*** No need to play the "open-mouthed amazement at my ignorance" card***
LOL! Hilarious! I'm sorry. I meant no disrespect. Forgive my poorly phrased statement. (I am still laughing at your descriptor).
***That said, I am also familiar with his actions with regard to the current controversies, and he has increasingly sided with the orthodox majority against the revisionists,***
Under no small amount of pressure, no doubt.
***But he's at least doing the right things at the moment,***
The ECUSA and Canadians have been patiently waiting for the "right moment" for decades. They thought they had found the right moment in Rowan, a person in sympathy with their cause, so they moved. It seems they underestimated the Africans - who are TRULY doing the right thing at the moment.
***and it suggests to me that he may in fact be trying to live up to the points he raises in his sermon.***
The points in his sermon are not what you seem to think. If you read it divested of knowlege of the author then the sermon may seem to be Biblical. But if you read it in the knowlege of Rowan's ideology it becomes a very different set of points.
Go read one of Griswald's letters - they are full of "love" and Christian sounding stuff - nothing clearly heretical. But his redefining of the terms makes the letter an epistle for heresy. (As a side note, what is left out of a sermon often defines the message more than what's left in.)
No argument there. But the ABC is using his office properly in response, and directly contrary to his personal beliefs on the matter -- what more can you ask?
Go read one of Griswald's letters - they are full of "love" and Christian sounding stuff - nothing clearly heretical.
That's where you're wrong. Griswold's letters are typically heretical on their face, because they are generally clearly contrary to the plain meaning of Scripture. This sermon, by contrast, is perfectly in accord with the plain meaning of Scripture.
Let me ask you a question: were this sermon to be given by somebody you trusted, would you be yelling as loudly? I rather doubt it. The words themselves are sound, and they ought to give you serious pause.