The Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church and the Love of God

The Anglican Communion, The Episcopal Church and the Love of God

I borrow from Charles Dickens and a Tale of Two Cities when I say that our time is “the best of times and the worst of times” to be an Episcopalian, to be an Anglican. As most know, the majority of Primates of the Anglican Communion, meeting in England last week, suspended the Episcopal Church from participation in certain committees, and Episcopalian individuals from holding certain offices within the Communion. This is due to the Episcopal Church’s decision in July to allow the marriage of same sex couples and the ordination of homosexual people who have companions or spouses.

It is important to look at what happened last week, what it means, and the complicated issues effecting relationships within the Communion, particularly the issues between Western Provinces and Provinces from the Global South. I believe that part of the issue revolves around the legacy of Colonialism when the Western powers brought their Missionaries along as they sought to control the Southern Hemisphere’s natural resources. As Desmond Tutu and others have said, “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” This legacy still affects relationships within the communion. The arrogance real or perceived that Westerners still believe we are superior to people from the Global South can lead to a lack of trust.

Another part of that legacy is that the Christianity that was given to the people of Africa by the Church of England and other churches was based on a more literalistic understanding of scripture than many Western Churches have today. This is not to condemn either interpretation, of scripture, but to say that they can lead to different decisions about human as well as spiritual relationships. This information may help us better understand the disagreements among the member Provinces of the Anglican Communion.

The Anglican Communion is just that, a communion, not a World Wide Church as is the Roman Catholic Church. As such it has, until recently, never been a policy making body. For example, in the early 1970’s as some provinces were considering the ordination of women to the priesthood, the Communion chose to allow each province to make the decision that was best and appropriate for its own place and time. That changed in 1988 at the Lambeth Conference, the once every ten year gathering of Anglican Bishops from all over the world. At that conference a vote was taken that required that no province could act alone on the ordination of practicing homosexual people, or the marriage of same sex couples. This was an unprecedented move on behalf of the Anglican, fueled by the relationship between Global South Bishops and North American Conservative Episcopalians. This influence produced fear that the North American Churches were going to try to force the entire communion to accept and act on these decisions, something that was not planned nor desired.

As in any complicated human relationship, there are other issues involved in the decisions made last week by the Primates, but let’s move on to what those decisions were, how they affect the entire Anglican Communion as well as the Episcopal Church, and then I want to reflect on how I believe the Episcopal Church should respond to these actions

A majority of Anglican primates on January 14 asked that the Episcopal Church, for a period of three years, "no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, that individual members not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

The Primates further stated the desire to walk together, even with their differences over whether people of the same sex can marry. “This agreement acknowledges the significant distance that remains but confirms our unanimous commitment to walk together.” The announcement also said the agreement “demonstrates the commitment of all the Primates to continue the life of the Communion with neither victor nor vanquished.”

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry stated to the Primates, “Many of us have committed ourselves and our church to being ‘a house of prayer for all people,’ as the Bible says, where all are truly welcome. Our commitment to be an inclusive church is not based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture, but on our belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to us all. While I understand that many disagree with us, our decision regarding marriage is based on the belief that the words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians are true for the church today: ‘All who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for all are one in Christ.’”

Curry continued: “The pain for many will be real. But God is greater than anything. I love Jesus and I love the church. I am a Christian in the Anglican way. And like you, as we have said in this meeting, I am committed to ‘walking together’ with you as fellow Primates in the Anglican family.” (For complete article I refer you to the Episcopal News Network).

So what do we do? First, I believe we stay connected. We in the Episcopal Church on a Diocese by Diocese and Parish by Parish basis can choose to perform marriages of same sex couples or not. As Bishop Kee Sloan of Alabama says, “no parish will be prohibited or required to perform marriages between two members of the same sex. If this sacrament is important to the Parish’s mission then by all means use it.”

Remember we are still part of the Anglican Communion. I believe we need to respect the other 37 Provinces in their decisions, realizing that we are not living in their local situations any more than they live in ours. We need to continue to work, pray and give for the advancement of the Kingdom of God in the world. I do not believe we should take our money or missions away from what the Communion is doing in the world.  After all the problems of hunger, war, terrorism and justice for all are still the church’s primary mission.

We are called by Jesus to “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves…and respecting the dignity of every human being.” (The Baptismal Covenant, Episcopal Book of Common Prayer).