St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

You may have heard there are more bishops being ordained in Nairobi. I'm not particularly concerned, myself, nor am I aggravated. It does, of course, indicate conservatives don't have much intention in working the TEC, nor do they appreciate the process by which the Episcopal Church works.

I agree with conservatives that the Episcopal Church is deeply influenced by the culture, although I'm not sure what, in particular, this means. Religion is a cultural enterprise that heightens emotions and short-cuts thought to make work easier for the human mind. Our faith is culture-bound, it is incarnate.

But what the culture is probably saying to us is that... bishops are irrelevant. No one has asked me what my liberal bishop thinks about things. They like bishops to show up, because they are sweet, wise, and tall and we feel a bit like a loved grandfather coming back to town.

TEC bishops will become less relevant also, taking the role of lead facilitators, property managers and managers of not-for-profits that offer a particular brand of spirituality. People teach themselves about doctrine, and much of what is important about management can be done without consecration. It's capitalism meets religion: this is simply the environment we live in. Capitalism erodes much of what is commitment.

So conservatives are busy ordaining two individuals who get nice hats, a little love and appreciation, and are going to be doing battle in an environment that doesn't care much about their view of scripture, authority or homosexuality. Our culture has successfuly eroded concrete and coherent beliefs in such systems.

It may be an important event. It is probably important for the Nigerian church. It is, finally, not very important for the Episcopal Church, which will continue to ignore these reactive attempts to claim spiritual authority in our increasingly apatheistic country.