Dear Friends in Christ:
Through the grace of God, the 74 General
Convention of the Episcopal Church has concluded its work. At any given time
over die past two weeks, over a thousand faithful members of our church would
have been found listening, struggling, deliberating, and
seeking God's will for the church as we experience it in the many dioceses
that form the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. It was a time
immersed in prayer, daily Eucharist, and prayerful quiet and meditation. It
was a time of joy and enthusiasm as one might imagine with thousands of
Episcopalians coming together to share hopeful stories and honest questions.
It was also a time of difficult debate and eventual disagreement regarding the
confirmation of the bishop-elect of New Hampshire, and the growing desire for
the church to reach consensus on the question of blessing same-sex unions. The
Arkansas deputation, like many others, was not of one mind, but was
intentional in allowing their love for one another and for the church to keep
them in
close fellowship.
Obviously, such disagreements did not end with the adjournment of Convention.
I have heard from many members of the church in Arkansas, with expressions of
great sorrow and great joy, and with concern about how we will find common
ground on which to stand in order to continue our work of spreading the gospel
of Jesus Christ. I hear voices of pain. And I hear voices that are encouraged
and hopeful. My greatest hope is that each of us will listen to the voice that
doesn't sound like our own. Somewhere during the course of this Convention I
found myself reading and re-reading Acts 15, the first Council of Jerusalem.
For the first time I came to understand the depth of distress that brought the
earliest leaders of the church to that extended, and I believe painful
conversation. Luke tells us in Acts that some believers in Jesus insisted that
entry into discipleship could only begin with adherence to the law of Moses.
Why would they not believe that? For generations of time it was the
understanding of the faithful that only through the law of Moses was there
hope in being acceptable in the sight of God. Any other route was unthinkable.
Then came Peter and Paul and Barnabas whose experience was that me Holy Spirit
did not come through the law but came only as grace-not to some but to all who
believed. The first Council of Jerusalem is carefully reported in Acts 15, but
words alone seldom capture the depth of fear and pain that occurs when the
ground under our feet begins to shift.
The ground shifted as a result of the first Jerusalem Council. It has shifted
more than a few times since. And when the shift comes from the working of the
Holy Spirit in the midst of the faithful, there is new wisdom and direction
for the journey. When it does not come from the Spirit, it fades, but does not
destroy the church. It takes time and, most of all, the sheer determination to
love one another through the shift... or the error... before we can know if
God's hand is in the movement.
Faithful people left General Convention with very different understandings of
where God's Spirit was and was not working. If I believed that one or the
other group simply had not said their prayers and not listened carefully for
the word of God, it would be
easy to settle the argument. However, we all know faithful and prayerful
people who have offered their will to God, and who have discovered themselves
in very different places. Our grasp of divine truth is always incomplete and
dependent upon wisdom shared in the love of Christ.
Those who love the via media, the middle way, that so characterizes
Anglicanism, find their anchor, not in confessional statements to which all
are expected to ascribe, but in the ancient creeds and in the baptismal
covenant. We know and experience God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as
Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. On that we agree. And because we experience
God in that way, we are drawn into the great promises of baptism. There we
promise to continue the apostles' teaching and fellowship, the breaking of
bread and the prayers. We promise to resist evil and strive for justice and
peace. We promise to seek Christ in all persons. We promise to love our
neighbor as ourselves. We promise to respect the dignity of every human being.
And when we
fail at any of mat, we promise to repent and return to the Lord. About all of
mat we agree. Yet, those very things can bring us into actions about which we
would not agree. Where I see Christ, you may not How I strive for justice may
offend you. How I choose
to respect the dignity of every human being may simply be puzzling to you.
And so we have for many years agreed on the middle way that leads not to
agreement but to the Holy Table of the Lord. There we find our commonality not
in doctrinal agreements, but in me love of the One who invites us to the
Table. There we all fall
short, and there we all find grace. There our wisdom pales in the light of
Christ's own Wisdom. There we belong as one Body, where "the eye cannot say to
the hand, I have no need of you."
In the Diocese of Arkansas we will continue
to provide pastoral care to and acceptance of all people. The work of General
Convention did not change any of the Canons around marriage or sexuality. It
did recognize that all of our dioceses and congregations have been, and will
continue to reach out to gay and lesbian persons in unique ways.
By now the community which is this diocese knows thatt I understand the events
of General Convention in a particular way. Some agree with my understanding.
Some have taken offense at that position. Time and faithful living together
will move us closer to what is true. But this is a time to remember that love
is far more than a passing emotion. Love in Christ is an act of will. And my
deepest prayer is that we will continue as me Body of Christ, even by the
sheer will of generosity and love, which is the
way of Christ.
The Presiding Bishop quoted the Sufi poet
Rumi in his final Convention sermon: "Out beyond ideas of wrong doing and
right doing there is a field. I'll meet you there." Indeed, we can meet in
such a place, because in Christ, we are all the same. Our righteousness
doesn't depend on being right. It depends on being willing to love with
profound generosity. And only in that love, will we find the generosity to
maintain our fellowship as we seek the truth that is Christ.
