June 30, 2005
Craving
Craving
So much of our energy with regard to God these days seems spent more on control than on faith.
At some deep level, our increasingly pervasive and inordinate concern for doctrine, theology, and some elusive thing called “Anglican orthodoxy” seems grounded in distrust. We want faith to be a dependable system, not a risk. We want assurances of its benefits and proof of its performance. We have our eyes on the prize, not on the Giver of the prize. Do we ever ask ourselves to whom rather than to what do we want “the faithful” to be faithful?
When we gather in our communities, we insist on negotiating contracts to protect our interests. We’re edgy about calling them contracts, of course, but what else are we doing when we argue about ownership, liturgical norms, and leadership, when we demand covenants, commitments, letters of agreement, pledge statements, creeds, and job descriptions?
In Episcopal Church polity, when it is exercised properly, legitimately, and with its built-in balance of authority, justice at least has an outside chance. This pontifical craving to be right and fear to be wrong which permeates so much of the rest of our global Communion not only compromises such a process, it also insults our Creator who imagines that for us to be human is to give us freedom of choice.
Next thing you know, somebody will suggest we do a background check on God.