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| Anglican Mark of Mission #1: To Proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom |
Episcopalians are known for a reluctance to embrace
change. If we're honest, it seems that's
true of most people, although churches like ours are places where we can truly
live into that reluctance! In fact, it
may be that fear is a better word than reluctance. Is it any wonder that encounters with the
holy in scripture often started with, "Be not afraid!"? Fear can hinder our ability to hear the
message God has to share with us.
As an institution, The Episcopal Church is designed to
change at a slow pace. We have a
'well-developed' polity very similar to our public national governance structure. On one hand it allows for a shared and
democratic approach to being the Body of Christ in the world, but on the other,
it can be a bureaucratic nightmare. Our
other structure being evaluated at the same time is the one based at the Church
Center in New York. Does the staffing
and the administrative structure of the Episcopal Church serve our common good
in the most effective way, particularly with the limited funds available to the
church? As the world around us changes
and long held assumptions about the way we minister to and in the world in the
name of Christ are challenged, a fair question facing this convention is
whether or not our structure - the frame in which we, "live and move and
have our being," as followers of Christ - is serving our mission or
hindering it? Questions addressing the
structure of our Church are the dominant questions being addressed, discussed
and debated at this convention so far.
Needless to say, these issues are very complex. At all levels of the convention such
questions are being brought to the top of the agenda. From a fundamentally different way of crafting and
framing budgets to the way the church's leadership bodies are structured to the
appropriateness of a missionary church being headquartered in Manhattan to the way we view sacramental
elements of the faith, it seems that everything is 'on the table.'
Interestingly, or perhaps providentially, the Spirit is
moving at both the grass roots level and at the top levels of our leadership. Everyone seems to be in agreement that The Episcopal
Church is being called to a new place in the world, although we have not
discerned yet where that place may be or how, precisely, we will get
there. It is more than just a handful of
resolutions driving this conversation, rather there is a dramatic shift
underway in our Church that is informing the way we are approaching much of the
business before this convention. Whether
the path forward will be clear by the end of this convention remains to be
seen.
It is most likely that this convention will make room for
the church to face our challenges and explore our opportunities in new ways
over the next triennium as we begin a
process reclaiming the core of our mission and the reinvigoration of our common
life. This is of course a hopeful prayer
for this convention. As the debate and
discernment continues, fear could once again keep us from honest conversation
and reflection, or a different sort of fear could cause us to change only for
the sake of seeking something new as we tire of the familiar.
Prayers from the Diocese of Washington for our deputation
and our bishop and the work we are doing in our respective 'houses' are
essential and helpful as we continue to consider these issues. Please pray also for the whole church
gathered here in service to our Savior Jesus Christ through the Holy
Spirit. As a Church we are encountering
the holy in that Common way in which we have long prayed and labored
together. As we fully engage the holy,
may we not be afraid, but instead listen openly and humbly for the message that
God has for us.
Tom Purdy
Tom Purdy
Tom Purdy is an Alternate Clerical Deputy and Rector of St. Peter's, Poolesville, MD
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