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Rector's Reflection—10 Pentecost, Proper 14
August 9, 2009
Just when I thought people didn't read newspapers or watch the news on TV, I find out that I am wrong. I have been stopped twice in the last few days by people who (a) wanted to know if I was a nun, and (b) wanted to know, in general, what I was. When I told them I was an Episcopal priest, each one of these people knew about the turmoil in the church. Perhaps they didn't know correct information, but when did correct information ever really matter in having an opinion? And then each asked, "How can you stay in that church?"
I gave a brief answer to these two. Wal-Mart is not a conducive forum for engaging theological and ecclesiological issues. But it's a valid question, and a question that I am guessing a lot of you have either been asked or are asking yourselves. I had considered trying to get some newspaper space in the Guest Columnist part of the editorial page of the Hattiesburg American, but for the time being I think I want this more to be dealt with in house, so to speak.
If you ask me why I am staying, I will say this. I was reared and nurtured in the Episcopal Church by some very fine clergy and lay teachers. What I learned about God and about Jesus came from my parents reading books to me at home and from attending Sunday School and church on a regular basis. As a member of one of only two Protestant families in a Roman Catholic neighborhood, I learned how much we had in common and what differences really made a difference.
John Westerhoff talks about the stages of faith that we grow through as we mature—from the first stage of being taken by your parents, through being a member because that's what your family did, through owning your own faith, faith that is your own conscious decision. Think of the old hymn, "I have decided to follow Jesus." When you sing it and mean it, that's owned faith!
As I grew in the church, I was awed by the fact that my Common Prayers joined with millions of Common Prayers throughout the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. I was taught the faith, doctrine, and discipline of Christ's "one holy catholic and apostolic church." I learned the catechism. I studied Holy Scripture. I believed—and still believe—that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. I believed—and still believe—the creeds to be an accurate reflection of the Christian faith. I was nourished by the Body and Blood of Our Lord. I could not—and cannot—find spiritual nurture apart from the sacraments. What I am today—not just the priest part, but all of me—is, to a large degree, a product of how the Episcopal Church formed me.
Issues of human sexuality are the issues that make the headlines today, but there is something much deeper. As I said last Sunday, every denomination is facing or will be facing these matters, and I am not saying that they are not important, but the ancient received faith of the church is not to be abandoned in the midst of critical issues. I believe that the national leadership of the Episcopal Church has chosen an agenda over Jesus. And more than choosing an agenda, the national church has chosen to treat the faith as some sort of a Chinese menu where you can pick a few beliefs from column A and a few beliefs from column B. I know clergy who are so far afield from the apostolic witness that if they were practicing medicine, they'd be sued for malpractice. We may not agree on the issues, but if we can first agree that Jesus is Lord, we have ground on which we can stand. If any issue trumps the Lordship of Christ, however, there will never be common ground.
As unsettling as the news from and about the national church may be, it is well to remember that God really is in charge. Moreover, General Convention 2009 did not and cannot change the apostolic witness of the Christian Church. It changed the Constitution and Canons. General Convention is not like the Magisterium of the Roman Catholic Church, nor is the Presiding Bishop a cognate of the Pope. The Presiding Bishop has that title by virtue of presiding at General Convention, a task that wasn't even a full-time job until the 1920's.
I am staying in the Episcopal Church because I am called to preach, as Don Armentrout used to say, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I believe the received faith of the church that nurtured me and millions and millions before me must be delivered to the millions and millions who will come after me. The Episcopal Church, always a broad church, is still capable of doing this. Besides, if I leave I have no voice, and the last thing any church needs is a univocal witness. Conflict isn't new to the Church (think of the Council of Jerusalem), but if voices cease to be heard because of departures, the conflict may end... but so would the church's authentic witness.
Susan+
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