The Anglican Church has been in the news as of late and the clergy of the Anglican Diocese of Calgary gathered recently to discuss some difficult topics. Here are my thoughts....
The hands and feet get all of the best press.
If you are the hands and feet of the overall body you get to do all of the cool
stuff - help people, comfort people, move people. And hands and feet are well
connected to the rest of the body – the elbows to the shoulders, and knees to the
hips all leading to the centre of the body - one body part needing all of the
others to function.
But
the hands and feet - and even the ears, eyes, mouth and the heart - get all of
the credit - they steal all of the headlines. But what about the less glamorous
parts of the body? What about, oh I don’t know, nose hair. Well, okay, that
might be too far. Then what about the hyoid bone? It’s a bone but one that is
connected to no other bones. It has no connecting joint, it simply hangs out in
your throat and its only job is to support your tongue. It is lonely in terms
of body interactions - it is solitary and isolated but that makes it no less
important to the function of the body as a whole.
Now
I mentioned the press. This week our beloved Anglican Church has received its
share of press coverage. I wish that I could say that it was to highlight the
good work being done by congregations throughout the world - work like our
successful moving forward program. But alas, the normality of doing the good
work of Christ in the world does not garner headlines. No, the Anglican Church
only makes the news when we are squabbling with one another, fighting with our
own brothers and sisters.
The
Anglican Church of Canada is one autonomous part of the Worldwide Anglican
Communion. In fact all of the Anglican and Episcopal National Churches - 38 of
them in 165 countries - are autonomous and independent and it is merely
commitment that keep the 85 million of us together even in name. We have no
Pope that can affect or dictate policy to far flung places, neither is there
any legislative body that can do so. There are a number of committees and
gatherings that speak on behalf of the Anglican Communion and that work to hold
us together in all of our diversity.
Together
those committees and gatherings create the fabric of the tent that we have all
chosen to reside under.
A
friend of mine couldn’t understand why the Anglican Church was so obsessed with
gorillas because we were always praying for the Primates. No, we are not
praying for the gorillas! Primates are the chief - or primary - bishops for the
38 ecclesiastical provinces in the worldwide church. Ours is Archbishop Fred
Hiltz and last week he gathered with his peers in Canterbury Cathedral in
England for a Primates meeting called by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby
last fall.
From
all over the world they gathered each from their own cultural and social
context and with their own norms and traditions. As you can imagine universal
agreement is very difficult if not impossible to come to.
For
instance -
The
Anglican Church in England just within the last year voted to allow women to
become bishops whereas Canada elected Victoria Matthews as a suffragan bishop
in Toronto in 1993. Over thirty years ago the Anglican Church in Canada first recognized
women’s call to the priesthood. Those first women paved the way for me to be
with you today in my capacity as priest - they were spit on, had eggs thrown at
them and were sometimes physically assaulted and I am forever in their debt for
persevering. However, in the Diocese of Jerusalem women are not recognized so
when I travel there I can’t even assist the priest at a Eucharist.
Cultural
and social contexts have allowed each geographical area to grow in the spirit
in their own way and in their own time. This
tent that is the Anglican Communion understands that each community is
different and therefore moves separately and yet it is committed to remaining united.
During
the Primates meeting in England last week the Primates - the Primates with a majority
but not a unanimous voice voted to put the Episcopal Church in the U.S. on a
“time out” for three years. They are to have no voice on the committees and
gatherings that are the glue that hold the worldwide communion together.
Our Southern
neighbours are now like the hyoid bone – disconnected and yet still an integral
part of the whole.
And
why have they been censured? Because the Anglican Church in the U.S. - known as
the Episcopal Church - voted overwhelmingly last year to open the sacrament of
marriage to include same sex couples.
In
Canada we have been less progressive – eleven of the 29 dioceses in Canada have
adopted a rite that does not include marriage but that does provide a “blessing
of permanent and faithful commitments between persons of the same sex”. These
11 dioceses all include the major metropolitan areas in this country of
Canada. No church is required to perform
these ceremonies. No priest is required to offer these blessings.
And
in the Diocese of Calgary no church and no priest is permitted to do so.
Two
weeks ago the clergy of this Diocese were called to a mandatory “listening”
conference in Banff. I think there were 48 of us gathered at the Juniper Lodge
with a professional facilitator who has lead these conversations throughout the
Anglican worldwide church.
It
was respectful
It
was difficult
It
was emotional
It
was frustrating.
It
was – exhausting.
We
acknowledged how far we had come as colleagues as we could not have had the
conversation 10 or even 5 years ago. We acknowledged that agreement was not the
goal - that we were gathered to experience sacred listening and not to try to change
one another’s mind. We acknowledged that
within the body of Christ there are many parts - and that sometimes we’re the
hyoid bone alone and floating and sometimes we’re the hands and feet - well
connected and prominent.
I
heard, acknowledged and respected those for whom moving forward with same sex
blessings is a deal breaker - those who understand that certain sexual
attractions are an abomination and sinful.
I
just happen to disagree.
This
is not an academic or even simply a theological discussion for me. These are my
friends and peers - not people on the outside waiting for the Anglican Church
to accept them but people who sit on Parish Councils, serve at the altar, read
our sacred scriptures and some who even follow their call to ordination. I am
not talking about a mob who are beating down our doors to have their
relationships blessed by God, I am talking about the people in our pews who are
more patient, more faithful, more full of grace than I think I could ever be.
I’m not sure that I could continue to serve an institution who at every turn
said that because of who I loved I was a sinner that God’s love for me was not
assured. But they do not leave. They do not tell us where to go and stomp out -
no - they simply wait.
They
wait for the spirit to move as the spirit has been known to do. In this Diocese
there are at present three congregations who have asked for permission to reach
out to our gay and lesbian parishioners and invite them to have their loving
relationships blessed. Three parishes out of 72 are asking permission to
provide the rite of blessing to those who ask.
I
have heard that if they are granted permission to do so it will somehow have a
negative effect on people’s current heterosexual marriage vows. I don’t get that.
I have heard that
if they are given permission that people will leave the Anglican Church. I don’t want that.
As
it stand those who do not feel called to bless same sex unions are able to live
out their ministries in faith. It is only those of us who are called to perform
such rites, to extend such ministries but who cannot that are being stifled in
their call.
I
am sure by now you know where I stand. I am sure by now you know that when I
say that all are welcome I really, really mean it.
But
let me be clear. I am not asking for you to follow me on this journey. I know
that for many of you this is a very emotional, theological, and distressing
issue. I understand that. And in this place, within these walls there is enough
room for you.
All
I ask is that you try to make enough room for me too.
There
are times we are all the hands and feet - the connected, active parts of the
body. And sometimes we are the hyoid bone - disconnected with only one purpose.
As we move forward let us continue to see each other as necessary, as fully
beloved to this one body that we say that we inhabit.
So
in the midst of these conversations while we endeavour to follow the spirit let
us hold one another up as full members of that one body.
© Tara Livingston, 2016
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’ On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honourable we clothe with greater honour, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honour to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honoured, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? But strive for the greater gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. (1Corinthians 12.12-31a)
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