An editorial comment by WebWeaver Doug King

[8-6-03]

Some years ago my cousin Bob wanted to give me a gift that would show his esteem for me, and express his own deepest values. He gave me one of his precious copies of the 1928 Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. For him that book of prayers, in its magnificent Elizabethan English with all its Thee's and Thou's, was at the heart of his faith and the core of his life. He seethed with anger as he talked about how "they" had throw it out for the flat language of our own time. This was one change (among many for Bob) that was not an improvement in life.

If Bob is alert enough these days to be paying attention to what's going on in his church, he must be filled with rage again, for the change hasn't stopped.

But as our language has changed over the centuries, so has the rest of our world. And as people will regret the loss of the beauty of the old English, they may have trouble dealing with many other transformations in our lives and in our understanding of how to live faithfully in harmony with our God.

The Episcopal Church, with characteristic decency and wisdom, has taken a bold step into a new understanding of discipleship and an expanded awareness of God's wildly inclusive love.

For that I am profoundly thankful.

But beyond gratitude, I believe we might benefit from careful attention to what has happened here. Let's ask how it has come about, how the obstacles were overcome, and what all this might mean for us in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

How has it happened that the Episcopal Church, a denomination most of us don't think of as "radical," or even very "progressive" as a whole, has been able to take the step of confirming the election of an out gay minister as a bishop?

I'm no expert on our sister denomination, but from what I know and what I've been reading and hearing these days, here are a few factors that seem to have played their parts:

What have been the obstacles to this great step forward? Clearly, the well-organized right wing of the church has been determined to stop this move. They have used arguments and tactics that are very familiar to us in the Presbyterian Church:

An editorial in the Minneapolis Star Tribune takes note of the familiar story: one of the major voices opposing Robinson's elevation to bishop has been Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard. The Star Tribune describes him as "a conservative Episcopalian of outspoken views who sits on the board of the Institute on Religion and Democracy. It's a conservative group which believes that mainline Protestant churches 'have thrown themselves into multiple, often leftist crusades - radical forms of feminism, environmentalism, pacifism, multi-culturalism, revolutionary socialism, sexual liberation and so forth.'" We Presbyterians know that organization through the group Presbyterian Action for Faith & Freedom.

It seems that the leadership of the church - laity and clergy, priests and bishops - has stood firm against these pressures. Above all they have been willing to say that "unity" of their denomination must not be purchased at the expense of integrity. And they have not been burdened by a strong Biblicist/literalist element in their community, which has perhaps weakened the appeal to those few verses of scripture.

Finally, what can we Presbyterians learn from this experience of another main-line Protestant church?

Civility - Bishops and others have steadfastly expressed their concern for the unity of the church, and the concern for the people who would feel injured by the change being considered. But this humane concern has been balanced by ...

Courage - The people and leaders of the church have refused to be intimidated by threats of schism, or of reductions in financial support. They have listened to the genuine concerns that have been expressed, but have not given in to pressure. It helped that Bishop Barbara Harris, the first woman to be ordained as a bishop, reminded people that the church survived similar threats of schism when she became a bishop just 15 years ago.

Humanity - The long, well-known, and respected presence of gay and lesbian clergy in the Episcopal Church has made the possibility of a gay bishop less alarming. Episcopal lay people like William Stringfellow - an attorney and theologian whose daring ministry in New York City, specifically in Harlem, decades ago invited people to a whole new awareness of ministry in the urban context - have been "out" both about their affectional lives and in their discipleship. Clergy like Malcolm Boyd have done the same thing. And when there appeared in the Diocese of New Hampshire a deeply good and trustworthy priest like Gene Robinson, whom people worked with and listened to and got to respect and love, nothing could be more natural than to invite him to lead the diocese as their bishop. And as one speaker at the Convention said, New Hampshire has not exactly been a hotbed of gay culture, but the people of the diocese made their decision based on the person, not on some kind of abstract "cause."

This suggests that change has come about in the Episcopal Church not through arguments about doctrine or church law, but through experience: the experience of the humanity and the grace that people have seen in other people, that have finally outweighed the differences in affectional orientation and the fears of "difference."

May we Presbyterians learn from the civility and courage and humanity of our sisters and brothers in the Episcopal branch of God's people.

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