Episcopal Church Rumors

A fairly large group of us from St. Thomas went to the midweek service at St. John Episcopal Church in Centralia, Illinois on Wednesday. The occasion was the baptism of the young boy Jeff and his wife are adopting. It was a lovely service and, is my usual habit, I engaged a number of the folks at St. John in conversation at the meal afterward. One man said to me, "I don't know what to think of what they (note the 'they') are doing to the Episcopal Church."

Wondering which of our current issues he was talking about, I asked him what was bothering him. He responded, "Well, the talk at General Convention was about removing Holy Communion from the service." Where that rumor came from I'll never know. I told him that I had followed the daily activities at General Convention and I didn't recall that issue ever even being discussed. I went on the tell him, "I don't know how these rumors get started, but we need to be careful about them. I would take that issue as a simple misunderstanding about what someone may or may not have said." He said, "I don't know about that."

Here in the Diocese of Springfield most of the clergy are quite traditionalist. I know that some of them are ready to say almost anything at all to disparage the national Church, but I have to wonder if some are not above spreading a falsehood deliberately, just to "knock down" the denomination. I hope not, for when a cleric begins to spread falsehood he (or she) is not siding with the truth or what is right.

And I am of the opinion that a number of clerics do have the destruction of The Episcopal Church near the center of their goal set. The goal seems to be to destroy The Episcopal Church, then replace it with a traditionalistic, authoritarian structure that will find favor with the highly authoritarian churches of what is called "The Southern Globe." And, of course, such a move will likely find adherents among the religious right wing of our denomination. They see themselves as the true "orthodox" Christians and those who differ from them as secular liberals.

One key problem is simply that the Churches of "The Northern Globe" are in a far different place from our brethren in the south - allowing for the fact that there is not total unanimity among either the north or the south. We, in the north, tend to have made our peace with the findings of science. In the south they tend to be users of technology, but are less immersed in the findings of science. So while we, in the north, tend to accept such medical science findings as "Homosexuality is part of the normal humn spectrum of sexuality," the southern folks still tend to criminalize any but normal heterosexual behavior. For example, the Archbishop of Nigeria, The Most Reverend Peter Akinola, has written strongly in support of a law criminalizing homesexual behavior as well as giving support to homesexual persons. If nothing else, this indicates that vast difference between the two regions in outlook.

Where it will all settle out to is yet to be determined. It is just a shame, however, for this to have fostered a spirit of hatred between the two camps. Jesus told us to take the gospel to all the world. Having a prolonged public fight seems to distract from that commission. We all, clerics and laity, may well be asked about our faith, our hope, and especially our love when we get to know God even as he has always known us.

Sweet dreams and God Bless All.