knitternun

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Can we please stop hurting each other?

I've been saying till I am blue in the face that we Anglicans (and by that I mean everyone in the World-Wide Anglican Communion which I, at least, believe still exists today) have simply got to stop insulting and abusing each other. Everyone is doing it regardless of what "side" they are on.

I would have hoped we could all have agreed that we are all on God's side, but apparently I am the only one willing to say that because it feels to me as if everyone else is saying that "if you are not on my side, then you are not on God's side". Which is pretty presumptuous, when we stop to think about it. And I do realize I am not alone. That's just how I feel at the moment I write this.

I have said all along that I believe the action of the Holy Spirit at GC06 was not so much in the decisions reached and votes taken but to reveal to us how much we are failing to love each other as we are commanded to do. Except in the MDG, we can see the work of the Holy Spirit in that fershure.

By a failure to love, I don't mean some saccharine valentiney eros or even phileo but agape... which tells us we love first, no matter what, despite anything else. Jesus doesn't say tell us first to conduct an examnation to assess if a person deserves to be loved by some human standard. He tells us to love and meet needs. Period. Full Stop. End of sentence. End of discussion.

And we Anglicans are not doing that. Instead we insult, jibe, demonize, patronize, condescend, bully, sue, hate, mortify, humiliate, abuse, stereotype, categorize, label, victimize. People on both sides on any issue within WWAC are doing that.

Of course, this is nothing new in the history of Christianity. Primary sources show us that it has always been this way. So much so that one wonders how Christianity ever survived for 2000 years because we Christians have certainly done our best to pollute the Gospel and we continue to do so right now, right here in the Episcopal Church for the exact same reason as millennia of Christians before us: our failure to love each other as Jesus told us to do.

I have come to the conclusion that the only reason Christianity has survived has nothing to do with cantankerous bishops and obnoxious priests and everything to do with the faithful in the pews such as my parish who choose to ignore what is going on in the WWAC or in GC06 and are just keepin' on keepin' on takin' care of buisness.

In the parish of All Soul's (www.all-souls.com) you can read about our work to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the sick, provide for widows and orphans, visiting the prisoners so that they do not despair, preaching the Good News and making disciples of all nations. Thank God for this refuge from the strife in the WWAC.

If **anything** interferes with the Body of Christ's ability to obey Jesus, then there is sin which requires confess and repentance.

If the shoe fits...

1 Comments:

  • At 6:59 PM, Blogger Cathy said…

    Thank you - I believe the local parish, if they will do God's work and what Christ calls us to do, and love one another in the way we are called to do, the Church will continue. The bickering over issues that are blown out of proportion is a way of avoiding caring for poeple in the most basic way, offering them food, shelter, and God's love. All the rest is just details.....

     

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