I'm writing to the embassy...

To:  The Anglican Church of Canada
Re:  Your "blog" Vision 2019

Sir:

I have received word that one of the comments under my care has been held "in moderation" for over 1 week.  In this time I have had no assurance that my comment "in moderation" has been properly cared for, nor has this comment been allowed (under the terms of the Silicone Valley Convention) to communicate with other comments in your Vision 2019 "blog".

This comment was sent in good faith on March 12, 2009.  The comment itself was unarmed, and was a member in good standing of the Anglican Church of Canada.  It was baptized and confirmed in the Diocese of Edmonton, and had served faithfully on two local internet parish councils.  While I understand that some care needs to be taken in assigning server space, I anticipate that the comment under consideration has felt excluded from the conversation, and will most likely need extensive pastoral counseling when and if it is ever released back into cyberspace.

I am therefore writing what is known in the business as a "Strongly Worded Letter" to the Queen, and expect that you will take the appropriate action.  If by chance you have permanently deleted my comment, or have somehow found it offensive, let me offer the following by way of replacement:

“I have been called both “fundamentalist” and “pietist” by unsympathetic readers, since they put me in an already-closed slot in their minds, to which they had relegated the use of the Bible. They did not read me carefully enough to be aware that my reading of the scriptural texts was post- and not pre- critical.”
The Politics of Jesus Revisited (1997) John Howard Yoder

I suspect that there are a number of people for whom the appearance of any opposition to SSB on biblical or theological grounds needs to be reduced to a charge of "fundamentalism/literalism", but that is simply not the case.  There is simply a failure to admit that one can hold such a view in a post-critical age.

Indeed, I have found that this episode has caused me such personal anguish that I must break my Lenten fast, and seek solace with a 1998 Pinot Noir.

Yours truly, etc

Comments

[Donald]

Joseph:

I just went to the site and your comments are now posted.

[Susan]

Well, I can't find Joseph's comment. This whole thing is just stupid. Like Church House and our Primate and all the various Committees (peace be upon them) have to ask people in the pews what their vision of the Church is? Give me a break. We are well into the first several verses of Ezekiel 34. Absolutely pathetic leadership from our Shepherds, many of whom I hope were consecrated under the form of the BCP (I checked the BAS form and find it very thin), where they are exhorted to:
Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd, not a wolf; feed them, devour them not. Hold up the weak, heal the sick, bind up the broken, bring again the outcasts, seek the lost. Be so merciful that you be not too remiss; so minister discipline that you forget not mercy: that when the chief Shepherd shall appear you may recieve the never-fading crown of glory.

[joseph]

I think I might fast from the VIsion 2019 website for the remainder of Lent.

[Leslie]

Joe,

Mttw 25:23a

[joseph]

Leslie: I am tempted to think that if they can't foster a timely discussion on a simple blog (for whatever reason - use your imagination), how on earth should I expect the national office to foster a critical discussion and decision process on a larger level? If this is how comments are treated in a simple blog (and I note that several others had their comments posted right away), then I might be a bit skeptical about whatever "dialogue process" will come down to us in the next year or so.

But I love that big bunch o' crazy ol' Anglicans anyway :^)

[Leslie]

In the midst of our church "dialogue", before blogs, my mother wrote a most tactful letter to the editor of our national church magazine (I think it was called The Shepherd? The Common Cup? The Bishop's Hat? I forget.) They didn't publish it. For her it was a pivotal point.

At any rate, your "where is my comments" letter is priceless. And so I repeat, well done good and faithful servant...

[David]

Joseph, I see your comments are now posted. Mine aren't; which leaves the question, who has been insulted more, you or I? :-)

[anthony]

you should send this letter in, if you havnet already

[joseph]

I'll have to get it in the mail early in the week...