| The news came the other day from Concord, New Hampshire where a good and decent man announced his early departure as Anglican bishop of this picturesque New England diocese. What he said in his usual low-key, quiet way was moving: he would step down as bishop in January, 2013 after nearly a decade in that post, 7 years before he had to by Anglican rules. Then the reason: "The fact is," he said, "the last seven years have taken their toll on me, my family, and you." "Death threats and the now worldwide controversy surrounding your election of me as bishop," he told the annual convention of his diocese " have been a constant strain, not just on me, but on my beloved husband, Mark, who has faithfully stood by me every minute of the last seven years." So what was Gene Robinson's' crime? He wished to serve and had the skills. He wished to give. He wanted to take on a job many would eschew as too much work for too little pay. He wanted to help and tend his flock... he wanted to uplift the lonely and the suffering. He wanted to praise God and His works. And, not least, he wanted to love one man body and soul, to find fulfillment and happiness in his personal life. The good people of New Hampshire, wise and pleased to have such a pastor at their service, elected him in convocation. Robinson, with the full support of his congregation, became bishop. But because his conception of man embraced eros, not just agape... great schism threatened. Ironically, the church Robinson served was created by schism. Both schisms came about because of marriage. King Henry VIII's break from Rome happened because he wished to thrust aside his barren wife for the winsome Anne Boleyn. Robinson opened a great divide because he wanted to stand by his man and be an excellent bishop. The king wanted divorce; Robinson wanted marriage. They both got schism. Meanwhile, the man took up his crozier and his mission, doing the job he did so well. The people of New Hampshire, the people who knew him best and who had chosen him were happy. He had been honest with them; they would be true in turn to him. The story should have ended there, with Bishop Robinson fulfilling his duties and at last, when he had served his term, retiring full of years and honors. But the story did not end there. It began. Because the bishop loved a man and honestly said so, hard upon his election followed the death threats, the fulminations, the moral superiorities and posturings, the taunts and comments ranging from the mean spirited to the criminal. All because a good man, with great gifts and the desire to use them for the general good, chose to love a different way. Bishop Robinson wore a bulletproof vest to his consecration. In such a situation, where the people of New Hampshire had chosen and were happy with their selection, Bishop Robinson, now clearly a man of history, might have expected the support and assistance of the leader of the worldwide Anglican congregation, Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury. However, his grace the Archbishop, caught between the unyielding who demanded Robinson's episcopal cross as the price of staying part of the Anglican church and Robinson, who simply wanted to marry and get on with his job of service, the Archbishop, I say, caved. Instead of welcoming Bishop Robinson to the once-in- a-decade Lambeth Palace Conference, along with all his episcopal brethren, the Archbishop told Robinson to stay away. Thus, the Archbishop chose political expediency over truth and right, thereby erasing in an instant in this act of moral cowardice his own legitimacy. Gene Robinson had thanks to the continuing support of the good people who elected him, the right to a different response, a better support from the archbishop. However, Rowan chose the ostrich way to solve the problem... pulling the covers over his head and wishing the good bishop of New Hampshire and his inconvenient dilemma would simply go away. Not from this archbishop support for a man of God and of the people, a man duly elected and consecrated. Pontius Pilot like, he washed his hands of his brother-in- Christ and got on with his ignoble work of pacifying Anglican bigots worldwide. Bishop Gene, spurned at the highest reaches of his church, by leaders who would not lead, carried on. However, this fight, now terribly important and symbolic to each side, took its sad toll on the man. One day he rose in church and admitted the unceasing pressures had caused him to escape into alcoholism. The people of New Hampshire understood and welcomed him again after he had taken the cure and solved the problem. All the while the invective against this man of God and goodness rose and became a cyclone of bitterness. At last it became just too much. The man who had brought peace to so many asked for peace for himself and the man he loves. Thus in Concord, New Hampshire, Bishop Gene Robinson, looking tired and worn, told his congregation that he would end his tumultuous career early... and so deprive them all of years of service, of giving, and the quiet dignity and effectiveness that marked his tenure. Members of the congregation, as they listened to the unadorned words that people of the Granite State could so well understand, felt the tears rise. They were thinking of the bishop and his fight; they were thinking of what they had wrought by elevating him as their pastor; they were thinking of the Church, of their Saviour and of God. And so they wept... .... and remembered. The Rev. Rodney Hudgen, associate rector at Trinity Church, Copley Square, Boston, recalled a sermon he had heard Robinson deliver in Ohio in 2006. It was in response to a question of how to respond to those persecuting gay clergy. Robinson's message was clear and forthright: "Love them anyway!" Hudgen was bowled over, "It was like the Holy Spirit had crashed into the room, and I was changed forever." Just as so many have been transformed by Bishop Gene and his empowering message of love and life. His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ (Matthew 25:12) For Bishop Robinson, Pastor Gene, you have truly done your Master's work, and it is good. Rejoice, for few have done as much as you to help so many. |
