Ash Wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday, marking the beginning of season of Lent. It was three years ago on Ash Wednesday that I was received into the Episcopal church. I could easily have continued to attend, and be considered a member of St. Stephen's without making it official. But, as I've explained in the past, this was on the heels of John Kerry becoming the presumptive nominee of the Democratic party. I was very disappointed, to put it mildly, that instead of being able to enthusiastically cast a vote for Howard Dean for president, I had to settle for voting against George Bush.

So, while that's not the whole story, a significant part of my decision to officially join the Episcopal Church was some sort of psychological need to say "yes" to something. And since the church had said "Yes" to Bishop Gene Robinson, it felt right to say "Yes" right back to that church.

I'm sure I'll have more to say about all of this at some point, but what I've shared above should be enough to indicate that this story, shared by Alan in the comments, was a tough one to read...

U.S. Episcopalians react to church ruling
Relief and anger follow the Anglican directive that the church in the U.S. stop blessings of same-sex unions.

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