One of the many reasons I relished my time attending a Unitarian church was the open arms with which the church and congregants received gay people.  Since so much of what comprises the pantheon of Christian beliefs typically demonizes, or at best, allows with duress gay relationships, gay people with a need to practice some sort of spirituality rarely find a home in which they are warmly welcomed.  The Unitarian church in Portland (and, more than likely, abroad) allows gay people to prosper in their spirituality and promotes their inclusion in all things deemed “straight,” including marriage.

During my recent (and ongoing) search for Christianity, I looked for the same attitudes within a Christian church.  I’d heard about the consecration of an openly gay Episcopal Bishop earlier this year in New Hampshire.  I marked this occurence and made sure that I would come back to this unique ceremony at some point later after I had researched other aspects of the Episcopal Church.  Instead of my searching for that story again, it came to me in church yesterday.  During the sermon, given by Kerith Harding, she highlighted some text taken from the Epistle reading (2 Timothy 3:14-4:5), both of which present the confusing sides that make Christianity much more complex than some people would like to think it is.  I am reminded every week that God, Jesus, and Christianity are concepts that are never black and white and are very much in the grey.  The first line that caught my attention was:

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

The first words that jumped out at me were ”…inspired by God….” This is very important to me in fleshing out what the Bible (in particular, the New Testament) means.  When something is inspired by another, it is written, composed, formed, and shaped by the idea of the former.  In other words, Scripture is written not by God, not by God’s intervention, not by a divine tool.  Scripture is written by the human in reference to what the human thinks God would say.  Scripture is inspired by God like I am inspired by God, Jesus, or, even, mortal human beings such as Cornel West or Garrison Keillor.  It is important to be mindful of this so as to not walk astray of the idea that Scripture is a product of human hands.

The next line that grabbed my attention was:

For the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander away to myths.

This line represents another side of the complexity that is inherent in the Bible.  Just what is being said here?  At first glance, I fell into the slippery idea that what amounts to a jab to the “unbeliever” is really not as such.  Lines such as these serve as fodder for the cannons that fire from the conservative side of Christianity.  Here it spells out to beware of those that have “itching ears” and that intend to reshape God into myths and lies.  This is very interesting and represents one of the greatest conundrums in the Bible.  This line in Timothy can be used for anything.  I can use it to ground and prove that my interpretations of God, Jesus, and the Bible are right and that you all are wrong.  The Bible is full of these and they serve as the scapegoats for the promoters of the black and white understanding of a very grey matter.  Conservatives and others stop at this statement and fail to realize that, just seconds prior we are all reminded that, “…everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” In other words, we all (all being the children of God, not only the saved) are charged with making sure that we do the good in life.  We are christened to do good works with no expectation for return favors. We are all to respect, love, and understand others no matter what other words pass our “itching ears.”

The Presiding Bishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church, Frank Griswold said: “We regret how difficult and painful actions of our church have been in many provinces of our communion”.

The report seemed to propose “containment of differences in the service of reconciliation”, he said. – BBC News

The Anglican Communion’s rebuke of the Episcopal Church of the USA for allowing the consecration of a gay Bishop, in light of what we just read, is sad and misguided.  The mere fact that a gay man, a child of God, has done so much spiritual work in his life as to warrant his promotion to Bishop seems to be the single issue that continues to divide the Anglican Communion.  I am no Anglican historian, which may serve to actually help my understanding and criticism of the Episcopal Church as a whole.  Quite a few years ago, the Episcopal Church forged through another controversial action when they allowed the canonization of women priests and this, as many thought, had blown over and became widely accepted.  Many had hoped the same would happen with this pressing issue, although I’m not so sure that it will.  Here we face a clash of cultures spanning North America, Europe, and Africa.  To leave such a deep and divisive issue such as gay bishops and same-sex unions untouched after a slap on the wrist serves no good purpose except to allow for the further festering of bad feelings on all sides of the issue.  While the sore festers on with no resolution, a schism seems more of a reality within the Anglican Communion.  I take solace in the fact that at this time in Trinity Cathedral I do find a good home for my feelings concerning my gay brothers and sisters and that they, too, find a good home there as well.

Also, please read this article courtesy of the BBC news.

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