Reader's of this blog must sometimes wonder how or why I stay active in the Episcopal Church. All I seem to do is whine about it. And here I go again.
In fact, I've written on this topic before, back when our leadership was only threatening to do it. Now they are following through, and so on October 3rd, our esteemed Presiding Bishop, Katherine Schori, will officially apologize for all us, for the Church's "involvement in the institution of transatlantic slavery" practiced almost 200 years ago.
What a disgusting display of meaningless pandering.
She may think she's apologizing for me. She is not. Why? First, because no one can truly apologize for another's actions. Fact. And even if she could, I've never owned a slave. Never endorsed slavery. Never held stock in a slave-trading company.
In the same way, she cannot apologize for the Episcopal Church. She is most certainly not the Church. She is part of it to be sure; holding the same percentage of stock that I own if you care to look at it that way. But that is all. It's more than exceeding authority.
Let's back-up for a minute. For the Bishop's sake, who and what is the Church?
First, the Church is Jesus Christ. Second, the Church is everyone of us who accepts Jesus as our Lord and Savior. That is it. That's the Church. It's important to understand it in that way, but the Bishop evidently doesn't. It's not a building or an agency or an institution. It's just us and Jesus together. Because when you think of it correctly, you have to ask the Bishop, why is the Church apologizing? The Church has nothing to apologize for. Not one Church member is to blame for "transatlantic slave trade". Not me. Not Jesus. Not even the Bishop herself!
And conversely, who is she apologizing to? Not one person alive today has ever been a victim of "transatlantic slave trade."
So there's our Bishop; apologizing for those who have no guilt, to those whom have never been trespassed. Wise. Pious. Righteous. Yeah.....she thinks so!
Sorry. Just pretentious, phony pandering. As long as she feels better!
......There I go again......
2 comments:
To use a trite expression, this is food for thought.
The institutional church is a growing cause of concern for a lot of folks.
This apology is another straw, another gesture of irrelevance, another reason for some folks to grow restless, impatient, intolerant, just tired of the endless...triteness.
I am pondering a piece at The Study on concerns about the institution....
Times change...maybe some things were better in the old days....
The idea of continuous, ongoing progress of human institutions is...long gone.
Sunset over The Lake is a winner.
Good job, Joel.
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