A decade of Sharing and Generosity -- a melodrama

Well, it is out (pun intended). You will find it here with a few comments from bishops. The document itself is a dysfunctional committee’s dysfunctional report.

There is a plethora of rhetoric and all the old arguments are there. Robinson is the Anti-Christ and TEC and the Canadian Church are apostates who care nothing for the rest of the church.

What else could we have expected from five people who are blatantly anti justice and very opposed to the ordination of GLBT people.

Section 103 sums the whole document up:

The ordination of an openly partnered homosexual bishop and the open blessing of same sex relationships has had many negative results including:

· Partnership in mission is lost and damaged.

· In some provinces, there is an experience of betrayal of the teaching of the missionaries who brought the faith, and it is experienced as a new form of colonisation

· Confidence in the validity of the Anglican Communion, the bonds of affection and our mutual interdependence is severely damaged

· It is dishonouring to former Lambeth Conference decisions.

· It diverts us from our primary focus

· It is seen as leading to “sexual license”

· It damages ecumenical and interfaith relationships.

· Bishops cannot be a symbol of unity when their consecration itself divides the church. The unique focus for catholicity in the Communion is lost.

· In some regions the issue has become a test of orthodoxy and a basis for hostile actions

· In some places the church is ridiculed as the "gay church", so membership is lost.

They forgot to add it was responsible for the Lindberg kidnapping, the death of the Princess of Wales, and 11 September and global warming.

There is a wee bit of good, though: There have also been positive effects in parts of Canada, the US and England when homosexual people are accepted as God’s children, are treated with dignity and choose to give their lives to Christ and to live in the community of faith as disciples of Jesus Christ with fidelity and commitment. (104)

However, the report states that a ban on gay consecration/ordination will be a “generous act of love the communion is looking for.” (131) I have always said that shoving people under a speeding bus was a loving act. Why is it that the oppressed are always the ones who have to sacrifice for the "good of all."

After all of this, I invite you to read David Crabtree's post today at the WRAL (Raleigh, Durham, Fayetteville) site. The article is "Relentlessly optimistic."