Disorganized Thoughts on the Crisis in the Anglican Communion

I have been hesitant to write much concerning the present crisis facing the Episcopal Church of the United States and the Worldwide Anglican Communion because it is simply one of those issues for which there are no easy answers. I am a confirmed member of the Episcopal Church and belong to the Church of the Incarnation, a rather large parish in Dallas, Texas. Up until the last few weeks, the crisis in the Communion at-large had not publicly touched the shores of my parish. The Reverend Father Larry Smith, who had been the Rector of Incarnation until his retirement this summer, had done a remarkable job of maintaining unity and calm in the local parish. With his departure, I am in suspended hopes that such unity and spirit of welcome will continue.

It is naive to think, however, that some acrimony will not arise in the coming months. The Most Reverend Archbishop Josiah Fearon of one of the Archdioceses in the Anglican Province of Nigeria recently spent several days in Dallas at Incarnation, speaking, whether directly or indirectly, on the subject of the crisis facing the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Fearon's presence may have irrevocably brought the issue to the fore within our parish, and it is because of this that I have decided to begin publicly thinking about this subject.

I presume that over the next few weeks and months, this subject will occupy a prominent place in the pages of my blog, and it is certainly not a trivial matter. The Anglican Communion is (by many counts) the 2nd largest denomination of Christianity worldwide after Catholicism, and has 77 million adherents globally. Given its size, and the tremendous history of Anglicanism, it would seem that we are moving rapidly backward, not forward, in our present circumstances. As an ecumenist, I believe that the body of Christ should be unified, not fragmented, and although I am under no delusions that it will happen in my lifetime, it is my sincere hope that the Church will eventually be One.

I have had extensive discussions with friends and family about this subject, including one of my closest friends who is undergoing the discernment process for ordination in the Episcopal priesthood. From one such discussion, I came to the conclusion that there are two goals that seem to be at odds with one another, and which are fueling the schism: Truth and Community (which might be used interchangeably with "Communion" or "Unity"). Is the duty of the Church the pursuit of Truth or the pursuit of Communion? This would appear to be the most fundamental presuppositional question that, when answered, defines one's approach to the Anglican crisis.

As I do not think the discussion could proceed intelligibly without them, I will take the following things for granted as simply being accepted: 1) Man lives in some sort of imperfect state [Some might call this "Original Sin"], 2) In a state of imperfection, there exist in our understanding many epistemic gaps, 3) God has given us multiple mechanisms to use to interpret the world in the face of these epistemic gaps (namely: Scripture, Reason, Tradition, and Experience), 4) There exist reasonable disagreements amongst Christians as to conclusions derived from these four pillars of knowledge.

If we accept all four of the foregoing presuppositions, then I would argue that the pursuit of "Truth" as the highest ideal of the Church, inevitably leads to schisms and divisions. When we are preoccupied with who is "right" and who is "wrong," there is no place for Communion and Community. They are incompatible. This does not, however, mean that the pursuit of Truth is incompatible with Community, and in fact, I firmly believe that such a pursuit is best engendered and promoted in the context of healthy Community (in the M. Scott Peck sense).

Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals in the Anglican Communion are pursuing Christian Community, and seeing Christ's church rent asunder is one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever witnessed in my life. I believe that the Love that Christ himself taught can endure the hardship of disagreement. Indeed, St. Paul wrote to the Corinthian church that "Love believes all things, love hopes all things, love endures all things, love never fails." When I survey the crisis in the Anglican Communion, what I see is not a failure of love, but a failure to love, on both side. Perhaps the people for whom this is the least excusable is the Liberals themselves, since their entire position is that we are to love, welcome and accept instead of judge. That means we cannot judge the judgers.

For fear of being considered a fence straddler, I will express that I am in the Liberal camp on this issue. The weight of my own personal experience alone would push me into the progressive side, but I genuinely believe that the Conservative viewpoint, tenuously justified by Scripture, is merely subterfuge for political and cultural biases against gay and lesbian people. This does not mean, however, that I do not want to be in communion with these Conservatives. I believe it is an issue on which there can be reasonable disagreement. Moreover, there should be love and understanding on both sides, and in the interim period if that means progress must be stalled until a new consensus can be reached, then I would favor that over further divisions and degradation in the unity of Christ's Church.

I have heard many on the Conservative side discount "experience" as an important pillar of knowledge, emphasizing Scripture and Tradition most of all. I will end my post today with a story from the Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 11. I will not add my own commentary, but rather want to leave it as food for thought.

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The apostles and the brothers throughout Judea heard that the Gentiles also had received the word of God. So when Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him and said, "You went into the house of uncircumcised men and ate with them."

Peter began and explained everything to them precisely as it had happened: "I was in the city of Joppa praying, and in a trance I saw a vision. I saw something like a large sheet being let down from heaven by its four corners, and it came down to where I was. I looked into it and saw four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, reptiles, and birds of the air. Then I heard a voice telling me, 'Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.'

"I replied, 'Surely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.'

"The voice spoke from heaven a second time, 'Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.' This happened three times, and then it was all pulled up to heaven again.

"Right then three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea stopped at the house where I was staying. The Spirit told me to have no hesitation about going with them. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered the man's house. He told us how he had seen an angel appear in his house and say, 'Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved.'

"As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit came on them as he had come on us at the beginning. Then I remembered what the Lord had said: 'John baptized with[a]water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' So if God gave them the same gift as he gave us, who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I to think that I could oppose God?"

When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life."
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The Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.