Reflections on the TEC General Convention

I had thought that I didn't care what the Episcopal Church decided about its own internal business and affairs. I've always been on the periphery, a cousin of things going on there, but I've never really been a part. What they decide about their own organization is up to them.

Yet watching the General Convention unfold in Anaheim California through the news this week has deeply saddened me.

I thought that I did not have any opinions about the “right” decision regarding gay rights and church politics. I thought that I was mature enough to sit back and let the chips fall where they may, and not entertain strong opinions that will interfere with my ability to listen to and love my neighbor.

Yet hearing how things are winding up in the Episcopal Church has clarified my opinions.

It is important that conservatives are allowed charge of our corporate identity in the Church. That's not quite strong enough, let me say that again. It is vitally important that conservatives are given charge of our corporate identity in the Church. This is not only the way to maintain our identity as a Church, but it is the only way that the Church can be truly inclusive.

I need to make a few qualifying statements here. I do not mean that conservatives should set the Christian political agenda, or dominate Christian discourse. I simply mean that they should be the ones who determine the rate at which our Christian identity and message changes. (Which should be little, if at all.)

I say that this is the only way the Church can be truly inclusive. This is because we cannot be truly inclusive unless we understand who we are. We cannot understand who we are unless our identity is stable. Our identity will only be stable if it changes at a truly glacial pace – measured in centuries or millennia, not decades.

In voting to openly and knowingly invite non-celibate homosexuals into the ordained priesthood, the Episcopal Church has taken a step away from the Scriptures, the consensus of the Christian tradition, and the ruling of the global body of Anglicans. This is of course an outrage to political conservatives, for whom gay rights issues are touchy for a number of reasons, not all of them noble. But it is also an outrage to those of us who are conservative by disposition, who believe that the Church needs to speak with one voice, one Gospel through the centuries.

I am not confused by the actions of the Episcopal Church. I very much understand the reasons behind their actions. They are doing this because they think it is the Christian thing to do. They are doing this because they think that “justice” (as we are defining it these days) requires it. They have played one Christian value against another, and they have reordered their priorities accordingly. And in so doing, they see themselves as embodying the true spirit of the Reformation. I admire the conviction and courage behind their actions, but I believe that they have taken a step in the wrong direction. They have stepped toward the whims of the world and away from the mind of the Church.

To quote the presiding Bishop, schism is not a Christian act. This is very true – although I mean something quite different when I use her words. Deliberately parting ways with the core global and historical consensus of the Christian tradition is not a Christian act. It does not matter if that step is taken in good faith, embodies many key Christian values.

For the Episcopal Church, this decision is the conclusion of a “listening process.” I have one hundred percent support for the “listening process” -- this term is, after all, simply a code for compassion. But I also believe it is important to keep listening. The Episcopal Church apparently thinks that it is done listening. It has listened to the experience of the gay community, and done the “right” thing by them (according to their own estimations.) It has listened (selectively) to the voice of the broader Christian tradition, speaking to it from within and without, and decided that it can do its own thing.

True inclusion means embracing the people you can't get along with. The Episcopal Church used to be inclusive in this way – that is, it used to have mechanisms through which people of widely different theological viewpoints could gladly share a common identity and communion. The Episcopal Church has now all but demolished those mechanisms. Now they are as bad at that as the rest of us, except they have gained the option of hiding this fact behind a rainbow banner and participation in pride parades.

The Church indeed needs to change in order to effectively minister to the needs of this age. But within this change, we must also keep the important things steady and constant. It is not an acceptable outcome if we manage maintain our prestige, influence, and wealth but give up our identity in Christ, or give up on being the Church.

For us as Anglicans, this continuity comes invisibly through Christ, and visibly through the Scriptures, the Tradition, and the Apostolic succession. We have some liberty in interpreting these things, but, as a Church, we do not have the freedom to ignore or otherwise rewrite their legacy in order to make our identity more politically correct.

This is not to say we should demand conformity to our standards on those who are outside of our movement, or even that we should demand a uniformity of opinion and practice amongst our laity. But it is to say that we should expect from our leaders constancy, honest theology, and a deep connection to the broader Tradition that is not quickly disrupted by the fickle trends of human society.

May our parishes be liberal. May they be dynamic and energetic, surfing the waves of change; may they dabble in heresy and experiment in all ways of loving Christ and loving the world. But may our Priests be conservative, always representing to us steadily and accurately -- if uncomfortably -- the full mind of the Church, the heart of the Christian tradition, and our true identity in Christ. And may we all by the grace of God complete our pilgrimage on this earth in faith and fear, and find grace before our Lord Jesus Christ in the age to come.

My prayers are with the Episcopal Church. They are pursuing their destiny, if not their vocation. I have much in common with the Episcopal Church in my personal history and inclinations, although it seems increasingly unlikely that my vocation will be with them. But I trust the work of God in the world; I trust the redeeming and reconciling work of Christ, even if I don't always understand it, even if I am sometimes shocked or scandalized by the way that things unfold. God is writing this story through feeble human hands, and it isn't over yet.