An unsanctioned, underground forum from a blogger in the Upstate of South Carolina.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Crawling to Easter
Charlie's sermon: "Let's not rush to Easter." Indeed, slow down and prayerfully consider each painful step. If you crawl, the pain may be great, but the gain will be proportionately greater. Is this the principle that should be applied to the great rift in the Anglican Communion? From my island, I can survey the combatants and their opposing battle fleets eager to race to war. But both navies appear to be listing and under questionable command. These people claim to be the people of God for heaven's sake! They do seem to be in a hurry to engage in conflict. Is there a human counselor who can forge a peace? Where have you gone Henry Kissinger?
I'm afraid Dr. Kissinger won't be much help in this one. The idea that costs are outweighed by the benefits of belonging to a cohesive group comes into play. Many would prefer to go 15 rounds (Marquis of Queensbury, of course) with a worthy adversary than to simply ignore the problems, hoping they will go away. Refusing to acknowledge the current issues may, in the near term, be less psychologically trying but, in the long run, it is intellectually dishonest.
ReplyDeleteIgnoring the problem is the Minnesota way according to Garrison Keillor.
ReplyDeleteOne of the costs of religion is the cost to one's pride of giving up a favorite political position. If we could see active "peaceful resolution of conflict" as our game rules, we would set a powerful example to the world. How about it PB, Primates?
Peaceful resolution of this conflict, though we may hope and pray for such, is unlikely. The battle lines are drawn. Both sides believe they have an absolute lock on the truth, spouting Scriptural quotations ad infinitum, in support of their own position. The heels are dug in so deeply that, for there to be peaceful resolution, one side or the other must admit to error. I'm not holding my breath.
ReplyDelete