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.
