General Convention 2009

I will not recapitulate the scriptural, theological, and ecclesial arguments on this issue. We know all those by heart already. Instead, I would like to peal away the husk of the matter and pull out the pith.

We are afraid that inclusion of gays and lesbians into the full life of our Church’s leadership will irredeemably shatter our Communion. If we move beyond B033, the Anglican Communion as we know it may cease to exist.

I would grieve this, because I recognize how the ties that bind us have brought great blessings over the past 121 years. Yet we have come to a point where the ties that bind have begun to choke us.

As a Christian, I live in hope that should our Communion fracture, reconciliation may be possible at a future time, witnessing to the world the power of Christ’s resurrection.

For those who wish to wait until our Communion partners become more agreeable to the inclusion of gays and lesbians in Holy Orders, please specify the period of time we must wait, while precious gifts that could bear fruit for the Gospel wither on the vine. Please offer some substantial assurance that the Provinces that actively aid and abet the police of their countries in convicting and imprisoning gays and lesbians will somehow have a change of heart in the foreseeable future. Help me understand how a gradual, incremental approach, which to date has yielded nothing more than further demands, will somehow reach a threshold where agreement without capitulation is possible.

What is good and right often involves risk and requires sacrifice. For some time, we have elected to sacrifice people and their spiritual gifts for ministry, purely on the basis of their sexual orientation. Perhaps it is time to discover what loss a different sacrifice might bring. As the flags displayed here show, attest should the Communion collapse, we will not be alone in the world, and God will not abandon us either.