The Editors, Author at The Living Church https://livingchurch.org/author/theeditors/ Wed, 17 Jul 2024 18:48:00 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.6.2 https://livingchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/cropped-TLC_lamb-logo_min-1.png The Editors, Author at The Living Church https://livingchurch.org/author/theeditors/ 32 32 Only One Future https://livingchurch.org/covenant/only-one-future/ https://livingchurch.org/covenant/only-one-future/#comments Thu, 11 Jul 2024 05:59:39 +0000 https://livingchurch.org/?p=78775 The story of the Episcopal Church in the modern era is usually reckoned in terms of presiding episcopates, and with good reason. While our catechism commits us robustly to every-member ministry and our canons require shared governance, engrained habits usually win out, especially in times of what Bishop Sean Rowe calls our church’s existential crisis. The Presiding Bishop’s gifts and priorities shape the staffing and projects of the church center and filter down to dioceses and parishes, with a relational imprimatur of sorts.

Our church has discerned that leadership must finally be passed to the next generation, one formed long after the bitter culture wars of the 1960s, without clear memories of packed Sunday schools and politicians eager to court our favor. It has chosen a remarkably talented leader, widely trusted for his honesty and diligence. His first-ballot election gives him a mandate to launch what one bishop called “the church of the future he’s been building in his basement for a decade.” He will be supported well in this work by the two officers of the House of Deputies, both younger than 50.

Rowe’s bold decision to hold the service marking his new ministry in the workaday surroundings of the small chapel at the church center instead of the splendors of Washington National Cathedral gives us a hint of other major changes still to come.

Bishop Rowe is a change agent who comfortably speaks the language of strategic planning and community organizing. Our friends in the Church of England warn us to beware of bishops with business degrees, but Rowe is also deeply loyal to the institution, raised up with love from within a struggling rural diocese he has guided into a new and more hopeful future. He knows how to make do with less and has plenty of experience in staff restructuring and clear communication. He is humble and self-effacing, and in his first address spoke constantly of putting Jesus Christ and the gospel first.

The prophet Isaiah tells a broken and exilic Israel: “Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in” (Isa. 58:12). The complexity of sin, judgment, and the providence of God in this portion of the history of our forbearers should become a focus of prayer and reflection for our church in this important moment.

Bishop Rowe must guide the Episcopal Church through difficult decisions about how many interim bodies we actually need and how many initiatives are best carried out on a church-wide level. We strongly support his call to mutual reconciliation, “in which we can disagree without shaming or blaming or tearing each other apart.” Every time he spoke in Louisville, his words and their subtext were sober and realistic. We should expect the Great Litany, not confetti and dance music, the next time the Convention approves diocesan mergers.

It was encouraging to see “a right beginning” of this work in the House of Deputies, as re-elected President Julia Ayala Harris took the high road in responding to attacks on her character. Several rigid and uncompromising proposals about the shape of General Convention and complex political issues were soundly defeated, despite the strong backing of the older generation of progressives who have dominated the house for nearly a half-century.

For those of us who are committed to traditional teaching and practice, this was easily the most encouraging General Convention in a generation. Many whispered to each other that they had never left a Convention feeling this heartened or this welcome.

Important resolutions proposed by the Task Force on Communion Across Difference were passed, securing protections for clergy, parishes, and dioceses to discern God’s call to ministry and for clergy to lead without being forced to violate their consciences. Canons that define prayer book memorialization as “authorized for regular use at any service in all dioceses of this Church,” and the decision that after 2027 the Book of Common Prayer will have two marriage rites, clarify that our church has two teachings on marriage, with space for leaders of differing convictions to collaborate with each other without fear of reprisal.

Opponents squashed a resolution to renew the Task Force on Communion Across Difference, but we are confident that work to build relationships across theological divides will continue, we hope with the new presiding bishop’s blessing. We rejoice in Rowe’s call for “a relational jubilee in which we can let go of the resentment, anger, and grudges that have weakened our leadership.” The Living Church stands ready to work with him and with other institutions across our church to gather supporters and lead these conversations. If the conversations at Convention are any indication, other ministries across our church will follow suit, with a willingness to fund and lead efforts for those goals that matter most to them, without placing demands on the church’s budget.

Father Clint Wilson, one of TLC’s board members, who served as a deputy from the host diocese, remarked that our “victories” in securing the passage of canons to define prayer book memorialization and to ensure conscience protections were clearly a gift from God, because they came at a time when we have so little power in the House of Deputies. Nearly all the speeches on behalf of these causes were made by friends who don’t share our understanding of marriage, but who are ready to do all they can to secure a place for us in the Episcopal Church.

The beginning of the Book of Haggai gives a similar evaluation of God’s people in that day as Bishop Rowe has in ours: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. You have looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses” (Hag. 1:7-9).

There is only one future: it is the worship of the God of Israel, the God who raised Jesus Christ from the dead, having first raised Israel out of Egypt. There is only one hope: humble service of the God whom Jesus taught us to call Father and through whom the Spirit was sent so that we might know this Jesus and evermore rejoice in his holy comfort. All strategies and programs are worth nothing unless they are grounded in the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Editorial: Calling on Jesus https://livingchurch.org/commentary/editorial-calling-on-jesus/ https://livingchurch.org/commentary/editorial-calling-on-jesus/#respond Fri, 21 Jun 2024 10:37:19 +0000 https://livingchurch.org/?p=76734 “My one objective as Presiding Bishop was to get the name Jesus into the vocabulary of the Episcopal Church,” Michael Curry told a group of young clergy a few weeks ago in Manhattan. We will be talking about his royal wedding sermon, his racial reconciliation work, and the introduction of the word revival to Episcopalians for years to come. But the freedom and joy to take the Name of Jesus on our lips in such times as these — this is surely the gift we needed most.

Jesus and his disciples were together in a boat one day on the Sea of Galilee, when “a storm of wind came down on the lake, and they were filling with water, and were in danger” (Luke 8:23). Maybe the seasoned fishermen among them argued for a bit about how to turn the sail or if rowing on the right side or the left was the safest plan. Voices were raised, egos bruised, and for a few moments, the disciples seemed to be making things worse.

But then they turn to Jesus: “Master, Master, we are perishing!” Saint Luke continues, “And he awoke and rebuked the wind and the raging waves; and they ceased, and there was a calm.” Expertise, procedural rectitude, rhetorical flair — all these were useless. Only Jesus could help.

The small boat of the Episcopal Church feels exposed on the windswept sea on the eve of our 81st General Convention. We are in a period of profound unsteadiness. Recent moves to consolidate dioceses are resourceful decisions, but they also make the reality of decline more vivid. Despite many creative projects, our numbers continue to fall sharply. We are closing more churches than we can plant. Zoom church was not the cure-all it may have seemed three years ago, and it’s harder to make our message known in a time of such shrill polarization, within and outside the church.

Squabbling and disorganization have set in. The president and vice president of the House of Deputies are not on speaking terms, and now challenge each other for the top post. Executive Council and Church Center staff squabble over appointment processes and divisions are found between and betwixt them. Many complain that our clergy discipline system (Title IV) is unfair or unwieldly. But there is not widespread agreement about problems or potential solutions. The work that task forces and standing commissions were able to accomplish in only about a year is uneven. At least one crucial working group, charged with sorting out the chaos of our various liturgical rites, was never appointed at all.

In light of all these struggles, the bloated size of General Convention and its bureaucracy looks more and more silly and insulates many of us from the stark reality on the ground and the necessity of returning to basics: the person and work of Jesus; the doctrines of the Holy Trinity and salvation; the source and summit of the Holy Eucharist; confession and forgiveness; care and service to the vulnerable and needy.

Doing the church’s work by our own methods clearly isn’t working. “Master, Master, we are perishing!” We have no other hope than this. To whom else could we go? It is only our Lord who has the words of eternal life.

In at least a few corners of the boat, that seems to be already happening. The search committee wisely called for a Presiding Bishop who would help us speak with care to a world of violence, inequality, and division, while facing our weaknesses in sharing and teaching the faith. “We have discerned that the church faces a challenge of adapting to our current reality,” the committee wrote, and called for a leader who can help us reorder our structures and priorities to use our resources more wisely.

The Holy Spirit has moved five people to offer themselves for this task. Each of them has weathered storms in the dioceses they now lead, learning to call upon the Lord in their times of crisis. All of them bring gifts we need, all love the whole church, none is angry or polarizing. They know that the future must include a commitment to being a big-tent church. We pray for God’s clear direction in this weighty decision.

The Task Force on Communion Across Difference, a group equally composed of those who hold traditional and inclusive understandings of marriage, has developed solutions to help our church flourish across this deep divide, which sets Christians against each other in nearly every church in the West. Our editor-in-chief hasbeen a part of the task force’s work in this triennium.

The task force’s proposals secure continued access to our current Book of Common Prayer in the face of inevitable revision. They deal with the emerging problem of weaponizing the Title IV process against theological conservatives, and they create assurances about access to discernment for ordination, call processes and canonical residency for all clergy, ensuring that the agonies that attended the consent process for the Diocese of Florida’s bishop election won’t be repeated. The proposals emerge from patient listening, mutual respect, and sincere love, and we pray for their success.

Several other promising proposals before General Convention would help our church “adapt to our present reality.” Resolutions proposed by four of our strongest dioceses urge a gradual reduction in assessments to the Church Center to keep funds where they can best foster local mission. Some practical fixes to the denominational health plan would ensure more equitable access while also lowering costs to parishes. A series of rule changes should help the House of Deputies act as a more deliberative body by limiting the number of issues that can be discussed constructively in the time we have together.

Perhaps most hopefully of all, General Convention will begin for the first time with a revival, a signature Michael Curry event. Together, we will call on Jesus for help — the Name our Presiding Bishop has restored to our vocabulary. We will pray to heal our relationships and focus us on things that really matter. May he rebuke the winds and the raging waves, so that our little boat may be filled with his peace, and we might witness with clarity to his death and resurrection and to the power of a life grounded in Holy Scripture and the Sacraments of the New Covenant.

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New: 6/30 Issue Online https://livingchurch.org/news/new-6-30-issue-online/ https://livingchurch.org/news/new-6-30-issue-online/#respond Thu, 06 Jun 2024 18:41:47 +0000 https://livingchurch.org/?p=74897 The June 30 General Convention  issue of The Living Church is available online to registered subscribers.

Our cover tees up a package of articles previewing the 81st General Convention in Louisville in late June. Tom Sramek Jr. introduces the five candidates for presiding bishop; Louisville native Nancy Tafel offers sightseeing tips; and Mark Michael flashes back to the last Louisville GC, in 1973.

In News, Kirk Petersen examines why Julia Ayala Harris faces opposition for re-election as president of the House of Deputies. Mark interviews the lay woman appointed to lead Nashotah House. Australians are only beginning to come to grips with the church’s historic complicity in mistreating First Nations people, and Robyn Douglass has the story.

Priests on opposite sides of the same-sex marriage issue engaged with deep respect on the TLC Podcast, and host Amber Noel provides a partial transcript.

In Opinion, Ryan Danker is cautious on full communion with Methodists; Frank Logue discusses Title IV and transparency; Everett Lees advocates reducing the churchwide assessment to leave more money with the dioceses; writers air opposing viewpoints on Israel and Gaza. In an editorial, TLC says the church bureaucracy is bloated, and advocates greater focus on mission.

All this plus more news, features, book reviews, People & Places, and Sunday’s Readings, from an independent voice serving the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion since 1878. Consider subscribing today.

NEWS

  • Jockeying for Leadership in the House of Deputies
    By Kirk Petersen
    The Deep, Deep Roots from Which We Flourish
    By Mark Michael

FEATURES

  • Meet the Presiding Bishop Nominees
    By Tom Sramek Jr.
  • Welcome to Louisville! | By Nancy Tafel
  • Remembering the 1973 Louisville Convention
    By Mark Michael

OPINION

  • Episcopal-Methodist Dialogue Needs More Work
    By Ryan Danker
  • Stop Resolving and Love Your Neighbor | By Natalie Hall
  • A Moment for Justice in Palestine and Israel
    By Tom Foster, Linda Gaither, and Harry Gunkel
  • Where Your Treasure Is: A Call to Financial Rightsizing
    By Everett Lees
  • Title IV, Transparency, and Trust | By Frank Logue

PODCAST

  • Conversation Across Difference: An interview with the
    Rev. Kelli Joyce, the Rev. Dr. Jordan Hylden, and the Rev.
    Dr. Matthew S.C. Olver

EDITORIAL

  • Calling on Jesus

OTHER DEPARTMENTS

  • Sunday’s Readings
  • People & Places
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ARCIC III Releases Communiqué https://livingchurch.org/news-from-elsewhere/arcic-iii-meets-in-france-issues-communique/ https://livingchurch.org/news-from-elsewhere/arcic-iii-meets-in-france-issues-communique/#respond Wed, 29 May 2024 16:45:16 +0000 https://livingchurch.org/?p=72635 https://livingchurch.org/news-from-elsewhere/arcic-iii-meets-in-france-issues-communique/feed/ 0 Episcopal, Lutheran Churches Merge https://livingchurch.org/news-from-elsewhere/episcopal-lutheran-churches-merge-in-ky/ https://livingchurch.org/news-from-elsewhere/episcopal-lutheran-churches-merge-in-ky/#respond Wed, 29 May 2024 12:11:57 +0000 https://livingchurch.org/?p=72395 https://livingchurch.org/news-from-elsewhere/episcopal-lutheran-churches-merge-in-ky/feed/ 0