The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

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The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost (Proper 8), June 26, 2005
Isaiah 2:10-17, Romans 6:3-11, Matthew 10:34-42
St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, West Valley City, UT

Now is a particularly crucial time for our collect of the day, “Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit...that we may be made a holy temple...”

This past week the Anglican Consultative Council (ACC) met in Nottingham, England. It is not a group readily recognizable to most Episcopalians. It is one of the four entities that mark the “Instruments of Unity” of the Anglican Communion: The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference (of all bishops) and the Primates of the 38 Provinces constituting the other three.

Our unity as a Communion has been tested during the past two years due in part by the actions of our General Convention in 2003. One of the results in the Communion of the election and consecration of Gene Robinson, a gay man, as bishop of New Hampshire was the “Windsor Report” and its various recommendations, some of which have proven to be rather controversial. We did agree, however, to the request from the Primates to voluntarily withdraw from the ACC for this meeting, as did the Anglican Church of Canada because of their authorization of same-sex blessings.

Members of both churches made presentations to the ACC on our understanding of scripture, reason and tradition in the actions we have taken. Then in a less than graceful move, they voted to deny us membership in two key committees of the ACC. (Since the committees will not meet until after 2008 Lambeth it does seem a moot point.) What they did not do, even though it was promoted by some, was deny the two churches participation on any part of the Communion's business. The vote was very close, 30-28 with 4 abstentions. Of course if the US and Canada had been allowed to vote it would have been easily defeated. Fairness is not always a part of life, even in the church.

Nonetheless, it was a setback for conservatives in the Communion who really had thought they had the power to deny these two churches participation in the Communion. It is unwise to speak of any “losers or winners” in the ACC since their actions are preliminary. This will all be revisited in 2008 at the Lambeth Conference when all of the bishops of the Communion gather. It will also be discussed at our General Convention in 2006. This is a very fluid time in the life of the Episcopal Church and Anglican Communion. As Bette Davis said, “Fasten your seatbelts its going to be a bumpy ride.”

This is not a peaceful time in the church. All churches go through periods of stress, this is now our turn. I was at General Convention in 2003 and voted with the Utah deputation for consent to Gene Robinson as bishop. After the vote I have never been prouder of the Episcopal Church in what we did and in how we discussed, prayed, and were with one another, even in profound disagreement.

I have seen our church take up the cross of inclusion and acceptance for all of God's children and offer them a place at the table. We have done so carefully, prayerfully, and with full appreciation of scripture, reason and tradition. It is not something we have done lightly or hastily, but after nearly four decades of prayerful conversation. This is especially true in terms of our understanding of scripture in light of fidelity, trust, and mutuality with regard to matters sexual and relational. Our prophetic role in the Communion, as that of the church in Canada, has come at a price. As Jesus clearly says, there is a price to be paid when we take his Good News to heart and pick up our cross to follow him.

There was a price to be paid for the church's prophetic voice in the Civil Rights movement, the inclusion of women as ordained ministers of the church, and now with gay/lesbian issues. As the Rev. Susan Russell said in her presentation at the ACC: “Noted biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann said in a recent interview: ‘American Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King famously said that the arc of history is bent toward justice. And the parallel statement I want to make is that the arc of the Gospel is bent toward inclusiveness.’”

The US and the Canadian churches are the only ones in the Communion to have the Baptismal Covenant in their Prayer Book. I believe that through years of reciting these promises that we are now actually living into them in real time. Specifically, “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?” and “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” Our Baptismal Covenant does make a difference in how we see ourselves and others.

We are grounded in the faith as handed down to us in tradition and we live in the faith as we understand it through our understanding of scripture and our own reason and experience. These are times that challenge the faithful Christian soul. There are faithful men and women who disagree in the theology and actions of the church. I know that. I also know that the Episcopal Church has offered a cup of cold water to some of the “little ones” of the world, those on the margins of society and the church, those who have too often been mocked and stigmatized: gays and lesbians. I believe the Episcopal Church shall not lose its reward. But the Episcopal Church will also have to bear the cross of its prophetic voice and leadership in the Communion. This seems to be the challenge and the opportunity of our generation of Episcopalians.

As we move through these unsteady times as a Communion, I ask your prayers for the Episcopal Church and for the Anglican Communion. I ask you to pray for those with whom you agree and those with whom you disagree, that we might be led to conversation, discernment, and feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit.