Today's Post-Gazette includes a reflection from a member of Calvary Episcopal Church on the impending vote of the local diocese to leave the US branch and join a more conservative branch. It is very flourishy, too much so for a beautiful late summer Sunday in the sense that I prefer to go for a drive to look at covered bridges and enjoy my time with Ledcat rather than rail further against yet another example of religious intolerance and bigotry.
I will say that the essay rightfully questions the motivation of Bishop Duncan and his ilk. Is the homosexual/female ordination question really the cause of such a drastic rip in the very fabric of the worldwide church? Or is an excuse for a power grab?
If that latter, it does not absolve Duncan and his merry minions of their responsibility for sowing intolerance and hatred into the hearts (and actions) of the faithful. If they indeed are not true believers, perhaps their culpability for hateful actions infused with theocratic righteousness is even weightier. That's not my call to make.
I do urge you to read the reflection. Then go outside and enjoy the only real evidence that God has walked among us this holiest of weekdays -- the loveliness of a September afternoon.