I've been reading the news accounts of the split in the Diocese of Pittsburgh. I really makes me quite sad. I spent 10 years in that diocese (1980 - 1990) and it was a conflicted diocese even then. I don't really think that Gene Robinson's consecration was the "splitting issue." It felt then and now like the issue is biblical interpretation. I have come a long way since my roots at Trinity Episcopal Seminary in Ambridge. It was a great place for me in 1980, and it prepared me well for ministry. And I believe that the tools I received there helped me look clearly at scripture, and use tradition and reason to balance what I see there. So I view scripture with a broader lens, I believe.
Having said all that, I am in my prayers hoping that a spirit of generosity prevails among the Anglicans and Episcopalians in Pittsburgh. The remaining Episcopal Church has great leadership. The buildings and assets of the diocese are going to be argued and fought over with the zeal of two people going through a divorce. It is a divorce in reality and the persons on both sides have given themselves to those properties and assets over the years. My prayers are with those who make those decisions over the next few months. Pray for the energy in the midst of that struggle to do the work necessary in being "put right" with one another.
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