Apparently there was a little bit of a kerfuffle over the weekend when the National Cathedral invited conservative Christian author and speaker Max Lucado to participate in their Sunday communion service. Max Lucado is an evangelical megachurch pastor of an nondenominational church in Texas. He is regularly quoted that homosexuality is a “sexual sin” and does not believe in gay marriage. It is easy to see how many LGBTQ people of faith, and their straight allies, would see and feel this invitation to be an affront and insult to equality and our experiences. Retired Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson participated in the service yesterday and had this to say…
I have had the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Gene Robinson a couple of years ago and I have nothing but respect for his life, ministry, and everything he stands for. I’m not super plugged in to the National Cathedral, or their operations, so I was mostly unaware of this controversy before hand and am just learning and reading about this today. I highly recommend listening to the 14 minute video clip and while I agree with 99% of what Gene says in spirit I disagree that this was a wise or prudent move for the National Cathedral as a whole.
In my opinion, this invitation was tone deaf, to say the very least, and at worst a slap in the face to everything we have accomplished and everyone who has worked and sacrificed for the cause of equality. Not too mention the simple disrespect this show to all LGBTQ people of faith who have been discriminated against and excluded from the table of faith in thousands of churches across all 50 states. If I was a member of this church or worshipped their locally I not only would not have attended the service I probably would be praying about revoking my support for the operation as a whole.