The phone rang on a Saturday afternoon as I was finishing the Sunday sermon. Would I come to the hospital and meet with the family of Matthew Shepard and would I come prepared to administer Last Rites? Matthew is the 21 years old man beaten, robbed and left for dead, hanging like a scarecrow on a fence outside Laramie, WY.

As we were gathered in a side room, waiting for nurses to complete some medical proceedures, Judy, Matthew's mother, told me how her son loved the Episcopal Church. He choose to be confirmed at age 15, served as an acolyte in his parish in Casper, WY. Attended Canterbury Club while at the University of Wy. He had recently attended a service at an Episcopal Church in Denver and had felt rejected for being gay. Yet he had expressed determination to remain in the Church he loved. Matthew was known as a kind, gentle person, who took everybody at face value, and did not see the bad side to anyone.

Gathered around his bandaged body, we began the Litany at the Time of Death. As lights blinked and the respirator purred, I thought of the obscenity of the Lambeth Resolution on Sexuality.

Especially the bit included as an afterthought, and not unamiously:

"We wish to assure them (homosexuals) that they are loved by God and that all baptized, believing and faithful persons, regardless of sexual oroentation, are full members of the Body of Christ."

Matthew, a child of God by Baptism...a Son of the Episcopal Church. The obscenity of even thinking that a vote had to be taken to ensure that he was a full member of the Church.

Jesus, Lamb of God:
have mercy on us.

The respirator continued to purr as I annointed his scared head with oil. Our Diocesan Convention. The obscenity of even having the thought of considering the Lambeth Resolution on Sexuality as diocesan policy. What are we, what are we considering becoming?

Jesus, bearer of our sins:
have mercy on us.

Pray for our Bishops, and for Jerry, our Bishop. That he may have clarity of thought, courage and a strong heart. Pray for each other, that we may listen and that we may remember what a precious gift the Episcopal Church is to us. The Faith is a constant, the Episcopal Church is not. We can destroy it with our agendas.

Prayer for ourselves that we may put aside hysteria over human sexuality. Matthew Shepard is a treasure to the Church, as we each are treasures. Gay and Lesbian men and women serve at God's altars, celebrate Eucharist for us, serve on our vestries and sit in our pews. We don't have to vote on their membership; they are full members and the time has come to work together for the things that need to be done for God's Kingdom.

Matthew entered into Paradise on October 12. God did not ask him his sexual orientation. God asked him if he loved his Lord and did he love his fellow humans and seek to serve them and did he try to find a bit of Christ in those he met. Let us pray that we can answer as well as Matthew when our time comes,

Jesus, redeemer, redeemer of the world:
give us your peace, give us your peace.

• Return to Louie Crew's collection of materials on the Lambeth Conferenc e.
• Louie Crew's Anglican pages.
• Louie Crew's home page.
• Send mail to: lcrew@newark.rutgers.edu

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