Like A Pie In The Face

I’ve had some pretty strong and negative feelings about goings on in the Jewish community in the past. There are some rabbis who make my blood boil. And yet, it never even occurred to me to do this:

The Grace Episcopal Church controversy took a bizarre turn Sunday when a man barged into the 9 a.m. service, hurled a cream pie at the Rev. Don Armstrong and dashed out without saying a word.

The pie thrower didn’t get far. Several parishioners chased him for several blocks, apprehended him near Palmer High School, then hauled him back to the church for Colorado Springs police.

Marcus Hyde, 18, faces misdemeanor charges of harassment, trespassing, criminal mischief and disrupting a lawful assembly, police Sgt. Vince Niski said. Hyde was cited and released at the scene.

Armstrong was delivering a sermon titled “Of Christian Love and Charity” when Hyde burst through the side door closest to the pulpit, said church member Tim Chambers, who wrote about the incident on his blog at tbc.livejournal.com.

Armstrong responded to a request for an interview by writing an e-mail to The Gazette. In it, he said he avoided a face full of dessert by ducking behind the pulpit. He said the missile smelled like banana cream.

Part of me thinks this is the best piece of practical spiritual activism I have ever seen. I mean, a pie in the face makes a statement, but doesn’t hurt anyone. On the other hand, it makes a total mockery out of a religious service and a church. And the pie becomes the story, which wasn’t Hyde’s intention.

It turns out Hyde was protesting Armstrong’s position in the church. Last year Armstrong was suspended under suspicions of embezzling hundreds of thousands of dollars from the church. He was reinstated when the church decided to leave the Episcopalian church, which they thought was getting too liberal, and shack up with the Convocation of Anglicans, who have traditionally held much more conservative views, specifically on homosexuality. In a way, this brings light to just how petty and ridiculous most religious conflicts become. Even though theoretically people are disagreeing about God and in which ways one should approach and respond to God, it ends up being something like a food fight, with little substance brought to the table. Today’s lesson: If the only thing left to do is throw a pie, you screwed things up a while ago. Retrace your steps and see if you can find something constructive to do/say.