But why might the Archbishop have muzzled his own personal sympathies for the liberal Episcopalian project in America? There are still questions to be asked of our cultural preoccupation with defining ourselves by our sexual attractions and appetites. Many, perhaps most Anglicans throughout the world, are not convinced the insistence of a small community of American Episcopalians to make sexual preference their defining critique of Christianity and the Church. Critics of the Americans believe they may be replacing the call to deny the self, embrace sacrifice and follow Christ for a spiritualised version of the secular penchant for self-expression, posing as human rights.
The Episcopalians have been asked to exercise some restraint in their cultural reflexes in order to achieve the greater goal of Christian unity. Neither romantic love, nor sexual companionship, are given priority in the Gospel or Christian tradition. There are abuses of human rights in the world that a united Church, not just across the Anglican Communion but extended to the Catholics and the Orthodox, might be better placed to give its energies to; and even more importantly, Christ commanded this unity of self-denying humility.
“Neither romantic love, nor sexual companionship, are given priority in the Gospel or Christian tradition”.
WELL SAID! And yet aren’t we constantly browbeat to have the Garden of Eden return an “inch at a time” via this very emphasis? Forget that Christianity is perplexed and assailed by our cultural self-indulgence. What seems more important to reappraisers is that their egos run AMOK get sanctified as an expression of the heart of God.
God will not bless what He is not a part of. THAT fact has been proven time immemorial. And YES, attendance, giving, and closing churches ARE an indication that God is turning away from this Church as its present curia runs us aground. After all, hasn’t it been 40+ years of whining/acceptance/more whining for allowances and exceptions to standards under the guise of following “God’s” New Thing? After a generation, wouldn’t the fruits of the Book of Acts be self-evident? Meaning: More and more believers added? Missionary zeal? Conversions? Where, pray tell, are these marks of the Spirit’s blessing from the Book of Acts evident in this Church?
“God will not bless what He is not a part of”
But in England, bishops do publicly bless animals, nuclear submarines and even organic lavatories. It does seem a bizarre set of priorities that can find God at work in those things yet not in loving human committed relationships.