Palestinian state, on equal footing with the State of Israel. Separating the two by the “green line,” would leave more than three quarters of the country in Israeli hands. Regarding the permanent expansion of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territory, the United States has nothing but empty words, which everybody in Israel knows may be disregarded without consequences.

If two-thirds of the territory of the United States had been attributed to the American Indians by the United Nations, the rest of the country occupied by them and the white population treated by the occupation forces as the Palestinians are treated by the Israeli forces, and if there were a widespread opinion among the Indians that white Americans were essentially Europeans and should go back to Europe if they wished to lead a decent life -- I should very much like to hear what Richard Basta would say if some white Americans would turn to violence. I suspect he would try to "understand them."

The Chaplain Corps is not all that it might seem from its ad showing chaplains of different faiths sharing a joke. For one thing, to many enlisted soldiers a chaplain is another officer they have to salute and call “Sir.” The officer-enlisted barrier is a very difficult one for a priest to cross and gain someone’s trust.

The pastoral care a chaplain provides fulfills his or her duty as a priest but not necessarily his function as a chaplain. Because he is in the chain of command, a chaplain is both a priest and a functionary in a killing machine. His role in carrying out the mission of the unit, especially in a war zone, is troop morale. He must accept our cause, whatever that cause may be, as a just cause and sell it to the troops. For example, a chaplain once spoke to my advanced training class on the Sixth Commandment. He told us in so many words that we could kill people without penalty of sin - - it would have been Russians then - - provided we didn’t murder them.

That is the kind of message the commander expects the chaplain to convey. No commander of a combat arms unit in a war zone will let his chaplain preach “turn the other cheek” or “love your enemies” to his soldiers. These are the reasons I think your carrying that ad was not proper for the sort of publication you are. On the other hand, I do not object to someone becoming a military chaplain as long as he (or she) knows what he is getting into.

I am a young Episcopalian. We are a dying breed in many regards. However, the openness the Episcopal Church has shown to all people has enlivened many other young people I know.

Based upon recent figures, approximately 60 percent of college age people support equal rights for homosexual couples. A slight majority believes that people are born gay. The Episcopal Church's recognition of equality is a bold and brave step toward the inclusion of all. Do recall that Christ also accepted everyone, because we are all sinners and have fallen short of God's glory.

The Windsor Report has called for a time of open conversation about human sexuality. It is my hope that throughout the country and globe, Anglicans are considering both sides of this issue, respectfully and with much prayer. Exclusion of either side will serve nothing but schism.

I also pray that, despite ACC's recent decision to continue exclusion of the American and Canadian churches, we may continue to act as Christ taught us: loving our neighbors as ourselves and caring for the poor, sick, the friendless and the needy. This will set an example for the world that they must follow.

I received the article “Baby heals war wounds: Grandmother moves from rejection to love for adopted Vietnamese boy” (September,  2004, the Rev. Mary Canavan’s story about her uncle killed in Vietnam and her subsequent adoption of a Vietnamese child) from a friend. I must say, it stirred up a lot of memories and emotions.

Albert [Mary Canavan’s uncle] and I became very close friends during our high school years and more so prior to enlisting into the Marine Corps.  After we graduated from Parris Island, we ended up going in different directions. I ended up in San Diego for communication schooling, and Al was getting ready for the big trip.  We kept in touch by writing.

While I was still in California, I was told to report to the Commanding Officers office, and I was informed that Albert was killed in action. I was requested to be his personal escort.  I never experienced such sadness but, on the other hand, knowing that I was going to be the one that would take care of him to his final resting place created such a feeling of brotherhood that the saying of Semper Fi said it all.

I think of Albert often … in my heart, Albert lives on.  I'm a strong believer that things happen for a reason; adopting this Vietnamese boy was meant to happen.

I was gratified to see the picture of our ongoing peace vigil in San Francisco that accompanied Kerry Walters' much-needed article, "Patriotism supplanting piety."  (I am in the middle of the photo.)  This vigil, begun by two groups of Friends (Quakers) in 2001 and was later joined by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and more recently by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship.

Our line stands witness every Thursday from noon until 1 p.m. outside the federal building.  My outrage quotient gets taxed sorely every day, not only by having our government push us into a war that slaughters and maims tens of thousands, but especially by having this done under the name of Jesus, God, Christians … and by being declared weak, naive, ignorant, unpatriotic, uncaring of the oppressed, if I object.  It's the new McCarthyism - are you now or have you ever been a pacifist?

I also sometimes vigil with the Bay Area Women in Black, a group of Jewish women and friends standing in support of a similar group in Israel that vigils every week, in mourning for victims on both sides of their conflict and praying for peace based on justice.  We can join with other faiths as we speak out of our own understanding of Jesus’ basic teaching and example.  And, yes, I agree that all Christian churches should be "peace churches."

It is very encouraging to read the current issue of Episcopal Life and learn of the widespread concern about the environment. However, in the various articles I did not read anything about the extensive use of paper in many parishes today - the entire liturgy with hymns and Scripture readings printed for three or four services. What has happened? Is the younger generation unable to use the prayer book and hymnal?

A few years ago, we were privileged to attend a seminar on Celtic Christianity in the Diocese of Eastern Oregon. We learned that Celtic Christians looked at the earth in much the same way as Native Americans - that we are stewards of God's creation.  In light of our Celtic roots, it seems that it would be appropriate to cut down on the use of paper.

The more unlike ourselves we perceive others to be, the easier it is to hate them.  Thus, for example, Nazis created the fiction that Jews were a subspecies.  In this country, the full humanity of Native Americans and African Americans was denied by those who killed and enslaved them. Ultimately the only rationale for denying full rights to any group is the underlying belief that they are not quite human or at least not equal.

The currently despised minorities, gays and transgendered people, suffer a similar reaction as we ask to be included in every social construct.  We seek legal security for our families, nondiscriminatory employment and military service, protection from physical assault and real equality in our houses of worship.  All of these constructs are so integral to society as to be taken for granted by the majority.

But the response of too many is to frantically and even rabidly deny these rights to gays and transgenders, lest the picture of the hopelessly depraved and degenerate subspecies fades.  What might happen if we realized that we are all more alike than otherwise?
Sadly, it needs to be said: We are as fully American as you are.  And we are as fully human.

In all the information that came to us from the Anglican Consultative Council meeting in Nottingham, England, via the Internet and the newspapers, two questions by the archbishop of Canterbury to the delegates in his opening address struck me as the most profoundly thought-provoking. He asked: “What, I wonder, do we imagine God saying to us at the end of things … perhaps, did you so live in the experience of the church, the body of my son, that a tormented world saw the possibility of hope and joy?

Did you focus afresh on the one task the church has to perform – living Christ in such a way that his news, his call, is compelling?” He concluded that we might well pray for “‘a good answer before the terrible judgment seat of Christ’ and for the wisdom to know how to speak to each other so that we may speak at the same time to the world Christ loves and longs for.”

I was touched by the “passionate perspective” of Doug LeBlanc in “The parting of friends” (June). Not a single word was said about the cause for the congregation’s sad parting: the refusal to admit that homosexual men, women and, yes, boys and girls also, are God’s creation and as such should be lovingly embraced rather than hatefully cast out of our lives and churches as sinners.  Sinners, only because 2000 years ago Paul quoted out of context a few verses from Leviticus’ author of 700 years earlier to arrive at his hateful conclusions. And yet this is the same Paul who pronounced that the Torah had been superseded by Jesus’ new covenant at the cross. So compare Paul’s words on homosexuality with what Jesus said on the subject: nothing.

Throughout its 2,000-year history, the church has pilloried and burned at the stake thousands of God’s creatures on the pretext of trying to save their souls, while in reality it was merely trying to control their thoughts. Nothing seems to have changed since the days of Galileo. Today’s church still keeps its eyes closed to science and outside knowledge, insisting instead that it alone can define the truth. No wonder that so many thinking people are finding the church to be irrelevant.

Due to Bishop [Gene] Robinson’s consecration, numbers of us now consider breaking from our denomination. I, for one, fail to understand why. I am alarmed that such a schism would heavily impact our numbers and cause other unnecessary problems. Years ago, I had a good friend, Marty. An office co-worker, he was a Greenwich Village homosexual. Also, he was a fine, sensitive, intelligent, caring human being, heavily into music and writing.

Some of us would often joke with him about his sexual orientation. He always took it with a smile. When I left for another job, he signed my card “… from a member of the alternative lifestyle.” You know, all of us in the office loved Marty … for himself, for the grand, kind, frank and outgoing person he was.

People, people, please! Our Episcopal denomination is a strong one, and so much of that strength derives from our inclusiveness. We have room for all the Martys in this world. Moreover, we need them … as friends in the pews, as clergy and even as bishops. They are God’s people, just as we heterosexuals are. The big question is: What would Jesus say to us now with respect to this controversy?