Clergy Commentary

I wish to report on and declare my thinking with regard to the state of the Church that is known as the Anglican Communion. I do this because we were all taught in confirmation class that we do not belong only to a local or parish church, bu that we have been made living members of the universal Body of Christ --of which the Anglican Communion is a vital part.

As a parish church in the Anglican Tradition, we are related to the wider Anglican Communion through a series of hierarchical relations: the Parish to the Diocese; the Diocese to the Province known as the Episcopal Church USA; and the Episcopal Church to the world-wide Anglican Communion. At the present time, the unity that exists between and within each of these levels is impaired and threatened.

And while a few complain that there is no problem--that the perceived threat is only an illusion created by "fundamentalists" who are not true Episcopalians - the relaity of the events beginning in August 2003 clearly show that the danger to our Church is real.

I offer one caveat before I continue: I mentioned "the events beginning in August 2003" as the starting point. Unfortunately it is not all that simple, as if everything was fine prior to that date. The deep divisions we are experiencing throughout our Church are the product of ideas and choices that extend back some thirty to forty years, if not further. They are ideas and choices that are bound up with culture, politics, economics, and social theory; as well as specifically religious issues. So while it is a bit artificial to start with "the events beginning in August 2003", I do so in order to speak to the Parish in the time allotted.

Let me begin with a list of five events, which - in a bare-bones way - chart the progress of the crisis.

August 2003 - The General Convention of the Episcopal Church gave its consent to the election of a man to the office of bishop in the Church who was openly living with another man in a homosexual lifestyle. And, secondly - by way of resolution -that same Convention affirmed that the blessing of same-sex unions was not contrary to the pastoral practice of this Church.

October 2003 - At the request of the Primates of the Anglican Communion, the Archbishop of Canterbury commissioned a report by a select committee to study and recommend possible courses of action to check and prevent the impairment of unity within the Anglican Communion that the actions of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church (and similar actions by the Anglican Church of Canada) precipitated. Please note that the charge to this committee was not to settle the question of the moral acceptability of homosexual practice in the life of the Church.

November 2003 - Despite the magnitude of the issue and despite the pleas from the Archbishop of Canterbury to give the committee the time to do their work, the bishop-elect of New Hampshire was consecrated a bishop in the Church, the chief consecrator being the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church.

October 2004 - The Archbishop's Commission released their report --which became known as "the Windsor Report." It was a 93 page document that - in all fairness - made a faithful attempt to carry out its mandate. It was focused on the maintenance of unity within the Anglican Communion, with clear recommendations.

January 2005 - The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church met in Salt Lake City,Utah for their first official meeting after the release of the Windsor Report. The House of Bishops communicated the thoughts of that meeting in a three page document titled "A Word to the Church," which they released January 13, 2005. In substance, they said very little. There was also a second report issued under the signature of 21 of the Bishops titled "A Statement of Acceptance of and Submission to the Windsor Report 2004." Our diocesan bishop - Peter Beckwith - was one of the twenty-one signers of this second document.

I have two observations to offer relative to this list of events. The first is that we are a year and a half down the road from the General Convention of 2003 and little or nothing has been done by the majority of the leadership of the Episcopal Church, except to proceed with their own - local - agenda, with utter disregard for the majority of the other Provinces of the Anglican Communion.

My secord observation is that what is at stake here goes far beyond either the moral issue of homosexuality and/or autonomy of the Episcopal Church relative to the wider Anglican Communion. What is at stake is what has always been at stake - what shall this Church bear witness to and teach in order to bring people into a living and salvation-giving relationship with God? Christianity is not - and never has been-primarily about "meeting our needs" or "affirming our humanity"; it is about bring us sinners into a right relation- ship with Almighty God, who is both our Creator and our Savior. It is for this reason that the Anglican Church has always held the Holy Scriptures, the first four ecumenical Councils, the Creeds, the three-fold office of ministry headed by the bishops, the Sacraments, and the Book of Common Prayer as the bedrock of the teaching and practice of the Christian faith. And I fear that much of the leadership of the Episcopal Church-and especially the majority of our Bishops-has lost sight of this.

The next big "event" will be the meeting of all the Primates of the Anglican Communion at the end of February 2005. It will be significant to see how the leadership of the wider Anglican Communion chooses to act with regard to the Windsor Report. Some have said that this meeting of the Primates may result in the rending of the Anglican Communion as we know it. I do not know what will be the outcome of this meeting. My hope is that this Church - not just Trinity Church, not just the Episcopal Church, but the world-wide Anglican Communion- will rise above its provincial agendas and be the vital witness to the truth of the Gospel that it could be.

And therin lies the greatest potential tragedy. As Anglican Christians we are inheritors of a marvelous tradition; a tradition that has given a vital religion and life to countless individuals across time and space. God has been known, worshiped and obeyed by those who have believed and practiced their faith by means of the Anglican Way. We are in peril of losing that way; or at least we are in peril of that way being so distorted that it can barely serve as a vehicle of vital faith and practice.

It would be easy to conclude that none of this affects us at Trinity Church. Easier, yes; faithful to our tradition, no. It presumes that all we need to be concerned about is what goes on in our little part of the world. To do that would be to reproduce that fault which I have accused the leadership of the Episcopal Church of doing -- thinking our own so-called "context" is all that matters.

I do not have a simplistic answer and solution for us. I ask you to continue to regularly worship God at the Sunday Eucharist and to receive the Sacrament of Holy Communion; to pray privately for yourself and for others; to repent and confess your sins; to seek to increase-by intentional study-to grow in the know- ledge of God; and to live your lives as a vocation given by God.

God bless us;

God help us;

God have mercy upon us

The Rev. Fr. Christopher L. Ashmore

January 16, 2005.