My suspicion is that this man is our next Presiding Bishop. He has been asked to run. One Catholic priest who had met him remarked to me, "do you know this man? He is amazing...."
My dear young men and women of the Class of 2005, there is no
knowledge—none—that is not subject to faith and love. Knowledge left unquestioned by faith, like the colored men sitting
outside on the steps, is a very dangerous thing indeed. There is nothing you have been taught, or that you will ever learn,
that does not need to be questioned by faith in the light of love. Knowledge is always subject to faith and the standard of
faith is love. And whatever
sins against love, you may be assured, cannot be true....
We hear so much about the Bible these days. The Bible gets used for some really horrible things in the name of
what we say we know. It
always has, just like the picketers who visited Berea not that long ago as
well as some of my churches proclaiming the most hateful things in the
name of God about God’s gay and lesbian children. Jesus, on the night before he died gave his disciples a new
commandment. It is the one
and only thing that Jesus ever said that he said was a commandment. It is this, “Love one another” (Jn. 13:34). Love one another. I
wonder why we aren’t trying to have that commandment put that up on
courthouse walls. I wonder if
the reason is that it might call into question just a little too much of
what we think we know.
Be
proud of your accomplishment, just as my mother was proud of mine 30 years
ago. But do not think it
means more than it does, just as she didn’t. Life and salvation are not in the end about what you know. If you think they are, all the knowledge you have now and all that
you ever will have will be deadly to your soul. Life and salvation are about how much you love. All the knowledge in the world matters nothing next to it. Love first, knowledge second. Love precedes truth. Know
that, and all the other will fit into its proper place and work for the
good of all. Thank you.
The entire piece
I first heard of +Sauls when he introduced at last GC, "Diversity: Affirmations for Facilitating Emergence of Consensus." We may be electing Dogbert Presiding Bishop.
I like how he both voted for Ackerman's resolution and consented to +VGR.
Posted by: Caelius Spinator | Mar 04, 2006 at 08:22 AM
Caelius, I think you misunderstood the voting info at Louie Crew's site... it appears that +Sauls voted against +Ackerman's resolution.
But I'm glad your note led me there... because I learned that my bishop did vote for both. Even more puzzling given his equally-if-not-more-progressive vote in favor of Blessing of Same-Gender Unions to be added to Book of Occasional Services (8th resolve to D039).
Posted by: Jay | Mar 05, 2006 at 11:31 AM
Oops... Thanks, Jay.
Posted by: Caelius Spinator | Mar 05, 2006 at 08:05 PM
"Love precedes truth."
I'm a little concerned about how far he takes this. How can we love when we don't know the truth about humanity, about God?
In the past, a Pacific island tribe elder may have thought it was love to sacrifice a young virgin to a volcano each year - after all, he thought it would protect the village. If his love is not informed by truth (that the eruption of the volcano may have little to do with how many virgins are hurled into it), is it really love, or just generations of murdered young women?
Posted by: nathan | Mar 06, 2006 at 02:11 AM
nathan, your analogy is preposterous. It can never be "love" to sacrifice another---only one's self.
Put love FIRST in your life, nathan---and then let that define "Truth" for you (the alternative is to tie yourself up in mental knots, capice?)
Posted by: J. C. Fisher | Mar 11, 2006 at 04:33 PM
JC,
"It can never be "love" to sacrifice another"
I believe you can say that having been informed by truth.
Posted by: nathan | Mar 12, 2006 at 02:11 PM
So, Fr. Salty, why so up on +Sauls ? (not that he doesn't seem, at first glance, like a good guy).
I've been thinking that +Alexander would be a good choice, myself. I enjoyed his recent book This Far by Grace, and I thought he did great work at the ACC last year. He also seems like he has both the heart & the backbone to stand up to the worst of the AAC/Network crowd.
Posted by: David Huff | Mar 16, 2006 at 01:18 PM
Hi David. I was one of +Neil's students, actually. He might be a very good presiding bishop, but we didn't have a very good chemistry. He is an excellent writer, a good scholar, and a good preacher. +Sauls, captures my imagination, however.
As far as Truth and love, go, love makes truth bearable. Truth makes love possible. Or something like that.
Posted by: John Wilkins | Mar 18, 2006 at 08:38 AM
Fr. Salty,
I'd like to hear more about why +Sauls captures your imagination. I just don't know that much about him...
Posted by: David Huff | Mar 18, 2006 at 09:59 AM