The ratification of Canon V. Gene Robinson as bishop of New Hampshire is old news now. There are some mighty irritated people and the American Anglican Council has put out a short guide for them so that nobody jumps the gun and there isn’t a mass exodus from the Church.
Those who know me know that I watched the General Convention with great interest. After all…
my background has a huge amount of the Episcopal Church in it
the One True Church is having Churchwide Assembly right now and we usually tend to follow the same path as the Episcopalians
the One True Church is currently engaged in a sexuality study right now
this issue is one of the few things keeping me from jumping back to the Episcopal Church (the others being the fact that the candidacy process in the ECUSA is worse than ours and my love of Luther’s writings)
In watching all this, I was kind of half incredibly sad that Robinson was ratified because I strongly disagree with his lifestyle and half relieved that the last minute efforts to derail him didn’t pan out. The current policy of the One True Church is that celibate GLBT persons can be ordained and that if you aren’t in the bonds of traditional matrimony, you have to remain celibate. Robinson’s ratification goes against all of this.
My problems with his ratification:
He divorced his wife to pursue the gay lifestyle. That doesn’t really give him much credibility to talk about the sacrament of marriage. Yes… he and his partner have been monogamous; but he still broke his marriage vows.
I can’t get around the fact that the Bible very clearly states that homosexuality *IS* a sin. I seriously cannot in good conscience say that it’s a matter of opinion or that it’s just a cultural more. People argue that Jesus never specifically addressed it in His ministry and the reason He didn’t is… he was speaking to Jews who all would have known the Old Testament prohibitions against it.
**NOTA BENE: While I disagree with the homosexual lifestyle, I still do care about and love my GLBT friends. You don’t have to agree with someone to love them as a friend. Besides, I’m called to love all of God’s people, even those I disagree with strongly.**
I guess the thing that pains me the most is that the Episcopal Church isn’t being consistent in its mission by failing to call a sin “a sin”. What makes homosexuality OK but adultery not? What makes it any different from pre-marital sex? It’s a very lukewarm attitude, which is *not* what we are called to have. We discussed the passage I have linked (Revelation 3:14-22) in Small Group last night, and we agreed that the message here is: whether you are hot for Christ or utterly frigid, at least BE CONSISTENT. What kind of message does it send when a Church claims that the definition of sin is left up to the individual?
I’m really struggling with the consistency issue here in my own life. I am adamently opposed to Robinson’s ratification because of his choice of lifestyle but… he has gifts for ministry that would very much benefit the people of the diocese of New Hampshire. They elected him knowing fully well that he was openly gay and not celibate and this was OK for them; but not for me or others. Given that we probably will never have to interact with him and he isn’t our authority, should we really be complaining? Yet… this also impacts the witness of the Church and also its relations with others in the Anglican Communion and the Church pretty much thumbed its nose at the opinions expressed at the last Lambeth gathering by ratifying Robinson’s consecration.
I am muchly conflicted inwardly…
