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Resurrection Anglican Church
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July 12, 2003 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. Luke 21:28 I write to you a little more than two weeks before General Convention 2003 and in the midst of a swirl of "wars and rumors of wars." Many are speaking in apocalyptic terms about this moment in the church's life, and in many respects the times do feel that way. I find, therefore, Jesus' instruction to his disciples helpful and, even, directive. My good friend and colleague in the ministry of justice, the Rev. Ed Bacon, rector of All Saint's, Pasadena, tells the story of Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier. It's a good story, but for my purposes I only need the "punchline." After Yeager landed he said, "The cockpit shakes the most just before you break the sound barrier." Jesus knew about these moments just before a break through. He knew them personally, and he knew we would too. He left us instructions. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. And that is what we must do. Surely the recent fiasco in the Church of England is a cause for great concern. The Archbishop of Canterbury blinked and did the whole Church a great disservice in asking Jeffrey John to withdraw. Conservatives on issues of human sexuality seem to have won a major victory. Certainly most of them think so. A bit of perspective, however, is important for those of us "across the pond." The episcopal appointment process in the C of E is an anomaly of a state church that is almost totally disconnected from the realities of the dioceses for which the appointments are made. The process itself is deeply flawed. One of the major arguments made against Dr. John by conservatives in the Diocese of Oxford was, "We did not choose this." Indeed, they did not. And, indeed, this is also precisely the principle argument for the General Convention to consent to the election of Gene Robinson. The Diocese of New Hampshire did choose him, and overwhelmingly so, and knowing everything there is to know about him. Surely, as well, the rhetoric from across the communion related to Dr. John, Canon Robinson, and the rites for blessing authorized in the Diocese of New Westminster has frequently been harsh and simply un-Christian. Few of our leaders have taken it on in any meaningful way, which only makes it sting the more. It appears that leadership in the Communion either does not want gay and lesbian people in the Church or is unwilling to do anything to defend us when we are the targets du jour. That is the bad news, no doubt about it. The good news is that it doesn't matter whether they want us or not. Jesus does, and we are here, and we are not going anywhere (unless we choose to). This is our Church, my friends. It is our Church. Let us do what Jesus told us to do in our Church: stand up and raise our heads, because our redemption is drawing near. And, make no mistake about it, this is our time to stand up, not only for ourselves, but for our Church. The future is on the line. What it means to be an Episcopalian is on the line. If this is a battle, it is no time to run from it. A little more perspective is helpful, this time about the Anglican Communion. The truth about the Anglican Communion is that no one really knows what it is. That's largely because it is really only 35 years old in its current incarnation. Prior to 1968 the Anglican Communion was a fellowship of independent churches who held a common lineage from the Church of England, and so whose bishops were invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to something called the "Lambeth Conference" every ten years. Nothing else existed other than individual relationships. The Anglican Consultative Council, the Primates' meeting, and even the Anglican Communion office in London have all been invented since 1968. The notion of a "world-wide Anglican Communion" has only been hyped since that time, with its "numbers of 60 million, then 70 million, and now 75 million (numbers the accuracy of which isn't worth the paper they are written on, by the way). And, personally, I think a lot of the hype is that old Anglican inferiority complex in relation to the Rome we long ago left. ("See, we are an important world religious body, too"). My purpose in that paragraph was not to disparage the Anglican Communion, but to give it some perspective. It means that when the Archbishop of Nigeria says awful, hateful things about me (and even seems to get rewarded for it by the Diocese of New York), I, on the one hand, have to listen, because we are members of the same body, but, on the other hand, I can reach the conclusion he is seriously deluded and thank God that he has no more authority over me than the Pope. The only bishop about whom I ultimately care what he thinks about me is my own, and I keep the salt and a teaspoon nearby even then. That's Anglicanism. And this, too, is part of what's "on the line" right now, the "autonomous provinces" nature of our Communion. One of the things we must stand up for is the maintenance of this longstanding tradition. Hey, it's what the English reformation was first and foremost about! I know very well, and deeply personally after 20 years active in this Church, the feelings of betrayal, uncertainty about my place in it, the questioning of my own sanity for remaining, and the wondering whether I am "participating in my own oppression." In those 20 years, there's hardly been a month go by when I haven't had a serious bout of these feelings. But I have another, bigger, problem. Jesus called me here. And he hasn't called me out. He didn't say that when it all seems to be about to crash around me and I'm feeling anxious and angry, run for the hills. He said, stand up, raise your head, because your redemption is drawing near. I'm going to General Convention in this time of "wars and rumors of wars" with precisely those marching orders, and I ask you to join me. The Rev. Michael W. Hopkins |
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Love
God, neighbor and enemy. 