This morning I attended a gathering of a (conservative) “Coalition of Like-minded Clergy and Laity” at my home parish. Oddly, there was very little advance publicity. Not a fun morning.
The Rev. David Roseberry, rector of Christ Church Plano, was the preacher at the Eucharist and the speaker afterwards. He is a very impressive individual: Smart, articulate, polished, self-assured, good speaker, great presence.
(Update: See the TitusOneNine blog for the prepared text of Roseberry’s remarks; many thanks to the Rev. Dr. Kendall Harmon for posting it and in general for a blog that hosts a lot of lively discussions.)
Sadly, Roseberry hit the nail on the head: The dispute is all about authority, and on that score, there are two different churches in ECUSA. One regards the Bible as inspiring, the other as inspired — and final.
(I would add that the latter group seem not to want to tolerate the former in any position of authority. Roseberry himself said, “I do not have fellowship with the leadership corps of the Episcopal Church. I do with my bishop, but not with the leadership corps.”)
I was bemused by Roseberry’s response to those who say God was doing a new thing at GC 2003. He said, “God doesn’t do new things …. The last new thing he did was Jesus Christ.” I immediately wondered how he (Roseberry) knows, and whether his attitude might be blasphemy per se.
There were 311 people there for the Eucharist, from parishes in various parts of southeast Texas. I looked around and tried to guess the average age; I would say it was at least the mid-50s. I saw one or two people who appeared to be under 30; two or three Hispanics; and one African-American woman. At the Eucharist, the celebrant, the Rev. Scott Blick, invited “all our sisters and brothers in the clergy” to come and stand at the table as “an act of solidarity.” Save for one woman, the priests were all middle-aged men and older. (I say they were invited to come up to “the table” and not the altar because this all took place in the gym, as our main church is being renovated.)
I initially had misgivings about participating in the Eucharist, even though I was at my own parish, because I knew that practically everyone else in the room would regard me as “not in fellowship” with them (to use Roseberry’s term). But I went up for communion anyway, because the Eucharist is about shared history, at least as much as shared beliefs.
The Q&A after Roseberry’s talk was about what you would expect: It was about half questions, half speeches disguised as questions.
The meeting closed with a call to try to elect members to the diocesan council and standing committee who hold sympathetic views.
All in all, it wasn’t exactly an exhilarating morning for me.
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