From Another End of My Diocese

I decided to take a look at what's been going on "John 1:5" lately.

Here's an excerpt from a reply to someone angry about the Church of the Blessed Sacrament's decision to be a parish with some members under DEPO of Bishop +Ed Little (including the clergy I would presume) and some under ACNA The very idea of doing something like this is so astoundingly creative (and beats the alternative) that you all should know about it.

Moreover, the sloganistic words “diversity” and “inclusivity” have little or nothing to do with the Christian faith of the New Testament, which is the foundation of our life. Diversity and inclusivity are valuable principles only when they are expressive of the much richer and deeper Christian virtues of firm adherence without compromise to revealed truth, lived out in powerful charity. When these convictions are held, then “diversity” and “inclusivity” do not need to be mentioned, for they are already being done. I don’t think you can even find these words in the New Testament—you find much more powerful and richer words than “diversity” and “inclusivity”. How can one be more inclusive than to “preach the Gospel to every creature”? When one is committed to preaching to every creature, one doesn’t have to repeat how “inclusive” one is being. The very appellation “Evangelical” requires “inclusivity”. And how can one be more diverse than “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female—you are all one in Christ Jesus”? Being incorporated into Christ does not obliterate or ignore these real differences, but rather affirms the uniqueness and value of each believer and revels in the differences that make up the one Body. The very appellation “Catholic” requires “diversity”.

The attraction of the progressive tendency in the Episcopal Church these days is that I find more room there than anywhere else to discern how the promise of God in Jesus Christ along these lines can be genuinely realized. I worry that we may be led into self-idolatry if it goes too far. But to borrow from Alister McGrath's analogy of Christian doctrine as a ship, there is bad wood in some parts of the ship that's causing illness and violence among the sailors. My love for the shipwrights will not blind me to the faults in the cabin walls. And anyone who says otherwise must be challenged just as much those who are trying to tear up the entire ship "to give us all some fresh air."