Last Rites for Matthew Shepard
by the Rev. Bill Bacon, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Ft. Collins 

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 after thought, 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 orientation, 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.