Reflections on General Convention, 2009

I have spent the past ten days, since convention ended on July 17, reflecting on the resolutions passed and the statements we have made to the international Anglican faith community. The passing of resolution D025 and the forming of a study process to create blessings for same gender unions are significant matters deserving much thought.

Resolution D025 (passed in both houses by a decisive majority) included a fairly direct call to the communion to follow through on its past commitment to “listen” to the experience of the Gay and Lesbian community in their churches. We here in T.E.C. have done so, with D025 stating our present conclusions.

However, we have added a powerful new tone to the statement, D025 acknowledges that the conclusions stated are not unanimously held. Further it maintains an openness to the conservative elements in our church who in the past have been pushed to the margins. As convention came to its conclusion, several conservative spokes persons stated there thanks for the way they were treated during convention, even though they disagreed with the decisions.

The Diocese of Massachusetts has posed this invitation to dialogue for its membership.
The most exciting thing I see in the Massachusetts statement is that it’s really a request for the members of the diocese to enter into conversation, and communal discernment about recent events and the way they will go forward together.

Also the Archbishop of Canterbury has posted a reflection as well. Archbishop Williams, on the other hand has mostly reflected on the structural conundrums facing the communion. As he points out, some are looking for the Anglican Communion to remain a loose confederation of national churches, others are looking for a powerful (pope-like) central government. The Anglican Convenient Process is about trying to resolve that matter. Even though this issue is at the core of our international power struggles (autonomy vs accountability) it is also a distraction from the discernment that the Gay and Lesbian community has called us into. In D025 The Episcopal Church reiterates that called to entire communion. Unfortunately Archbishop Williams seem to have either missed or ignored that call.

Another important issue that underlies the international conflict is about how one does theological inquiry and the discernment of doctrine and discipline. Archbishop Williams is right that the discernment necessary on gender identity issues is deep and involved; we are taking about a huge change in the doctrine and discipline of our church. It truly is about engaging our Anglican custom of keeping Scripture, Tradition and Reason in a balancing dialogue when making such decisions. To my way of thinking, one cannot claim to be Reasonable in reflecting on Scripture and Tradition, if one does not listen to the voice of people who have been victimized by the conclusions drawn in past generations. “Ivory tower thinking” has undergird many of the abuses perpetrated by church leadership over the centuries. The Anglican Communion cannot afford to allow such thinking to continue. Unfortunately, we are not yet talking about the how of theological inquiry and the discernment of changes in doctrine and discipline.