Have a little patience
It’s meant to be a virtue, even a biblical and traditional one, and not just the gentle advice of dubiously gay-friendly popsters Take That, but it does seem to have got lost. Arguably a lack of patience was a significant failing, even sin, in TEC when it consecrated Gene Robinson. But currently it seems to be characterising the other side. There seem to be an army of bloggers out there ready to storm the comments section of any post they don’t like.
But sometimes the lack of patience comes back to bite you. According to this report Greg Venables, for one, is quite annoyed that a report he’s not seen or discussed has gone out over his “signature”. But it gets worse. GAFCON issued a sharp critique of the covenant proposals, including a comparison with what they called the Nassau draft. Their executive summary said
The St Andrews Draft is not a conservative revision of the Nassau Draft. Its changes are so significant theologically and practically that they completely recast both the grounds of common life together and the process by which the assault upon that common life by TEC and ACoC is to be addressed. The Nassau Draft is a much better document than its successor.
They’ve now taken that document down. Why? Oh, because they’d actually compared it with proposals they themselves had put forward before the idea of a covenant was even on the table, and not with the Nassau Draft Covenant at all. We all make mistakes, and that’s why patience is a virtue.
Like I say, a little patience. It may not save the Anglican Communion, but (did I mention?) it’s still a virtue. At the very least it saves you getting egg all over your face.