Why
I’m an Episcopalian….
July
27, 2003
This
little book is called 101
Reasons to be an Episcopalian.
Since much of what I want to say today is about the Episcopal Church,
I’m going to read several of them to you as we go along.
#
87 by a woman priest from Florida: “We don’t have all the answers
and we welcome others who love the questions.”
#
86 by a laywoman in Rochester: “Catholic, without the pope and with
women; protestant without the gloom….”
Tomorrow
at 9:55 a.m., God willing and the creek don’t rise, I’ll be on an
airplane headed to Minneapolis, Minnesota and the General Convention
of the Episcopal Church as one of our Diocese’s 4 clergy deputies.
I
want you to know this: I am both proud
and humbled
to be one of the four priests representing the Diocese of Connecticut
at the General Convention. Proud and
humbled—both at the same time…. Both together…. Just like
that….
Reason
# 52: “this is the only church that is as lovingly loony as your
family.” Mary Lyons, Diocese of Olympia
#80—a
layman from Atlanta: “We don’t quiz you on your beliefs before
worshipping with you.”
What
I want to tell you about the General Convention of our church is this
(it’s a quote from Dame Julian of Norwich): “All
will be well and all will be well and all manner of things will be
well….”
That’s
not the message you will hear in the news media about the goings-on
at General Convention. What you will hear—unless you log on the St.
John’s web site and get my “reports” from the Convention—is
this: the church is in a mess it can’t get out of…everything is
falling apart…the Episcopal Church is about to split asunder and
blow up like a cheap balloon.
My
advice is this: don’t listen to that negative stuff.
My
mantra is this: “all
will be well….”
***
In
today’s gospel, Jesus walks on water.
Twenty
years ago or more now, one of my favorite poets, the late Denise
Levertov, said this: “The
crisis of faith is the crisis of imagination. If we cannot imagine
walking on the waters, how can we meet Jesus there?”
Denise
Levertov said that at a conference of poets and theologians. For my
money, you couldn’t beat that combination—poets and
theologians…people who anguish over “language” and people who
fret about “God”. Poets and theologians—now you’re talking….
***
Let’s
cut to the chase—the real issue facing the General Convention, in
one way or another, is the issue of homosexuality.
There
is a remarkable amount of disagreement within the Episcopal Church
about homosexuality. And that disagreement will come to the General
Convention in several ways. It will come up over the confirmation of
the election of Gene Robinson as the next bishop of New Hampshire.
Gene Robinson has been a priest for 30 years. He is currently the
assistant to the Bishop of New Hampshire. He heads committees for the
national church. He happens to be a gay man in a committed
relationship with another man.
There
are 10 other elections of Bishops that will come to the General
Convention. Not since the 1870’s has the larger church overruled
the choice of a Diocese as their bishop. And the 10 other bishops
elected in the last 3 months will be approved by General Convention
without debate and unanimously. But not Gene Robinson….
If I were a betting man, I’d say the odds of Gene Robinson being
approved by General Convention are 4 to 1 in favor. And when that
happens you will read and hear how the Episcopal Church is about to
fly apart and self-destruct.
I
would urge you not to believe that.
I
would urge you to believe this instead: “all
will be well….”
One
thing the Episcopal Church is blessed with in abundance is
“imagination.” We will walk on the waters…. And all will be
well….
#32
by Elizabeth Geitz, a Canon at the Cathedral of the Diocese of New
Jersey: “The Episcopal Church taught me that Jesus came to
challenge, not just comfort; to overturn, not maintain; to love, not
judge; to include, not cast aside.
Most
likely the Convention will also vote on whether or not to ask the
Standing Liturgical Commission to prepare a ritual for the blessing
of committed relationships outside of marriage. No matter what you
hear in the media—General Convention is
not voting to
approve “gay marriages”.
“Marriage”
is a function of the state, not the church, so General Convention has
no say in “marriage law”. Because of Connecticut state law, an
Episcopal priest can legally sign a marriage license as an “agent
of the state”. What I do, as
a priest, in a
marriage, is ask God’s blessing on the commitment and fidelity of
the man and woman. What General Convention will most likely consider
is whether there should be a service to bless the monogamous,
faithful, life-long relationship of two people that is
not marriage. The
resolution is, in one way, separating what the “church does” from
what the “state does.” If that resolution passes—and I’d put
the odds at 2 to 1 in favor of it passing—the church will develop,
over the next three years, a ritual to bless “relationships”
other than marriage.
If
that resolution passes, you will hear that Liberals and Conservatives
are about to tear our church apart. I’d urge you to suspend your
judgment and remember this: “all will be well, all manner of things
will be well….”
#
11, Barbara Ross, Diocese of Oregon: “At our best, Episcopalians
can respectfully disagree about a great many things—and still break
bread together.”
#13,
by Carter Heyward of Massachusetts, one of the first 7 women ordained
a priest…before the General Convention approved women’s
ordination: “We believe that love without justice is
sentimentality.”
There
is a sense of daja
vu about all the
media hype about this year’s General Convention. The Episcopal
Church and the Anglican Communion, critics said, were about to
implode and fragment a quarter of a century ago over revision of the
Prayer Book and the ordination of women.
And
it is true that a small number of Episcopalians chose to leave the
church after those changes. But the great schism
nay-sayers predicted
did not happen. We had the patience and imagination to walk on stormy
waters. And, if we in the Episcopal Church can find—in the midst of
great conflict and disagreement—if we can find “our better
selves” we can walk on waters again.
The
secret to our “imagination” as a church is that we
Episcopalians—deep-down, value “each other” more than we cling
to our divisions. And we are, as a church, dominated by a commitment
to Justice.
Reason
#62 of the 101 reasons to be an Episcopalian comes from Nancy Vogel
of the Diocese of Vermont: “Despite or
perhaps because
of our
present disagreements in the Episcopal Church I am reminded that God
calls us all together because we aren’t WHOLE without each other.”
Reason
#68, a lay person from New York: “I love our church because we
don’t think UNITY means UNIFORMITY.”
“All
will be well” with us, if we can cling to our passionate commitment
to “be together” in the midst of deep differences. We
Episcopalians are the only denomination that is practiced at that.
Somehow, over our history, we have found the imagination necessary to
“belong to each other” even though we disagree. This is a
“lovingly loony” church. You don’t have to leave your questions
or your intellect or your deeply-held opinions outside the door to be
here and share in the sacrament with each other.
We
Episcopalians define our “identity” by our worship
instead of our
dogma. When Queen Elizabeth the First was asked, centuries ago, if
members of her church should cross themselves during the Eucharist,
she said, wise beyond words: “none
must, all may, some should….”
That
is the openness and inclusiveness that is one-half of the genius and
glory of our church. The other half of that genius and glory is this:
we are the most “democratic” church in Christendom. We make our
decisions on small matters and great matters by “voting”.
I
was “elected” nearly 15 years ago to be your Rector. We “elect”
our bishops. The Presiding Bishop of the Church is “elected” by
the other bishops. The deputies to General Convention are “elected”
to vote for their Dioceses by their Diocesan Conventions. You “elect”
the vestry members that make the decisions about St. John’s. And
the Vestry makes decisions by “voting”.
The
Episcopal Church is a unique American institution, formed at the very
same time as our nation by some of the same people. And the founders
of our Church understood the wisdom of the founders of our nation—the
way to make decisions is by voting…majority rules…. Here in the
United States and here in the Episcopal Church, we don’t believe
“unity” means “uniformity”. We vote on difficult issues. Then
we move on, unified
but not uniform.
And we deeply, profoundly value the “loyal opposition”.
An
“inclusive democracy” is what the Episcopal Church is. The “loyal
opposition” is greatly valued by the majority. That was true for
those who opposed women’s ordination and the 1979 Book of Common
Prayer. It will be true two weeks from now toward those who are
disappointed, broken and angry about whatever happens at General
Convention. They will be loved. They will be comforted. They will be
included. Without them, the church will not be whole.
“All
will be well…” It will take a while and some few may choose to
leave the church if I’m correct about how the votes will go. But
those who are happy about the “votes” won’t want anyone who is
unhappy about the “votes” to leave. If they leave it will be
their choice and their leaving will be mourned greatly.
And
this church will go on. We will welcome all
to taste and see how sweet the Lord’s Body and Blood truly is. We
will value everyone, no matter what they think or believe. We will
never require “uniformity” to have “unity”. And we will stand
for love and justice—love and justice and the wonder of God.
That
will not change. Not one iota, not one jot.
And
all will be well, all will be well, all manner of things will be
well….
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