Picking Up The Pieces

If there's one thing I'm good at, because I've had to do it over and over again, it's picking up the pieces. Shattered careers, shattered relationships, shattered hopes, shattered dreams--basically, if it has fallen apart, I've picked up after it. Sometimes you can catch something before it completely comes apart, repair the damage, and even make it stronger. But sometimes there comes a point when you realize that there are only so many fingers you can stick in the levee, and the best thing you can do is move to higher ground and wait for the flood to pass. Only then can you move in, clean up the debris, salvage what you can, and rebuild.

Right now, the Church Center is broken. The layoffs resulting from the budget decisions of General Convention have affected the entire staff, both those who have lost their jobs and those of us who are still employed for the time being. One of my colleagues described it as the walking dead and the walking wounded. Those who were laid off are awaiting answers from Human Resources about their options and their severance packages. Those answers are slow in coming. Those of us who still have our jobs for the immediate future are waiting answers from upper management about how the work will be redistributed. Those answers are even slower in coming.

It's broken. Let if fall apart. Clean up. Start rebuilding.

The Anglican Communion is broken, and the Archbishop of Canterbury is running out of fingers to stick in the levee. It is clear to most of the Communion that one conservative faction will settle for nothing less than expulsion of the North American provinces unless they cave in to their demands. It is also clear that neither the Anglican Church of Canada nor the Episcopal Church is going to do so, especially in light of the conservatives' unwillingness to uphold all the articles of their beloved Windsor Report.

The Archbishop's latest attempt shore up the levee with the sandbags of a covenant and a two tier structure will not save the communion as it is. Can you imagine the battles that will ensue when the issue of lgbt people in the church as a criteria for first or second tier membership is in place? Provinces with women bishops? Second tier. Provinces that ordain women? Second tier. Provinces that don't hold the 1662 Book of Common Prayer as the official BCP? Second tier. The flood will overwhelm the levee and probably cause worse damage than letting go the Communion now.

It's broken. Let it fall apart. Clean up. Start rebuilding.

If we aren't allowed to pick up the pieces, how can we move forward?

Peace,
Jeff