"A majority of bishops and dioceses of the Episcopal Church have approved the election of the church's second openly gay bishop, The Rev. Mary D. Glasspool, a decision likely to increase the tension with fellow Anglican churches around the world that do not approve of homosexuality." - The New York Times, Thursday, March 18, 2010
by Rev. Gilbert Caldwell
"Some of my best friends are Episcopalians/Anglicans". These friendships developed during the Civil Rights Movement in Boston and at protests/demonstrations around the nation. I was able to attend the enthronement of Bishop Desmond Tutu in Capetown, South Africa and one of my models for ministry has been that of the late Episcopal priest, Rev. Paul Washington, who was Priest at the Church of the Advocate in Philadelphia. The Church of the Advocate hosted the second National Black Power Conference (that I attended) in 1968, and the first ordination of women in the Episcopal Church (that I did not attend) in 1974.
It was said of the ministry of Father Washington that, "his leadership allowed the church to support rights rallies and protests and he with others developed what was called a Theology of Black Power. He believed that God intended all people, regardless of their race or gender to be vessels of God's power."
Despite its embrace and affirmation of God's expectations of intentional inclusivity of all people, the Episcopal Church in America and as a member of the world-wide Anglican Communion has been viewed by some as violating Biblical tradition by ordaining women and electing women and Gay persons as Bishops. Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool now joins , V.Gene Robinson as the second openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church.
What are the contradictions that some of our sisters and brothers in the Episcopal Church/Anglican Communion wrestle with as they resist inclusivity? Some do not believe that either women or gays should be ordained as clergy. Some believe that women, but not gays have the right to be ordained. Some believe that women can be ordained as Priests, but not elected as Bishops. Some believe that women should be ordained as Priests and elected as Bishops, but that gay persons should not be ordained as Priests nor elected as Bishops. And of course, praise God, there are Episcopalians/Anglicans who believe that the God who expressed Self in the person of Jesus Christ, "Calls" persons to ordination as clergy and election as Bishops, regardless of their gender, race or sexual orientation.
Audre Lorde is described as "one of the most important radical black feminists of the past half century. Her writings and speeches grappled with an impressive broad list of topics, including sexuality, race, gender, class, disease, the arts, parenting and resistance..." She writes; "There is no hierarchy of oppression." (I Am Your Sister, Collected and Unpublished Writings of Auddre Lorde, edited by Rudolph P. Byrd, Johnetta Betsch Cole, Beveryly Guy-Sheftall, Oxford University Press, 2009)
I return to the folk wisdom of my South Carolina grandmother, "Mama Irene" and paraphrase her "saying" that I have quoted over-and-over again. This time attempting to make it relevant for some of the struggles that some Episcopalians/Anglicans and United Methodists are having, accepting the God-given gifts for ministry that have been, that are, and will continue to be offered by same gender loving clergy, be they of the Anglican Communion or The United Methodist Church.
"There is so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, (regardless of our race, gender or sexual orientation), that it doesn't behoove any of us to talk about (or deny ordination and ministry) to the rest of us" (Whatever our race, gender or sexual orientation may be).
Thanks again, "Mama Irene". You understood as I have heard people say, "The ground at the foot of the Cross is level". You believed with Audre Lorde that there is no "hierarchy" of good folk or bad folk.
The Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is a retired United Methodist Minister who lives in Asbury Park, N.J. He was active in the Massachusetts unit of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) and participated in the civil-rights movement throughout the nation. In 2000, he, with others, organized the RMN Extension ministry United Methodists of Color for a Fully Inclusive Church (UMOC), an organization committed to the full inclusion of LGBT people in every aspect of church and society. His recent book, Something Within: Works by Rev. Gilbert H. Caldwell is available from Church Within A Church.
Reconciling Ministries Network mobilizes United Methodists of all sexual orientations and gender identities to transform our Church and world into the full expression of Christ’s inclusive love.
