We live in a point in time in history that thrives on labels, especially in the United States. Your label defines you and then, people will decide how to treat you based on what they think about your label. This isn't actually new. It's why human rights legislation was enacted internationally and why civil rights legislation was enacted in the United States. Words only really have the power that we give to them.
I don't anyone to mistake this posting, so I will state it bluntly: I love the Episcopal Church. What I don't like about it and what demands change inside of it is that most people have forgotten that we are "The Middle Way." More importantly, as churches have fought over buildings, property, and everything else including loved ones buried in columbariums, what they were really fighting about was who could be more selfish than the other group and could enforce their own xenophobia more. I remember when people would not call themselves Anglicans or Episcopalians because that was the other side. Worldwide, we are The Middle Way.
The actual middle way doesn't choose a side; rather, the middle way is one of full evaluation and intentional decision-making. The Middle Way is one of radical inclusion. People are not supposed to be forced to go to one church or another. It is not one of choosing what everyone around you needs to believe. We are people of the book. Our Book of Common Prayer is what holds us together not money and labels.
Now that I have actually attempted to see if the church would follow the middle way and not just fight over what they thought was important to them the most, I know that, ultimately, the institution is out for itself in a lot of places where the people feel betrayed if someone doesn't root for the right side. I remember sitting in church, the same building anyway, while priests from what we were told were opposing sides used the exact same words of persuasion. "God is on our side!" they would say. "We are doing the right thing by following God;" regardless of what they said, I kept thinking "Thank God for Medieval Literature class where we were taught that might does not make right." Essentially, God is not with you if you own something even though the prosperity gospel is alluring from time to time.
I used to think that the problem within the church was that people were more intent on their own point of view rather than wanting to reconcile what they were having problems with. I don't think this anymore. Now, I am more convinced than ever that the main problem that we have is presumption. It is presumption that allows us to choose for one another. It is presumption that allows people to continue to say "You're Welcome Here" while refusing to release memberships or even count them while using others to do the work for you. If people are welcome, then you will let them go. It is presumption that allows people to say that the poor have no place in the church or that "beggars can't be choosers." Presumption allows that saying to even exist.
The mere understanding that another person is a beggar and that you are not is presumptive. Everyone on the planet is poor in one way or another. It is only presumption that says that poor equals bad or criminal -- God forbid! Even better, an under-investigated understanding that someone is poor; therefore, that person is not giving the church money to be a member. Who is a member is based on money? Jesus was homeless. Paul was constantly taken in by the churches throughout his missionary travels. None of them carried money and most were told to not even take a cloak with them when they left the community to go to another. Scripturally, the poor and the sick are more cared for than others by Jesus. They are neither turned away nor are they forced to be there. Both are wrong.
If all of a sudden someone was never a member of your church, but only after that person leaves and tries to go somewhere else, then the church really wants a slave. If a person has to return to a church in order to make sure that people give the correct information to others in order to continue on in a denomination, then it is obvious that the group only wanted a slave. If money goes missing so that the perceptually poor can't be full members, then the group only wants a slave. If you are told that you are free to leave, but they won't give you the letters of introduction to the next place, then you are free to leave, not the parish but the denomination. Come back to our church or get out completely!
The Middle Way doesn't choose an extreme. Orthodoxy in the middle way doesn't choose Episcopal or Anglican. The Middle Way chooses liberation and freedom. The Middle Way doesn't choose to exclude; rather, it includes.
It is the ultimate name game. If I think you are an Episcopalian, then you can't be an Anglican. If I choose that you are an Anglican, then you can't be an Episcopalian because the computer, essentially, is automated. Wait a minute! People keep those records. It isn't an automated computer that has caused the problem; it's a person who knows but won't share information. Why? The human ego wants to demean as many people as possible because that is the way that the individual feels about him or her Self.
Excuses are found in presumption more than anything else. It is the viewpoint that if I sit here, then I will automatically be taken care of without having to do anything. Presumption breeds entitlement. If I think that I am entitled to exclude then I will; however, I will also have left the middle way. It is one of the most difficult things and the most beautiful thing about the Anglican Communion Worldwide. We exist for diversity. We are supposed to be able to include separationists and remnants. We include...
So, if I meet you and you don't have a job, is it okay to assume that you never got one or are stealing from me? No! In fact, data would probably show otherwise. Cooking the books is wrong though and turning collection plates into slush funds is equally wrong. Why do people do these things? Entitlement. Where does entitlement come from? Presumption; it really doesn't have any place in The Middle Way.
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