The New York Times, Washington Post, USA Today, AP, Christianity Today, The Advocate and many others covered the General Convention of The Episcopal Church because we passed blessings for same sex couples. Brilliant! In addition, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal ran opinion pieces about the Episcopal Church over the weekend. They were only opinion pieces, filled with assumptions about our faith and motives as Episcopalians that cause me to wonder why they would be published anywhere. I guess it is July. The news cycle is slim. Everyone is on vacation. It is very hot in Manhattan. It does seem that at least one of the writers seems to do this for a living. What's up?
(A sample of fine Episcopal bloggers, who were actually there, is available
here, here, here and here.)
First, conservative opinion writer Douthat writes that our decline in numbers is connected to our liberalism, by which I think he means the Civil Rights, the Women's Movement and the LGBT Movement, and that our liberalism is an attempt to appease the culture. He's right about one thing. We are for basic human freedom because we think it's what the Gospel demands, and we hope to be a church that reflects those beliefs.
I have read the studies on the state of the Episcopal Church for at least the past 15 years. There are absolutely fewer Episcopalians this year than last, and that has been going on for awhile. All significant work on the decline in the mainline point to factors other than political choices. The precipitous decline predates women's ordination and all of the gay issues. It lines up more closely with the Civil Rights Movement, but that movement is not clearly causative either. Rather than the cultural cataclysm of the 1960s around rights it seems that the shift away from joining institutions and the questioning of social norms radically impacted traditional Christian churches. Basically, you don't need us for social respectability or mobility anymore. Our members come to church because they want to be faithful Christians.
We have been a denomination of privilege, but we are working on that. The Roman Catholic Church has held its numbers only because of immigration, and in that way they are much more open than we are. Today, 1-in-3 Americans was raised Roman Catholic, yet only 1-in-4 describes themselves as Catholic. Hmmm, because the church is too liberal or not filled with people practicing faithfully? Doubt it. You can read about it here.
What liberal and progressive Christians believe in response to those liberation movements from the 1960s on is that the movements were right, and our church should change in response to that revelation. In those places where we are working on being a better church, respecting the dignity of all people (see The Book of Common Prayer), those that have left because of those battles, as the great Bobby Castle used to say (and probably still does), "are the ones that should go." He did not mean that in a nice way.
If our increased thoughtfulness in understanding the human condition causes us to be open minded in a way that offends your prejudices, yes, the Episcopal Church might not be for you. I hope I'm being clear, I believe our decline is a sloughing off of the baggage of establishment and American Empire and not quickly enough embracing an expansive view of humanity within our Eucharistic communities. We became irrelevant to all but the most faithful and those far too in love with Jesus to leave the church despite its hypocrisy. But don't worry, we're on that now.
To the guy at the Wall Street Journal who falsely claims that the current Presiding Bishop has claimed a new authority (and a new stick), and who seems to know a lot about bishop's expense accounts, I will admit I attended some lovely receptions at our General Convention hosted by fine Episcopal seminaries and other significant organizations that host their alumnae and supporters every three years at General Convention. We throw a good party. I might have had a well-made martini, and I hear the Westin ran out of tea. That's about as exciting as it got. Yes, the Presiding Bishop is a woman, and that might be hard for you, but that's all it is.
If I were to put on my empathy shoes, I can imagine that it might be hard as an Episcopalian to feel that you might not be treated well if you attended our General Convention, even disparaged or rejected if you let who you are or what you believe be revealed. Oh, wait a minute, I don't have to imagine, I remember. I remember when the break away groups were just organizing themselves, well before Gene Robinson's election, in response to the ordination of women or just the general liberal feel of the whole deal. I remember one General Convention where they brought in a horde of distressed teenagers in matching T-shirts to look emotionally devastated at the thought of gayness and women priests.
I remember "God Hates Fags" on signs outside of our convention hall daily and the remarkable poise of the then Secretary of the General Convention Rosemari Sullivan asking the 800+ gathered deputies to ignore the signs to maintain a civil environment for our deliberations. It was awful to have our elders and kids forced to pass them to enter or leave the building. I remember Gene Robinson being falsely accused at his consent hearings, and yet we stayed, told our truths and shared communion with any who would join us.
It is true that the mainline still holds remarkable wealth in buildings, endowments and committed faithful members. It must be painful to note that as someone who believes that we are wrong in our generous orthodoxy, but don't let your pain make you stupid. Get your facts right.
Back to the church and Douthat. I have not noticed a lack of real faith or personal transformation in the Episcopal Church. It might be a problem somewhere, but everywhere I've lived and worked -- Dallas, Los Angeles and New York -- I have been surrounded by faith filled, generous, whip smart, fabulously charming and attractive Christians in The Episcopal Church faithful to the practice of the sacraments and the discipline of the church. I can believe he has a hard time believing that, but it's not a matter of belief. It is simply true.
At our convention a deputy stood up and said racial profiling was a "term of ease" used by the media. At a loss for words out of frustration, he ended by saying, "I don't know what racial profiling is." A deputy from Arizona stood up at a microphone and told him exactly what it was and how it happened to her in her daily life. That is how we are changed. When we debate an idea, an embodiment of that idea exists in that room, sometimes more than one.
What we did at convention was not in an attempt to recruit or appease, it has nothing to do with glorious Bishop Spong or even our wonderful Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori, it has to do with who we are because unlike the conservative churches, we have more kinds of people in our policy making bodies: women, men, old, young, theologians, biblical scholars, liturgists, priests, deacons, bishops, physicians, lawyers, homemakers, farmers, students, teachers and the unemployed -- all faith-filled Christians.
Orthodox theology teaches that this creation is in the image of God. All of it. It also teaches that we are fallen from perfection, from the beginning, fundamentally fallen short, sin filled. I believe that fallen-ness is most visible in our trashing of the systems of life on the earth and in our degradation of our brothers and sisters through systems that create and perpetuate poverty, abuse, neglect, slavery and violence.
The other side believes our fallen-ness is most visible in our desires to have sex outside of the bounds of heterosexual marriage, ordaining women and sometimes in voting for Democrats. I disagree. Jesus of Nazareth's critique of empire and power in the Gospels is visible for any who have eyes to see. Gary Dorrien, an Episcopal priest, writes all about it here and about the heritage and hope of liberal Christianity here.
What happened at General Convention? Besides beginning to think about restructuring the church and passing a whopping huge budget, we made many statements of belief in the resolutions we passed. Here are some: We believe that God cares more about the nature of your relationship than its biology, and we have a beautiful blessing to offer. We believe that God created you to express your gender the way you feel moved to express it. We believe that no one should be assumed to be breaking the law because of his or her appearance. But mostly, we believe that we are received into the household of God in baptism and partake of the body of Christ in the Eucharist, and through the sacrament are given a glimpse of God's vision for a just world, and the courage to make it real, and we want you to join us.
That's some crazy stuff, but that's where we are in The Episcopal Church in 2012. The Episcopal Church is resurrecting itself, once again, and I am honored to bear witness.
Follow Rev. Winnie Varghese on Twitter: www.twitter.com/wsvarghese
Rev. Susan Russell: Episcopalians Work to Put the 'T' in Equality
Greg Garrett: Don't Panic: Why the Church of England Shouldn't Fear Gay Marriage
Rt. Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool: Marriage Equality Through A Sacramental Lens
Years later, I found the Episcopal Church. As I learned about its teachings, I started understanding the Bible in a way that is deeply meaningful to me. I’ve been blessed with new understanding that isn’t focused on exact wording, surface details, and Old Testament rules, but instead focuses on the deeper messages, such as recurring themes about love, compassion, and humility. Accordingly, everyone is welcome in the Episcopal Church, and no one has to hide his or her orientation. I’m so glad to have found a church with beliefs that fit with my own! I love our worship services, my growing understandings of God, our community-service events, and the loving people I’ve met. Never thought I’d say it, but I’m glad to be back at church!
I am proud to have LEFT the church organization that:
1) Breaks their own rules and deposes godly bishops for what they "might" do
2) Spends $20 MILLION to sue congregations for their property - congregations that have built, maintained and worshiped in the churches for generations
3) Changes the rules to give the Presiding Bishop metropolitan - almost Papal powers - again, against their own Constitution.
4) Maintains that there are "other paths to God" - when Jesus himself said otherwise.
Jesus loves us all, and invites us to repent - literally "change direction" - and follow Him. He loves us as He finds us, but demands that we change.
They will know we are Christians by our love - and the Episcopal church isn't coming out on the "loving" side of the equation these days.
Signed - one of those who was "sloughed off" - how "generous" of you...
But there are also other groups, groups who value people more than doctrine, who are willing to get down on their knees - to help a friend to search for a penny. You can find them - not just among Episcopalians, but also among atheists, Buddhist, Jews and Muslims and the list goes on ...
I am one of the harshest critics of the Episcopal Church and yet it is also one of the most loving communities you can find on this planet.
To paraphrase Jesus: "What you seek is what you will find."
-- Fr. Gareth Scott Harris - SentimentalStargazer.com
Oh it gets worst a christian nation that calls corporations persons. really persons?
Are your members in the street protesting such a corrupt culture? I think not.
I go to church with a friend often as a friend but will not join a religion that lacks understanding of what jesus really taught. and it was not wars for corp profits or a mega size military or a love for capitalism. not even close.
Today, there's no obligation to accept any of these features of traditional Anglicanism. It is the ultimate cafeteria faith. You put together what YOU want to make of it. Soon Presiding Bishop Schori will be presiding over prayers to the Great God of Reason with young virgins sacrificed to Baal.
Anglicanism's once greatest draw was the Book of Common Prayer, Coverdale's bible and the King James bible, the sermons of the Caroline Divines, and the marvelous tradition of choral music. Unfortunately, soon all of this will be extinct as the village blacksmith.. With the exception of a few cathedrals here and in the UK, the core of Anglican piety and spirituality will have become mere museum pieces maintained in rapidly declining number of places.
It can't even call itself "The Republican Party at Prayer" now. Since Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, Unitarians,Jews, and many Congregationalists have higher incomes and have the highest number of members with Graduate degrees.
So what's to like?
Healthy sheep REPRODUCE, sickly ones don't.
Given the dramatic drop in members in the Episcopal, it doesn't look too healthy to me.
To compare yourself to other churches with sick sheep is not the right standard of comparison. Maybe you ought to consider the work being doing by groups like "Gospel for Asia" in India. Here they are making striking in-roads into the dalite (the untouchables) community of the Hindu religion.
And guess what, Gospel for Asia is most certainly NOT teaching the what the American Episcopal church is teaching.
Perhaps decline will slow and articles like this will start to open the floodgates and you will soon be welcoming the masses back in.
Great update.
As for the people outside the church who feel free to comment on and criticize what the official church body decides about its dogma and practices: what's it to ya? Wasn't there something about the splinter in the other's eye and the log in your own?