A refreshing breeze blew in from Alaska recently.

Over the past couple of years, I have presented ChristianWeek readers with an almost blow-by-blow account of the doings of local Anglicans concerning the decision to implement a marriage-like rite of blessing for same-sex couples. It has not been pretty as their disagreement-with one side defending the need to give equal respect and consideration to the spiritual needs of homosexuals within the church, and the other upholding the traditional understanding of Scripture that homosexuality is a sin-lost even the veneer of civilized discourse and descended into acrimony, finger-pointing and various threats and counter-threats by people on both sides.

(One Anglican I interviewed last year referred to another Anglican with opposing views on the subject as a "Nazi." That comment did not make it into my story.)

All along, the basic issue in contention has been the plea from conservative Anglican parishes within the diocese of New Westminster for alternative episcopal oversight (AEO)-in other words, a conservative bishop in place of bishop Michael Ingham. There is plenty of historical precedent for this, say the dissenters and several primates in Africa and Asia.

However, Ingham and many other bishops including Primate David Crawley say AEO is impossible under canon law and will never be permitted. Indeed, the latter have been so intransigent that their conservative opponents have fallen into disagreement among themselves over what to do next.

So it came as a complete surprise to learn last month about the entirely different way that Mark MacDonald, the Episcopal bishop of Alaska, had handled a request for AEO within his diocese. In January, the Anchorage parish of All Saints advised him that it wished to come under the authority of another bishop. At issue was MacDonald’s albeit reluctant endorsement last fall of Gene Robinson, a homosexual, as bishop of New Hampshire.

His immediate response" Absolutely. As MacDonald explained his decision to me in an interview, he said he wanted to be "as sensitive as I can" to the congregation’s conviction that "they can’t in good conscience have me as their primary pastor."

MacDonald further explained that Robinson’s ordination has deeply divided his diocese, as it has the worldwide Anglican Communion, and especially at this critical juncture a little bit of extra grace towards each other is essential.

But more than that, MacDonald even helped the parish secure his friend and neighbour, Yukon Bishop Terry Buckle, to oversee All Saints. A year ago, Buckle had offered to serve as bishop of the dissenting parishes in New Westminster-which, in stark contrast, prompted Crawley, at Ingham’s instigation, to launch disciplinary proceedings against him. Buckle withdrew his offer last fall.

That contrast is also underscored by the fact that Crawley is now threatening to discipline Bill Anderson, the bishop of Caledonia-covering northern B.C.-for agreeing to serve as AEO of a church in Wyoming, also because of the Robinson situation.

So while the bishop of Alaska is allowing one of his parishes to come under the pastoral authority of the bishop of the Yukon, the bishop of Wyoming objects that the bishop of Caledonia is acting as the spiritual overseer of one of his parishes. These two responses to essentially the same controversy could not be more polar-opposite.

All Saints rector Jim Basinger believes it all comes down to the personality of the bishop involved and the way he chooses to relate to his parishes.

"If Ingham had said that [alternative episcopal oversight is] okay, it would have been no problem. But he could not say that for his own reasons," he says. "Our bishop has been cooperative, which has made the whole thing very easy. He could have made it difficult."

Perhaps what really caused MacDonald to act as graciously as he did toward All Saints was the recognition that politics and power-struggles do nothing to bring people to Jesus Christ.

"I believe the church has abandoned its mission to preach the gospel to all nations," he hastened to add at the close of our conversation. "We’ve got to focus on that-and I think that this is a horrible, horrible, horrible diversion from what we’re really all about."

Amen to that.