Dueling Pentecost Letters

I have posted a number of pieces about the pentecost letters of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Presiding Oceanographer of pecusa. The P.O. wrote in response to the Pentecost letter of the ABC and in her response we see that her strong suit is not theology.

In her letter, the P.O. opines,

"The Spirit does seem to be saying to many within The Episcopal Church that gay and lesbian persons are God's good creation, that an aspect of good creation is the possibility of lifelong, faithful partnership, and that such persons may indeed be good and healthy exemplars of gifted leadership within the Church, as baptized leaders and ordained ones. The Spirit also seems to be saying the same thing in other parts of the Anglican Communion, and among some of our Christian partners, including Lutheran churches in North America and Europe, the Old Catholic churches of Europe, and a number of others."

"The Spirit does seem to be saying," says the P.O. The problem with this statement is that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth (look it up, it's in the New Testament) and the Spirit of Truth does not say one thing to pecusa and another thing to the vast majority of the Anglican Communion and worldwide Christendom. Overwhelmingly the Spirit has spoken in Scripture, through Church Tradition and even through right reason (that is, reason guided by the Spirit) that homosexual behavior is not God's will for any of His creatures.

The problem for the P.O is that the Archbishop of Canterbury is a theologian and she is not. He is able to honestly deal with Scripture and she has long lost the ability to do so. We may not agree with all the conclusions of the ABC, but we have to recognize that he is a world-class theologian. In the fourth and final portion of his pentecost letter, the ABC writes,

"We began by thinking about Pentecost and the diverse peoples of the earth finding a common voice, recognising that each was speaking a truth recognised by all. However, when some part of that fellowship speaks in ways that others find hard to recognise, and that point in a significantly different direction from what others are saying, we cannot pretend there is no problem."

The problem for pecusa is that they have chosen to walk a path that is not recognized by the diverse peoples of the Anglican Communion as the true path. They have clung to an ideology that most in the Anglican Communion believe is a false gospel. The majority of the Anglican Communion and worldwide Christendom does not recognize the path of pecusa as authentically Christian.

The final paragraphs of the P.O.'s letter seek to justify the actions of pecusa while explaining why pecusa should not be penalized by the Anglican Communion for walking apart. Of course, walking apart is the language of the Windsor Report, and nothing could be clearer in these days following the consecration of Mary Glasspool that pecusa has chosen to walk apart. As pecusa did after the consecration of VGR, the P.O. wants to walk apart while insisting that pecusa should remain a full communicant member of the Anglican Communion.

The P.O. wants room for pecusa to do whatever pecusa deems right to do without any judgement from the Anglican Communion, without any consequences for actions deemed to be wrong by the Communion. Perhaps she missed this lesson in kindergarten - life doesn't work that way.