Well, is there anxiety in this town, especially as the machinery of government shifts gears? I’ll warrant that there will continue to be a lot of anxiety until the new administration settles in, at least several months from now. Who’s going to sit in which seat at the table? Who’s going to be ”“ or feel ”“ excluded? What last-minute actions will the outgoing administration make?
Perhaps the first role of religion in such times is to be a messenger, like one of those biblical angels, who starts out by saying, “fear not.” Don’t be afraid; this whole thing is a lot bigger than you are. Yes, change is coming, and it will drive some people crazy, and at the same time not go far enough for others. In more secular language, we might say, “don’t sweat the small stuff.” And more of it is small stuff than you might expect. At the same time, the religious voice will remind you that how you deal with the small stuff does not affect you alone ”“ your actions may have consequences beyond your wildest imagining.
That brief introduction might be a helpful framework for what I’m going to assert is the proper role of religion in the public square: diagnosis, linked with both challenge and encouragement. Walter Brueggemann calls it “prophetic critique and energizing.” It grows out of a particular world view, a weltanschauung if you will, that has an idea or ideal of what the world is supposed to look like. That world view is rooted in divine revelation ”“ both in a scriptural tradition and in later encounters with the divine. The prophetic role is to point out the discrepancy between that sacred vision and what the world around us actually looks like, and then to go on to challenge the status quo and encourage movement toward that dream.
THe Presiding Bishop said, “In my own tradition, that trajectory is based on the twin beliefs that every human being is a reflection of the divine, of ultimate worth in him or herself, and that human beings only reach their full meaning in relationship with others in community.”
No, that tradition says, “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for that is the whole duty of everyone.” Ecclesiastes 12:13
Augustine said, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O God, and our souls are restless until they rest in Thee.” (Confessions, ch. 1)
Alas, as in so many of her theological pronouncements, they are close, but not right on. Just close enough to ring familiar, but not close enough to be an adequate and normative expression of the way the faith has been expressed–for centuries.
You’re right, Neal, she has the knack of a heretic in her habit of expressing half-truths.
She says the hopelessness begets violence. Does it? If she’s talking about the theological virtue of Christian hope then she has a point. But I don’t think she’s talking about a transcendant vision. Rather it is our earthly desires that beget violence which can only be quelled by a transcendant future.
What happened to sin? All are of ultimate worth and reflect the glory of God? Is that what scipture says?
What continues to bother me about Katharine Jefferts Schori in her capacity as a supposed bishop and, therefore, Christian spiritual leader, is that she has fatally blurred the distinction between the political and Christian agendas. (This is particularly ironic, since she claims, in this speech, the wisdom to separate them.) Since her rhetoric is typically sloppy, she can be counted on to both give the game away as well as deliver the laugh out loud moment. So, for example, she claims to want to
But this is only an illusory difference, since I can just as well have a philosophy detached from God as I can have one based on Him that claims “a world where all live together in peace and harmony†as an ideal. Moreover, it’s ECUSA, the organization she leads, that touts “a philosophy that asserts that every person should seek to maximize his or her assets or resources†(especially when those assets are sexual), which further belies any supposed contradiction. And wasn’t it Schori herself who offered up this gem to CNN’s Kyra Phillips?
For goodness sake, in this very speech, she claims that the “sacred ideal†of her “faith†is a society “where each is truly free to seek her or his highest purpose in this life.â€
So much for not maximizing your assets or resources, eh?
The conceit of wrapping up a transparent “what we talked about in the ‘60s at our late-night dorm sessions†agenda in religious clothing is why we keep hearing Schori express indifference between Christianity and other belief systems: there’s no uniquely revealed God behind her thinking, and, therefore, no particular faith is required to underlie it.
And this speech’s howler?
Umm, Mrs. Schori, you may want to talk to your local Integrity representative.
#4 Phil – that last one sure is a howler!
As for the absence of sin and redemption in this address, are we surprised? We let our church be a place for the upscale, comfortable “99 sheep” and didn’t want the one lost sheep bleating during our classical music concerts on Sunday mornings.
Actually, we did more “let our church” be this way, we gloried in it. This PB is a consequence of our own compromises over the years.
I realize that there have been many orthodox in the Episcopal pews, but even so there was little in the way of contending for orthodoxy in the culture via evangelism or in the church itself via sound leadership and discipline.
The PB took written questions. One from our atty. Mary McReynolds was (paraphrasing) When the Presbyterians experienced division of their church, they settled the matter without resorting to the courts. Why have you not been able to do this?
PB’s answer (paraphrasing) We tried really hard to negotiate, but the other side would not negotiate with us.
Our Bible study group agreed last night to redouble our prayer efforts on this woman’s behalf. There seems to be such a total disconnect with reality as to indicate a pathology that needs serious intervention on her behalf.
We all lived through (and participated in) a rather fruitful negotiation with our DioVA Bishop that culminated to a protocol for departing churches that was agreed to by the Bishop. Subsequently this negotiation was set aside by the new PB, the self-described ‘new sheriff in town.’ This was real. It is not a figment of our imaginations.
This is fundamentally an adolescent address. Full of naive idealism based on utopian/Marxian premises, KJS’s paragraphs are so full of jargon that an adult response to it would be silence…followed by, “Is there anyone else who can speak for TEC?!?”
#6 Not at all, there’s no disconnect. You see, `negotiate’ has now been officially declared as another one of those nice irregular verbs: I negotiate; You (my lawyer) lay down what I want and accept no compromise; He gives in to all my demands and sends a lengthy apology for any inconvenience caused. Simple really.
I appreciate her speech. Very thoughtful and well prepared. I always appreciate spiritual leaders who don’t treat us followers as if we’re a bunch of ignorant people, or who fail to understand the modern world in which we live. I am glad to have her as my Presiding Bishop.
What she says at first sounds OK. Look deeper based on her actions. Al this stuff about challenging the status quo? Not by advocating sin as being holy. Shouldn’t the main objective of any Christain religious organization be the saving of souls? If that is so how do you square that with her sinful stance on gay marriage, abortion and other issues? This woman is an embarrasment to anyone wearing a clerical collar and should be an embarrasment to TEc.
This, I think, is the most disturbing sentence in her speech: “We really can’t fool Mother Nature, and her ire keeps rising along with her temperature.”
I suppose I really should just take this sentence as metaphorical and designed to make a point. And I’m certainly in favor of environmental measures to stop global warming, etc… (and I do think of these things in theological categories); but talking about Mother Nature’s ire when you have a dodgy record on expressing trinitarian orthodoxy is a very alarming move. Wouldn’t a harmless appeal to natural theology – the beauty of God’s creation, or some such thing – be a wiser way to go? Instead she has reinforced a stereotype of the liberal Episcopalian establishment as one part androgynously quasi-Christian and one part animist-pantheist.
Nothing to see here, folks. Nothing new. Move on, now!
#9 see #7.
You should be embarrassed by her.
Blah, blah, blah.
New day, same old crap from those who act confused about why our TEC is going down in flames.
Mark Johnson, I am so happy that Ms Schori is your presiding bishop. The speech, delivered to some of the nation’s best journalists, was simply abysmal. It was readily apparent that she is a real phoney trying to sound religious. I certainly hope that she doesn’t stop make such appearances.
BTW, Babyblue has a good discussion of the speech.
#9. Mark,
Any ideas about her answer as outlined in #6, above? She certainly must know that we have made offers in court to reopen the negotiations which she had so abruptly shut off.
The judge has said he will issue his ruling on the case of the VA churches on this Friday morning, 19 December. My guess is that her winner take all attitude will wind up serving no one well, and the judge will leave the properties with all or most of the departing churches.
#8. Dear Boring,
Thank you! Thank you! You have cleared up the mystery. I had completely forgotten how the meaning of words has changed in ‘TEC Newspeak’. Please forgive my lapse, –Stan
[blockquote] human beings only reach their full meaning in relationship with others in community. [/blockquote]
Really? Funny, here I’ve been thinking all along it was Jesus. I’m so glad she set me straight.
#6 you accurately describe reality and indicate, “There seems to be such a total disconnect with reality as to indicate a pathology that needs serious intervention on her behalf.”
I am reminded of this:
[blockquote]Now, women forget all those things they don’t want to remember, and remember everything they don’t want to forget. The dream is the truth. Then they act and do things accordingly.
-Their Eyes Were Watching God
By Zora Neale Hurston
and
“A dream you dream together is reality.â€
John Lennon[/blockquote]
#19. William,
Thank you for these appropriate reminders. — Stan
[blockquote]The reality experienced by most Episcopalians, and indeed most faithful people, is of their congregations gathering for weekly worship, saying their prayers, and serving their neighbors, nearby and far away. That service happens in remarkable and profound ways, building schools in Africa, clinics in Haiti, digging wells in the Philippines, as well as prodding our legislators to attend to issues of climate change, access to health care, and funding AIDS work in Africa. It is the rare few who are consumed by conflict, and they tend not to last, for intense and prolonged conflict is not life-giving.[/blockquote]
If all I wanted to do was public service, I’d join a Rotary club (a fine organization, by the way). But those who stand up for The Gospel of Jesus, the authority of Scripture, the 39 Articles, why, they’re just “consumed by conflict.” With KJS, it’s all about service projects and MDGs and going through the motions of religion (“gathering for weekly worship, saying their prayers”) — no substance whatsoever other than all this talk about transcendance.
Oh, how the devil would like to distract us from faithfully awaiting the Birth of our Savior with words such as these and draw us into the flurry of reactions. Shake the dust off and keep your eyes on the Lord. You’ll feel better. I know that i do.
Kate does it over and over and over again. She clearly espouses a wrong form of works-righteousness. She must have skipped class the day they discussed how works done outside the context of faith in Christ are in vain.
Anyone who thinks the press were fooled is deluding himself.
I continue (despite admonishons to myself like “You should KNOW that by now!) to be surprised by how immersed in humanism and immune to the Reality of Jesus this woman is.
Her statements continually point to connections between the world she thinks we should be trying to make, and the world as it is, as if WE have the power to repair that breach. As if we could bring heaven right down here to earth if we just tried a little harder, recycled a little more, drove more Prius’s, gave Islam it’s due, or studied just a LITTLE harder.
Silly girl. There’s already a heaven awaiting all that know Jesus is Lord. Whether or not you dug that well in Bangladesh only matters if you managed to do it for a cause OTHER than yourself, other than world peace, other than your futile human attempt to bring heaven down to earth.
To HIM be the Glory. Amen.
KTF!…mrb
On the eve of one of those sacred and important days of the Christian calendar, the PB missed (deliberately, no doubt) a chance to spread the good news of Jesus Christ (I read it over quickly, but don’t think I saw his name anywhere in the speech – oh, there was a judeo-christian reference, but no affirmation of the soul saving work of Jesus Christ). But this way she’ll still get invited to all the good Washington parties. They don’t want to hear all that “Jesus” stuff.
She never misses an opportunity to miss an opportunity to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ, and at Christmas even. Sad.
“The reality experienced by most Episcopalians, and indeed most faithful people, is of their congregations gathering for weekly worship, saying their prayers, and serving their neighbors, nearby and far away. That service happens in remarkable and profound ways, building schools in Africa, clinics in Haiti, digging wells in the Philippines, as well as prodding our legislators to attend to issues of climate change, access to health care, and funding AIDS work in Africa.”
This statement has about as much authenticity and sincerity as Hulk Hogan encouraging his young wrestling fans to take their vitamins and say their prayers.
With the MDGs replacing the great commission, Maybe KJS can be considered by the president elect as the Secretary of Health and Human Services.
#11,
I rate this as far worse
Compare with St Paul:
For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
25 Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God;
26 Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints:
27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:
28 Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:
29 Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
Or from Hebrews:
20 Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
Schori: We are all of ultimate worth. Rather: Mankind is as grass, nothing compared to God, only worth something to Him because of His love and His grace.
Schori:We reach their full meaning in relationship with others in community
Rather: We only reach our full meaning by the grace of God through union with Christ and the sanctifying presence of the spirit, and by human communities only as far as they are God’s instrument for conveying that grace.
I don’t know what tradition she is refering to, but its not anything I recognise as Christianity.
When Ms Schori was asked about the costs of the lawsuits (now about $5 million in Virginia alone), she replied
—
“We tried for a very long time to negotiate and came to a place where there was no willingness to negotiate so at that point you ask the courts to enforce the laws of the land.”
—
This is a bald face lie which directly contradicts what she and Bp Lee swore under oath in the ongoing trial. Bp Lee testified that he warned the members of the exiting parishes that there was “a new sheriff in town.” Ms Schori admitted that it was she who order Bp Lee to abandon the “Standstill agreement” (an agreement to not take the matter to the courts) and force him to sue. The result has been catastrophic for the diocese of Virginia.
People can see the entire transcript here, http://tinyurl.com/4nmcp9
What amazes me is how she never mentioned Jesus or Christ is never mentioned. She doesn’t quote even one verse of Scripture. The entire speech is vacuous talk trying to sound religious. Again, really amazing for the leader of a supposed Christian denomination.
RE: “You should be embarrassed by her.”
I dunno, Evan. Liberals are naturally happy to have her speaking for them. Marxists liked Che Guevera. Communists liked Stalin. Liberal Episcopalians are proud of their PB. I don’t see it as particularly alarming.
Her theories and rhetorical effusions probably match up nicely with Mark Johnson’s — and hence he would be proud of her.
I know, Sarah. I know.
I guess I’m the one who is embarrassed by her. To have the secular world and our fellow Christians hear this tripe from someone heading up what was once the finest denomination in the country, is just plain embarrassing.
But of course you’re right. Her minions and fellow travellers think it is perfectly fine.
#28. Darn it, Boring, there you go again! Dredging up all those dated texts out of that antiquated book. How do you ever expect a modern, progressive, post-Christian church to move into the future?