You may be an ambassador
to England or France
You may like to gamble,
you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight
champion of the world
You may be a socialite
with a long string of pearls
But you're gonna have to serve
somebody . . . .
--Bob Dylan
Unlike Groucho Marx--who had principles, and if you didn't like them he could find others--this Rev. Gavin Ashenden fellow seems to have a real guiding compass. Or is he a former reverend by now?
And not just any ol' reverend, as if there were any such thing. But, as dispatches say, Rev. Ashenden did have a great job. A high-profile job. He was one of the Queen's spiritual advisers.
Queen Elizabeth. The one in England.
That is, Rev. Gavin Ashenden was one of the Queen's chaplains until he resigned last month over a reading in a Scottish church. This row has a little of everything--religion, opinion, religion, culture clashes and religion.
It seems a Muslim was asked to read from the Koran during a Epiphany celebration at St. Mary's Episcopal in Glasgow. So far, so politically correct. But the invited guest chose a particular set of verses from the Koran, Surah 19, in which the babe Jesus says:
"Lo! I am the slave of Allah. He hath given me the Scripture and hath appointed me a Prophet . . . Peace is on me the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I shall be raised alive!" And the text continues, importantly to the story: "Such was Jesus, son of Mary: a statement of the truth concerning which they doubt. It befitteth not Allah that He should take unto Himself a son."
To which the Rev. Ashenden objected. For the whole point of the Christian celebration was to declare the Son of God. Not to say that God, or Allah, or whatever mankind calls the Unnameable, didn't have one.
Not that those who set up the come-to-Allah meeting put any thought into it. As the church in Glasgow proudly proclaims on its website, it is a "ministry which is affirming, inclusive, open and non-judgmental." Which sounds more like a tutoring service--or even the guiding-principles list from one of this country's editorial boards--rather than a church. Does doctrine matter any longer across the pond? Or is it more important to Value Diversity, or even worship it, to the point of including different religions in the Christian religion?
There's little wrong, and a lot right, with reaching out to others. In fact, it's mostly all right. We remember the synagogue that was damaged by fire or weather a decade or so back (memory is fading). A church down the way opened up to give the wandering congregation a place indoors until the synagogue could be repaired. After 9/11, folks rushed to their neighbors and Muslim business owners to reaffirm brotherhood. Peace, it's not only wonderful, but the Christian thing to do.
But . . . Well, let's hear from Brother Ashenden, on his resignation: The reading from the Koran "was not bridge building so much as capitulation--and capitulation in a holy place, at a holy time in a fashion that denigrated the risen Christ." And that was something his conscience couldn't tolerate.
Was he right about the holy writs and the holiday and the conflicts thereof? We'll all know. Someday.
But he did do the honorable thing. He resigned. Which has been a fine tradition used by the best military officers and government bureaucrats and political bosses and even inky wretches over the years. How much easier it would have been for Gavin Ashenden to remain on the Queen's staff, and be seen of men, and nod solemnly when he thought only his religion was being mocked. Surely some of us--even military officers and government bureaucrats and political bosses and inky wretches--would prefer to keep our paychecks than to allow a little thing like our beliefs to get in the way.
It's a rare thing to see a resignation these days. Like too many honorable traditions--such as standing when a lady enters a room--a resignation on the basis of mere principles seems quaint.
"I found," Mr. Ashenden told a website, "I had come to a moment when I had to make a choice. In the Christian life, there are times when one has to renounce one kind of honor in the hope of gaining a different kind of honor."
Ain't that the truth?
And not a truth that can be bent to the newest fads.
Editorial on 02/09/2017