what does a good christian bishop wear to church?

A bulletproof vest. I learned that tidbit from a new book.

Remember the split in the Episocopal Church over ordaining an openly gay bishop in 2003? I’ve been wondering how many of those parishioners who left to form their own homosexual-free zone have the sense to be embarrassed now, after all the hysteria has cleared and they can see their reactions through hearts filled with Christian charity. I bet they feel as ridiculous as all those gushing reporters comparing Obama’s speech on race to the likes of Lincoln, FDR, and Kennedy – lo’ these ”two score and seven or eight days ago”. (see Mark Steyn: To Obama, ‘we’ means ‘me’).

Or maybe not. Christian charity is about as common today as unbiased journalism. Maybe it was never all that common.

Nevertheless, Bishop Gene Robinson has published a book this spring: In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God. In an interview with Deb Price he reminds us that Jesus told his disciples on the night before his death: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” (John 16:12-13).

As one still hoping more religious institutions will speak about God as something other than a moral policeman who acts more like an abusive parent, I cling to those words. Men like Bishop Robinson do more than hope, and I admire that.

In July, despite not being invited to the once-a-decade Lambeth Conference of bishops in England, Robinson will go in an unofficial capacity to give wary bishops “a chance to sit with a self-affirming gay person of faith,” he says.

The two events, he says, are linked: He wants to ensure his partner has legal rights under the civil union law because “it’s potentially dangerous” for Robinson to attend the conference. (He wore a bulletproof vest at his 2003 consecration.)

On coming out to his conservative father, Bishop Robinson explained In an interview with Ed Bradley, “…it’s part of my faith to believe that the only way you get through Easter is through some Good Fridays. And this was a Good Friday for me.”

“The changes we’ve seen in our understanding of the Scripture over the 19 centuries since it was written have happened through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. … Things that seemed simply ‘the way of the world’ — like slavery, polygamy and the lower status of women — in retrospect seem like examples of humankind’s flawed, limited and mistaken understanding of God’s will. Our ability to better understand God’s will has improved with time, prayer and reflection,” he adds.

“Let’s be clear. We’ve always had gay bishops,” he reminds us, “All I’m doing is being honest about it.”