How Much Agreement Do We Need?

Recently, I received a communication from a priest who left the Anglican Church of Canada in one of the earlier exoduses of traditionalists. My response follows.

Dear Canon Birch,

Thank you for your response to my article “Why I Remain An Anglican.”

I am not a theologian; nor am I a church historian. But, in the deepest part of my being, it makes sense to me to draw a distinction between beliefs I hold to be essential to Christian faith and therefore unchanging and traditions of church practice that I view as open to refinement as history evolves.

I believe absolutely in the incarnate revelation of God in Jesus Christ. I believe that Jesus died, rose again, ascended into heaven and poured out God’s “spirit on all flesh.” (Joel 2:28) I believe that the Christian vision of God as Trinity is a divinely revealed and deeply true mystery of the nature of God. I believe Scripture is the revealed word of God and that it “containeth all things necessary to salvation.” (Articles of Religion VI, BCP)

I find it impossible however to convince myself that Jesus mandated a male only priesthood for all human history, or a celibate priesthood, or the infallible authority of the Pope, in spite of the fact that these beliefs have been held by Christian tradition as that which should be passed on “umimpaired to our posterity,” and continue to be held by the majority of Christians today. This may make me a hopeless heretic in your eyes, but surely not a heretic on the level of someone who would deny the divinity of Christ, or call into question the reality of his resurrection.

I understand God to be One who says, “See, I am making all things new,” (Revelation 21:5). I believe God’s Spirit “blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes,” (John 3:8) and that we are challenged to provide “fresh wineskins” into which the “new wine” of God’s Spirit can be poured. (Matthew 9:17)

I am deeply saddened that my willingness to embrace “fresh wineskins” makes some faithful devout Christians believe they can no longer worship with me. I may be wrong, but I have never seen any document that convinces me that any bishop in the Anglican Church of Canada ever “excommunicated” anyone due to disagreement over issues relating to church polity. Any person is absolutely welcome to share the bread and wine at the Lord’s table in the church where I serve. I am convinced there is enough upon which we are “agreed” to make it possible for us to “walk together.” (Amos 3:3) and still each “act according to our conscience.”

I honour and respect your years of faithful ministry in Christ’s Church. I regret the hurt you have felt from the Anglican Church of Canada and agree absolutely, as you suggest, that “loving one another" might indeed “do some good.” I pray you may always find a warm welcome if you should ever find yourself moved to re-connect with the Anglican Church of Canada. But in the meantime, I am glad you “have found such a joy and freedom, being able to know” yourself “in Communion with the Church throughout the ages of the Christian Faith.” I pray the day may come when you may be able to view me as included in that community of Faith.

God’s blessing,

Christopher
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A Response to Walker Morrow #3

Dear Walker

In an attempt to honour my commitment to more succinct posts (April 6, 2009), I will confine my response to your latest comment (Comment on “A Response to Walker Morrow #2) to four points.

1. No human being can as you suggest “ever truly grasp the truth in its entirety.” The Bible impresses upon us the limitations of the human ability to know.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. (Psalm 139:6)

O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! (Romans 11:33)

For now we see in a mirror, dimly… Now I know only in part. (I Corinthians 13:12)

The arrogant assumption that human rationality has absolute understanding lies at the heart of much of the triviality and dysfunction of the human community. Wherever you encounter an unshakeable conviction of absolute truth, you need to proceed cautiously. Truth is characterized more by mystery and humility than by clarity and certainty.

2. The proper goal of the human search is not to “grasp the truth in its entirety,” but to discover wisdom. We discover wisdom as we open to a reality deeper than the limited confines of human rationality. We are more than what we think. There are dimensions to human existence that cannot be contained by the mind.

Wisdom resides along the path of faith. Faith does not contradict reason, but moves beyond reason into the realm of trust, mystery and commitment. Faith opens us to the deep inner reality of the Spirit where we discover the transforming power of life lived in relationship to God. No one thinks his way into transformation. Transformation comes from the deep opening and vulnerability of surrender. As we surrender to God, we more fully reflect our true nature as beings created in the image of God.

3. To grow in our ability to live according to our true nature created in the image of God means to grow in our capacity to love, because “God is love,” (I John 4:16) and “everyone who loves…knows God.” (I John 4:7)

4. If, to love is to know God, then “Whoever loves a brother or sister lives in the light,” (I John 2:10) because “if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected it in us.” (I John 4:12)

Whether we like it or not, our relationship to God is inextricably bound up with our relationship to other people. We cannot “love” in the abstract. Love must be embodied. We must find a place, beyond the self-interested bonds of biological kinship, where love can be practiced. For me church is the place where I am truly challenged to grow in love.

In church I am required to see God in people in whom I might be disinclined to notice God’s presence. Church holds me faithful to the challenging practices of patience and perseverance that are essential to discovering God’s image where I may have failed to discern God’s Spirit. This is a vital discipline because, as I see God more fully in others, I grow in my awareness of God’s presence in my own life and so my capacity to love expands. By finding God more fully in you, I become more fully the person I was created to be. This is only possible with the faithful discipline of choosing to stay with you, especially at times when I find it most difficult to see God in your life.

The awkward, uncomfortable spiritual practice of choosing to remain in relationship with people who I may feel let me down, betray me, or upset me, is essential to growing deep in faith. Those who choose to love discover truth more than those who believe they think right thoughts.
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Where Is My Confidence?

In his book Hope Against Darkness, Franciscan priest and teacher Richard Rohr writes,

Greatness emerges when, above all else, people are confident. When we believe—together—that life is good, God is good and humanity is good, we become very safe and salutary people for others. We do exciting and imaginative things because we are confident that we are a part of a story line that is going somewhere and we want to be connected to something good.

But what about those of us for whom confidence is often difficult? What about those of us who wake up many mornings feeling the sky is going to fall as soon as our feet hit the floor? Is "greatness" closed to those who find it difficult to work the alchemy of confidence?

Sometimes it just does not feel that "life is good, God is good and humanity is good." Evidence may suggest that life is difficult, God is distant and humanity is dangerous. How do we find "confidence" when we feel we are in "a story line" that seems to be going nowhere?

The etymology of the word "confidence" is helpful. "Confidence" is made up of the intensive prefix "com" and "fidere," to trust. "Fidere" is also the root for the english word "faith." So "confidence" is intense trust or faith.

The important question to ask the concept "confidence" is "where are you placing your faith"?

Often "confidence" looks like self-assurance. A person who believes she can do anything seems to be a "confident" person. High performance atheles train themselves to believe in themselves; they picture their success and place absolute faith in their abilities. When they achieve a certain level of confidence, they can take great pride in their well-earned success.

The Hebrew prophet Habakkuk questions the concept of self-confidence and its partner pride. Habbakuk warns, "Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them." Then he goes on to offer a corrective to the proud human spirit saying that "the rigtheous live by their faith." (Habakkuk) Pride and self-confidence may have their place but they are not the same as faith.

At the end of his short book, Habakkuk offers a picture of the biblical vision of confidence. He outlines a series of terrible calamities, "Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines." The list goes on and on as the prophet paints a terrifying picture of all the worst things that could happen to people living in an agrarian culture. Then Habakkuk concludes, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:17,18)

Everything in the prophet's vision suggests that life is not good, God is not good and the forces of creation are working against God's people. In response, the prophet does not proclaim, "In spite of all this I believe in myself; I choose to picture success and to have confidence that I will find a way through my difficulties." Instead, Habakkuk says, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord." In spite of everything I will take joy in God. Faith is the ability to find joy no matter what may be happening in the surface circumstances of my life.

Habakkuk understood what I so often forget. He understood that joy does not lie in making the circumstances of my life turn out the way I think they should turn out. Joy is not located on the surface of life; it is found in the depths of my being where I can know "the God of my salvation."

The problem with looking to my circumstances to give me joy is of course that my circumstances will never be good enough, or stable enough to insure that no calamity ever upsets my sense of well-being. There will always be more struggles to replace those I manage to conquer.

The difficult circumstances of my life are not an enemy to be defeated. They are an opportunity to be embraced. The difficult circumstances of my life come to me as a gift. They have the power to open me to a deeper place within myself where I know that the goodness of life does not depend upon anything as uncertain, changeable and unreliable as my circumstances.

I do not think we are looking for "Hope against darkness," as the title of Rohr's book seems to suggest. I think we are looking for hope in the midst of darkness. Faith offers us the opportunity to see light in the darkness. It offers us a living relationship with the power of God that makes it possible to find strength even in the wilderness of doubt, uncertainty and fear.

The problem for some of us is that we take our feelings too seriously. We believe that our feelings are reality. When I wake anxious in the morning and lie in bed with my stomach churning, I need to hear that churning calling me to a deeper place. I need to see that my insecurity is a gift that, if I will receive it, will draw me to a place within myself where I can know that the goodness of God does hold me no matter what the day may bring.

There is one word in Richard Rohr's paragraph that may help me find this place of depth and true confidence within myself. It is a surprising word. Rohr says, "When we believe - together." Doubt, fear, uncertainty, and insecurity are fueled by isolation. There are times when I need to be surrounded by people who have the confidence in God's goodness that I may lack. There are times when I need to be carried by the faith of others. Despair is fostered by loneliness. The spirit of those who find it easier to stay connected to the light and truth within themselves can help me to open to the presence of God that sustains and upholds me.

Community can be the birthplace of hope and the cradle of confidence. I need people of hope in my life. I need the faith of others to give me strength when I am wandering in the wilderness. And, at times, I may be able to help those who are lost find the source of life in their own being as I turn and trust again in the goodness and love of the God who created and sustains me through this journey of life.

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