In a
Word, “No!”
from Ray
Bagnuolo
[4-9-04]
I
have been checking the alternative websites focused on undermining our
movement.
You
know the ones. I figure that as soon as they pick up the news about the
spiritual roadblock placed in front of Lisa by the SF Presbytery that they
will be sure to use this as some sign of “push back” against the queer
community. It’s pretty much the same type of spin they use to suggest that
the increasing number of votes against overtures to end exclusion indicate
a growing anti-LGBT core in our church. Ironically, many of those
increasing number of votes are actually people voting “No” as part of the
strategy to postpone any confrontation in the church until 2006 – the
“wait for the right time” approach.
I
have long said that I am in favor of full, active, and engaged efforts to
remove G-6.0106b at every turn, whether the odds are good or not. It’s
about a voice always being there and always loving those who are
marginalized with clear and unmistakable support.
Once
more, there are overtures to remove G-6.0106b from the Book of Order at
GA. Will these sacred documents out of the hearts and souls of their
authors suffer the same demise as last year’s orchestrated response? If
so, who accepts the consequences? Who pays the price of such delay in
human and spiritual terms? Why, we do.
For
me, the exercises of debate on scripture, theology, and polity are fine
for the classroom, but at then end of most lectures there is generally
no blood on the floor. One has only had to look down at the floor of GA to
see the difference between the classroom and our past and present reality.
Praxis needs to reach the table and the floor.
Our
Christian church and movement, in general, simply refuses to take
responsibility for the violence we accept, deny, promote, and foster by
continuing to exclude people who are LGBT from our church. We stand upon
brothers and sisters who have fallen and are yet to fall, victims of our
higher concerns for unity and order. On Good Friday, this seems especially
hard to process.
This
week was no exception. The spiritual blood was on the floor of a committee
room in San Francisco. Above the pool of blood was another crucifixion of
the notion that love and commitment between two people of the same-sex can
be as holy or sacred as that between a man and a woman. Once more the
belief emerged that people committed to such love of God, self, and one
another was criteria for being held back from a call to serve.
The
violence done to one of our own and what she represents for us all is
enormous and chilling. Yet, it seems that the “Van Kuiken Effect” has
taken the place of what should be outrage. Perhaps you remember how Steve
was roundly criticized by some for not taking a softer approach to the
rights for us queer folk that burned in his heart. I can hear the same
echoing about Lisa: “She should have known better.” “If only she would
have waited.” “Why did she have to challenge them like this?” “She should
have known better.”
Around the websites this morning, only one makes any reference to Lisa’s
being denied clearance for ordination. That All May Freely Serve
released a statement that can be read in its entirety at
www.tamfs.org. Where is everyone else? What, in God’s name, holds us
back, I wonder?
To
those voices, you know the ones: “Why do you people have to cause so much
trouble for yourselves?” “Can’t you just wait and be a little more
circumspect and quiet?” “Just give this a couple of more years, will you?”
In a word, “No.”
Ray
Bagnuolo, Good Friday, April 9, 2004
[Please feel free to distribute as you wish.]
