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Resurrection Anglican Church
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Future of the Episcopal Church and Church of the
Resurrection, West Chicago. By the Rev Dr George Byron Koch, Pastor The Episcopal Church held its General Convention this June in Columbus, Ohio, and made a great deal of news here and abroad because of decisions it made. I was an alternate deputy to the convention from the Diocese of Chicago and witnessed some of the deliberations. Because many of the decisions are controversial, and many advocates have given their opinions or “spin” on what occurred, I thought it would be worthwhile to explain what happened in as objective a manner as possible, as well as consider the consequences for Resurrection. This won’t be brief, but I’ll try to make it concise. The convention was one of high tension, numbing and passionate debate, and some comic relief. The primary topic of discussion was the decision during the previous convention (2003), when the Episcopal Church (TEC for short) incurred the dismay and anger of much of the Christian world, including the Anglican Communion (the worldwide church of which TEC is a part), by approving the consecration of a man, Gene Robinson, living with a male partner, to be the Bishop of New Hampshire, and by voting that same sex blessings were an accepted part of our church life. The dismay and anger had two primary targets: approving a practice (gay sex) in contradiction of the Bible and 3,500 years of Judeo-Christian tradition, and doing it without bothering to consult with any other churches in the Anglican Communion or the broader Christian community. In response to these decisions, the Archbishop of Canterbury – the head of the Anglican Communion, but without the authority of a pope – convened a task force of church leaders and theologians from around the world, including a broad spectrum from conservative to liberal, and asked them to suggest what to do about all this. This group met over the course of many months and produced what is now called “The Windsor Report.” You can read it online here. It is an extraordinary document, and I recommend reading it from beginning to end; the main sections total well under 100 pages, and it contains some of the best theology, reasoning and insight into our mutual obligations in church life that I’ve ever read. In the end it concludes that the Episcopal Church in the United States of America (TEC) acted with little regard for its Christian brothers and sisters around the world, and that if it truly believed that the church should change 3500 years of teaching on sex, then it should consult with others, and draw them into deep discussion and discernment, rather than simply act on its own. TEC had been asked and warned repeatedly and clearly before 2003 NOT to make such profound decisions without consultation. But TEC had acted on its own. So the Windsor Report asked TEC to express repentance and regret to the rest of the Communion, and to place a moratorium on the consecration of any more gay bishops, and the blessings of same sex couples. If it did not do these things, it could affect its membership in the Anglican Communion. The Windsor Report was signed unanimously by all of those – liberal, conservative and otherwise – who produced it. Church of the Resurrection and I played an important role within the Diocese of Chicago to encourage the church to accept Windsor’s recommendations, but I will skip these details here. Suffice it to say that in November 2005 this diocese overwhelmingly rejected any agreement by TEC to conform to the requests from the worldwide church. Back to the present: After months of debate leading up to the meeting, and extensive committee hearings at the convention (some of which I attended), on Tuesday, June 20, General Convention 2006 was presented with a resolution to accept Windsor’s requirements. Some objected that it went too far, others that it did not go far enough. It was overwhelmingly defeated. Also during General Convention 2006, a new Presiding Bishop was elected for the Episcopal Church, Katharine Jefferts Schori. Frank Griswold, formerly the Bishop of Chicago, had been the Presiding Bishop for nearly nine years, and was an outspoken advocate of gay and lesbian clergy. The new one, Jefferts Schori, is at least as supportive of gay clergy, and approved same-sex blessings in her own diocese of Nevada. During her first sermon (at the Convention) after being elected, she also referred to “our mother Jesus.” Although Jesus clearly expressed the protective and nurturing hopes of a mother (see Matthew 23:37), this remark was provocative and ill-considered. Needless to say, her election does not bode well for the relations between the Episcopal Church and the rest of the Anglican Communion. Unlike sex outside of marriage, a woman in ministry is not considered an issue of sin, even by those traditionalists who believe that only men can be priests or bishops. Personally, her gender does not matter to me. (I’ve written extensively on women in ministry here.) But her theology and her previous decisions are a huge problem. After Tuesday’s General Convention decision to reject the Windsor Report requirements, to “walk apart” from the Anglican Communion, the consequences began to set in, and shock began to be expressed around the world. I believe panic set in, and then-current Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold called for an unprecedented joint session of the House of Bishops and House of Deputies (the bicameral legislative bodies of TEC) on Wednesday, the final day of convention. There they passed, under enormous pressure from Bp Griswold, Bp Jefferts Schori, and others, resolution B033, which promises to "exercise restraint by not consenting to the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate [that is, to be a bishop] whose manner of life presents a challenge to the wider church and will lead to further strains on communion." This resolution makes no mention of same-sex blessings, nor does it directly respond to the Windsor Report’s request “to effect a moratorium on the consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same-gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges." (You can read a longer reports on this here and here.) Before the ink was dry, opposite sides on this debate began denouncing the resolution: on one side for not actually doing what was asked by the Windsor Report, and on the other because it sacrificed “gay and lesbian brothers and sisters in Christ.” For all the heat and light and passion and hard work that many had put into this over the course of the three years since General Convention 2003, this is profoundly "too little, too late." Some have said that it expresses the will of the “diverse middle,” but in truth it satisfies neither side of the debate. Some call these sides the “extreme wings of the church,” but this is a profound mischaracterization. The “conservative” side – whether you agree with it or not – truly does represent the long-standing belief of the church about how God has ordered sexual relations. Physically, men and women are designed for sexual union. Men with men and women with women are not: They may devise means for intimacy, but it is not “natural,” and the church has long understood this, and understood Scripture to clearly say so. This is not by any stretch of the imagination an “extreme wing” of the church. The “liberal” side – whether you agree with it or not – believes the long-standing beliefs of the church on this subject are wrong, and that God has ordered sexual relations to include gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered forms. (Transgendered means needing an operation to change your gender because you believe you were born into the wrong gendered body.) They believe that the Holy Spirit is "doing a new thing" in revealing this broader sexuality model to the church. To be clear, no responsible voice on either side of these issues suggests that hatred, violence or any other hurtful action against those on the other side is appropriate, regardless of their opinions or personal sexual proclivities. All are to be loved and cared for; but that doesn’t mean agreeing with them. “Too little, too late” seems to be the emerging view of the majority worldwide, and General Convention's decisions are right now precipitating a division in the Anglican Communion and throughout the Episcopal Church. Choices are being made about in which camp individual congregations and dioceses will live. It is a terrible result, but not choosing is itself a choice. Will it affect Church of the Resurrection? Certainly. We need to choose where we belong and where we can minister with the most integrity to our faith and beliefs. [Update: On December 12, 2006, the Vestry of Resurrection voted to begin negotiations with the Diocese of Chicago to disassociate from the Episcopal Church and seek other Anglican oversight.] George+
P.S. The Archbishop of Canterbury has written a reflection on all of this, which I find enormously helpful, and will likely guide how we all go forward from here. You can read it by clicking here. I highly recommend doing so now.
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Love
God, neighbor and enemy. 