Can This Once Great American Church Hold The Middle Ground?

I’ve been increasingly critical — very critical to be honest — of my beloved Episcopal Church. Here’s the latest: Buckle Up, Bishop Hirschfeld. Here’s another: The Bishop’s Power Trip. And another: The God Gap.

But today, as the old Monty Python device used to say, and now for something completely different. I present to you, in a horribly divided nation, an Episcopal bishop fighting for the middle way.

The piece below is penned by Nevada Bishop Elizabeth Gardner. As someone who has become increasingly put off by church “leadership” of late, I found it refreshing to read because it reinforces my biases about the Episcopal Church being one of the last great hopes for civility and playful discourse on all things spiritual and secular in an otherwise increasingly pissed-off world.

Here’s Bishop Elizabeth Gardner, everybody. She’s on to something here.) 

When I was a lay person working in Washington DC we were blessed with a new rector at our Episcopal church across the street from the White House. This is a church where Abraham Lincoln prayed during the Civil War and welcomed the Obama family during the 11:00 family service. The rector (when he first got there) loved the new pulpit where he could “speak truth to power” – which is really a misuse of Ephesians 4:15. The problem was, the rector hated the current administration, the members across the aisle from his personal political position, and anyone who worked for them (meaning me). Every Sunday I heard in church what a terrible person I was and how everything I worked for was wrong.

I wasn’t the only one who invited him to lunch to explain we really wanted to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ at church. The other 167 hours in a Washington week were filled with opinions and position papers and legislation. We were hoping for lessons from Jesus to help us navigate our call to make the world a better place. Luckily another person who took the new rector to lunch was a United States Senator. Another was a cabinet secretary.

When I went through the discernment process to become a priest in the Diocese of Washington, I was grilled by priests and lay leaders who felt The Episcopal Churchneeded to “take a stand” on political issues. But I was clear to them and I am clear today: ordination does not mean I inflict my personal political beliefs on congregations (and now a diocese). Just like Pastor Andy Stanley*, I find the only people who want me to be political are those who want me to agree with their political position.

If, as an Episcopalian, you would like to find ways to be politically active, that is up to you. Our why is Jesus. Always. What we do to live as followers of Jesus is captured in our Baptismal Covenant. I’ve said that before. How you seek and serve, respect the dignity of every human being, strive for justice, and proclaim by word and example is up to you. All with God’s help.

Recently a parishioner in the diocese wrote to me asking me to “be brave” – meaning to take a political stand. I’d argue that holding the middle space where everyone is invited to worship and be in community is being brave. Indeed, I believe if more of us would make the middle a safe space, that would give the world a great gift. But that is MY how to living my Baptismal Covenant.

What is yours?

*Andy Stanley has a great sermon series about being a church in a divided political world. You can listen/watch here.

(Sherman R. Frederick is a longtime Nevada journalist and a member of the Nevada Press Association Hall of Fame. He is also a retired Episcopal priest. He can be reached at shermfrederick@gmail.com. You can read more from him at shermanfrederick.substack.com.)