HE’LL BE HERE ALL WEEK
Olympia Episcopal Bishop Greg “Don’t Call Me Travis” Rickel tries out some new material for his stand-up comedy act:
Rickel, who has served since 2007 as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, which includes all of Western Washington, presents a quite different faith perspective.
“Christianity has held, when considering relationships of all sorts — but especially in relation to two people in marriage — fidelity to be our value,” Bishop Rickel writes. “Fidelity is the value in most all our sacraments, and also in our life as Christians.”
“It seems to me we have held our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in a Catch-22. We say they cannot live up to our value because they cannot be married, or even blessed in their union. While many of them have begged for this, it is still not possible.”
“If one would think about this carefully, it would be clear what they ask of us, the church and their government, is to put boundaries around their relationship, to hold them in the same regard and with the same respect, which would also mean that we expect the same from them, as any loving heterosexual couple.”
Know why that’s funny? Meet Barry Beisner, currently the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California. Or Third-Time’s-The-Charm as I’ve taken to calling him.
Want to know why I call him that? Seems Barry’s been divorced twice and married three times. While I’m certainly not in favor of kicking guys like Barry out of the church(all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God, etc.), it just seems to me that giving Barry a pointy hat and a hooked stick sends…mixed messages.
Actually, that’s not quite right. Making a guy working on his third wife into a bishop clearly communicates to any honest person that the Episcopal Organization doesn’t have any genuine beliefs or standards at all.
If the Episcopalians had the reverence for fidelity in relationships that Greg Rickel claims they do, Northern California would have been told, “Look. Old Third-Time’s-The-Charm may be a great guy and a wonderful minister. But since we value fidelity in marriage, we can’t possibly let this one go through. Take another run at it.”
Of course, you and I both know that Greg Rickel is talking out his narthex. You can stand up in one of their churches, make a marriage vow before God and do it again three years later if you’ve been tapping a Kim Kardashian lookalike and your wife happens to catch you and the young lady in flagrante delicto.
I’m not saying that TEO should adopt the entire Roman Catholic position about marriage. I am saying that the Episcopal attitude toward marriage needs to be WAY more serious than its current “Oh well, crap happens” stance before I’ll even start to believe that the Episcopal Organization really values marital fidelity.
Rickel, who has served since 2007 as bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia, which includes all of Western Washington, presents a quite different faith perspective.
“Christianity has held, when considering relationships of all sorts — but especially in relation to two people in marriage — fidelity to be our value,” Bishop Rickel writes. “Fidelity is the value in most all our sacraments, and also in our life as Christians.”
“It seems to me we have held our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in a Catch-22. We say they cannot live up to our value because they cannot be married, or even blessed in their union. While many of them have begged for this, it is still not possible.”
“If one would think about this carefully, it would be clear what they ask of us, the church and their government, is to put boundaries around their relationship, to hold them in the same regard and with the same respect, which would also mean that we expect the same from them, as any loving heterosexual couple.”
Know why that’s funny? Meet Barry Beisner, currently the Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Northern California. Or Third-Time’s-The-Charm as I’ve taken to calling him.
Want to know why I call him that? Seems Barry’s been divorced twice and married three times. While I’m certainly not in favor of kicking guys like Barry out of the church(all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God, etc.), it just seems to me that giving Barry a pointy hat and a hooked stick sends…mixed messages.
Actually, that’s not quite right. Making a guy working on his third wife into a bishop clearly communicates to any honest person that the Episcopal Organization doesn’t have any genuine beliefs or standards at all.
If the Episcopalians had the reverence for fidelity in relationships that Greg Rickel claims they do, Northern California would have been told, “Look. Old Third-Time’s-The-Charm may be a great guy and a wonderful minister. But since we value fidelity in marriage, we can’t possibly let this one go through. Take another run at it.”
Of course, you and I both know that Greg Rickel is talking out his narthex. You can stand up in one of their churches, make a marriage vow before God and do it again three years later if you’ve been tapping a Kim Kardashian lookalike and your wife happens to catch you and the young lady in flagrante delicto.
I’m not saying that TEO should adopt the entire Roman Catholic position about marriage. I am saying that the Episcopal attitude toward marriage needs to be WAY more serious than its current “Oh well, crap happens” stance before I’ll even start to believe that the Episcopal Organization really values marital fidelity.
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