Love and War

The Christian right and left are still at it. In the news, Proposition 8 was passed in CA defining marriage as between a man and a woman. This was filed and supported by Christians and then challenged and condemned by Christians. The Christian right look to the morality of God’s establishment of marriage. The Christian left uphold Gods love to all people. Millions (about $40 million on each side so far) were spent to argue that both sides are misrepresenting God. The rights of homosexuals to call themselves married has somehow become one of the most important religious issue in America. I wonder why the Christian right is so more concerned about homosexual marriage than the pain and misuse found in many heterosexual marriages. And why do the Christian left feel that the civil rights of homosexuals are more oppressed or important than others, say the 200,000 people forced into extremely overcrowded CA prisons. It appears to me that Christians on both sides are just responding to cultural influences and not seeking true purity and mercy from God. They are using what the culture is saying, what the culture is talking about, to support their arguments of right and wrong. Doesn’t God call us to think in a different way?

On a more personal note, I finally did receive a response from Fr. Warner, the rector at Christ Church about my removal from his church. He marked it as Confidential and did use divisive words that really should not be identified as coming from a church leader, so I will not quote directly from it. In it Cliff confirms he can make his decision to remove me without having to discuss it with me or anyone else (or to even provide a reason) and says that he did the best he could. I have since responded that I will seek reconciliation with him (seeking forgiveness not justifications), if would provide a way. I'm truly mean this from my heart but sadly I don't really expect to hear anything back from him. We have many ways to serve together but he has simply decided that I'm out.  

I feel like a scapegoat. You know, during the Day of Atonement, the goat in (a mistranslation of) Lev 16, upon whom the sins of the people are symbolically placed and is then driven away to fend for himself. Cliff has created this uncertainty at Christ Church (or is it in his own heart - I'm not able to tell) and I am a ready target on which to place the frustration this has caused. So upon me it is placed and I am asked to leave the church. Of course, I am personally in no position to atone for the sins of Christ Church or its rector. However, this does give me some empathy with other scapegoats out there.

Most notably are the homosexuals who are forced to stand in the middle of a battle within the church. If they didn’t exist then the church wouldn’t be arguing, the Anglican (Espicopal) church would be unified and the money and time spent on legal actions could be used for more fruitful purposes. What a burden for these scapegoats to bear that they are responsible for splitting a church. As much as I agree with the theology of marriage taught by the Christian right, I must also agree with the left that homosexuals are people loved by God and not scapegoats for our power struggles. My concern is in realizing that these underlying power struggles will continue - globally in the Anglican Church and locally at Christ Church - so who will become the next scapegoat? The different factions in the Anglican church are even now discussing the role of women in church and types of worship that can be used. Will these and other issues be discussed or simply mandated with the new scapegoats to carry the burden?