Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Funny, I don't feel any less Christian after V. Gene Robinson's consecration as bishop of New Hampshire. Perhaps I was out of the room when the Second Coming came and went, but from what I can tell, the Episcopal Church in America is still standing, though some would argue that this is merely evidence that an angry God is content to let us stew in our unregenerate juices.

Has any Episcopalian's salvation ever been revoked for belonging to a denomination in which broken, sin-obsessed people routinely take refuge and occasionally serve in leadership positions?

Is this denomination in danger of being cast into Gehenna because V. Gene Robinson openly acknowledges what other priests omit from their public resumes? Since when did "Don't ask, don't tell" become a benchmark for holiness? Since when did we stop considering such behavior hypocrisy?

Is Bishop Robinson the "abomination of desolation" every generation dreads? Really? Bishop Robinson's sins eclipse the sun, eh? I really, truly doubt it. In fact, I can think of a few sinners who made an appearance at Robinson's consecration who make a gay bishop look like a piker in the damnation sweepstakes.

Let's start with the protesters who carried the "God hates fags" signs and chanted hateful epithets outside. And when street heretics say rudely what some mainstream Christians are thinking, you know the Gospel is being slandered all over the world.

Inside, the Rev. F. Earle Fox of Pittsburgh became the first fly in the ceremony's ointment by reciting a litany of homosexual practices meant to scandalize the soft-hearted heterosexuals gathered to celebrate Robinson's consecration on All Saints Day. Let's all close our eyes and imagine Jesus fixating on the sexual practices of the woman caught in adultery by the righteous mob intent on stoning her. What Fox did was an appalling act of self-righteousness that was antithetical to Jesus' teachings on every level.

The biggest problem with folks who point fingers at the likes of Robinson is that they're inclined to flatter themselves when assessing the radical nature of their own sin. While reciting the sins of others, it helps to be full of self-deception; otherwise the combustible weight of hypocrisy would set one's tongue on fire.

My gut tells me that I probably agree more with the conservatives in my church than the liberals on fine points of theology, but I know that demonizing Bishop Robinson is practicing the worst kind of theology imaginable. I'm not interested in affirming a gospel of exclusion. Any fool can see that that's a moral and spiritual dead end.

The only orthodoxy that matters is an orthodoxy that grips those on the margins of society in an embrace of love. The righteous have all the righteousness they'll ever need, but I suspect that God has a higher regard for those who beat their own breasts in mortification rather than their neighbor's in a spasm of proper theology.

Instead of heaping hot coals on the heads of those who naively wander into church seeking shelter from their own brokenness, why can't those in a voluntary association as radical as the community of faith respond with a spirit of humility and openness?

You say you don't understand homosexuality? You wouldn't be the first. Meanwhile, you hypocrite, you have sins that might cause a gay man or woman to run screaming from the room if they only knew the darkness you harbor in your heart. There is no hierarchy of sins before God, contrary to the moronic propaganda of the "God hates fags" crowd.

When I see the men and women who gleefully denounce Bishop Robinson on their knees publicly confessing their own secret sins, I'll be more impressed with their orthodoxy. Until then, this Calvinist turned Anglican will reserve a proper amount of Protestant skepticism until God tells me otherwise.

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