Women Clergy = Horses and Other Absurdities

I am simply amazed at the creative but destructively caustic words that come from those who are consciously bent on schism of The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, AND who claim to consider themselves "doing God's will" in Christ's name.

The previously unknown/unnamed correspondent, Caroline J.A. Anderson, from the Anglican Mainstream, said the following about our PB Elect, +Katharine Jefferts Schori:

"the most traditional of the Anglo-Catholics do not believe that women can be ordained any more than horses can. Just as we would not consider a horse ordained even if in some odd ceremony it had the prayers of the ordination service prayed over it, and hands laid on it, so an ordained woman is simply not ordained. So for the most traditional Anglo-Catholics we have just elected a very talented but equally misled, lay person as our next Presiding Bishop."

"...how can a non-ordained person hold a position of such authority? For the evangelicals it shows that regardless of what The Episcopal Church may say it has no intention of changing course. For those who are trying to get us to toe the Lambeth line it may be experienced as another slap in the face. Once again, the Episcopal Church has moved faster than the rest of the Communion and has listened to the Holy Spirit more than to the councils of the Church. The Archbishop of Canterbury has sent a gracious message, but he notes that Schori's election will 'undoubtedly have an impact' and he must be wondering what in the world will happen next."

To have the sheer nerve to compare legally, canonically ordained women clergy with animal nature of horses, is to insult women everywhere and their contribution to the church. Why is this? Because we are all "ordained" by virtue of Paul's words, that we are all part of the "priesthood" of Christ. Further, they called +Katharine Jefferts Schori a "talented but misled lay person". If they could only fathom that those who hold this opinion of our PB Elect, don't even qualify to stand in her shadow they are so vastly ignorant of what real intelligence, spiritual gifts, blessings and goodness truly is in Christ's Church.

+Katharine is educated [unlike those who wrote the original article or hold those points of view], spiritual beyond the recognition of those who purport to know "the Truth", in tune with the Holy Spirit [that flame of Wisdom that Christ gave us to guide us as individuals as well as a community of believers; it is obvious that the wondrous seed of the Holy Spirit fall on all believers, but some ground is far more fertile than others], articulate and gracious [to me she is the calm in this doctrinal and petty storm stirred up by those who whine because they can't get their way], and she was the elected by our bishops and consented to by our deputies who felt the Holy Spirit move among them at Trinity Episcopal Church in downtown Columbus, and in the House of Deputies. It cannot be more clear that God has ordained +Katharine Jefferts Schori as the one to bring positive and enlightened change to our denomination, and most likely--in time--to the entire Anglican Communion.

In the second quote from our Anglican Mainstream truly stuns me, especially when it says this:

"...the Episcopal Church has moved faster than the rest of the Communion and has listened to the Holy Spirit more than to the councils of the Church."

I would much rather listen to the Advocate, the Helper, the Holy Spirit that Jesus Christ gave us than to man-made doctrine that is in and of itself, flawed and inflexible. Man-made doctrine is just that, "man-made" because no women were ever permitted to influence the Scriptures though there are many beautiful examples of women in both Old and New Testaments that obviously show the key involvement of women in Christ's ministry.

God, in His glorious will, has changed all that and has brought us to this positive and defining moment in our church. I am glad we are accused of listening to the Holy Spirit more than the "councils of the Church" because She is part of the Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What better way to obtain wisdom for the course before us than to rely on the flawed, stilted, and unbending voices of David Anderson and Kendall Harmon.

I am proud and yet humbled to have +Katharine as my future Presiding Bishop, the Anglican Communion's first woman Primate. Proud because she will lead us into an even better future than ++Frank has led us already, and humbled because the Holy Spirit moved among those who sought guidance to choose her, and so showed Herself to be truly and tangibly present to the rest of us. +Katharine will always outshine her critics and naysayers, including the "orthodox" women who have been duped by they narrow-minded male leaders in their little "orthodox" conclaves into believing what they say and do is right.

For those who want division and are threatening to leave The Episcopal Church, I pray:

Lord have mercy.
Christ have mercy.
Lord have mercy.

In times of uncertainty I have always remembered one of Paul's more brilliant moments in Romans:

"And God causes all things to work together for good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose."

+Katharine Jefferts Schori has been called according to His purpose because she truly loves God, and will endeavor with all of our support and prayers to make all the turmoil work together for good.

Amen.