6/19/2008

Church Times says it right:

The Church Times said it, and the Episcopal Cafe pointed to it - the it an article concerning the blessing in Smithfield England of the civil union of two male priests:

"The service is Smithfield is a little thing, not deserving of pronouncements by archbishops. Its only political purpose is to show the impossibility of carving up the Anglican Church into conservative and liberal provinces or dioceses. Or even parishes: some of those interviewed at St Bartholomew’s at the weekend approved of the Rector’s actions, others did not. The challenge for the Lambeth Conference, and for GAFCON before it, is to demonstrate how Christians can disagree profoundly and yet recognise the working of the Holy Spirit in those with whom they disagree."

Lambeth has some possibilities of being such a place of meeting between people who disagree. GAFCON has been deliberately designed to be a meeting of people who do. So if the Holy Spirit is present in those with whom "they" disagree, as well as with those with whom "they" agree, I'll put my bet on Lambeth.

2 comments:

  1. "to demonstrate how Christians can disagree profoundly and yet recognise the working of the Holy Spirit in those with whom they disagree." This is just as much a justification for swimming the Tiber or joining Orthodoxy as it is for remaining within TEC or the CofE. I truly believe there are people of good will on both (are there really only two?) sides of the issue but that is not enought reason, at least for me, to remain. If staying, despite profound differences, was the only legitimate response, we would all be attending services in the synagogue on Saturdays.
    (Dan)

    ReplyDelete

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