Above all there is no shame; it has been turned into capital, because it is like money on the ground. We Americans who are orthodox are made to feel shame for not buying into it. Anybody can manipulate us now, it is the tail wagging the dog. There is no antidote for shame because there is no sacrifice for shame, no antidote for guilt. We are lost and with the Supreme Court decision to force gay marriage on America we will, like Rome, continue our decline and ultimate fall.

after moving joyously to an opening liturgy set to jazz and swing, rejoicing worshippers sat to hear a sermon by the President of the Deputies, Rev. Gay Jennings. Speaking to John 17, and St. John of Patmos, Jennings spoke eloquently of the need for mystical language to express heavenly truths. The "suitcase of human comprehension is not big enough for the concepts Jesus has to stuff into it," she told listeners to laughter and applause.

"We are sitting here on the edge of a desert where death is ever present," she said, "Many died by violence before the trek to this oasis began, and others were murdered or died of disease and exposure as they sought their destiny even farther west."

Jefferts Schori then gave examples of suffering and death in the today's world, beginning with the recent killings in Charleston, South Carolina, and ending with a 90-year-old Brazilian priestess who died of a heart attack.

"The church isn't the only segment of our society that's reeling right now," stated Jennings, "Our cities are besieged by gun violence and racial injustice, and too many young black men are caught in the school-to-prison pipeline." Jennings went on to say that the Episcopal Church is complicit in this, "We did not do enough to right the wrongs of discrimination, white privilege, and inequality in the world around us. This summer, especially, we must repent of that."