The Rector's Remarks at Services on August 3, 2003

The following are remarks made by the Rev. Stephen Elkins-Williams during services at the Chapel of the Cross on August 3, 2003, in light of the then-pending decision of General Convention about approving the election of the Rev. V. Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

I had an email exchange with a lay person in our diocese this week. He had sent out a message concerned about what the General Convention might do, titled “The lines are drawn.” I understood several of his concerns, but I wrote back asking for further understanding of one of his statements. He had written, “It would appear that the Diocese of New Hampshire has decided that its own will means more than the Scripture, and through Scripture, the Will of God.” My response was, “Many times throughout history the Church has redefined its understanding of scripture in light of changing circumstances and understandings. One of the more recent is the pastoral accommodation on divorce. Although Jesus explicitly condemns remarriage after divorce, the Episcopal Church now allows not only its lay people but its clergy, including bishops, to be remarried after divorce. Yet I do not hear anyone claiming that the General Convention 'has decided that its own will means more than the Scripture ... and the Will of God.'”

He wrote back acknowledging the inconsistency and the fact that he had lived through his mother's divorce and remarriage. I replied back to him in part:

“My sense is that often divisive moral questions get resolved when enough people finally put a human face on them. An abstract issue (which is not a pejorative term for me, a philosophy major!) is one thing; human beings deeply involved in the issue are another. Enough people, like yourself, lived through the consequences of a divorce and knew the importance of allowing people to try and rebuild their lives through remarriage with the Church's blessing; so the Church revised its understanding of how to uphold the truths and values proclaimed by scripture.

“I think many people resolved the issue of women as priests in the same way. Abstractly, they weren't sure of how to deal with all the issues, but once they experienced this woman and that woman as truly priests for them, it was not a real question anymore.

“I suspect we will resolve the issue of homosexuality along these lines. Without setting aside the proclamation of scripture, more and more of us will experience the genuine faith and fruitfulness of gay couples and of gay clergy who do faithfully mediate God's love, and it won't be an abstract issue for us any longer.

“Some would dismiss that as humanistic moral relativism. But I think Christianity is in a very basic sense a person-oriented faith. God did not simply reveal laws and abstract principles to us. The Triune God ultimately revealed the Divine love for us through the person of Jesus. God's love and grace was made real in our midst in this human and divine person, and while that is uniquely true in Jesus as in no one else, we also see and love and learn about God through other human persons, who are created in God's image.

“I do not know Gene Robinson but, with this understanding, I do have some sense of why the people of the diocese of New Hampshire, after having witnessed his years of significant and faithful ministry among them, would ask to have him serve as their bishop.

Whatever the outcome of the Convention on this question, I hope it will help us all grow in awe of and attentiveness to the work of the three person God among us.”