PROPER 14-B, August 10, 2003

The Seventy-fourth General Convention is now history. There will be those who will want to assert that what seems to have been the main event this past week in Minneapolis was a defining moment in the life of our church. They would not be referring to that moment when we re-committed ourselves as a church to spread the Gospel to all people, especially those closest to us whom we often neglect the most, namely our family and friends. They would not mean those moments when the worship and prayer and bible study times truly reflected who we are as a church, one made up of all sorts and conditions of people. They would not mean the fact that, unlike some church bodies, we can actually gather to debate and discuss our church and our faith. That is not what they would mean by a defining moment.

Rather what some would assert as a defining moment in the life of our church was the consent to the election of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire. Perhaps those who assert that this event was indeed defining moment in the life of our church are correct. Perhaps. But I would disagree.

Yes, I had two newspaper reporters call me on the phone and four television reporters come to my office to interview me on camera. They did not ask me about any of those other moments nor did they seem to be concerned about them even though in the grand scheme of things they were indeed more important even if we cannot call them defining moments. They wanted to know what I thought about the consent to Gene Robinson’s election and what I thought might happen to the church. So I told them.

I told them what I have said before: that we are bigger than the sum total of who we are, that no issue, including, perhaps especially, this one, would divide the church. Yes, there are those who disagree, just as there are those who still do not believe woman should or can be ordained. Indeed, there are those in our church who read the same bible passage and understand it differently. But we still gather as a family in faith, in love with one another, supporting one another even as we agree to disagree with one another on some very serious issues, especially issues for which we do not have the answer, issues for which we are struggling together to find the answer.

Jesus called us to spread the Gospel to all peoples. That was his last and great command. He did not call us to weed out and condemn all those we deemed to be sinners. He knew better because we ourselves would be on the list of those weeded out. He did not even expect us to agree with one another in everything on every matter.

Like the community Jesus gathered around himself, so are we today. We are all sorts and conditions of people. We are zealots like James, young like John, wise in the ways of the world like Matthew, brusque like Peter, followers like Nathaniel, seekers of the truth like Andrew, betrayers like Judas. If a Search Committee were gathered today to select one of the Twelve to become their next Rector, I am afraid the members would decide they would have to call for more names. As I mentioned to one of the reporters, our sign says, “The Episcopal welcomes you.” There are no asterisks and no exceptions. Everyone is welcome.

Personally, I am grateful that the Search Committee who called me did not ask me to open the door of my personal closet. Like everyone else I know there are a few skeletons there I would prefer to leave there. I do not mean this to be flippant. What our Bishops and Deputies did in Minneapolis on this issue of homosexuality was important. For what they said is that we cannot and must not avoid the issue as we have for so many years because it is an issue that will not go away even if we all want it to. It has been with us for thousands of years and will be with us after we have all met our Maker in death when, and only when, we will know all the truth. As Father Gary Coffey called it in his sermon on the First Sunday of Lent in 1999, it is “The Cadillac in Our Living Room” and we have finally chosen to ignore it no longer. I am proud for our church for doing so.

So often as a church we have been the last ones on board instead of leading the way, as we are called to do, especially on moral and ethical issues. Cloning is now a fact but we have no moral and ethical response to it. Dr. Christian Barnard performed the first heart transplant while I was studying theology many years ago. We had no response to those who asked if such a procedure was ethically allowed. So often as a church we react to what has happened instead of speaking out on issues before they happen. To be sure, we often do not have a choice. Jesus confronted sin and selfishness, pride and hypocrisy whenever and wherever he encountered it. But he also taught us how to avoid all of it so that we would not be caught up in it either.

No, what took place in Minneapolis was not a defining moment in the church. There was only one defining moment and that moment took place at Pentecost. That is when the Holy Spirit was given to us to help us discern, as best we can, fallible creatures that we are, God’s will and God’s way for us. Ever since then the Holy Spirit has been with is to help us understand Jesus’ message of love and concern and care for all people no matter who they are, where we find them; no matter color of skin, ethnic background or sexual orientation. It took the church 800 years to condemn slavery. It took our General Convention until 1970 before women could vote. Sometimes it takes a long time for the Holy Spirit to work its way and God’s will into our hearts and lives.

Rather what took place in Minneapolis was what I would call one of those Gamaliel moments in the life of our church. Remember Gamaliel? He was the wise member of the Jewish Sanhedrin who counseled his fellow members to leave well enough alone with this fledging group of people who called this man Jesus “The Messiah.” Gamaliel reminded them that if these disciples of this Jesus were not from God, what they were saying or doing would come to an end. But if what they were saying was God-given and God-driven, they would not be able to stop it and, in the end, would find themselves fighting their own God.

That was sound advice then and it is sound advice now. If what was done in Minneapolis is not from God, it will come to an end of itself. If it is from God, then what was done was godly and right. Some will say that what we are doing is condoning sin. Well of course we are! To “condone” means not only to “overlook,” it also means to “forgive.” Who here does not condone his or her own sins and wants them condoned, both overlooked and forgiven, by everyone, including God?

By this I do not mean to say homosexual acts are sinful. That is not my point. Some may very well be and probably are. So is lying, stealing, cheating, gossip, slander, pride, lust, laziness: need I go on? We are all sinners, every last one of us. No one of us is a greater sinner or a lesser sinner than another. Sin is sin. Difference in degree makes no difference. “Oh, yes it does,” many will assert. But such assertions will come from those of us who want to justify our own sinfulness at the expense of another. “I may lie and cheat on my taxes and gossip too much,” I may say. “But at least I don’t cheat on my wife and I am certainly not a homosexual!” Well, good for me!

Gamaliel moments happen all the time. Pope John had one when he condemned slavery in the ninth century. Martin Luther had one when he tacked his 97 Thesis to that church door in Wittemburg. The Episcopal Church in the country had one in 1789 when, under the leadership of Bishop White, it broke away from the Mother Church of England. Gamaliel moments happen every time we step out in faith into the unknown. Those words “step out in faith” are vital. All that was done in Minneapolis was done in faith. Those who voted for or against any issue did so because they believed, truly believed, they were doing the right thing, doing what the Holy Spirit led them to do, vote they way they did.

Were any of them certain that what they said and did was of the Holy Spirit? If they were, then they do not understand how the Holy Spirit works in the church. But every one of them believed the Holy Spirit was at work in Minneapolis even when they took issue with where they saw the Spirit perhaps leading them. So did those who opposed Pope John and Martin Luther and Bishop White.

Was what was done in Minneapolis a defining moment in our church? Not really. Was what was done the work of the Holy Spirit? I trust it was. I believe it was a Gamaliel moment and that we will now allow time and the Holy Spirit to teach us. In the meantime we must continue to pray for our church and always be open to the working of the Spirit in our lives even when we do not understand the Spirit’s ways. We must continue to love and care for one another even as we may continue to disagree in love with one another on some very serious issues. May God bless all of us on our journey to discover God’s will and God’s way for all of us.