If At First...

Back on December 21 I ran across a post by Greg Griffith on StandFirm lambasting the Presiding Bishop's choice of a Christmas card for this year. I wrote some of my own thoughts later that same day. At the time I wondered who the "at least one bishop" Greg referred to was. It looks like we have at least one possible answer: Jack Iker, the Bishop of Forth Worth.

Checking out my usual round of blogs this morning, I ran across this post by Susan Russell. Shortly after that an email from one of my listservs had a link to yesterday's post by Katie Sherrod. Both contain the text of a letter sent to the clergy and 2007 convention delegates of the Diocese of Fort Worth by the diocesan Standing Committee. The first paragraph reads:

The members of your Standing Committee thought you should be aware of this. The Presiding Bishop has done something which defies explanation. This is the Christmas card she sent to Bishop Iker and presumably other TEC bishops. Given the increasing polarization in TEC (and the Anglican Communion) today, the only reason we can see for her to make this choice is that she is only interested in pushing the polarization just that much further.

Hmmmmm....The only reason for her choice is "pushing the polarization just that much further?" And here I thought Katharine's card was a nice way of further exploring the Story and what it means to us. "At least one bishop" showed the card to Greg Griffith. Evidently, the StandFirm lambasting did not stir up enough of a reaction, so now we have Bishop Iker showing the card to his Standing Commission. So who is it that is trying to "[push] the polarization just that much further?"

Obviously, this is a case of "if at first you don't succeed, try, try again."

Peace,
Jeffri