|
Sermon at The Church of
the Holy Apostles, New York City,
August 3, 2003, The
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost ,
Proper 12, Year B
by The Reverend
Barry
M. Signorelli
Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
Psalm 78:1-25
Ephesians 4:17-25
John 6:24-35 As we gather here this
morning, the Episcopal Church stands on the brink of an historic
event. The Bishops and Deputies gathered in Minneapolis this week
for the Church’s triennial General Convention will be confronted
with an unprecedented choice that will have a profound impact on
our character and polity, as well as the way we are viewed by
those in other faith communities and the unchurched. For many on
both sides of the issue, the ultimate question is nothing less
than whether this Church will be faithful to the teachings and
example of Jesus Christ.
Unless you have been on a deserted island
this week, or at least not turned on CNN, you know that I am
referring to the question of the ratification of the Rev. Canon
Gene Robinson’s election as Bishop Coadjutor of New Hampshire.
Normally, consent to the election of a bishop must be obtained
from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction and diocesan standing
committees, and in all but two cases in our church’s history, this
has been a pro-forma process. If such an election takes place
within 120 of the convening of a General Convention, that body’s
two houses, the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, must
vote on the consent — again, normally not a contentious
proceeding. In Canon Robinson’s case, however, the issue is
complicated by the fact of his being an openly gay man, living in
a committed relationship with his partner of many years. For
liberals, this represents a long-awaited opportunity to affirm the
full inclusion of gay and lesbian people as members of the Body of
Christ, a chance to repudiate the idea that those who are made by
God to love their own gender are second-class citizens in God’s
Kingdom. For others, however, this election is a startling leap
into the abyss of heresy and a turning away from the ostensibly
plain truth of Scripture’s seeming condemnation of homosexual
behavior. Canon Robinson’s consent process has been approved by
the Committee on Consecrations, and has been sent to the floor of
the House of Deputies, where a vote by that body is expected this
very afternoon. If approved there, the question will go to the
House of Bishops for their consent. The question must pass in
both houses, or the election will be declared null and void.
Whatever the outcome, there can be no
question that the Holy Spirit is at work, moving in a powerful
way, which also means She is stirring up hope and anxiety across
the board. Some observers — and I am one of them — would point to
the recent developments in secular society such as the
legalization of same-sex marriages in Ontario, and the US Supreme
Court’s ruling striking down anti-sodomy laws, as a sign of God’s
will unfolding in synchronicity, the “coincidences” that really
aren’t. I truly believe that God is calling us to break through
another of the many barriers that inhibit the realization of God’s
will for humanity, urging us by signs and wonders to move forward
with faith to a new understanding of humanity’s nature as diverse,
God-given, and good. And as I prepared this sermon, it seemed to
me that the Spirit was winking at us through today’s Epistle, as
well.
“…You must no longer live as the Gentiles
live, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their
understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their
ignorance and hardness of heart.” (Obvious the Spirit is talking
about conservative faction.) But then it goes on, “They have lost
all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness,
greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” (The conservatives
would point out that obviously the Spirit is talking about the
liberals.) But then it concludes, “So then, putting away
falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we
are members of one another.” And there we come to it. Each of
us, despite all our divisions and disagreements, must speak the
truth to one another in love, because we are bound to one another
in the unity of Christ’s body. And what is the truth of this
matter? That the Diocese of New Hampshire has overwhelmingly
chosen Gene Robinson to lead them, not because he is gay, but
because he is the best person to do so; he is universally
acknowledged, even by his opponents, as being capable, effective,
and a man of deep spirit and holiness. He was chosen as an
individual, not as a cause.
But in speaking the truth, we must also
[acknowledge] when those who disagree distort the truth for their
own ends. I have been dismayed and angered to hear repeated over
and over the accusation that Robinson “abandoned” his wife and
children to go live with another man — most recently heard from
the lips of Bishop Jack Iker of Fort Worth in an interview on the
Newshour Friday evening. The truth is that, after extensive
counseling and self-examination, Robinson and his wife mutually
agreed to divorce, and ended their marriage in church, going from
the judge’s chambers to the sanctuary, where a priest officiated
as they wept and hugged, returned their wedding rings, and
released each other from their vows. Never before have I heard of
any divorce that ended with such grace. Since then, Robinson’s
wife and daughters affirm, he has been a wonderful father,
partner, and friend. Oh yes, it should be noted that Robinson’s
ex-wife was already remarried before he even met his male
partner. So much for the charges of licentiousness and every kind
of impurity.
It is important for such truth to be known,
if we are to continue to live in unity with one another; and yet,
it is a particular Anglican characteristic that such unity is not
necessarily the same thing as uniformity. Never has Anglicanism
been successful in imposing a monolithic standard of practice, or
even belief outside the essentials of the faith — it is a
completely alien concept to demand a rigid consistency across all
the provinces of the Anglican Communion, ignoring the power and
grace of local custom. The Archbishop of Nigeria would have
everyone conform to his fundamentalist version of Anglicanism; and
there are things that we in the West would change about Nigeria if
we could. But neither impulse is valid or charitable; if God
created diversity as part of the world’s nature, we should learn
to embrace and celebrate it and use it to better discern the mind
and will of the Almighty.
For God continues to do new things. What I
find most distressing about those who oppose the inclusion of
lesbians and gays in the church is that their beliefs are based on
a largely uncritical, literal interpretation of Scripture, as if
God dictated the Bible as a rulebook, unchanging for all time.
That clearly flies in the face of Jesus telling the disciples, who
told them before his Passion, “I still have many things to say to
you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth
comes, [S]he will guide you into all truth...”(John 16:12). God’s
revelation is constantly unfolding, and our understanding of God’s
will is an evolutionary process; just as it was once clear and
evident that slave-owning was moral, or a natural given that women
could not perform priestly ministries (both positions clearly
supported by Scripture), so too will we one day look back on our
contortions about the morality of faithful, committed, loving
same-sex relationships and shake our heads in wonder at our
backwardness. And if God gets tired of waiting for us to get
there, it’s not surprising that He gives us a nudge in the right
direction.
Because for all of our complaining and
whining, God still loves us and feeds us with the bread from
heaven, showering manna upon the just and the unjust alike. God
calls us to cast aside our fears and anxieties about what will
happen if we take risks for the sake of the Gospel, and urges us
to press onward in faith. For those concerned that the outcome
will be schism and loss of membership and financial support,
recall what Jesus said to the crowds that stalked him after the
feeding of the five thousand: “Very truly, I tell you, you are
looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate
your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes,
but for the food that endures for eternal life…” God calls us to
take risks for justice and love, calls us to jeopardize our
comfort, safety, and familiarity, and to set off boldly into the
wilderness of the unknown — in the assurance that God walks with
us, guiding and feeding us as we grow in understanding and grace.
These are momentous times for our Church, and
indeed for all of Christianity. I bid you pray with all your
might for the Bishops and Deputies of the General Convention, for
Canon Robinson and his family, the Diocese of New Hampshire, and
for all those on all sides of this issue, that all may be open to
the workings of the Spirit, and that we will accept God’s offer of
unity, that in righteousness and charity we all may be One.
Amen.
Back to Sermon Selections |
