October 17, 2005
Stew
A theologian friend of mine says that the Windsor Report which has so many of us Anglican Christians in such a stew is captive to a colonial paradigm.
He means, I think, like wherein power is exercised from the “center” and local variation is seen as either a matter of indifference or as a threat to be contained. The right wing in the US and in the UK has been very good at capitalizing on colonial resentment and painting the US as a neo-imperial power, which in some ways, of course, we are.
The progressive elements in our Church, of course, are the ones who are most opposed to imperialism and the right wingers are the most in favor of it. Somewhere back there in these lapses in the apses there are people who still make smug jokes about the poor. There’s also a Great Commandment about love, and a Great Commission about some sort of endeavor that’s supposed to pick up that theme and follow.
And Jesus wept.
[Visit Episcopal Relief and Development at http://www.er-d.org/ to make a donation to Katrina or Rita Relief or Episcopal Migration Ministries at emm@episcopalchurch.org to volunteer to assist displaced people with housing.]