"The Insurrection of the Chieftains"

Just appalling. To think that the essay linked above was printed in the clergy newletter of the Diocese of Los Angeles is a grievous violation of any semblance of communion we might have left between the various factions in ECUSA.

Bluegrass Theology

I have heard the band that will play at the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. I was surprised. It will be Bluegrass.

Some friends took me last night to a local watering hole to hear renowned Bluegrass musicians Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. It was my first such concert (Nickel Creek really doesn’t count) and I was amazed and overjoyed.

What struck me was how natural and unfeigned Skaggs’ talk of his Christian faith was. He spoke of his mother and her deep faith as a “foot washing Free Will Baptist,” and of how God graced him with loving visits from his father in his dreams (the communion of saints). He spoke of the charismata which the Lord bestows upon his people (without using the technical theological language, of course). He also told the tale of how the tune for a particular instrumental song came to him as he read I Corinthians 1:18, a beautiful tune that he credits to the Author of all creativity.

The lyrics of the songs often reflected his Christian faith without falling into ham-fisted preaching. They speak of simple faith, simple duty, and abiding grace. What came to mind as I listened was the admonition of Jean-Pierre de Caussade: “do your Christian duty, and abandon yourself to divine providence.”

The crowd was rather mixed, and I know that many would be nonplused by an out and out Christian witness, but no one seemed put out. The crowd continued to cheer with enthusiasm through the evening.

I credit it to the unforced authenticity of the presence of faith in the evening’s performance. It was evangelism through authentic (and unashamed) Christian existence.

I think we have much to learn from such Bluegrass theology.

A father's confession

Last month the wife and I took #2 daughter to Cal State Someplace to begin her freshman year in college. To my delight I have discovered that she has begun attending bible studies and worship time with Campus Crusade for Christ and Inter Varsity. She also went at least one Sunday to a local church of some evangelical flavor.

To compound my joy (and here is where the confession comes in) she has completely avoided the local Episcopal college group affiliated with an a mainline campus organization which includes the UMC and the UCC, and meets at the local ECUSA church that sports a number of theologically left organizations on the links page of their website.

I have come to an interesting place in my journey through the selva oscura of Anglo-American Anglicanism when I rejoice that my daughter has moved away from us. As I figure it, better that she be a Christian with a vital memory of a more catholic ecclesial experience than to remain in ECUSA and have her faith grow cold or retain catholic form now filled with christopagan substance.

This does, however, raise important questions of my own ecclesiastical allegiances. Have I, one who has considered myself of catholic sentiments, succumbed to anglo-congregationalism?

For #2 daughter I am overjoyed. As for me, I am troubled by the implications.

Which foxhole to die in?

In his comments to the post “Are we wrong?” Moderate states, “And I often wonder, as a priest I know has said, if homosexuality is the wrong foxhole to die in, in the larger conflict with relativism/pluralism.”

I would concur completely. This has been my opinion since the Righter (non)Trial in the ‘90s. I always thought that those who brought changes against Bishop Righter chose both the wrong target and the wrong issue. If there were to be a trial it should have been involving a different bishop from a mid-Atlantic state for out and out heresy.

That being said, a few comments are in order.

Soldiers don’t get to choose the front they have to defend. I am certain that the 101st Airborne would have preferred to defend Einhoven rather than Bastogne. And Lee did not wish to have to defend the line near the Hagerstown Pike and the Dunker Church. The proper front was lost probably when Jim Pike got a mild slap of the hand in the late ‘60s. (This has been Philip Turner’s point.)

I recall that Churchill called WWII an “unnecessary war,” not in the sense that it should not have been fought, but that Hitler should have been confronted long before September 1939. Similarly, we are at this point because we did not adequately defend the faith earlier. This is an unnecessary battle in that sense.

The shame of having to defend this front (and I mean “shame” in the strongest possible senses here, not just “unfortunate”) is also expressed by Moderate earlier in his comment: “However the central question is a bit hard for me to deny, and it is one I wrestle with, knowing as I do a few faithful GLBT members of the church (well GL at least). Their position is hard to deny, and I do find myself wondering if I am wrong in denying it.” The shame is that this current presenting issue hit a certain segment of our church and society in such a personal way. I remember having to tell a woman that I could not perform or support her union with her partner. She was new to the congregation and she came to me with vulnerability and hope. It was deeply disappointing for her when I said I could not. The further background of the current crisis in the church placed this encounter within a larger context where we were players in a global drama.

Had we faced the theological crisis earlier, might have we avoided the pain of such encounters? Who can know? But certainly arriving at this juncture has foreclosed a certain level of pastoral connection that might otherwise been possible if the situation had not become so focused upon an issue that is so very personal.