Bishop Gene Robinson describes himself as “...a simple country bishop and a human being-in-training.”  That is how Bishop Robinson was introduced by the Reverend Clark West, Episcopal Chaplain to Cornell University to about 300 people gathered in Cornell’s Sage Chapel on April 6, 2011. Robinson, the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New Hampshire, and the first openly gay, non-celibate Episcopal priest to be ordained a bishop, visited Ithaca and the Cornell campus to deliver the 2011 Frederick C. Wood Lecture sponsored by Cornell United Religious Work. 

Bishop Robinson’s lecture was entitled "How Religion is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth," however, at the outset of his hour-long presentation, he said that his remarks would cover other subjects as well. Among the audience were students and others from the Ithaca community and neighboring areas, including a number of St. John’s parishioners and our own Bishop of Central York, Skip Adams.

Following are some thoughts from Bishop Robinson’s lecture which particularly resonated with me.

Bishop Robinson noted to the gay youth in the audience that coming out as a person of faith to gay friends may be harder than coming out as gay to their straight friends.

He observed how the present controversy about homosexuality within the Anglican communion places us all in a remarkable moment, one in which the Anglican communion is trying to decide how expansive God’s love is. But the Bishop believes this is a worthy struggle to have. He acknowledged how deeply painful it can be as a gay teen of faith; it is difficult enough if a gay teen feels bad about himself but, if he feels that God doesn’t approve of him, it is a truly horrifying thing.

Bishop Robinson feels that, before any of us can discuss whether Scripture attacks homosexuality, we must understand how we regard the Bible. Robinson described the Bible as an account, given over 1,000 years, of a people’s experience of the living God; one that will allow people living later on to learn of it and be able to identify their own experiences.  It is a road map: what should we look for when God is reaching out to us? Robinson described the Bible as not so much as a book, but a library.

Robinson explained the importance of context when trying to understand Scripture meaning:  Assume that the game of baseball disappeared in 2011. Then assume that, in the year 3000, someone reading a book that had been written before 2011 came across the term “...out in left field.” Anyone living in 2011 would understand the idiomatic meaning of that phrase, when understanding the context in which it was used (to be “out in left field” is not to know what's going on; taken from the game of baseball in which less capable players are assigned to the outfield where the ball is less likely to be hit by an inexperienced player.).  Anyone living in 3000, with no knowledge of baseball, would know the defined meanings of those words, but would not understand their actual meaning in the context in which they had been written.  Therefore, in reading Scripture, we must understand what its words meant to the person who wrote them at that time, as well as what its words meant to the people who heard them at that time. 

Scripture has been used to defend slavery and the mistreatment of women, Robinson said.  Now Scripture is wrongly being used to speak out against homosexuality. Robinson believes that what appear to be statements about homosexuality in the Bible are not such. He said that same-sex behavior existed in ancient times, but homosexuality did not. The word "homosexual" is used in the Bible because of translations that were made, but homosexual orientation is a notion that is only about 140 years old.  He said Scripture is silent about homosexuality.

Bishop Robinson believes, however, that the Scripture is not silent about the fact that people of faith will continue to have experiences with the living God. He cited John 14.25-26, in which Jesus told his disciples on the night before his crucifixion: 

“I have said these things to you while I am still with you.  But the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

By these words, Jesus told his disciples he only had time to teach them some of what they should know, but the Holy Spirit would come to teach them (and us) more. Bishop Robinson believes it is the work of the Holy Spirit leading us from a place which many thought was settled, but is not. In other words, God’s teachings did not stop with the acts described in the Scriptures; God continues to teach us in the present day.

Bishop Robinson believes that, for people of faith, tolerance of others who are different from us is not the whole journey nor is it even enough.  People of faith must work to dismantle tolerance based on racism, sexism, ageism, and heterosexism. Our faith calls us to become active, vocal and committed.

Susie Backstrom

Thoughts on Bishop Robinson's Visit to Ithaca

V. Gene Robinson, bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire, first spoke at Sage Chapel at Cornell University on April 6, 2011. Afterward, he officiated a service at the Anabel Taylor Chapel.
When Gene Robinson spoke at Cornell’s Sage Chapel on April 6, he addressed both the nuts and bolts of the Bible’s position on homosexuality, as well as the broader meaning of and response to his consecration as bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire. Robinson’s election as  bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 ignited debate in the Anglican Communion worldwide and the Episcopal Church in the United States on the role of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered issues. In his introduction of Robinson, Kenneth I. Clarke Sr., director of Cornell United Religious Work, described him as “one of the most important voices and symbols of that debate."

For instance, in Romans 1:26-28, Paul appears to condemn both gay men and lesbians. Robinson suggested that the passage be viewed in the context of what Paul may have known about Roman culture at that time. Paul may have been referring to older men using teenage boys. “We would call that child abuse,” Robinson said.

Over centuries, Christians have changed their minds about many scriptural directives and imperatives, Robinson said. Citing the Gospel of John’s teaching that the Holy Spirit will lead you into truth, he suggested that the current time may embody that work of the Spirit in creating greater inclusiveness in the body of Christ.

The church and the world may be on the cusp of an even greater change:  the beginning of the end of patriarchy.  “White educated males have made most of the decisions for this world—that jig is up,” Robinson said. “The resistance to this struggle is a sign that we are really on to something.”

As people of faith, we must work to dismantle the system that benefits us as the expense of others.  “Feeling a little more kindly toward gay people isn’t enough,” he said. “God will not be satisfied with anything but ‘us,’ because there is no ‘them’ to God—only ‘us’.”

Shannon Dortch

Polio Immunization in India: A Humanitarian Tale 

Many of us remember polio from our youth, but some of you may be too young to do so. Our families lived in dread of the infection and our mothers cut several vacations short on rumors of polio in the area. We were forbidden to frequent local swimming pools and beaches and as a result, we were saved from the disease but Edward never became a good swimmer.

Persons of our generation were stricken, a close friend, people we still see today, and neighbors. Even a United States President was stricken. The iron lung, associated in everyone’s mind with polio, was a machine that saved lives but terrified kids, and parents too.

My wife, Janet Steiner, and I became part of the world-wide effort to eradicate polio when we helped immunize children in India in February 2011. Being part of humanitarian mission as Rotarians was both humbling and inspiring.

While the crippling viral infection of polio has been know since the time of the Pharos, by 1964 only 122 cases of polio were recorded in the United States, due to the break-through work of Jonas Salk and Albert Sabin who developed polio vaccines.  The World Health Organization certified the Americas polio-free in 1994, the western Pacific region in 2000 and Europe in 2002.

But endemic polio is still crippling children in four countries today: India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. India is tackling the problem through repetitive National Immunization Days, in which as many as 200 million children are immunized or receive a booster. 

Teams of health care workers from WHO and UNICEF, local Rotarians, and visiting Rotarians from around the world worked to promote the event, assist with the delivery of the vaccine, and conduct door to door visit to ensure that all children receive the two drops of vaccine that is necessary for a polio free life.

In a country of 1.2 billion people, where once 500 cases of polio were reported each day, only one case of polio has been reported in India in 2011 through mid April. This indicates the tremendous progress that has been made in India, due to the diligence and commitment of Rotary International, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Government of India, local politicians, religious leaders, other donors, and volunteers.

We joined a group of 35 Rotarians from the United States and Canada on a National Immunization Day (NID) trip. We were based on Delhi, but assigned to work in Ghaziabad, one hour away, a city of one million or more people.

The first event was a Social Mobilization parade, designed to bring awareness of the upcoming NID. The parade included children from dozens of schools, many banners, musicians, horses and the teams of local Rotarians, and those visiting from Japan, England, New Zealand, the United States and Canada. Snaking through many neighborhoods as well as busy commercial streets, parade participants were greeted with many smiles, waves and a general feeling of excitement. It was a warm day and we walked about 2 miles through Ghaziabad. Everyone wanted to wave at us or shake our hands. There was a general feeling of goodwill and excitement. It was clear that the presence of non-Indian Rotarians gave prestige to the event, and this was designed to remind the community that the NID will happen tomorrow.  We were certainly motivated and excited by this event.

Sunday, February 27 was the National Immunization Day. Teams of six visiting Rotarians were assigned to each of the many many booths located throughout Ghaziabad. The professional health care workers kept records, kept the vaccine cold and handed out vials to those giving the vaccine. All children five and under receive two drops orally. The booth was mobbed with families bringing children—they arrived from all directions, and in all modes of transportation: on foot, by bicycles, motor scooters, motorcycles, wagons, tuk-tuks, taxis and by car. Rotarians worked swiftly, delivering the vaccine and then marking the left pinky of the child to indicate that he or she had been immunized. Stickers and small whistles were given out to all. We had several affluent families who just drove up in their air conditioned cars, opened the windows, thrust the baby out the window who received the vaccine, with pinky marked, all in less than ten seconds.

During lulls, I chatted with young boys who wanted to shake our hands, have photos taken, and get our autographs.

There were some funny moments at our booth; one was when a wandering Brahman bull decided to take a shortcut through our booth to the next street. As he ambled toward me, I stepped aside and he went down the space between the booth and a vendor who in turn yelled at him. The bull then turned into the booth itself making a hole in the side wall and I thought the whole thing would come down around all of us, including the bull. Luckily, these bulls are fairly docile and the local Rotarians shooed him out the back flap of the tent.

At the booth where we worked, 400 children were immunized in a three hour period. When the next shift of local Rotarians arrived to take over we were feeling an adrenaline high while at the same time being somewhat exhausted from physical and emotional energy that we had expended.

The following day, the same groups of six were sent out to accompany the health care workers on follow-up missions, to find and immunize the remainder of the children. By this time, I was feeling the effects of a 24 hour intestinal bug, so Janet alone had the experience of visiting three slums, where, she said, “we could not go door-to-door, as the slums were simply tarps, tents and plastic bags. We attracted a crowd of mostly women and children as we were wearing our brightly colored polio vests and blue baseball caps. We were greeted by smiles and many hands to shake, all wanting their photos taken with the foreigners who had come from the other side of the world to help.”

For me, meeting a local polio victim was one of the defining moments of the trip. I met Ophu when the tour group visited a major tourist site in Agra, and I decided to skip the tour and stayed outside. I approached Ophu and chatted with him for some time, while hawkers and vendors suspended their sales pitches and translated for us.

I told Ophu what we were doing in India and where we were from, but Ophu said, We could have been from the moon - we were so strange to him. I gave Ophu information about St. Stephens and Dr. Matthew Varghese, but this hospital was at least four hours away from Agra. It was clear from the translators’ skepticism that he probably could not follow up. We think about Ophu every day.  We know that our visit helps prevent others from becoming afflicted like Ophu.

Edward Kokkelenberg,
With Janet Steiner

The Rev. Clark West, Chaplain of the Episcopal Church at Cornell will be our guest preacher and celebrant on May 22nd.  Father. West is also our district coordinator for the diocesan project to rebuild the cathedral in Haiti and will tell us about this venture.

St. John's will host the monthly
Healing Ithaca Service

Tuesday, June 7 from 5:15 - 5:45 p.m.
This is a community inter-faith service to pray for and to create healing and connection within Ithaca and Tompkins County through prayer and community building.
We are planning to have some special guests, so please join us.