Thursday, June 10, 2010

O, No, Canada!!

After Pentecost is supposed to be the "green" season. But apparently, if you are in the Anglican Church of Canada, this is the "yellow" season. The General Synod meeting in Halifax decided not to decide anything on blessing of same-sex marriages. You can read it HERE. The statement is the usual blah blah blah that is commonly used to defend a defenseless position of maintaining a pattern of discrimination. How I interpret the Synod's statement: "We're frightened of the big hairy scary man in England who is threatening to take away our chance to attend the keg parties with the other purple dudes, and so we'll just quiver in our boots and tell the queers, 'Not at this time' and hope they aren't offended."

Well, sorry, but I am offended. Probably every gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender person is offended. And hurt. And frustrated. Queers can get married legally in Canada. The government says it's OK. But the Anglican Church can't go along with this and offer to bless those self-same marriages?

The paragraph in the statement that grabbed my attention:
We are deeply aware of the cost to people whose lives are implicated in the consequences of an ongoing discernment process. This is not just an ‘issue’ but is about people’s daily lives and deeply held faith commitments. For some, even this statement represents a risk. For some the statement does not go nearly far enough.

And for some... we are tired of your statements and your "deep awareness". If you are that deeply aware, then you'd realize that continuing to hold a group of people off to the side as "other" is not a Christian act!

If I'm "deeply aware" of anything it's the place of the Episcopal Church in all of this. Our ECUSA is obviously going to have to go it alone. Peace be with us!

2 comments:

fr dougal said...

Well, yellow was a liturgical colour in the rite of Sarum. ++KJS is addressing the Scottish General Synod this morning so you guys may not be as alone as you think!

SCG said...

Perhaps we are seeing new alliances. The Scots were with us from the start of the Episcopal Church, so it is fitting that she be their guest after ++Rowan's "I'm not letting you in my clubhouse any more" stance. Thanks for the info, frdougal.