Day 1 – I flew into Columbus yesterday (Sunday) morning. Just a bit after arriving at the hotel, I changed into clericals and went to the Church Pension Group (CPG) “booth” in the exhibit hall for General Convention. If CPG wanted to downplay the perception that many have of the organization – aloof, pretentious, overly wealthy, etc., this “booth” will certainly not dissuade such belief. It is really big, if simple, and quite luxurious. Anyway, I worked the booth for a few hours.
The attitude of most people I’ve encountered is good. I know that the majority of people are not as worked up as the perhaps 10% of both conservative and liberal “Anglican fundamentalists.” Yet, convention has not really started and yet and not until Tuesday are they really going to begin dealing with issues.
Day 2 – I am still concerned (at times distressed) over the outcome. In the end, will the “anti-” people have the day – whether those who are “anti-“ – anti-conservative or anti-liberal, those who are anti-inclusion of gay people or those who are anti-tradition/orthodoxy? Trying to use words to define all these different groupings of people and their attitudes and intentions is nearly impossible. There are a lot of alliances, but many of them are alliances of convenience because there is a perceived common enemy.
Perhaps another area of concern, for me at least and I know for some others, is that if a chunk of the church leaves, then we will become the dreaded and marginalized “conservatives/traditionalists.” Dreaded and marginalized by those who tend to be of the 1960’s era “Age of Aquarius,” nothing old is good, “we have to remake everything in our image,” down with institutions, politically-correct bunch, many of whom are in control of this Church. Again, change and reform and different ways of looking at things are good at times, but don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Some people are now trying to find that baby and rescue it! Poor little thing…
This new “conservative” group would be those who are still open to change and who do not necessarily take a strong stand concerning some pressing social issues, but who can say the Creeds and say the liturgies and honestly believe them. Who can say with integrity that we are not Universalists, the Scripture contains all things necessary for salvation and is central, rightly handled in light of tradition and reason, and that our cosmology is not closed but open to God doing whatever God wants to do. Some of us do not necessarily buy into Modernist notions any longer. Some of us believe that mystery, always kept but not always acknowledged or respected, is making a comeback.
The simple fact is that we, as humans, are fallible, sinful, and even at our best tend to get things wrong. Why do we think we have it all figured out, correct, and right at this point in time, now, during the beginning of the 21st century? This is what drew me to Anglicanism – traditionally we say we could be wrong and that there will be an allowance for differences in opinion and piety so that we can all move forward into a stronger and more solid, reasonable, and faithful understanding of God, ourselves, and the world. Will this survive? By the grace of God, I hope so!
Monthly Archives: June 2006
On the Move
I am about ready to leave for General Convention in Columbus. I am nervous. I am nervous that this Anglican treasure that I discovered is about to implode. I am nervous that the extremist forces on both sides of the issues will pull apart this Church and then the Communion. I am nervous that something valuable to The Church universal will be lost – a valuable thing that is largely unnoticed in world Christianity as a whole.
The spirit of Anglicanism may live on (well, it will in me and others I know), but this notion of a world communion, of an expression of Christianity that freely allows questions, doubts and the divergence of opinion and piety as we all move closer to a truer and more honest understanding of ourselves as humans and of God, may not live on in a formal sense.
A “fundamentalism” has risen in all areas of our society worldwide – both from the right/conservative and left/liberal perspectives. Political, social, and religious “fundamentalism” that will not entertain that their ideas and/or actions may be wrong no matter how sincerely they are held or undertaken – no humility. A “fundamentalism” that is determined to wipe out opposing opinions and ways-of-doing-things concerning the good and proper formulations of social, political, and theological theories or practices – an extreme arrogance.
Without debate, trust, respect, and compromise, democracy is impossible. Anglicanism is impossible without a willingness to sit down at the table and believe that our opponents are of good will and are honestly seeking God as best they can, no matter how divergent our opinions.
Gotta go. I’m hoping to post throughout convention, if I have the time. Of course, my opinions are my own and do not reflect the positions of anyone or any organization I may work for, serve, or represent in other venues!
Joining God’s Dream
Quote:
“For each of us there comes a moment – or a slow series of moments – when we sense the God of the universe as a personally felt presence. Something cold in us warms, something stiff in us loosens, and we sense within ourselves a turning, an allowing, a yes. “Yes, God, I am ready to hear you. I am ready to deepen my connection to you and to your family. I am ready to be completely yours.”
“And we change, not because we decide to change but because we have said yes to the very nature of God, which means we are no longer separate from but together with. Together with God … together with all God’s creation … together with God’s dream.”
Kayla McClurg
From the daily “On the Way,” found at “Inward/Outward”
World Cup
In 1990, I was in Europe doing campus ministry work. An American college group was in Austria for a two week mission trip, and I went with them. After the mission was over, they took an extra week and went into Italy to do some sight-seeing, and I went with them.
We arrived in Venice in the evening. It happened to be in the middle of the World Cut finals – Italy vs. Germany. As we strolled through the completely deserted streets of Venice we heard only the sounds of the World Cut wafting out of the open windows of house after house after house. It was so odd to have the city to ourselves, for all practical purposes, as the natives sat in their living rooms cheering on Team Italia.
Today, the first day of another World Cup, it is fun seeing people all dressed up in team regalia walking the streets of New York. For most Americans, this is a non-event. For most of the rest of the world, it’s the biggest thing ever. Of course, most of the people dressed in team colors and insignia are probably not American. Living in a truly international city gives me (us) the ability to at least vicariously and to a far more limited extent experience the international frenzy and excitement that is the World Cup.
GC 2006
General Convention is fast approaching. The rhetoric from some quarters is definitely heating up.
I am very nervous. There are those who honestly think that this will all blow over and nothing particularly harmful will happen, aside from some blowing off of steam. I can’t buy that. I know the mindset of the reactionaries too well, and for them this is the line drawn in the sand. I am fearful that a large number, although not the majority, will move to leave the Church after the convention.
I am hoping that sanity will prevail and an honest Anglican spirit will have the day. I am prepared, however, for the worst. If the worst does happen, I suspect I (and those like me) will become the new “conservatives.” I really don’t want such a title, but if the current conservatives leave, then I guess the moderates become the new conservatives.
Alan Jones, the dean of the Cathedral in San Francisco, wrote a book recently published laying out his ideas of Anglican orthodoxy. I’ve only read the first few pages of the introduction, but I think this is going to be a very good book. Finally, it seems thus far, someone is writing in a way that I can strongly affirm. A middle way, a via media, seems to be his MO. I am hoping this may be the book that gives voice to the vast middle ground of the Church.
It is finished. It’s only beginning
Yesterday, June 3rd, along with three others ordained to the transitional diaconate, I was ordained a priest. It all went well, aside from my mistake of coming forward too early as the then prospective deacons were signing their oaths. Oh well.
This moring as I was looking through the Morning office and came to the pronouncement of forgiveness after the confession of sin, I realized I no long have to change the ‘you’ to ‘us’ and the ‘your’ to ‘our.’ There will be a whole lot of new things coming up.