Clement, GenCon & SS Blessings

"... we honor Linus, Cletus, Clement, Cornelius, Cyprian, Lawrence, Chrysogonus, John and Paul, Cosmas and Damnien and all the saints"

Those words echo from my youth. They come from the eucharistic canon of the Roman Missale and the early church leaders (starting with Mary and the Apostles) and martyrs remembered by the Church in Rome some 1600 years ago at the core of its worship. Clement is the third "Pope" following Peter in the Roman Catholic understanding. Protestants, not surprisingly, debate that. Such scholarly questions are well above my pay grade. [In reality, one's assumptions seem to contribute a great deal to one's conclusions.] No one questions that Clement wrote the letter which we are reflecting on today.

For some reason, Clement saw fit to write a letter to the Corinthians about their situation in 96AD. Today we reflect on some sections which resonate with my concerns about recent actions by the General Convention of my denomination.

As we saw, interspersing numerous verses from Sacred Scripture, Clement applauded the reputation of this church with a special emphasis on hospitality. In section 3, Clement's prose takes a critical turn. He writes: "When good repute and rising numbers were granted to you in full measure, the saying of Scripture came to pass..." He then lists a series of faults highlighted by this: "Men of the baser sort rose up against their betters: the rabble against the respectable, folly against wisdom, youth against its elders, where men are renouncing the fear of God; the eye of faith has grown dim, and instead of following the commandments, and living as becomes a citizen of Christ, each one walks after the desires of his own wicked heart."

Now, let me remind, I am well aware that those with whom I disagree would read these same words with a totally different understanding. However, I think a more accurate interpretation would see the decisions to overthrow two thousand years of Christian teaching has been 'youth against its elders.' Same sex blessings are, among other things, a recent invention which goes against the teaching of the church on marriage. This teaching is based on Scripture (note I write from a Catholic view here).The idea that people "walk after the desires of their own wicked hearts" is also found in the book of Judges. There we read that "each man did as he thought best" and it is not good.

In our culture, being "true to myself" is held up as the highest virtue. Obedience is disdained. Autonomy is embraced. In my episcopal church, same sex blessings are now officially sanctioned. This is wrong. But it is not the first time churches erred. Sin and failure in the church are as old as the church. The mistakes being made, often for heartfelt reasons and with the best of intentions, are still mistakes. The epsicopal church is in steep decline. The advocates of "the new thing" convince themselves that they are making all things fresh. They delude themselves and prepare for an inrush of new members happy to see an "inclusive church" while each year 30,000 fewer people are attending our churches! I think Clement's response to the errors then (and now) speak for itself:

"Now, all this is not being written as a warning to you alone, my dear freinds, but for a reminder to ourselves as well, because we too are in the same arena and have the same conflict before us. So let us be done with these barren and vapid fancies, and turn instead to the honorable, holy Rule of our tradition, so that we can find out what is good and pleasing and acceptable in the sight of Him who made us. Let uis fix our thoughts on the Blood of Christ; and reflect how precious that Blood is in God's eyes, inasmuch as its outpouring for our salvation has opened the grace of repentance to all mankind. For we have only to survey the generations of the past to see that in every one of them the Lord has offered the chance of repentance to any who were willing to turn to Him."

Yes, truly, the errror of the church can be repented. Truly all of us are in error and all of us sin. Too often in our fervor to correct others we forget that 'we are reminding ourselves.' Too many ex-Episcopalians revel in being "out of that organization" while ignoring that they "are in the same arena." We ALL need to repent and turn to the Lord. We need to pray for those misleading the Episcopal church. Pray often! We need to fix our thoughts on the Blood of Jesus. We need to hear the wisdom of those who go before us. We also need to ask what choices and decisions have we made that support the very mistaken innovations which we rail against.