It was interesting to read the Living Church's editorial, "Thank God for Mercy" about the dismissal of the case against Bishop Mark Lawrence of South Carolina. What really caught my eye was their description of the procedure as "Kafkaesque." I suspect they need to re-read Kafka.
Perhaps I should try a high literary allusion to characterize the megabytes of reactionary blog posts to the presentment. Maybe "Chicken Little?" For weeks, they have been worked into a froth about this being the unmasking of the Presiding Bishop's conspiracy to rid the church of anyone who opposes her. But now, the bishops on the disciplinary board have noted that while they had to review the case (since it was sent to them) they can't find evidence of clear abandonment of communion on Lawrence's part. This leaves those angry voices making vague choking noises, looking nervously from side to side, and muttering something unconvincing about "Two Days" while trying to make themselves scarce. Indeed, the conservative Episcopal blogopshere has been notably quiet about this news item, while they had been generating new content about the presentment several times a day heretofore.
Ya know, guys, maybe there wasn't a second shooter, maybe there's nothing in Area 51, and perhaps when General Convention passed the new Title IV canons, which your dioceses had a part in crafting, it wasn't to target anyone in particular. Perhaps our Presiding Bishop is not the heretical succubus in a mitre you make her out to be. On the other hand, maybe she is a Unitarian zombie. Yeah, that's the ticket.
