chimponaut: On the advent of the meeting of the House of Bishops

The bishops of The Episcopal Church are meeting later this week with the theme of the meeting being "The Church for the 21st Century." Topics discerned to be under this umbrella are: same-gender relationships, the Anglican covenant, the emergent church movement, the Around One Table report about Episcopal identity.

What?

Given this set of topics, the better theme for this meeting might be the Church of the 20th Century because that's about where these conversations belong. They are old news...yesterday's issues.

Why are you spending valuable time on a study titled "Same Sex Relationships in the Life of the Church" and debating both traditionalist and revisionist positions? Is this interesting to anyone except theological eggheads? The Episcopal Church has decided, we're already revisionist. Stop talking about it and trying to justify it and move on to being it. This is an issue of justice that the church needs to show unwavering support for both publicly and wholeheartedly. The time for study and debate has long since past.

Secondly, seriously? The Emergent Church movement? In what way is it a 21st Century conversation? The Emergent Church is simply one manifestation of the church in reform - one slice of the pie that 'emerged' a while ago and that many have moved on from finding particularly descriptive. There's a new edge of conversation around reformation bubbling up that is even less influenced by institutional Christianity and much more influenced by pluralism. I suppose it doesn't have a name and a bunch of folks who are trying to be the leader...yet...so it's kinda hard to capture the essence of it right now. But maybe that's a good thing.

And finally, Episcopal identity. I'm not sure talking about it will actually create it, revise it, or in any way impact it. In fact, 'talking about it' might just be the Episcopal identity of the moment. We 21st century folks are a post-denominational, experiential people. Having a conversation about the Episcopal identity is irrelevant and, frankly, seems like an institutional reaction to an increasingly dramatic decreased hegemony. The Episcopal identity is created by just plain people. You can't market your way into a new identity, you can't build a website or an advertising campaign to 're-create' it. Sorry if that feels decentralized and out of your control. Think of it this way, it probably hasn't been in your control for a long time, you are just now realizing it.

Dear, dear bishops. You are the central public figures in our church. What you do, what you talk about, how you do things....it matters.

So I beg you...please end your meeting by becoming The Church for the 21st Century.

Subvert your own authority, your need for centrality, your need to react with more studies and numbers and goals and return your church - The Episcopal Church - to the world that so desperately needs it. Let us down here in the trenches mold and shape and define The Episcopal Church. Empower the people who aren't even among us yet to speak the future of the church, to tell you what is relevant and where the church should be in the 21st century.

For true prophesy is never found at the center of power and we here in the 21st century understand that the true future of the church lies in the collective wisdom of the people of G-d.