Jane Alexander, bishop of Edmonton, is just like Donald Trump: she likes to tweet. Her tweets don’t usually make that much sense, but they do have one redeeming feature: they make Trump sound like Socrates.
Here is a recent one:
Do all that but, whatever you do, don’t mention Jesus. Or salvation. Or our need of it. Or the Cross. Or the atonement. Or the Resurrection. Or the Holy Spirit. In fact, it’s best just to leave Christianity out of this altogether.
After years of working for IBM, I noticed that when executives were fired the favourite euphemism used was “so and so is seeking employment opportunities elsewhere”. When minions were fired, they were aiding in “right-sizing”. A manager who had no minions was a “free floating apex” who would soon be floating out the door.
Church euphemisms bandied around at such times include “prayerful discernment”, “a change coming”, “calling me out”, “called into places and called out of places”.
And they are all here. Not that I am hinting that Alexander was fired: you can’t fire a bishop. If you could there wouldn’t be any. She has probably just finished reading the Anglican Church attendance statistics.
Bishop Jane Alexander, bishop of the diocese of Edmonton, says she will be stepping down from her position July 31, with “no idea” what she will be doing next.
“I have no need to say, ‘What’s the next big thing?’ The big thing is always just serving Jesus wherever he puts you,” says Alexander. “So, I know that’s what I’ll be called to do, but what that looks like? I have no idea.”
Alexander announced her resignation in a letter January 26.
In an interview with the Journal, Alexander said that she had been feeling a change coming for a while. “Sometimes I think we think of discernment as something that happens once and then we go, ‘There, you’re done.’ But that’s never been my experience of it. I think we get called into places and called out of places, and I was aware…easily a year ago, that something different was changing…. I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m actually being called out of diocesan episcopal ministry.”
Here are bishop’s remarks at synod in support of same-sex marriage:
Her opening gambit, declaring LGBT people are “not an abomination” is a loaded statement along the lines of “when did you stop beating your wife?” It presupposes that there are conservatives in the church who think they are an abomination: no conservative I know thinks that.
She goes on to say that every person at the synod is “a beloved child of God”. Not quite. Every person is loved by God but before we receive Christ as Lord and Saviour, we are his creatures still in our sins deserving his wrath, not his children. Since this is an Anglican synod full of those averse to such ideas, I am sure there were at least some there that fell into the category of “creature”.
She moves then to piously declare that she will not pronounce LGBT people “not good enough” marry because, after all, we all take Communion together. This is another “when did you stop beating your wife?” statement. It has nothing to do with being “good enough”, it is a category error. Without redefining “marriage”, it is as impossible for a man to marry a man or a woman a woman as it is for them to marry a cabbage.
The bishop then meanders into the fantasy that marriage has little to do with sex so, by implication, we needn’t worry ourselves about the things homosexual couples get up to. Marriage is about relationship, not sex. No so: marriage is about relationship, erotic love and sex.
Now we reach the nub of the matter. Because Christian marriage is counter-cultural (it is), it must also be counter-cultural to marry homosexuals (it isn’t). The Anglican church is obsessed with homoerotic sexuality, just like the culture in which it immersed. It has absorbed, re-packaged and then regurgitated the obsession, but it is the same obsession: it is not counter-cultural.
This is the church pandering to culture.
From here:
Bishop Jane is pleased to appoint Sarah Ficko as Environment Chaplain. Sarah is a member of the St. Aidan’s community and St. George’s, Edmonton.
Other than supervising the diocesan Gaia worship, I’m not entirely sure what an Environment Chaplain does.
We may glean a clue from the speciality of the person who was appointed: it is saving lichens. I can only assume that Bishop Jane Alexander, having given up on – or, perhaps, being unable to see the need for – the saving of souls has turned to something easier. The saving of foliage.
Here is Bishop Jane Alexander’s statement:
Statement from Bishop Jane Alexander in response to General Synod’s decision last night not to amend the Marriage Canon:
My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ
I write to you from General Synod in Toronto. By now most of you will have seen or heard the results of our discussions on the proposed amendment to the marriage canon, Canon 21, that took place yesterday. I share with you quite openly that :
• I am sick at heart for the outcome of the vote that defeated the motion.
• I am sick at heart, because an opportunity to discuss the Canon and engage with the Report of the Marriage Commission for the next three years was not endorsed by the Synod.
• I am sick at heart that many people in the church will feel that they are not loved or valued and that the church has said that we have no need of you.
• I am sick at heart because as of this moment, Tuesday morning, there is a sense of exclusion for many people.However, I want to tell you brothers and sisters of some fairly amazing things which happened.
• The General Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of adopting the amendment, 72%. I want to tell you that I think this shows the will of the church and a desire to keep engaged and to keep talking about how we reach out sacramentally to our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. It is a peculiarity of our voting system on these types of resolutions that a single vote in a single house could defeat the motion.
• We heard some extraordinarily moving, profound, biblical and faith based testimonies from members of synod who hold quite differing positions and we were blessed. This has been our experience in Edmonton.
• The majority of synod delegates were in favour of holding space open in church and walking together with those who disagree profoundly on this issue. This has been our experience in Edmonton.
• Overall there was an increased sense of respect that we are all faithful children of God and that decisions were not being made lightly and without reference to scripture and hours of prayer. This has been our experience in Edmonton.
• The vote itself, 72% in favour across houses, is a testimony to the church that at the very least we want to engage, we want to talk, and we want to include. This is not a church that has said “I have no need of you.”As many of you know from my comments to you personally, at synods and here at General Synod, I am in favour of being able to offer all of the sacraments of the church to all God’s children. I want to be part of a broad and inclusive church. I ask you to be patient with me as I work out our next steps in the Diocese of Edmonton. All persons who are civilly married can receive the blessing of the church, regardless of gender. No cleric is compelled to bless a marriage, no cleric is forbidden from blessing a marriage.
Every single one of us, lay or ordained, in favour of a change in the definition of marriage or opposed, all of us are compelled to seek the face of Christ in all persons and to love and serve them. All of us are called to uphold the dignity of every human being and through our words and our actions show something of the outrageous and extravagant love of God for his children.
Please know that I love you, and that I ask for your prayers in the days ahead. May God send His healing Spirit upon all who are hurting, or confused and give us all the peace of Christ.
In His Name
+Jane
