The Problem With Mediocrity

"You've been very quiet."

I can't tell you how many messages I've gotten like that.

Yes, I've been very quiet about the response from the HOB to the Primates DES Statement. I've been angry. Very angry. And, while I completely understand the strategic nature and necessity of the public statements from our LGBT leadership, I have, I confess, fallen into moments of despair.

I've learned, over the years, that it is neither prudent nor wise for me to speak publicly in anger. Indeed, I have also learned (and, re-learned, in this instance) that it is sometimes wise not to speak privately and among friends in anger.

Truth is, I caught a stomach virus from Ms. Conroy and spent most of Tuesday and Wednesday . . . well, incapacitated. Let's just say I've had time to do a great deal of thinking. And, praying.

Frankly, there's not much to say that hasn't already been said by others. Even then, there's not much to say.

I mean, truth be told, the bishops acted like bishops. They did what they thought they were expected to do. They preserved the unity of the church. They saved the Anglican Communion from schism.

Okay. Maybe.

Furthermore, they did exactly what we asked them to do: they did not act unilaterally. They understood that they could not overturn B033. Only General Convention can do that in 2009. Bishops are one of the four orders of the total ministry of the baptized and they behaved, they thought, accordingly.

We should not be surprised, then, to learn that the bishop of New Hampshire and the bishop of Western Louisiana (who, oh by the way, voted not to consent to the election of the bishop of NH), said progress was made.

When two polar opposites agree on something it can only mean one thing:

Mediocrity.

I think that's what hurts most. More than the "reconfirming" of that heinous Resolution B033.

More than the "clarity" (as if we didn't know it before) that the "manner of life" of LGBT people is that which "presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." (No further clarification about other classifications of "challenge" were apparently discussed, or, at least, reported.)

Mediocrity hurt more than the "double talk" of telling LGBT people that they, bishops in the Church of God, "call for unequivocal and active commitment to the civil rights, safety, and dignity of gay and lesbian persons," after denying us our baptismal rights to full inclusion in the councils of the church.

Yes, mediocrity hurt even more than the duplicity of the statement, "We pledge as a body not to authorize public rites for the blessing of same-sex unions." Good grief! Either wearing a purple shirt destroys brain cells or wearing purple changes one's perspective and makes the wearer believe that everyone else is stupid.

Although, I would like to point out that Bishop Cate Waynick has been quoted as noting: "I would like to observe that the blessing of same-sex unions also continues to take place in the Church of England, and that a number of clergy in that church are homosexual and living in partnerships. The House of Bishops (UK) released a statement nearly two years ago acknowledging that clergy in same sex relationships were certainly entitled to register their relationships with the government in order to obtain whatever legal benefits such registration would give them. These clergy do, of course, have to promise that their relationships are not only chaste, but celibate....

When asked what is different between what is happening in some places in the US from what is happening in England, Archbishop Williams said, and I quote, "Those blessings are not public."

Where is the outcry from Nigeria? From CANA? From the Network and the AAC? Just wondering......"

Good on her. However, I haven't read anywhere that the speculation about the identity of the one reported curious, mysterious dissenting vote has included Bishop Waynick.

No, as painful as all off these things are, it's the mediocrity that hurts most. The pervasiveness of mediocrity during the meeting of the House of Bishops in New Orleans simply takes my breath away.

Mediocrity, in and of itself, is not an unknown quality in the Body of Christ Indeed, it has a long, painful history. It is the fossil fuel of the institutional church. So, I am not surprised to find its presence in the junior house of the governance of our church.

The problem with mediocrity, I have come understand, is that it is one of the more insidious, if not pernicious, manifestations of Evil.

Case in point: I got an email the other day from a clergy friend. He happens to be a married man with two grown children, and rector of a church that has been a champion of justice for LGBT people, women, immigrants, the environment, the homeless, the hungry and people with AIDS (among many, many others). His was one of the first churches to bless the holy covenants of LGBT people.

He referenced the HOB Statement and said, "Well, we're going to be okay in this diocese; that's the main thing." He was greatly relieved to note that even he could read the duplicity of the bishops' statement that would not authorize "as a body" the "public" liturgical rites of blessing for LGBT people.

Yes, I said, WE are going to be okay, no doubt. But THAT is decidedly NOT okay.

As Fannie Lou Hammer, one of the Saints of the Civil Rights Movement said, "Justice is not about JUST US." Just as surely as justice delayed is justice denied, so is it true that justice denied for one is justice denied for all.

None of us are free if one of us is not.

None of us are included if one of us is not.

It's JUSTICE. Not JUST US.

Perhaps the greatest evil to arise from mediocrity is that Gene Robinson, duly elected and consecrated bishop of New Hampshire, isolated as the only honestly gay bishop in the house of bishops, was compelled to participate in this, this . . . "straightforward dialogue" and "discernment."

Can you imagine sitting there, being spoken about as being part of a category of people who supposedly threaten the unity of the church and having to enter into "straightforward dialogue" with at least a modicum of civility? Can you imagine the grace and strength and courage it took to exercise that kind of restraint?

The greatest evil of this is that, in being compelled to vote for the prayerfully discerned and heavily negotiated "compromise" Bishop Gene secured his further isolation from other, future honestly, open, self-affirming LGBT bishops - many of whom have been his colleagues in ministry and who are his sisters and brothers in Christ.

Mediocrity allows one to quote this scripture at the outset of the statement, "I do it all for the sake of the Gospel so that I might share in its blessings." 1 Corinthians 9:23" and then convinces you that you have.

Mediocrity is the fertile ground in which the seeds of duplicity and deception grow and flourish(don't even get me started on the duplicity practiced by some LGBT clergy who are "known" by their colleagues but not "out" to their congregation).

Mediocrity begets mediocrity. Jesus demands nothing less than excellence. I grieve this loss most, I think. The loss of excellence. The gain of the predictable.

It should come as no surprise that, for our efforts, we have been richly rewarded with the illusion of safety and security.

As our bishops gathered in New Orleans, I prayed for our bishops to be leaders. My prayer, it would seem, went largely unanswered. This time. We live in "sure and certain hope" as Christians, and I find that there are a few sparks of hope left in the smoldering ashes of my anger and despair.

My hope is that our bishops will now engage in "straightforward" if not painfully honest dialogue with the rest of the baptized in Christ about what they have said and what they have done.

My prayer is that, by their next meeting in March of 2008, before they gather at Lambeth in June, they will come to see and know this profound truth:

Mediocrity is a far, far worse consequence than schism.