Adelphoi in the ECUSA,
Letus forget about the ECUSA & a gay bishop and think for a while about ECUSA & the LORD our God.
Where have we, who now roundly condemn the ECUSA's General Convention for its confirmation of the "gay" Canon Robinson been, for the last thirty years or so? Did we not see the "writing on the wall" often and with respect to a variety of changes, modifications, and additions made by the same General Convention since the 1960s? Do we not realise that the confirmation of Robinson, though wholly wrong, was only possible because of decades of changes in the mindset of the leadership of the ECUSA at diocesan and national level?
In fact, do we not see that it is radically changed thinking about and attitude to YHWH, the LORD, the Blessed Trinity of the Father, the Son & the Holy Ghost, that have been the root cause of the multiple changes made in the worship, doctrine, and discipline of the Episcopal Church since the 1960s
If this can be stated in one sentence it would something like this statement:
"From the holy, ordered and covenantal relation to the almighty, transcendent Father, through the Incarnate Son and by the omnipresent Holy Ghost, the ECUSA has moved to a convenient, experiential relationship with a God who is more immanent than transcendent and who is usually presented as One Person made known in three Modes and/or Names (old style Father, Son and Holy Ghost, new style Mother-Father, Child and Spirit, or Creator, Redeemer & Sanctifier)."
The loyalty to the new Deity lies behind (a) the continuing changes in liturgy and especially the fixation on expansive language and the multi-this and that concerns; (b) the continuing changes in moral standards and norms related to modern human rights and personal autonomy & self worth agendas; (c) the virtual disappearance from the ECUSA of commitment to classic patristic dogma and the teaching of the "standard" Anglican divines concerning the central verities held by the Anglican Way, and (d) the lip-service to the Bible which is now read wearing spectacles allowing only post 1960s "light" to pass through them.
Compare the doctrine of the 1928 edition of the classic Book of Common Prayer repudiated by the General Convention in 1976/79 with that in the recent volumes, this time authorized by General Convention, called "Enriching our Worship".
A relationship (as used today) is very much a post 1960s arrangement where you have two or more parties agreeing to some form of being together until such time as one of them decides to move on or quit. In contrast "relation" (note the use of "relatio" in classic dogma) points to permanency and to the divine initiative in creating the "relatio". May the LORD our God establish with us a "relatio" in which we see with new eyes and act with new vision and energy so that we pursue His glory whatever the cost to ourselves.
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon M.A., D.Phil. (Oxon.)
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