….In the name of the Father (+) and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
I have a friend who lives in Anchorage, Alaska. He's an award-winning nature photographer and I'm constantly getting these fantastic photos of moose, bear, geese, snowshoe rabbits, things like that. Recently, I received a digital picture of what looked like a close-up of a white birch trunk, silhouetted against a bright blue Alaskan sky. Not usually Harry's style. Then I noticed the title he had given the photo: Camouflage. Well, now. That turned it into a competition. I looked and looked-WHAT was camouflaged? Finally I had to give up and ask for help. It turned out that it was a photo of a black-and-white woodpecker in the shadow on the bark of a cottonwood tree. When I looked back at the crummy monitor I have, I could sort of see the bird, but it blended into the background so well, that even knowing what I was looking for, it was hard to discern. See if you can find it. Nature is just amazing, isn't it?
That woodpecker is so well camouflaged because that's nature's way of protecting it. If you were a predator, you likely wouldn't see the little guy at all until he moved his head up and down, or scampered across the bark.
The woodpecker photo has been haunting me. It worries me because I think that some of us Christians are doing the woodpecker thing. In general, being a serious person of faith is not something that works in Western society. Saturday, the God Squad column in the Morning Call said that "the last acceptable prejudice in our society is the prejudice against people who take their faith seriously." If you're a person who seriously lives and breathes faith, you're like the woodpecker. Except with the black-and-white background replaced with a red one. On that background, his black-and-white feathers stand out brilliantly.
A person who is following Jesus' commandments stands out from the selfish, materialistic crowd, whose primary concern is for the money, possessions or power that they can acquire. I would almost say that if you DON'T stand out, if the world doesn't notice that your focus is different, maybe you need to take a long hard look at how you're living.
See this hat? The more I read about the church, the more I am convinced that I really and truly am a fool. I don't get it. I just don't get it. I'm not smart enough or well educated enough to whip Bible verses and theological arguments off on a moment's notice. I don't understand why 9/10 of the discussion-maybe more than that-on the national church's email list is taken up by attacking and defending positions relating to sexuality. The body of people who are supposed to be leading us into the future sit and squabble and play more-Anglican-than-thou games.
It is utterly beyond my comprehension how some people can state categorically-and believe it-that God favors their group and rejects all others. Obviously, we all think our positions are right (do any of us deliberately hold onto things we believe are wrong?). But there is a vast difference between saying, "I think I'm right," but being open to the fact that *you* may be right. And saying, "I have the whole of the truth directly from God, and we can only be in the same church if you agree with me." Granted, I am not a cradle Episcopalian, but this black or white, my way-or-the-highway approach is not the Anglican way as I understand it.
An interesting and rather sad thing happened this week. Fr. Nick tried to take my foole's cap away. Realizing that a lot of what I just described is going on, and each side is getting more entrenched in its black-or-white position, Fr. Nick issued a call for people to pray that the Holy Spirit will give us a clear sign that we can all understand. A sign that will lead us out of this swamp, and give us the energy to get back to what the church's mission is designed to be. You can read it on his blog (http://wnknisely.blogspot.com/ April 25-26).
I'm very distressed to say that the vast majority of responses he received-from church deputies and bishops!--were, "Well, nice thought, but that's naive. We have to go for a solution that will make us the winners." And one of the people who wrote in support said that she had been trying to do exactly what he suggested: organize people around the country and around the church to pray with open hearts and open minds for the will of God to be clear to us, without any agenda. And she said that there was a great deal of resistance to simply and purely trusting to the will of God. As Fr. Nick said, "that's the most depressing news of all."
How did we get to the place where the Anglican Communion may split? For that matter, if I had been alive in 1054, I would be asking how it is that the Eastern church could split from the Western church? I'm afraid that the answer is that we really intend to follow the way *we* think we should, whatever lip service we give to following the Advocate, the Spirit of Truth, that Jesus promises to send us. I am afraid that instead of loving Jesus and keeping the commandments he gave us, we keep the commandments we choose to keep.
I'm still a fool. And in my foolish mind, I don't see what is so hard to understand about, "Love your neighbor as yourself" which plays out as "tend the sick, feed the hungry, visit those in prison," and so forth. I don't understand what is to terribly confusing about "Go and preach the Gospel." And I don't grasp what is so difficult about that Gospel that we have to spend almost all our time arguing about what it is? Really, I thought that the Good News was that Jesus became human, lived and died for our sakes, was resurrected and is in heaven. Where we will be with him eternally.
There are lots of different ways that Christ calls us to preach, to serve, to live. But I just don't see where in Christ's very very simple words it says that God is going to judge us by which theologian we follow, or which form of scriptural interpretation we use, or even by which prayerbook we pray out of. I am practically distraught these days, because it seems to me that the church that I love and am proud to be a part of is becoming absolutely brilliant at camouflaging the fact that we are Christian.
Like the little woodpecker hiding in plain sight against the bark of the cottonwood tree, some of us in the church are hiding our Christianity with words, arguments, sniping, accusations and mean-spiritedness. We are more worldly than many non-Christians! Jesus says, "*IF* --the big IF-you love me, you will keep my commandments." So since we've been focusing so much on other concerns that we're not keeping his commandments, does this mean we don't love him? That's what it looks like to this fool. And unfortunately to the rest of the world.
I am very grateful to say that in this parish, you are busy about carrying out Christ's commandments. Frankly, if that weren't so, I wouldn't be here. But we all have a larger responsibility, beyond our congregation and our community. I think it's time to challenge ourselves and our leadership to take back the church. I spent 20 years in Soviet Affairs. I know about revolutions. And it's time for a Revolution. Another small, solitary voice said online, "The church's mission is being hijacked, while evil stands on the sidelines and laughs." We need to get our eyes off ourselves and back on God and on what God calls us to-making more Christians. Taking care of the world God has given us. In nature camouflage is protective, but for the church it is the kiss of death.
Time to take up the challenge. Time to start praying and mean it: God's will be done and may we cooperate with it. Amen.
