As an homage to the rhetoric of the folks who criticize the Episcopal Church from the far right, I would like to put forward this "Modest Proposal" for a response to the Anglican Communion Covenant:

WHEREAS by the grace of God we have established in this country a church both Anglican and Democratic in tradition and practice; and

WHEREAS we enjoy the ministry of bishops, but are no more ruled by them than we are by councils of presbyters or laity; and

WHEREAS we have enjoyed a fellowship with other churches of the Anglican tradition, and hope to continue to do so; and

WHEREAS certain prelates of this church have named themselves Primates and arrogated to themselves powers hitherto unknown in our various churches; and

WHEREAS certain of these Prelates or their minions have entered our borders, “to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us” establishing ‘churches’ on principles hostile to our traditions and order, bringing confusion and disorder to our people and clergy; and

WHEREAS these Prelates, ignorant or inimical to the liberties we have enjoyed in this Church for over 200 years, have caused to be prepared a Covenant, designed to remove our historic rights and practices;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED “though for no other cause, yet for this, That Posterity may know we have not loosely through silence, permitted things to pass away as in a Dream” we have prepared the draft of a response to these Prelates; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we submit this draft to the Prelates of the Anglican Communion for their prayerful consideration:

A Draft Response to the Proposed Anglican Communion Covenant

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident….

+ or - Rowan

He has gotten a lot of bad press over the years, and seems incapable of making anyone happy. This is, of course an interesting projection we put on the boy. "Make us happy." "Be our great external locus of control." "Be a good daddy." But it seems that he doesn't want to play that way with anyone, and doesn't even make himself happy in the process. It's an odd pilgrimage, and one I do not envy him. Many of his old friends accuse him of selling out to the evangelicals, and yet they are as angry with him as anyone.

As things are shaking out, he may be playing a more clever game than anyone thought. Schismatics are rising up on various sides, and, while we might have a smaller communion in the long run, those who cannot remain within will have checked out on their own.

Does anyone pray for him, or do we hope, as with God, that he's on our side.

When Abraham Lincoln was asked what it was like being president, he said,"It's like the man who was tarred, and feathered and ridden out out of town on a rail, who said, 'If it wasn't for the honor of the thing, I'd just as soon have walked.'"

The Episcopal Church and the myth of Orestes

When Agammemnon returned from the Trojan War he was murdered by his wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover. The god Apollo, the god of reason, appeared to Agammenon's son Orestes and ordered him to avenge the impiety of his father's murder. Orestes obeyed, killing his mother and her lover. The goddess Athena then appeared to Orestes, accusing him of impiety for the killing of his mother, and released the Furies on him.

For years the Furies pursued Orestes through the world, tormenting him and allowing him no rest. Finally, Orestes appeared at the goddess' shrine in Athens. Apollo, god of reason, appeared in his defense explaining the necessity of Orestes' actions. Ignoring the god of reason, Orestes addressed the goddess of wisdom, accepting responsibility of his crime. In turn, Athena, goddess of wisdom, returned Orestes to his kingdom, and transformed the Furies into the Eumenides, spirits of supplication.

I believe that we have reason behind the decisions we have made in the life of the church in the last 30 years or so: remarriage after divorce, the ordination of women, the invitation for gays and lesbians to participate fully in the life of the church, but have we exercised wisdom? It is certain that the Furies are loose in the church; so many folks thinking with the gut rather than the brain or even the heart.

With the change in the Prayer Book we found a way to accept and share the challenge and the pain of change. It took time and energy, but when it was done, anyone who said they were left out of the process just hadn't been paying attention.

On the the other issues we have done right, but I don't know if we have done it wisely or well. We have responded to real situations, real changes in our world, and new understandings of what it is to be human. But have we sought ways to accept and share the challenges and pain of these changes?

There are many who call upon us to repent, and I think they are right about the verb, but not what it points to. I think we need to repent of smugness and condescension. I believe we need to repent of our lack of compassion for those who differ from us. I think we need to repent of our desire to only see those who are like us as fully human. Above all, I think we need to repent of our tendency to substitute reason for wisdom.

Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
‘How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?

Wisdom has built her house,
she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine,
she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls
from the highest places in the town,
‘You that are simple, turn in here!’
To those without sense she says,
‘Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.
Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight.’

This was yesterday's reading from Wright's Readings for the Daily Office from the Early Church. Something about his reference to unbridled anger as a sign of evil arising from within seemed to speak to the way many are dealing with the issues of the day (I dimly remember a passage in Fox's Pagans and Christians where he spoke of anger as the besetting fault of the late empire). Why is it that, of all of the passions, anger is the easiest one for us to bless?

If evil is not something which has no principle from which it springs, as is the case of the uncreated Being, and if it is not something that God has made, where does it come from? For no wise person will deny the existence of evil in this world. We are all familiar with the evil of death. But from what we have said it is evident that evil is not a living substance. It is a perversion of mind and spirit, swerving away from the way of true virtue, which frequently overtakes the unwary.

We see also that the greater danger does not come from outside us. It comes from our very selves. The enemy is within us. Within us is the progenitor of our error: within us, I say, dwells our adversary. Hence, we must examine our aims, explore the habits of our minds, be watchful over our thoughts and over the desires of our heart.

You yourself are the cause of your wickedness. You yourself are the commander of your shameful acts, and the instigator of your crimes. Why blame another agent as an excuse for your own faults? Oh! that you would not incite yourself, that you would not rush heedlessly on, that you would not entangle yourself in immoderate endeavors, or in indignation and passionate desires, for these hold you captive as in nets.

Most certainly it belongs to us, and we are able to moderate our endeavors, to restrain our anger, to curb our desires. But we can also yield to wantonness, foster evil passions, inflame our anger, or give in to fits of anger instead of humbly lowering ourselves and lovingly practicing gentleness.

Hence, why should we accuse nature? There are impediments in nature; there is old age and infirmity. But both have also advantages: old age brings more friendly manners, gives more useful counsels, inspires more readiness to accept death, and helps curb evil passions more easily. The weakness of the body too has as counterpart the sobriety of mind. Hence the Apostle says, “When I am powerless, it is then I am strong.” Accordingly he gloried in his infirmities, and no in his powers. And there came to hi the luminous, salutary answer that “in weakness power is made perfect.”

Let us therefore not seek for causes outside ourselves nor blame others for them. Let us acknowledge our guilt. For we must willingly attribute to ourselves, not to others, whatever evil we can avoid doing when we so choose.

From the treatise On the Six Days of Creation by Ambrose, Bishop of Milan