Jesus said, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
I have seen a lot of hens in my life. Both my grandmothers kept chickens, and for one dreadful summer, my father thought it would be a good idea for us to have chickens also. A little girl playing without much adult supervision in a yard full of chickens has plenty of opportunities to see what happens when a mother hen becomes frightened for her chicks. As I’ve read this passage, I see the hen calling her brood to her, then settling down over those little ones. She kind of fluffs herself up and manages somehow to get all of those chicks tucked away out of harm’s way. Lately, it’s occurred to me how very busy it must be under those wings, with all those little ones squirming around and squabbling and stepping on each other’s feet.
I think this is a very fitting image for our current situation in the Anglican Communion. In case you haven’t heard the latest, let me give you a brief update. Two weeks ago, the primates of the Anglican Communion met for five days in Dar-es-Salaam, in Tanzania. The primates are the leaders of the 38 provinces of the Anglican Communion. Our Presiding Bishop, Katherine, was present, and I hope that you have read her reflection on the meeting. There are copies on the back table, and the newsletter has excerpts from it. The primates did good work together in several areas. They discussed theological education in the Anglican Communion, as well as issues of poverty eradication, economic justice and environmental concerns, as embodied in the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). They also celebrated the 200th anniversary of the end of slavery in the British Empire. In addition to these actions, they discussed at great length the disturbance that has shaken the Anglican Communion since the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson in the Episcopal Church.
There were two products of this discussion. The first is the draft of an Anglican covenant, first suggested by the Windsor Report in 2004. This covenant is proposed as a way to strengthen the interdependent life of the Communion by defining our common foundations and setting out principles by which our life of Communion in Christ could be strengthened and nurtured. Concern has been expressed in various venues about the content of that covenant. Greater concern has been expressed about language that states: “in the most extreme circumstances, where churches choose not to fulfill the substance of the covenant,” such churches may be seen as having “relinquished ... the force and meaning of the covenant's purpose, and a process of restoration and renewal will be required to re-establish their covenant relationship with other member churches.”
The second product, presented as the meeting adjourned, was an 11 page communiqué calling for the formation of a “Pastoral Council” that would work in cooperation with the Episcopal Church to negotiate the necessary structures to facilitate and encourage healing and reconciliation for those who feel unable to accept the direct ministry of their bishop or of the presiding bishop and calling for the appointment of a primatial vicar who would act for the presiding bishop with those people who have difficulty accepting her ministry to them.
Additionally, the communiqué noted that “at the heart of our tensions is the belief that the Episcopal Church has departed from the standard of teaching on human sexuality accepted by the Communion in the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1.10 by consenting to the episcopal election of a candidate living in a committed relationship, and by permitting Rites of blessing same-sex unions.”
In light of that, the Primates have requested that the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops “make an unequivocal common covenant” that they will not authorize same-gender blessings within their dioceses and confirm that Resolution B033, passed last summer at the 75th General Convention, means that a candidate for bishop who is living in a same-gender relationship “shall not receive the necessary consent unless some new consensus on these matters emerges across the Communion.”
They have requested a response from the House of Bishops by September 30, 2007. They conclude: “If the reassurances ... cannot in good conscience be given, the relationship between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a whole remains damaged at the best, and this has consequences for the full participation of the Church in the life of the Communion.”
Bishop Katharine, referring to the actions of several dioceses who have sought leadership from outside the Episcopal Church, reminded the Primates during her remarks that some in the Episcopal Church “have lost trust in the Primates and bishops of certain ... Provinces because they fear that they are all too ready to undermine or subvert the polity of the Episcopal Church.” Meanwhile, the primates are urging “the representatives of the Episcopal Church and of those congregations in property disputes with it to suspend all actions in law arising in this situation,” and have requested the assurance that “no steps will be taken to alienate property from the Episcopal Church without its consent or to deny the use of that property to those congregations.”
This communiqué makes one thing very clear: the lack of understanding of the way the Episcopal Church’s structure and polity differs from that of many of the other provinces of the communion. In other provinces, the leading cleric frequently holds power over the all decisions and actions in the church. That is not the case in our church. First, the presiding bishop is just that—a presider over the bishops, not an archbishop who directs the actions of the bishops in his province. In our church, each bishop is an independent agent, working with the structure of his or her own diocese. In our church, authority is shared by clergy and laity, by bishops and conventions. The House of Bishops, acting alone, cannot put aside or interpret decisions made by General Convention.
“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Our house is left to us. Jesus has invited us to be gathered together, and we can’t seem to make that happen.
Many of the bishops of our church have written responses to the actions of the Primates’ Meeting. I am moved by the words Bishop Sam Howard of the Diocese of Florida has written to the people in his care:
“The great thing we in the Anglican Communion have to offer the world is a fellowship: a partnership that opens avenues of understanding, rather than an enforcement body which, in procrustean fashion, bends everyone at every time to a universal litmus test of faithfulness. In speaking of the Episcopal Church’s reaction at Convention to the issue of same-sex blessings, the primates state that ‘It is the ambiguous stance of The Episcopal Church which causes concern among us.’ But we Episcopalians have never been afraid to live with ambiguity—with mystery, with the notion that the full truth and beauty of God can never be fully known or mastered by man alone…. The Episcopal Church bears a wonderful witness and provides a wonderful — even miraculous — space for our journey. I love this church, and I believe deeply that the best way for it to participate and bear witness in the world is to maintain its character, its structure, and to maintain its cornerstones of openness, love and mutual understanding.
Where does that leave us—you and me—on this beautiful spring morning?
It’s not likely that we’re going to change the hearts or minds of the primates who oppose the actions of the Episcopal Church. We are aware that we can only impact our own lives as individuals and communities. That leaves us doing our best to hear God’s deepest desire for our lives. It leaves us wondering how we as individuals and as church in this place can best respond to the world around us. It leaves us asking how we can best live into our baptismal promises, searching for ways to seek and serve Christ in all persons, especially those with whom we disagree. It leaves us striving for justice and peace among all people, and beginning in our own hearts and our own community. It leaves us in this place, counting on God’s goodness and mercy. It leaves us trying to hold the balance of justice and reconciliation.
It leaves us on our knees at this altar—praying that God can hold us under wings of loving mercy—praying that we will someday be able to say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”