Two more responses have been published to the Bishops’ December 2014 Statement.

Firstly, Christine McIntosh has On Rage and Prophetic Leadership

The first is to apologise to anyone, gay or straight, within the church or – more likely – outside it and looking on incredulously, and to tell them not to write off all Christians, all Episcopalians, as being firmly stuck in the ignorant past and willing to sacrifice the wonderful gift of life in all its fullness on the altar of a variety of respectability and prejudice that was common in the 1950s. Some of us are raging because the church we love has turned its back on people we love and value – people who also love the church and want to play a full and joyful part in it.

And the raging brings me to the second thing. Rage in debate is seldom helpful, but sometimes it leads one to a vision of what leadership is all about. John the Baptist certainly didn’t mince his words, and Jesus had a less than temperate way with those who ground down the poor, the outsider – the ones who didn’t conform. We’ve had prophetic leadership in the SEC in the past, and we’ve seen that it’s never easy for such leaders. But I long for such leadership…

And the Dean of Argyll and The Isles, the Very Rev Andrew Swift has a more satirical response – A message from over the sea

As things stand, a clergyperson or lay reader who chooses to don a Christmas jumper for public services will put themselves in a position outwith the BRC’s doctrinal understanding of vesture as expressed in Canon 34. While the BRC’s doctrinal understanding remains as currently expressed, the expectation of the presbyteries is that clergy and lay readers will not don a Christmas jumper for public services and that anyone considering such a step will consult their presbytery moderator.

Similarly, a candidate in the recruitment and selection process for ordination or lay readership who has donned, or is intending to don, a Christmas jumper for public services would be unable to promise obedience to the Canons. The presbyteries likewise expect candidates not to don a Christmas jumper for public services in the current situation and that any candidate considering such a step will consult their presbytery moderator.

Have a very merry Christmas