Posted on 11/20/2005 8:58:51 AM PST by hiho hiho
Our correspondent talks to Gene Robinson, the gay bishop who has become the focus of Anglican schism
THE spectre of schism haunted the opening of the General Synod of the Church of England this week.
In a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, 14 primates led by the Archbishop of Nigeria, Dr Peter Akinola, thundered against “unrepented sexual immorality, an offence so flagrant that Paul insisted that the sinner be expelled from the fellowship, and one of a type of sin which he said would cut the offender off from the kingdom of heaven”.
While Dr Williams is in the awkward position of having to try to hold the Anglican Communion together, the man at the eye of the storm is the American Gene Robinson, 58, Bishop of New Hampshire and an avowed homosexual.
Bishop Robinson recently visited Britain as a guest of Changing Attitude, a group trying to raise awareness about gays in the Church. The group, headed by the Anglican priest and psychotherapist Colin Coward, believes that references to homosexual behaviour in Scripture cannot be fairly applied to the kind of “faithful, lifelong relationships we wish to defend” — a position long widely accepted in the US Episcopal Church and close to the published personal views of the Archbishop of Canterbury himself.
However, even if Dr Williams had confronted the US and Canadian churches over Bishop Robinson’s consecration — as the 14 critical primates suggest — he would have had no success, as Bishop Robinson explains.
“I took very seriously the calls to stand down that came from primates and ordinary people around the world,” Bishop Robinson says. “I constantly took that to God in prayer and sought to hear God’s will for me. I did not leave it just to myself and my own listening. I worked on it with my spiritual director.
“It is very difficult to discern between God’s voice and your own ego doing a magnificent impression of God’s voice. In considering it, I never felt called by God to reverse the direction in which I was moving.”
Dr Williams, whom he met privately during his visit to Britain, had never asked him to stand down, he said. “If he had, I would have taken that to God in prayer. I was not willing to take the advice of anyone if it was contrary to what I perceived to be God’s will for me.
“To the best of my discernment, yes, I feel called by God.” He goes further: “I felt pursued by God.”
Robinson denies that he had been ambitious for the purple shirt. “I resisted being a bishop for a long time. You would have to have your head examined to do what I did, knowing that there was going to be this kind of controversy — although I do not think any of us dreamed that the controversy would be as deep or as broad or as long term as it has proved to be.”
He is not an insensitive man, and does have regrets. “I certainly regret profoundly the difficulty that this has caused the communion and individuals within the communion. I am so sorry that the Archbishop of Canterbury has had this happen almost immediately after he had been chosen.
“I wish we could stop talking about this and start talking about the gospel again. My diocese may be the only diocese in the Anglican Communion that is not obsessed with sex. We spend almost no time on it. There is this amazing disconnection between my diocese and the rest of the world. We talk about Anglicanism and witness to the rest of the world.”
Like almost everyone else not directly caught up in the debate, he feels desperately sorry for Dr Williams: “I would not want to be him. He is in a nearly impossible situation. He is doing everything he can to hold the communion together. I have assured him that I will do everything short of standing down to assist him in that. I pray for the unity of the Anglican Communion every day.”
Increasingly, the issue is being seen as a question of justice, and whether one man’s quest for justice should have been allowed to derail the Church’s wider mission agenda in quite so spectacular a fashion.
Bishop Robinson does not see a conflict here. “I may be naive in thinking this but I do think it important to point out that the American Province is not asking the Province of Nigeria to raise up gay and lesbian people and consecrate them bishops. That would be a kind of spiritual colonialism.
“It seems to me the question before the Anglican Communion right now is: ‘Can we hold on to one another where we continue to disagree with one another?’ I do believe eventually there will be full participation, even in Nigeria, of gay and lesbian people. I believe in the end God wins. In the end there is no one God does not love. I believe in the end we will see the incorporation of gay and lesbian people into the life and ministry of the Church. Rowan Williams has been very, very clear that his goal is to preserve the unity of the Church. I do not know what price he is willing to pay.”
One price that has already been paid was the episcopacy of Dr Jeffrey John who, at Dr Williams’s insistence, stood down as Bishop of Reading when the extent of opposition became clear. Dr Williams was concerned that the new bishop would not serve as an instrument of unity in the area, part of the Oxford Diocese. Dr John is now Dean of St Albans.
A bishop is indeed meant to be a focus of unity, as Robinson is within his diocese but most certainly is not outside it. And that is the problem with the Anglican Communion — it was never a united body, even before this controversy.
As Robinson says: “If I got hit by a bus today and disappeared off the face of the Earth, does anything think that this issue would not still plague not only our communion but every Christian group in the world? “We are much more likely to learn about God and to rely on God in times that are trying rather than in times that are just simply boring. It is fascinating to me that people are so surprised at conflict in the Church. In most of the New Testament, Paul is writing to churches that are in conflict with one another. The Anglican Church was founded out of conflict with Rome.”
He hopes the Church will become stronger. “What I do know is that I become stronger in the midst of various conflicts in my life, in facing my own sexuality. My faith tells me that God can bring an Easter out of any Good Friday. I am sure that many of us feel that we are in the middle of a Good Friday and maybe only God can see the Easter. We are not people without hope. We will only be irreconcilable if we are not willing to be reconciled.”
What a statement!
There may be no one God doesn't love, but he is also the one who said, "Go and sin no more." He doesn't validate us in our wickedness, even if GR wants to believe that.
He is willing to anything except stand down. How about repent and denounce the sin of homosexuality?
There's a proverb...pride goeth before a fall, and a haughty spirit before destruction...
There is no person God does not love; there is no sin God does not hate. "If anyone loves me, he will keep my commandments."
1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.
Well said!
There is nothing in Scripture that allows individuals or certain people "exceptions or VIP status" concerning personal sexual behavior.
God's word does not change over time.
Man's opinions' and want's change, political correctness tries to soften and massage scripture and/or individuals claim some sort of "insight" or "revelation" to fit a need for some individual or group. Culture tries so hard to weaken Christianity, but the Christian should not allow the church to conform to the will of the world.
The Line against Sinful life-styles was drawn in ROMANS 1: 25-27. When someone's attitude or belief are opposed to the very word of God, the rock solid standard of truth, they have given in to a selfishness that destroys their understanding of the true intent of God's will.
Thanks ... that might have been my one sharp moment today :-).
"If I knew God I'd be Him."
VGR said: It is fascinating to me that people are so surprised at conflict in the Church. In most of the New Testament, Paul is writing to churches that are in conflict with one another. The Anglican Church was founded out of conflict with Rome.”
With a wish that the irony is evident to those contemplating a swim...
Reminds me of my favorite M*A*S*H put-down, by Stanley Friedman of all people, if I recall correctly:
Will Rogers never met you, did he?
The man needs to be taken by AMBULANCE to the nearest Diocesan exorcist
Nope. But Rogers is the second cousin of the husband of the sister of my great-grandmother's first husband. I suspect he would have liked me...
I am part of a search committee for our parish, as we are seeking to find a new pastor. A candidate mentioned a few times about having been moved by the Holy Spirit during the interview. After the formal part of the interview, we sat down for soup and sandwiches. Towards the end, after the candidate made one more comment in this vein, I asked, "How do you know the difference between being influenced by the Holy Spirit and being influenced by some other kind of spirit?"
Apparently the candidate hadn't been asked this before. Apparently the rest of the search committee hadn't considered this before. The candidate said, "That's a good question!" Then, after a second's thought (and I paraphrase); "You need to consider whether what you think you're being told is consistent with Scripture," which I thought was a good answer. Of course, then there's issues of interpretation of Scripture ....
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