Sermon: "Right or Righteous, II"
The Right Reverend Charles G. vonRosenberg
Third Bishop of East Tennessee

[This sermon by Bishop vonRosenberg was delivered using the following notes.]

Our collect today is surely one of my favorites. In very simple terms, it expresses key aspects of our profound relationship with Almighty God. "O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts."

A clear distinction is made in those words - one that is very important to us in our day - and that is the distinction between who God is and what people do. If we are able to follow God's will to any degree in this life, it is because of God's grace and God's direction. This is true of us as individual Christians, and it is likewise true of us as a church. Let me put that idea in a particular context. We Christians depend on the righteousness of God … but we do not depend - in any ultimate way - on the rightness of the church. We depend on the righteousness of God but not, ultimately, on the rightness of the church.

God is indeed righteous. That is to say that God is - and will continue to be - God. God is just, and God stands for justice in this world and in the next. God is reliable. God is dependable and can be counted on. God is ethical, in terms of all dealings with others. God values all humanity as equally precious, and therefore, God holds out hope for the hopeless of this world. God is and will be God. Thus, God is righteous. It is that righteousness of God on which we may depend.

In order to focus the contrast I am making, let me offer you an analogy. The "Articles of Religion" comprise a historical document found in the back of our Prayer Book. These articles were adopted by an early convention of our church, in order to clarify some particular matters of concern for the Episcopal Church in this country. Article XXVI offers the appropriate analogy, it seems to me. Therefore, I will try to read it, in its Victorian English. The title of the article is "Of the Unworthiness of the Ministers, which hinders not the effect of the Sacraments":

"Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ's, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ's ordinance taken away by their Wickedness, nor the grace of God's gifts diminished from such as by faith, and rightly, (the people) do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ's institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men." (BCP, p873)

In fact, we need to admit that the church has been wrong on many occasions in history. For instance, the Crusades often justified plundering foreign lands in the name of the church; the Inquisition encouraged repentance by questionable means, as did the Salem witch trials; and the church often colluded with proponents of segregation, with reference to particular Bible passages. We in the Episcopal Church have no doctrine of infallibility that involves the action of human beings. There are too many examples that the church has been all too fallible through history.

The problem with the church, you see, is that it is made up of people. And people make mistakes. People are not perfect. In fact, all institutions that involve people are less than perfect. For instance, if you are married, do you think that you are the perfect husband or the perfect wife? Or, if that question seems a bit presumptuous, let me ask it this way - are you married to the perfect wife or the perfect husband? Here's another example. Has the United States or the local government been right all the time? You see, the problem is that all institutions of this world are made up of people … and people are not perfect.

The church, therefore, is an imperfect lens through which we view God. As St. Paul affirms, "Now we see through a glass darkly"(I Cor 13:12). This side of God's kingdom, we live in an imperfect world. And the church of this world is not right all the time. It is an imperfect lens through which we may glimpse God's perfect righteousness.

Thus we come to a familiar question of our day. Was the church - gathered as General Convention this summer - right in decisions made about human sexuality? The short answer to that question - and in many ways, the best answer - is that time will tell. For those of us who are imperfect people, we usually need the passage of time and the advantage of hindsight to determine the rightness or wrongness of difficult decisions.

May I offer you a warning at this moment? It seems to me that a primary temptation for Episcopalians today is to take ourselves too seriously. Sins that persistently will follow taking ourselves too seriously are self righteousness and pride. And in our day, I warn you especially against the temptations to those sins. They are within our easy reach - ripe for the picking and good for the tasting. Indeed, the temptation to take ourselves too seriously in this less-than-perfect world is quite real and very appealing. And that temptation leads us directly to self righteousness or to pride.

In conclusion, then, remember that as Christians, we depend on the righteousness of God … but we do not depend ultimately on the rightness of the church. It is, therefore, with appropriate humility that we pray - at all times, but especially in our time - "O God, because without you we are not able to please you, mercifully grant that your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts." Amen.

Copyright © 2003 The Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee