Movement toward Forgiveness

As I said in an earlier post, I read with interest and a bit of trepidation, the apology from the Archbishop of Canterbury for his behavior and statements made about LGBT people of faith. I don't take it lightly when a man of his intellect uses the term "profoundly sorry." Intellectual people, people who spend most of their time living in their heads without remembering the heart that pumps the blood to the brain is in the same body... those folks are not the best "feelers" in the world. And so a phrase like "profoundly sorry", to my ears and heart, seems to be a genuine effort toward feeling remorse for what has occured in the past.
But as genuine as his effort is, in the same speech, the Archbishop made an unfortunate statement in regards to the difficulties presented by the consecration of a gay man as a bishop (+Gene Robinson) and what that does to a Christian in Malaysia (a country with a large Muslim population).

"The freedom claimed, for example, by the Episcopal church to ordain a partnered homosexual bishop is, simply as a matter of fact, something that has a devastating impact on the freedom of, say, the Malaysian Christian to proclaim the faith without being cast as an enemy of public morality and risking both credibility and personal safety. It hardly needs to be added that the freedom that might be claimed by an African Anglican to support anti-gay legislation likewise has a serious impact on the credibility of the gospel in our setting.”

OK... I DO get the tension that our actions in the United States might cause for someone in Malaysia, particularly since in Asia, there has been a rise in violence against Christians. But +Gene isn't the reason for that violence; hatred, fear, power-struggles, politics and anger at the Gospel are the reasons for that danger in Asia. All of those existed PRIOR to 2003, the year of his election and consecration. Likewise, the ABC equates the freedom of the Episcopal Church to consecrate a man who is truthful about his sexual orientation with the freedom of Ugandan Anglicans to support witch hunts and imprisonment of LGBT people for the crime of love? As a lesbian, that is the most insulting comparison of apples to oranges I've ever heard! Allowing faithful LGBT people called into ministry to follow the calling wherever God takes it doesn't jeopardize anyone else's life and liberty. Even those Christians living in hostile parts of the world. Remember, it's not +Gene that is at the center of the attacks on them; it's centuries old anger that makes being Christian a risky business.
So, in one part of his speech, the ABC says he is "profoundly sorry" for anything he might have said or done to exacerbate the wounding that has occured to LGBT people. And then he misses the boat--again--and insults us--again--in an effort to straddle the middle and maintain unity.

I have not forgotten that he has said he is "profoundly sorry". I want so to believe that he really is. I want to be in a place with the Archbishop where I can take his "profoundly sorry" into my being, and respond with "I forgive you." I want that type of relationship with all people, especially in the Church because the Church has been a source of deep pain for so many of us. I hear that pain expressed in the ugly words that emerge from the lips of my friends who proudly pronounce the death of God... which isn't about God, but about their own feelings of separation because the Church (usually Roman Catholic) has put up not just a stumbling block, but a concrete barrier in their path to understanding and knowing of God.

So, here's where I stand: I have heard the "profoundly sorry." And I am keeping that "profoundly sorry" in my heart. And there's room for many more such statements as evidenced by actions that I hope will come in the future.

I am confident in one thing: God is with both me and the Archbishop and all others as we keep moving in a direction that I hope will lead to a better, safer world for all of us as we come to believe in a kingdom where we are all equal.

There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring,* heirs according to the promise.--Gal.3:28-29