A Fearful House?

Over recent weeks, several Cathedral Deans of  the Church of England have preached passionately and eloquently on the subject of 'Living in Love and Faith' - the process that was supposedly intended to lead to a more 'radical inclusion' of LGBTQ+ Christians into the life and ministry of the church.  All of these sermons - at least two of which were positively heart-rending - were pleas to the House of Bishops, due to meet this week, not to allow the process to run into the sand nor to abandon plans for stand-alone services of blessing for same-sex couples and the lifting of the ban on clergy marrying a same sex partner.  

It is no surprise that this cry for justice, Christian love and sheer common sense should come from the heads of some of our Cathedrals. The latter are, after all, bastions of true Anglicanism, not just in their dignified and traditional worship but also in their readiness to serve - and be seen to serve - the entire community and to genuinely welcome all. It has been said that our Cathedral Deans are now the true leaders of the Church of England - a view with which I have considerable sympathy. Certainly they speak with an honesty and courage that the bishops all too often seem to lack. 

In their defence, the bishops would almost certainly argue that whilst their cathedral colleagues wield significant authority and influence, they don't bear the heavy responsibility of the episcopate in being a focus of unity and can therefore risk being more radical and contentious. Whilst this is true to some extent, many of us recognise that it can become a very convenient excuse for inertia, and that fear of vocal and wealthy opponents of change - who have raised sabre-rattling and emotional coercion to an art form - are much more of a motivator here than ecclesiology.  In any case, unity at the cost of truth, justice, personal integrity and the genuinely radical inclusion preached and practised by Jesus in the Gospels is, of course, worthless, and in this instance serves only to further undermine the credibility and relevance of  a church that is already regarded by so many with bewilderment, suspicion and even disdain.

The Church of England claims to be 'episcopally led and synodically governed', but is this true? On the one hand, General Synod has made it very clear that it wants the House of Bishops to make definite progress on 'Living in Truth and Love' whilst to many of us it looks suspiciously as if the church is now really led by a very vocal conservative faction whose principal currency is that of threat  and intimidation. Any leader worthy of the name would not kowtow to such bullying.

There are, of course, some bishops - a minority it would seem - who hold conservative views and  who are genuinely disturbed by any move towards the blessing or (worse) marriage of same-sex couples in church. I have no quarrel with them and respect their views, however much I may disagree with them. Indeed, perhaps surprisingly I have tended to get on well with such bishops, and we have agreed to differ in an attitude of mutual respect.

I have rather less respect for those 'liberal' bishops who basically want to see change but who are unwilling to fight for it. Some of them reportedly gay and in relationships themselves, they include those whose cowardice and weakness has meant that they have always 'quietly supported' LGBTQ+ clergy privately behind closed doors but  have also been ready to betray us when the chips are down. 

Well, the chips are now down again!   

Personally, I expect very little and daren't hope for anything, at least not in my lifetime. Having dealt with various bishops over five decades I've learnt not to have any serious expectations in relation to LGBTQ+ issues. I'm resigned to 'hanging in there' only because I believe it's where God wants me to be and  I need to be fed by the sacraments. I 'm also determined not to give the bullies what they want by walking away.  

The tragic irony in all of this is that I'm convinced that the bishops' fears are actually unfounded. I know of churches that are supposedly very conservative, whose leaders are vehemently opposed to gay relationships but whose congregations include LGBTQ+ members and allies who don't buy into their anti-gay rhetoric for a second. I believe the leaders of these churches know this too - hence the careful avoidance of the subject by Holy Trinity Brompton and its associated churches.  

Even within the most conservative of churches, the chances are that in reality there will be a variety of views  and, as in most congregations these days, there will be straight members who have LGBTQ+ family members, friends and colleagues whom they love and whom they want to support and affirm in any way that they can. I doubt very much, therefore, that most of those large and wealthy congregations that are threatening to break away and withdraw their money would be in a position to do so. Most - perhaps even all - of their laity would probably opt to stay put, whilst their clergy (who wouldn't, of course, be under any obligation to bless gay relationships if it goes against their conscience) would be free to resign their living and vacate their vicarage if they felt so strongly. 

I learnt a very long time ago that the best - or only - way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them, and that the best response to someone who is attempting to manipulate through threats is to call their bluff. 

Will the bishops have the courage to do exactly this? I doubt it very much.

In St John's Gospel we're told that 'perfect love casts our fear'. Sadly, the converse is also true; fear, all too often, casts out love. What a tragedy it is, then, that the  House of Bishops appears to be such a fearful house.

I challenge the bishops to prove me wrong.