And there was silence in the HOB

Yesterday IT over at Friends of Jake pointed us to an interview the Rt. Rev'd V. Gene Robinson gave the New York Times. The interview begins

Q: Thank you for making the time. You must have a lot of interview requests.

A: Yes, and I’m not doing any interviews, except this one. A lot of requests came in after the bishops’ first vote on Monday (to allow for the consecration of more gay bishops). Of course, the possibility of there being another gay bishop in the House is something I’ve longed for for a long time. But I didn’t feel like talking. I felt very sober. I know that what we’ve done here will be very difficult for a lot of people in that room, and in the Communion.

I think what +Robinson means is that, he's longed for another honest out bishop. There are several gay bishops in the house. They are just not honest about it.

When asked about what happened in the house of bishops after the vote to allow pastoral discretion in states where there is marriage equality, Robinson's answer is really stunning.

It was amazing. We took the vote, there were closing prayers, and usually somebody says amen and we’re up and out of there. But last night not a person moved, for 10 minutes. There was absolute silence. I think we realized the momentousness of what we’d done. People just sat their quietly praying. It was amazing. It was almost as if we didn’t want to leave each other.

I had that experience once in a concert. When we finished the monolithic War Requiem by Benjamin Brittan, the conductor put the baton down and there was absolute silence for five minutes. Not a clap, cough, sneeze or audible breath -- just total silence. We knew we had just experienced a profoundly holy moment. I understand what Bishop Robinson and the other bishops felt.

There is one bit of the article I want to draw your attention to. It comes when he is speaking of Bishop Love of Albany.

Bill Love is a faithful Episcopalian, a man of integrity, and I respect him deeply. (Bishop) Edward Little (also a conservative), I would trust my life to him. He is the one I asked to intervene with Rowan Williams when Rowan told me I could not go to Lambeth.

So the truth finally comes out. Rowan did say "you aren't welcome." But +Robinson, being the man of God he is, passed it off as a joint agreement for the good of the communion. RObinson's holines makes Rowan look like a snake. (And I think that is an insult to the snake.)