More Than One Thing to Say
March 12, 2007
The Most Rev. Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, has chided his conservative Anglican bishops in Africa and elsewhere for openly criticizing the U. S. Episcopal Church's acceptance of openly gay clergy and same-sex unions. He says, "There is one thing a bishop should say to another bishop: that I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Saviour."
The Archbishop notwithstanding, there is more than one thing a bishop (or elder, for you Presbyterians out there) should say to another bishop. Sometimes it is important to say, for example, that your brother in Christ is not defending a scriptural position on the ministry or on sexual ethics. Yes, Christ is a great Savior, and yes, I am a great sinner too, but brother, your misguided leadership will be the ruin of souls.
Furthermore, it's a little rich for the Archbishop to tell the bishops that they can only say one thing to other bishops when he himself is busy giving some of his bishops a public rebuke. It would seem that archbishops get to say more than one thing, but bishops don't.
The Archbishop notwithstanding, there is more than one thing a bishop (or elder, for you Presbyterians out there) should say to another bishop. Sometimes it is important to say, for example, that your brother in Christ is not defending a scriptural position on the ministry or on sexual ethics. Yes, Christ is a great Savior, and yes, I am a great sinner too, but brother, your misguided leadership will be the ruin of souls.
Furthermore, it's a little rich for the Archbishop to tell the bishops that they can only say one thing to other bishops when he himself is busy giving some of his bishops a public rebuke. It would seem that archbishops get to say more than one thing, but bishops don't.
