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Can God Keep the Anglicans Together?
The Rt Rev’d Richard Randerson, Dean
16th July 2006
These are extraordinary days in the Anglican Communion. In 1988 I attended the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops in Canterbury UK and came away greatly inspired by the spirit, the faith, the wisdom and the vision that was shared of a Church that, united in itself, was embarked upon a mission of working with God to bring unity within the whole of God’s Creation, a unity founded on justice and peace and held together by a divine love that has been incarnated in human community.
The Lambeth Conference of 1998 was a different story. Much of the vision seemed to have evaporated. There was strife over the issue of homosexual relationships that seemed disproportionate to the issue. Many went away feeling the pain of division, a pain which has intensified in the last four years as actions well known to us all have sparked a reaction which threatens to split the communion. First there was the row about the proposal to appoint as a suffragan bishop in England a man who had once been in a homosexual relationship but was so no longer. He was not appointed. Then came the election and consecration as a diocesan bishop in the USA of a man who was, and still is, living in a committed homosexual relationship.
This latter action has sparked a reaction, perhaps involving about half the Anglican Communion who believe this puts the American Church and its supporters outside of the communion. America seems the focus for the supporters, as central Africa is for the opponents. In this country the cracks are just below the surface and occasionally break out. A special commission was established by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2004 to seek ways to maintain unity among Anglicans in the face of a pending schism. Our bishop, John Paterson, and Dr Jenny Te Paa were members of this commission which recommended that we find ways to travel together, examining the roots of our faith, the way in which we understand scripture, and what light our faith and our scriptures might throw on our current dilemma.
Not a lot of progress seems to have been made down that track. There is a debate about whether there will even be a Lambeth Conference in 2008 or, if there is, whether all bishops should be invited. The proposal has been made that the American bishops and others of a like mind should be excluded. This matter was discussed at our own General Synod in Christchurch in May, the synod voting 67-14 that all should be invited. Just recently the Archbishop of Canterbury has proposed the formulating of a covenant that would define the essential truths of Anglicanism : those who agreed with it would be constituent members of the communion, those who did not would have associate status. In other words there would likely be an A team and a B team. The concept seems unlikely to maintain unity for, if the covenant was too narrow in definition many could not sign it, while if it was too broad a lot of others would not sign.
So what is the way ahead? Clearly we need to stand back from head-on confrontation in order to examine more carefully the roots of our faith. Our epistle today (Ephesians 1 vv 3-14) reminds us that we have each been “chosen in Christ”; it talks of “grace that has been freely bestowed upon us”. This election and grace has not been bestowed exclusively upon those who hold the same views as us. It has been bestowed on all God’s children whoever they may be, irrespective of gender or race, and certainly irrespective of views held on different topics. We need to see others not as adversaries to be argued with as those who are in error, or even less have them excluded from the family. We share a rich heritage in our faith, our sacred scriptures, in creed and sacrament, and in a family relationship which dates back hundreds of years. It is unconscionable that we should be even thinking of division. Archbishop Robin Eames has said : “If we are in communion with God, and God is in communion with us, then we have got to be in communion with each other”.
We also need to think carefully about how we interpret scripture. This is a key sticking point in the debate. There are those who are quite clear that scripture condemns homosexual relationships. Two thirds of the bishops at Lambeth 1998 supported that proposition, but one third did not. Biblical scholars are similarly divided on the issue. It is not just a question of what the scriptures might have meant at the time they were written, but how we interpret them in today’s context. St Paul said some very specific things about the role of women, for example, and on the place of slaves, which we do not adhere to today because there are deeper truths in scripture about equality and freedom which we regard as of greater significance. In her sermon to the Episcopal Convention in Columbus, Ohio last month, Dr Jenny Te Paa lamented the way in which “we appropriate scripture in order to harm one another instead of exemplifying the gentle, grace-filled, deeply compassionate behaviour of the One who came in order that all would have life, and have it in abundance”. Today we debate not only the interpretation of scripture but also, in the light of contemporary genetic evidence, different understandings of sexual orientation. In terms of sexual morality the question is asked whether morality inheres in the gender of those involved or whether in the love and commitment of the relationship. I do not wish to argue a view, but simply to suggest that in the face of major questions such as these, dialogue is the essential response.
Another factor is our personal knowledge of people. We all know how easy it is to have prejudices against people we have never met. We often hear it said : “You know, I thought I’d never like X, but I’ve just met him today and he’s such a nice person”. Many of our negative views of others are formed without ever knowing them. But it’s not just a question of someone being nice. The same dynamic operates in matters of principle. So we also hear people saying : “I’m fundamentally opposed to women in the priesthood, but I have no problem with Margaret – she’s a great Vicar”. In such situations personal knowledge and experience of another person convince us of their faithfulness, their integrity, their commitment, their compassion. In other words, all the marks of our God as we have seen them in Jesus are manifest in the other person : how could we exclude them from the family?
A parallel experience is to be found in the Acts of the Apostles, ch 10, where Peter discovers that the Holy Spirit falls even on Gentiles previously judged to be outside the young Church. In the same way my life-long friendship with a handful of gay members of the Church has shown me that while we have all fallen short, yet we are all welcomed equally by God, whose grace has been lavished upon us. I have come to see that truth is more deeply relational (of the heart) than it is propositional (of the head).
Anglicanism has been described as a broad Church – united in our faith, tradition, scriptures, creeds and liturgy, yet allowing space for diversity of views. There has been much diversity on many views over many centuries, there still is today, and I’m sure there always will be. One of the most uniting features of Anglicanism is that of giving each other space. I read many items from the Anglican Internet these days, and the thing that troubles me most is the failure by some to provide space for the conscientiously held views of others. Instead we read of trenchant denunciations of those who hold different views, proposals to separate and exclude, and of plans and actions to over-ride ecclesiastical jurisdictions. This is not Anglicanism. In the face of divergent scholarly opinion, and where life-long Christians differ from each other in significant numbers, it is foolishness for any group to claim the mantle of orthodoxy in a way that excludes others.
Finally, and returning to today’s epistle, St Paul reminds us of God’s “plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth”. If God’s plan is to bring all things together, then we should let this divine work begin with us. In her sermon Jenny Te Paa said : “If we are indeed to be active agents of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven, if we are indeed to be fully and unconditionally responsive to the cries of the poor at the gate, then we need to be fully and authentically a Christian community, preferably a community of friends willing and committed to holding together, to holding all things and each other in common. For it is only by achieving such deep and abiding intimacy that we can expect to transform ourselves into being the Communion of our dreams, the Communion of our prayers, the world-wide Anglican Communion which celebrates with the angels and the saints the God-given equal right to be human, and to act on that right in all ways to the Glory of our God of justice and compassion”.
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