Calgary’s Next Bishop
Ξ April 11th, 2006 | → 1 Comments | ∇ Theology, Journal |
My family and I often speak about the election that is coming up on June 24th for Calgary’s next bishop. (That’s Anglican Bishop for those of you who don’t know). I have been thinking a lot about the whole situation and one of the hot issues this time around is the whole same-sex blessing issue and the whole deal around marriage and the Anglican Church of Canada. It’s been a mess to say the least regardless of what side of the issue you stand on, people have been hurt and displaced. It really has been a mess.
What’s worse is that it’s been a huge distraction for some people. Kingdom work is not getting done in some places because the leaders are focused fully on this issue. It’s kind of ironic if you think about it. We’re concerned about the bible being held up as an authority when it comes to marriage. There are a few areas that speak to marriage in the bible, but in my opinion it is not the main point of the book. The bible’s main point is to inform us of what the main point of our lives should be and it doesn’t flag marriage issues as being what the main point of our efforts should be. So I think one needs to be careful as a church leader these days. The evil one would like nothing more than to distract you from the main point of your ministry and the main point of your lives.
That being said, I think we are facing a dangerous possibility coming into this election. The Bishop serves many roles. One of which will be to clean up some of the mess of all the stuff that’s gone on in the recent past. Another role will be to create a stable environment for this whole marriage issue to get sorted out. This role will mean that the person needs to be a good pastor and a good listener.
In my opinion it would be nice if it were someone who would put their foot down when it comes to things like same-sex blessing. In this regard I’m a conservative. I think the bible is pretty clear on it. I must say though that my position is not based on a phobia or anything. I’m not afraid of the idea of there being homosexuals at my church or in my life. Actually I find myself torn on the issue sometimes because I have close friends who call themselves homosexuals.
Here’s what I’m really afraid of. I’m worried that the election of the bishop will be about same-sex blessings. I’m concerned that people will vote such that the person to be elected will represent their standpoint on this issue. What’s even scarier is that someone might vote conservative purely because of the same-sex issue. So now instead of seeking the correct person for the job, we are simply looking for a conservative, or perhaps a liberal if you are on the other side of the same-sex blessing issue. There’s more to the job than this one issue. And when you think of it, you can’t do blessings now and you won’t be able to for a while even if it is going that way, so perhaps what we need now is a person who can heal and patch up. Maybe the whole marriage thing is taking too much of a chunk of the consideration pie.
What if we manage to get a conservative guy in who think liberally on the same-sex issue? Or what if we get a conservative guy who is conservative in regards to marriage, but is also very conservative in regards to liturgy and decides to remove the BAS from the churches in Calgary and area?
My whole point here is that the term conservative or liberal, or pro same-sex blessing or anti-same-sex blessing, does not give us enough to be able to determine who is the right guy for this job. He (or she) needs to be balanced and needs to go far deeper than any agenda based on this marriage thing. In fact I think he should have one agenda and that would be to be wholly devoted to pursuing the will of God on all things and to be committed to his own relationship with Jesus.
I’d love to see a bishop that actually sets out to try and inspire deeper relationships with Jesus - both with the clergy and the laity. I’d like to see a bishop that is more Christ-like in his appointment. I don’t think Jesus would spend a lot of time on the same-sex blessing issue. He’d say his thing on the issue and get back down to spending time with the people, playing with the kids, and being a pastor and leader to his disciples. Bishops, in my experience, are too busy to do that and that’s really too bad.
So that’s about all I have to say on the topic. I just hope that the voters at the election will take the time to look at the bigger picture and to not base thier vote simply on this one issue of same-sex blessing.
A link regarding this election: