At its recent diocesan convention, the diocese of Washington (D.C.), approved a resolution calling on General Convention to expand the imagery used for God and to avoid gendered pronouns in any prayer book revisions it might authorize.
Here is the actual resolution from the convention materials;
Resolved, the Convention of the Diocese of Washington submits to the 79th General Convention of the Episcopal Church the following resolution:
Resolved, the House of ____________ concurring, that the 79th General Convention direct the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music, if revision of the Book of Common Prayer is authorized, to utilize expansive language for God from the rich sources of feminine, masculine, and non-binary imagery for God found in Scripture and tradition and, when possible, to avoid the use of gendered pronouns for God.
Lifesite’s report quotes clergy delegate Linda R. Calkins support for the resolution;
“Having studied much feminist theology in my masters’ degrees, I wrote a thesis on liberation and freedom and non-equality in feminist theology and existential counseling,” Calkins told the delegates, as reported by The Institute On Religion & Democracy.
“And I am still waiting for the Episcopal Church to come to the place where all people feel that they can speak God’s name. Many, many women that I have spoken with over my past almost 20 years in ordained ministry have felt that they could not be a part of any church because of the male image of God that is systemic and that is sustained throughout our liturgies. Many of us are waiting and need to hear God in our language, in our words and in our pronouns,”
Several conservative and reactionary websites, such as Juicy Ecumenism and Breitbart picked up the story and excoriated the liberal bent of the resolution (and two others addressing sanctuaries (for migrants without documents) and inclusion of transgender persons); linking such decisions to the declining attendance across the diocese.
image from diocesan Facebook page