From the Tampa Tribune: “The bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida on Sunday condemned the Episcopal Church’s confirmation of its first openly gay bishop, saying it saddened him like the crucifixion of Jesus.”

Saddened? This is just another example in a long line of religious leaders misreading the story of the Bible. The crucifixion was the pinnacle moment of human history, when God Himself in the form of a man named Yeshua (in Hebrew “Salvation”) chose to redeem the entire world with a human sacrifice akin to the multiple millions (perhaps billions) of animal sacrifices that Israel had performed as a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice that was to come. And Jesus’ did what all the animals in the world combined could never have done.

Back in the day, when Israel celebrated the Passover it was a feast not fast. Remember the Last Supper included a hearty meal and celebratory wine. Even today’s Jewish people feast and celebrate at Passover. It’s not that they don’t recall their past plight as slaves. But ultimately they rejoice in their freedom from bondage.

The Floridian Episcopal bishop has betrayed his own ignorance of the magnificence and the genius of the cross by saying it has saddened him, all because a gay man redeemed by the blood of that cross (like us all) has been promoted within an institution.
New Hampshire’s bishop Gene Robinson, the object of his colleague’s angst, is no different than any other human being. He has his qualities and faults, likes and dislikes, and is totally perfect in the eyes of the Almighty, all due to the crucifixion of Christ.
We who are a part of the Gospel Revolution do not agree with the Florida bishop. We agree with Paul the Apostle who said he gloried in the cross. Jesus Himself was said to have gone to that cross for the joy that was set before Him. And what joy it is to know that you’re at eternal rest with God, have nothing to prove or lie about, and have been empowered by the freedom of the cleansing of the blood to follow your own heart and dreams. For it was for freedom that Christ set you free, whether you are male or female, Jew or Greek, bond or free, straight or gay, right or left handed, Democrat or Republican, or another other category that either in the past has divided us or continues to.

In Christ we are truly one.

Communicating that oneness,

Glenn Klein