SPLINTER GROUP OF EPISCOPAL BIGOTS A BAD SIGN
[Palm Beach] The cat is out of the bag. It is about sex, after all.
The breakaway parishes in the Episcopal Church make all the right noises about their struggle for theological orthodoxy, biblical purity and traditional Anglican values.
Cut through all the verbiage, and their issue is sex, specifically homosexuality in the church's leadership, with a side order of bias against women.
The clergy in Truro Church and Falls Church in northern Virginia led their flocks out of the American Episcopal Church last month. In an extraordinary expression of self-righteousness, they aligned themselves with the Anglican Church of Nigeria and created a jurisdictional nightmare.
They joined a renegade mission of the Nigerian church called the Convocation of Anglicans in North America that now boasts 21 parishes, according to The New York Times.
The group is under the insensitive direction of Nigerian bishop Peter Akinola, who reads Scripture literally and claims it says what he wants it to say. He equates gay leadership in the church with "a satanic attack."
Akinola supports a bill in Nigeria that would make any public expression of homosexual activity a crime punishable by five years in prison.
He wants to bring his prejudices to this country. To that end, he has consecrated an American priest, MartynMinns, rector of the Truro Church, to be a bishop in the Convocation. Minns will work under the authority of his Nigerian master in the vineyard of the American Episcopal Church.
That is the height of ecclesiastical arrogance borne of mind-numbing hubris. Bishops of different jurisdictions do not muck about in another bishop's territory, but this sanctimonious crowd observes no such niceties. They alone, they claim, know the truth and read Scripture accurately.
The great danger in all this — apart from the disgraceful treatment of homosexuals — is the growing power of bigots to use the Bible to condemn those who are different. Christians have long done that against Jews, blacks and women.
They use their religion "as a fig leaf to cover their naked prejudice," said the Rev. Peter Gomes, preacher to Harvard University who is a black, Republican, Baptist, gay minister.
His simple presence would make Bishop Akinola and his American minions apoplectic. His words condemn them.
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Steve Gushee
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 12, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
So what IS the problem?
Checking out what I missed while on hiatus from the blogosphere was a little like missing a soap for a week or two and coming back to more of the same. A week with the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was a welcome respite from the relentless onslaught of "things Anglican" and I am deeply grateful for the gift of that time and space and the extraordinary hospitality of the sisters.
But hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work I go ... and checking in on what I missed over at Kendall Harmon's titusonenine, I was impressed by the energy engendered around this Connecticut letter to the editor writer who not only named the truth about the current contretemps but called the paper to account for buying the Schismatic Spin hook-line-and-sinker. Calling the report “sadly one sided and misinformed” the writer went on to object to the reactionary fringe dominating the story and for being “treated as if their bigoted opinions represented a significant portion of the Episcopal Church” concluding:
“The Episcopal Church is moving ahead into the 21st century and if a few squirm and holler the media should be savvy enough not to be a pawn of their ploys. Please research your stories and present more than one warped view of what is going on.”
My response was (predictably): “And let the people say, AMEN!”
Kendall’s was (equally predictably): “Foul!”
But his “foul” came with the kind of energy one saves for those challenges that hit a nerve … and in this case Mr. Hartford Connecticut hit a big one. In two simple sentences he managed to undermine the house of sand on which this schism is built causing Canon Harmon, one of its chief architects, to resort to the strategy found on page 2 of “Media Training 101”: reframe the message you don’t want to respond to.
Kendall – an excellent student of the media spin -- responds on cue: “We have the wrong identification of the problem as bigotry.” Bravo. Well done. Redirect the question, reframe the argument and then you get to have the discussion YOU want to have with the outcome you control. Sort of like when you convene a Panel of Reference to discern whether or not a plan to offer women equal access to the ordination of women is working in the Diocese of Fort Worth. Only you don’t actually talk to any women …you base your recommendations on the description of the plan’s “success” offered by the plan’s architects.
As I noted to a colleague earlier this week, that makes all kinds of sense, doesn’t it? Imagine how much tidier it would have been if we’d just asked the segregationists how the Jim Crow Laws were working. Would have saved so much messiness in the 60’s!
I’ll give Kendall this much: I don’t actually believe the presenting issue is bigotry – bigotry is just one of the fruits of the spirit of the rabid absolutism driving those whose criteria for being included is being agreed with and who will stop at nothing to “purge” the church of those they consider “unclean.” It leads us to ask the question we asked in the Integrity statement issued ealier this week "What Next?" And points to the truth that in the end it isn’t about sex or gender or race or even theology – it’s about power. And Kendall brings that right back home for us again in his blog entry by presuming the power to define what the problem is.
The problem is he doesn’t get to say what the problem is. We do. The people of the Episcopal Church. Straight and Gay. Women and Men. High Church and Low Church and In-Between Church. And the problem we have identified is the challenge of becoming more and more fully and wholly the Body of Christ in the world. And the way we have addressed that problem is to continue to live into our call to widen the embrace of the Institutional Church to better model the embrace of the Incarnate Christ.
We said it in 1997 when we passed canons mandating equal access to the ordination process for qualified candidates for the priesthood. We said it in 1994 when we added sexual orientation to the ordination canons in the “non-discrimination” laundry list. And we said it way back in 1976 when we promised “full and equal claim” to the gay and lesbian baptized. We haven’t solved all those problems yet but we’re working on them. And whether we like it or not this church – this Episcopal Church – works to solve them by consultation with all orders of ministry represented in the councils of the church, not by caveat from bishops meeting apart from the rest of us. We solve them within the polity of our Episcopal tradition -- with the checks and balances in place our forebears wisely bequeathed to us in the 18th century and continue to serve us well as we move ahead into the 21st.
Kendall understands it otherwise: “The Episcopal Church is not moving ahead but instead moving away from Scripture and the Church and a significant majority of their fellow Anglicans worldwide.” It’s their spin and they’re sticking to it. The question is at what cost to the church, to the mission of the Gospel and to the world groaning in travail yearning for hope and vision and life from this church that HAS the power to offer it if we could but turn out attention to the needs that surround us rather than the nastiness that consumes us.
Will we claim that power and move ahead into God’s future or WILL we allow ourselves to be blackmailed into bigotry, ignoring the spirit of the Letter from the Birmingham Jail and the good news of the Babe in the Bethlehem Manger? Whether Kendall Harmon likes it or not, THAT is the problem.
But hi-ho, hi-ho, it's back to work I go ... and checking in on what I missed over at Kendall Harmon's titusonenine, I was impressed by the energy engendered around this Connecticut letter to the editor writer who not only named the truth about the current contretemps but called the paper to account for buying the Schismatic Spin hook-line-and-sinker. Calling the report “sadly one sided and misinformed” the writer went on to object to the reactionary fringe dominating the story and for being “treated as if their bigoted opinions represented a significant portion of the Episcopal Church” concluding:
“The Episcopal Church is moving ahead into the 21st century and if a few squirm and holler the media should be savvy enough not to be a pawn of their ploys. Please research your stories and present more than one warped view of what is going on.”
My response was (predictably): “And let the people say, AMEN!”
Kendall’s was (equally predictably): “Foul!”
But his “foul” came with the kind of energy one saves for those challenges that hit a nerve … and in this case Mr. Hartford Connecticut hit a big one. In two simple sentences he managed to undermine the house of sand on which this schism is built causing Canon Harmon, one of its chief architects, to resort to the strategy found on page 2 of “Media Training 101”: reframe the message you don’t want to respond to.
Kendall – an excellent student of the media spin -- responds on cue: “We have the wrong identification of the problem as bigotry.” Bravo. Well done. Redirect the question, reframe the argument and then you get to have the discussion YOU want to have with the outcome you control. Sort of like when you convene a Panel of Reference to discern whether or not a plan to offer women equal access to the ordination of women is working in the Diocese of Fort Worth. Only you don’t actually talk to any women …you base your recommendations on the description of the plan’s “success” offered by the plan’s architects.
As I noted to a colleague earlier this week, that makes all kinds of sense, doesn’t it? Imagine how much tidier it would have been if we’d just asked the segregationists how the Jim Crow Laws were working. Would have saved so much messiness in the 60’s!
I’ll give Kendall this much: I don’t actually believe the presenting issue is bigotry – bigotry is just one of the fruits of the spirit of the rabid absolutism driving those whose criteria for being included is being agreed with and who will stop at nothing to “purge” the church of those they consider “unclean.” It leads us to ask the question we asked in the Integrity statement issued ealier this week "What Next?" And points to the truth that in the end it isn’t about sex or gender or race or even theology – it’s about power. And Kendall brings that right back home for us again in his blog entry by presuming the power to define what the problem is.
The problem is he doesn’t get to say what the problem is. We do. The people of the Episcopal Church. Straight and Gay. Women and Men. High Church and Low Church and In-Between Church. And the problem we have identified is the challenge of becoming more and more fully and wholly the Body of Christ in the world. And the way we have addressed that problem is to continue to live into our call to widen the embrace of the Institutional Church to better model the embrace of the Incarnate Christ.
We said it in 1997 when we passed canons mandating equal access to the ordination process for qualified candidates for the priesthood. We said it in 1994 when we added sexual orientation to the ordination canons in the “non-discrimination” laundry list. And we said it way back in 1976 when we promised “full and equal claim” to the gay and lesbian baptized. We haven’t solved all those problems yet but we’re working on them. And whether we like it or not this church – this Episcopal Church – works to solve them by consultation with all orders of ministry represented in the councils of the church, not by caveat from bishops meeting apart from the rest of us. We solve them within the polity of our Episcopal tradition -- with the checks and balances in place our forebears wisely bequeathed to us in the 18th century and continue to serve us well as we move ahead into the 21st.
Kendall understands it otherwise: “The Episcopal Church is not moving ahead but instead moving away from Scripture and the Church and a significant majority of their fellow Anglicans worldwide.” It’s their spin and they’re sticking to it. The question is at what cost to the church, to the mission of the Gospel and to the world groaning in travail yearning for hope and vision and life from this church that HAS the power to offer it if we could but turn out attention to the needs that surround us rather than the nastiness that consumes us.
Will we claim that power and move ahead into God’s future or WILL we allow ourselves to be blackmailed into bigotry, ignoring the spirit of the Letter from the Birmingham Jail and the good news of the Babe in the Bethlehem Manger? Whether Kendall Harmon likes it or not, THAT is the problem.
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
"Who's Next?"
Am taking a brief hiatus from my retreat with the Handmaids of the Sacred Heart of Jesus to visit the Sacred Shrine of Starbuck's and a T-Mobile link to post this press release issued earlier today by Integrity on the Panel of Reference Report issued yesterday. Further commentary will wait til I'm back in the office on Friday but for now, pray for the church.
Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it it in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of the one who died and rose again, Jesus Christ your son our Lord.
INTEGRITY PRESS RELEASE:
STANDS WITH EPISCOPAL WOMEN DISMAYED BY PANEL OF REFERENCE REPORT
"Who's Next?"
January 9, 2007
Because Integrity is committed to the full inclusion of all the baptized in the body of Christ, it stands in solidarity with the distress expressed by the Episcopal Women's Caucus at the Diocese of the Fort Worth report issued yesterday by the Panel of Reference.
The Reverend Susan Russell, President of Integrity said, "This confirms what Integrity has long maintained--that scapegoating of gay and lesbian vocations and relationships is part of a wider agenda of discrimination and is antithetical to the Gospel message of Jesus. We believe that excluding a percentage of the baptized from a percentage of the sacraments grieves the heart of God. Whether that exclusion is based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, we believe it misses the mark of God's will for God's church. Therefore we do not accept discrimination as a valid theological position; rather we name it as sin."
Russell continued, "Substitute the word 'homosexuals' for each instance of 'women' in the report and the dovetailing of these efforts is clear to anyone familiar with the attacks on LGBT people in the church. The real question now is who is next? It's is not only impossible to predict just how>far such efforts to 'purge' the church will try to go, it is impossible to ignore that such actions are patently contrary to the comprehensiveness of classical Anglicanism."
Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it it in error, direct it; where in anything it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, establish it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of the one who died and rose again, Jesus Christ your son our Lord.
INTEGRITY PRESS RELEASE:
STANDS WITH EPISCOPAL WOMEN DISMAYED BY PANEL OF REFERENCE REPORT
"Who's Next?"
January 9, 2007
Because Integrity is committed to the full inclusion of all the baptized in the body of Christ, it stands in solidarity with the distress expressed by the Episcopal Women's Caucus at the Diocese of the Fort Worth report issued yesterday by the Panel of Reference.
The Reverend Susan Russell, President of Integrity said, "This confirms what Integrity has long maintained--that scapegoating of gay and lesbian vocations and relationships is part of a wider agenda of discrimination and is antithetical to the Gospel message of Jesus. We believe that excluding a percentage of the baptized from a percentage of the sacraments grieves the heart of God. Whether that exclusion is based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or gender identity, we believe it misses the mark of God's will for God's church. Therefore we do not accept discrimination as a valid theological position; rather we name it as sin."
Russell continued, "Substitute the word 'homosexuals' for each instance of 'women' in the report and the dovetailing of these efforts is clear to anyone familiar with the attacks on LGBT people in the church. The real question now is who is next? It's is not only impossible to predict just how>far such efforts to 'purge' the church will try to go, it is impossible to ignore that such actions are patently contrary to the comprehensiveness of classical Anglicanism."
Monday, January 08, 2007
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
Blogging Hiatus
"Come away by yourself to a quiet place and rest awhile." (Mark 6:31).
Will be on retreat January 3rd - 11th, counting on the blogosphere to keep turning without me. My plan is to come back rested, retreated and ready to claim a few more inches of the planet toward that garden-growing-green-again goal.
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In the meantime, keep your eye on Father Jake, PRELUDIUM, Daily Episcopalian and Telling Secrets for just about everything you could possible need to know about life, the universe and everything.
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PS - And don't miss Lauren Stanley's brilliant piece: Church dispute gets in the way of God's love ... read it all here ... but here's a bit to get you started:
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"Those leaving the Episcopal Church claim they must do so to survive. They seem to forget that in many parts of the world, the Church is concerned with REAL survival.
And in those areas where REAL survival is at stake, the Gospel that is preached is one of inclusiveness and love, because only inclusiveness and love can overcome the hatred that has left millions of Sudanese dead in the last 50 years.
Hatred has no place in the Sudanese Church.
It has no place in the American Church either.
God's love -- and how that is lived out -- is the ONLY thing that counts."
Rest In Peace, Mr. President
Homily Offered by the Reverend Dr. Robert Certain
State Funeral of Gerald R. Ford
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Jesus said many things; and many of his words have been reflected in the life and ministry of Gerald Ford.
In Matthew 5, at the beginning of Our Lord’s ministry, Jesus gives us a list of virtues in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. The Contemporary English Version lists them this way:
God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven.
Gerald Ford, you have always been a man of that kingdom
God blesses those people who are humble. The earth will belong to them.
My dear friend, this earth was yours.
God blesses those people who want to obey him more than to eat or drink. They will be given what they want.
Gerald Ford, you were well-satisfied
God blesses those people who are merciful. They will be treated with mercy.
Gerald Ford, you showed mercy when others demanded vengeance, may God have mercy on your soul.
God blesses those people whose hearts are pure. They will see him.
Gerald Ford, may you gaze this day on the face of your Savior.
God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children.
Jerry Ford, you were truly a child of God.
God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the Kingdom of heaven.
Mr. President, we did not always treat you well when you chose the right course for us. Then and now you are a man of the Kingdom of God.
There was one more beatitude, one I have saved for last.
God blesses those people who grieve. They will find comfort.
Betty, Susan, Mike, Stephen, Jack, and your families, may God bring you comfort in this time of your grief.
Gerald Ford was a Christian man, a man who lived his life in accordance with the virtues of the Beatitudes. For us, he will continue to serve as an example of how to live as a man of faith, a man of the nation, a man for the world.
Early this past summer, as I prepared to leave for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, President Ford’s concern was for the church he loved. He asked me if we would face schism. After we discussed the various issues we would consider, particularly concerns about human sexuality and the leadership of women, he said he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the Great Commandments to love God and neighbor. He then asked me to work for reconciliation within the Church. I assured him I would, just as he had worked for reconciliation within the nation thirty years ago.
John 15:13 - On the last day of his earthly ministry, Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
He was a man who sought the image of God in each and every person, who respected their God-given dignity, who worked all his life for justice and peace on earth; a man who let the light of Christ shine brightly in his life.
In John 14:1–6, Jesus tells us he has gone before us to prepare a place; and promises to return to take us to our eternal home. On St. Stephen’s Day 2006, Jesus said to Gerald Ford, “Welcome home, good and faithful servant.”
On St. Stephen’s Day 2006, Gerald Ford discovered his strength renewed and rose with wings like an eagle to the nearer presence of Christ Jesus, where he will never again be weary. Gerald, may you find your road cleared as you continue to follow your Lord in the Church Triumphant and in the work of His Kingdom of Heaven.
State Funeral of Gerald R. Ford
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Jesus said many things; and many of his words have been reflected in the life and ministry of Gerald Ford.
In Matthew 5, at the beginning of Our Lord’s ministry, Jesus gives us a list of virtues in the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. The Contemporary English Version lists them this way:
God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven.
Gerald Ford, you have always been a man of that kingdom
God blesses those people who are humble. The earth will belong to them.
My dear friend, this earth was yours.
God blesses those people who want to obey him more than to eat or drink. They will be given what they want.
Gerald Ford, you were well-satisfied
God blesses those people who are merciful. They will be treated with mercy.
Gerald Ford, you showed mercy when others demanded vengeance, may God have mercy on your soul.
God blesses those people whose hearts are pure. They will see him.
Gerald Ford, may you gaze this day on the face of your Savior.
God blesses those people who make peace. They will be called his children.
Jerry Ford, you were truly a child of God.
God blesses those people who are treated badly for doing right. They belong to the Kingdom of heaven.
Mr. President, we did not always treat you well when you chose the right course for us. Then and now you are a man of the Kingdom of God.
There was one more beatitude, one I have saved for last.
God blesses those people who grieve. They will find comfort.
Betty, Susan, Mike, Stephen, Jack, and your families, may God bring you comfort in this time of your grief.
Gerald Ford was a Christian man, a man who lived his life in accordance with the virtues of the Beatitudes. For us, he will continue to serve as an example of how to live as a man of faith, a man of the nation, a man for the world.
Early this past summer, as I prepared to leave for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, President Ford’s concern was for the church he loved. He asked me if we would face schism. After we discussed the various issues we would consider, particularly concerns about human sexuality and the leadership of women, he said he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the Great Commandments to love God and neighbor. He then asked me to work for reconciliation within the Church. I assured him I would, just as he had worked for reconciliation within the nation thirty years ago.
John 15:13 - On the last day of his earthly ministry, Jesus said, “Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”
In WWII Gerald Ford served in the Navy, willing to die for this nation and our allies
As he became Vice President, he laid aside his life’s ambition to be Speaker of the House
As President, he laid aside his political future to heal this nation
As Elder Statesman, he laid aside his treasured privacy to continue to serve this Church, this nation and the world
As a statesman, churchman, and family man, Gerald Ford was a man of deep faith and constant prayer. With confidence in the God who created, redeemed, and sustained him, his abiding mantra was Proverbs 3:5–6: “With all your heart you must trust the Lord and not your own judgment. Always let him lead you, and he will clear the road for you to follow.” With that proverb in mind, President Ford found clarity for the road he walked; and he gave us a clear example to follow in our own lives.
He was a man who sought the image of God in each and every person, who respected their God-given dignity, who worked all his life for justice and peace on earth; a man who let the light of Christ shine brightly in his life.
In John 14:1–6, Jesus tells us he has gone before us to prepare a place; and promises to return to take us to our eternal home. On St. Stephen’s Day 2006, Jesus said to Gerald Ford, “Welcome home, good and faithful servant.”
On St. Stephen’s Day 2006, Gerald Ford discovered his strength renewed and rose with wings like an eagle to the nearer presence of Christ Jesus, where he will never again be weary. Gerald, may you find your road cleared as you continue to follow your Lord in the Church Triumphant and in the work of His Kingdom of Heaven.
Monday, January 01, 2007
Happy New Year from Pasadena
Another New Year begins and I'm tempted to reflect today on where we've come and where we're going and the many weighty matter that bear consideration in our church, our communion and our culture. But happily, I've managed to resist that impulse and instead have dedicated today to "stopping to smell the flowers" ... or at least to watching them parade down Colorado Boulvard!
For it was New Year's Day as usual here in Pasadena ... a million or so friends and relatives dropped by to say "Happy New Year and to watch the drill teams ...
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Pay their respects to Her Highness, the Rose Queen and her court ...
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For it was New Year's Day as usual here in Pasadena ... a million or so friends and relatives dropped by to say "Happy New Year and to watch the drill teams ...
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Pay their respects to Her Highness, the Rose Queen and her court ....
And marvel at the beauty that makes this Tournament of Roses Parade such an amazing spectacle no matter how many times you've slogged down Colorado Boulevard at o'dark-thirty in order to get "the spot" for an up-close-and-personal view of it all.
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This year a fabulous parishioner gifted us with great bleacher seats -- ergo the relatively decent photos without the backs of heads in the way and a wonderful way to "ring in the New Year." Now we're hunkered down for the OTHER Pasadena tradition ... watching USC kick butt in the Rose Bowl Game!
So Happy New Year, Everybody ... reasserters and reappraisers, AMiAers and Integritarians, Trojans and Wolverines ... smell some flowers and watch some football today -- or whatever feels like R&R to you ... and may God bless you and those you love in this Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Seven.
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