Life As Performance Art 102

Here is an email I sent yesterday to my parish priest, regarding the decision of this synod to not yet approve same sex marriage in the Anglican Church of Canada: "I have been reflecting further today on what was said at church about same sex marriage. While I was walking afterward I was in prayer about it, and when I am on these long walks I try to hear what God is saying to me. First I asked him how I should have voted had I been part of the synod. Almost verbatim I was told, that I would have voted yes, knowing that Jesus welcomes everyone and wants a church where all can feel safe and welcome and full participants.Then when I asked about why it wasn't approved, I was told that because it is not time yet. Basically, Same sex marriage, like the environment, and like gender equality and many other worthy causes, as important as they are to us, are still not necessarily the priorities that God wants us to focus on. It is usually because there are things more fundamental to our faith, life and witness that we need to learn and absorb, or relearn, otherwise we cannot be trusted with the new. There are some priorities that we are still failing to consider, especially our holy obligation to the poor. This has to come first. Not the default racism that results from focussing on reconciliation with First Nations, as important as this is, but real care, support, advocacy, sacrificial love and ministry to all who are vulnerable, especially economically vulnerable, homeless and street homeless. It appears to me, that very little is being done in those areas, and until this diocese takes things a lot further than simply telling the government to pay us a living wage, I don't think we are going to be getting a lot further on other areas. I think for______, they are ___ very young and they are going to be quite zealous on the things that are important to them. The things that we believe that God wants, at times are the things that God wants, but very often they are more our idea of what God wants. God still walks us through these things, not necessarily to give us what we think he wants, but to teach us, mold us and discipline us through the process, making this wilderness wandering our discipleship training. Is same sex marriage important to Jesus? I think what matters to him more is that queer people can feel safe and fully included in the church, and if ordaining same sex marriage can help this along, then so much the better. But more our idea than his, he is simply walking with us through the process. As for those who are not comfortable with same sex marriage, or whose theology is different, they also need to be included and made to feel welcome. It is partly honouring the way some of the First Nations view marriage, but also to try not to see this through the lens of race and culture, and to accept that this is also the position that some Christian evangelicals are taking, not because they are homophobic, but that is how they understand marriage and God (I don't agree with their position, but I respect it all the same as part of our diversity). For me, what would be ideal, would be for the diocese to proceed with ordaining gay marriage, but with the proviso that parishes that vote against it should also be made to feel welcome, but by the same token that they are still to welcome and fully include married lesbians and gays in their midst. This could be complicated, and we probably are never going to get it right, We never do. But right now, we are really defaulting on our call to serve the poor and this needs to be brought forth as a prophetic challenge to the church, and in writing this to you, that is exactly what I am doing....". I can only add to this that in London, Ontario (let's get our Londons right!), yesterday, there was a protest at one of the Anglican parishes against this decision and parishioners were encouraged to come out (pun intended, Gentle Reader!), dressed in rainbow colours as an expression of solidarity to their gay members. No problem there. What I was a bit perplexed over is what drama queens some were being, as though a great heresy had just taken over the church, or as if the inquisition had been revived. This should not be a huge issue. Jesus nowhere in the Gospels mentions homosexuality, and his rare reference to marriage is always as a heterosexual norm. On the other hand, this doesn't mean that we shouldn't be permitted to marry those whom we love. It is more a matter of having a sense of proportion, which the postmodernist nonsense that has overtaken the thinking of many Anglicans has entirely thrown under the bus. I would like a church that welcomes and supports the poor, and shares all wealth equally, as well as a church that is reconciled with indigenous people and that fully welcomes and integrates LGBTQ people. I really don't know if that is ever going to happen. Anglicans, among Christians, are notoriously selfish.