Murder in the Cathedral

30 years ago today day Archibishop Oscar Romero was shot at the altar. Like other martyred achbishops in history, he seems to have been appointed on one kind of prospectus, then discovered, in post, a new orientation to his ministry that brought him into solidarity with the poor. He also seems to have discovered there were no simple goodies and baddies, but a mass of complicated, compromised people caught up in evil, struggling for hope. Thus he was able to see the perpetrators as victims too, in their own way.

Romero taught “all history is God’s,” even in the face of appalling violence and evil. His loyal Roman Catholicism wasn’t self-righteous, defensive, paranoid, or institutionally blind: with few illusions about the Church, he loved it enough to long to see it renewed and reformed:

Prophets also denounce the internal sins of the Church. And why shouldn’t they? Bishops, the Pope, priests, papal nuncios, women religious, Catholic schools are formed by men and women, and men and women are sinners and need a prophet to call us to conversion, so that we don’t establish religion as though it were unchangeable. Religion needs prophets. Thank God we have them.
Because it would be very sad if a Church felt that it was in possession of the truth and rejected everything else. A church that only condemns, a Church that only looks at the sin in others, and doesn’t see the beam that it has in its eye, is not the authentic Church of God.

July 8, 1979

And to remind us of the cost of discipleship, this last week has seen the attempted shooting of the Episcopal Church Archbishop in El Salvador, Bishop Martín Barahona. Investigations are ongoing. Plenty for our prayers today then, for Bishop Martin and the community he serves, and the people who still suffer from violence and injustice in Central America.

Romero’s last words were spoken towards the end of the liturgy of a requiem mass on the year’s mind of Doña Sarita Pinto:

That this immolated Body and this Blood sacrificed for humankind may nourish our bodies and our blood in suffering and in pain, like Christ, not for its own sake, but rather to give the concepts of justice and peace to our people. Let us join together, then, intimately in faith and hope in this moment of prayer for Doña Sarita and for ourselves...

and then the shot rang out...

Pittsburgh: the parting of friends?

I am not expert enough, or fool, to enter seriously into the serpentine constitutionalities, let alone politics, of US Episcopalianism, but one or two people have asked me for a reaction to the recent Pittsburgh Diocesan Convention. Perhaps I can annoy everybody all round, equally:

1. I was surprised by the Bishop’s assertion that this is “the end of a long era of division in the Diocese.”
   More timid souls may fear that this is actually the beginning of a long era of division in the diocese. Depends how you define “the diocese,” perhaps. I wonder if delegates to the Montgomery Convention of 1861 believed they were resolving division. With hindsight, most historians wouldn’t buy that notion. We’ll see.
   
   
2. I was moved and impressed by David Wilson’s opening sermon, about faith, courage and the future:

To be true to our beliefs, it would be far better to bless each other in separating, each going our own way than to continue the internecine warfare of winner-take-all. It will take courage to let each other go and to bless each other in the going. We have an opportunity today to make this convention a testimony to love and forbearance among brothers and sisters in Christ. To be a blessing to each other. Do we have the courage to do it? Will we do it? Can we forgo parliamentary shenanigans that in the end will cause more pain and more distrust and bless nobody? Can we get on with it decently and in order?

I suppose some will feel that this noble view does leave open the question of where the truth of the matter actually lies, as well as drawing discreet veils over past “parliamentary shenanigans” on both sides that have caused pain and distrust, but its sentiments and intentions are surely the best...

A Church for the Churchless?

Discussion starter for 10 — an intriguing conversation recorded by Dan Porter walking his dog in the park with a Roman Catholic priest who suggested:

Something I hear a lot from young people today is that they hate organized religion.
I suggest that they might want to become Episcopalians

Man from the South

Spent the afternoon at the Windsor Report continuation hearing — the steamiest two hours this side of the Mississippi. By sheer coincidence one statement really got me thinking, from the Bishop of Mississippi, Duncan Gray. I commend it for a bit of thoughtful attention, as a slightly different take on TEC’s ups and downs:

A bit of personal history: I have been nurtured and shaped within the Evangelical tradition of my Church. Most importantly, this means that the ultimate authority of the Holy Scripture and the necessity of an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus as the way to the Father are foundational and non-negotiable components of my faith.

Within my own province, I voted not to consent to the election of Gene Robinson, for reasons both theological and ecclesiological. I have followed to the letter and the spirit of the Windsor Report — before there was a Windsor Report.

For my faithfulness to this communion I have been rewarded by regular incursions into our diocese by primates and bishops who have no apparent regard for either my theology or ecclesiology.

I have made some peace with this reality, preferring to think of the irregularly ordained as Methodists — and some of my best friends are Methodists!
What I cannot make peace with is the portrayal of my sister and brother bishops in the Episcopal Church, who disagree with me, as bearers of a false gospel. That portrayal does violence to the imperfect, but faithful, grace-filled, and often costly way, in which they live out their love of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, I am in serious disagreement with many of them on the very critical sacramental and ethical issues about which the Communion is in deep conflict. Are we sometimes, at best, insensitive to the wider context in which we do ministry, and at worst, deeply embedded in American arrogance — Absolutely! And for that insensitivity and arrogance we have begged the Communion's forgiveness on several occasions. “But do I see the Church in them?” as the most serious question at the last hearing asked. As God is my witness, I do. Despite my profound disagreements I continue to pray “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We continue to reaffirm our creedal faith together. We continue to gather round the Lord’s table together, bringing the brokenness and imperfectness of our lives into the healing embrace of our Lord who sends us out together to the poor, the weak and the hopeless. And, in the midst of our internal conflicts, they show me Jesus.

There are dozens of bishops like me in the Episcopal Church. We are not a one, or even two dimensional Church. We are a multitude of diverse theological, ecclesiological and sacramental perspectives — and the vast majority of us have figured out a way to stay together.

How is this possible? I think it begins with the gift from Saint Paul, who taught us the great limitations of even our most insightful thought. We do, every one of us, “see through a glass, darkly.” And none of us can say to the other, “I have no need of you.”

One day, Saint Paul says, we will see face to face, the glory that we now only glimpse. But in the meantime, as each of us struggles to be faithful, may each of us, the Episcopal Church and the wider communion, find the courage, and the humility, to say to one another, “I need you — for my salvation and for the salvation of the world.”

Fixing a hole where the rain gets in

Just finished the preliminary Windsor report hearing, next to brothers from Tanzania, England and Canada. I have to be very honest and say I was not expecting this to be a wow. Shame on me. The room’s still there. There weren’t any custard pies. And I can say that for me and the people sitting around me it was a very special experience, for the respectful, clear and charitable way strong points were made from all sides of the Wndsor report issues. It was good also to have affrmation from an ecumenical colleague that they acknowledge as deep a probem in other churches and commit to travel with us towards ways forward for the good of all, not just Anglicans. It’s good to know some partners see us as leading the pack in working this through, though it’s a scary place to be.

The official output will be streaming out soon enough, no doubt, but there was a general buzz of approval in the room for the willingness of everyone involved to talk to each other, not about each other. People experienced realism all round, which is a good place to start.

The highlight soundbite for me was from +Keith Ackerman, Bishop of Quincy, who placed before us big ecclesiological questions about finding a way to bring the family back together. All models, magisterial, conciliar, confessional have upsides and downsides, but we know we've got to do something, and the vast majority it seemed this afternoon, believe that, in God, we can. +Keith wisely drew attention to the limits of Thesis-Antithesis-Synthesis compromise over things that matter absolutely: Thesis? Jesus is Lord. Antithesis? Jesus is not Lord. Big discussion synthesis? Jesus is occasionally Lord. Not. That one raised a laugh.

We are trying to learn enough about each other to be able to dance together, as another bishop put it. Before hysteria and extremist rhetoric steal the day, we were given an estimate that 0·7% of Episcopal congregations had split. We need to learn in conversation, not judgment; and we began to do that for real this afternoon. To use a Caribbean metaphor, you know you need a good roof for the hurricanes. It’s far from easy to fix your roof in the hurricane season — but it can be done, and we surely got going this afternoon. Praise God!

Confronting oppression in Brazil

More evidence that the local Church is the hope of the world, this time from Brazil. Francesco Silva reports on his blog an outrageous act of violence and intimidation this month, aimed at a poor community by powerful landowners in Carcavel, Parana:

In an act of extreme violence, employees of powerful landowners destroyed, among other buildings, the chapel of an Episcopal Church at the Primeiros Passos Camp, located road side of the BR 369, near the city of Cascavel.

The invasion occurred in the early morning hours of May 08, with the participation of tractors, excavators, retro-excavators and weapons of large caliber.

The intimidation occurred in a context of serious tensions between landowners and social organizations. The Episcopal Church and fellow Christian’s churches are firmly defending and supporting the Movement of Landless People in the west of the Paraná state. The Episcopal priest in the area is the Revd. Luiz Carlos Gabas, and he is supporting the families in build a school(also destroyed at the attack) for children and the chapel. The chapel was planned to be dedicated on May 18 and was built with great effort by the whole community.

The destruction of the chapel becomes even more symbolic because it represents a clear message from landowners against the Church.
The Rev. Luiz Carlos Gabas has been suffering intimidation from great landowners as a consequence of his pastoral position in favor of the landless people. settlers camp with which holds a pastoral work recognized by the whole community. A group of 150 families are living in a settlement waiting for legalization of the area. After clear evidences that the Rev. Gabas suffered intimidation the State Commission on Human Rights inserted him into a program of witnesses’s protection.

Today the west of the state of Parana is mapped as one of the regions of greatest tension with regard to conflict of land. The IEAB has been firm in defending the rights and dignity of small rural workers and especially the landless which lives in sub-human conditions along the roads and land occupied.
Bishop D. Naudal Gomes, the diocesan of the Diocese of Curitiba, has offered wide support to his clergy and received from the Provincial House of Bishops strong solidarity through a motion approved and forwarded to the Secretariat of Public Security of Parana.
Our prayers and support are required for our brothers and sisters in that region. The fear of impunity and violence must be faced with solidarity and practical support.

For the people of the settlement and the Diocese of Curitiba is time to rebuild the Mission destroyed and to rebuild the self-confidence of the people.

Significantly, I feel, when I Googled “Parana land owners Brazil” Google will ask you “Did you mean Piranha landowners Brazil?” Let us not deceive ourselves: Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker (Proverbs 14:31)

Thus says the LORD of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another... (Zecharaiah 7:9-10)

Curitiba is moving towards a link diocese relationship with California (Reflections by Bishop Marc here). Messages of support can be sent to bishop Naudal Gomes at naudal@yahoo.com.br .

Sue! Sue! I might even sue you!

Over the pond, from shore to shining shore, various legal eagles are engaging in top gun dogfights about church matters, and it ain’t a pretty sight. I suppose a man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do, and everyone, of course, is right from their own point of view. “What else were we to do?” I hear everybody saying...

We Brits are good at ignoring sounds of breaking glass from our neighbours, but we still belong to each other, by baptism. If Dustin & Meryl next door lock horns acrimoniously, what kind of idiot do I have to be to stand at the bottom of the garden egging them on or, worse still, join in? But in all humility it strikes me...

I once wrote a thesis about Victorians suing the pants off each other for ritualism, so I want to say that, historically, there is life after litigation (as well as a pile of pants). However litigation, right or wrong, incurs spiritual debt. Here’s this morning’s second lesson from Morning Payer:

Pursue peace with everyone, and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and through it many become defiled.

Emergent missional living is far more crucial for future Christianity than denominational turf wars. Reading Brian MacLaren, I reckon Anglicans, with our particular instinct for faith in momentum and diversity, can bring special experience to the party. US fresh expressions, like the Common Table, are great laboratories of the Spirit. Whoever’s right and whoever’s wrong about the particular points in dispute, fellow disciples I like and respect a lot there are saying we just can’t be the kind of disciples God needs us to be for as long as we’re hooked on the whole “litigate to accumulate” thang. Hear the warning of Blessed, but Weird, Al Yankovich:

PS Aviation Art by Lou Drendel

Lure of the Swamp?

O Timely Ancient Wisdom! Yesterday I stumbled across the WikiHow instruction sheet for How to get out of Quicksand. I'm not into giving unasked for advice, but how about this suggestion list for bishops and archbishops looking forward to next year's Lambeth Conference?

1. Avoid quicksand.
   Be on the lookout ... you can't detect quicksand just by looking at it. I Corinthians 10:12
   
2. Walk softly and carry a big stick. Matthew 10:16
   
   
3. Drop everything.
   Because your body is less dense than quicksand, you can't fully sink unless you panic and struggle too much (which will cause the sand to further liquefy) or you're weighed down by something heavy. Mark 6:8
   
4. Relax.
   Quicksand usually isn't more than a couple feet deep. If you panic you can sink further, but if you relax, your body's buoyancy will cause you to float. Matthew 6:27
   
5. Breathe deeply.
   Not only will deep breathing help you remain calm, it will also make you more buoyant. I Timothy 2:8
   
6. Take your time.
   If you're stuck in quicksand, frantic movements will only hurt your cause. Whatever you do, do it slowly. Psalm 37:7
   
7. Get plenty of rest.
   Other than panic, exhaustion is your worst enemy. Psalm 127:2
   
8. Never hike alone.
   Always have a buddy. Hebrews 10:25
   
9. Relax your head
   and keep your head up as much as you can without being Tense. Luke 21:28
   

Eh Voilà!

Remember “In public swimming pools most of the noise comes from the Shallow End” (Robert Runcie)

Ignorant armies clashing by night or threshold of opportunity?

As Rowan lands in New Orleans, ludicrous disaster movies about apocalyptic schism fill the media and potty right wing websites. They've pretty much written the story already, whatever happens. This, at any rate, saves air fares and environmental damage. Chicken Little stories about the Anglican Communion are a wake-up call, that indicate what this really is — God's way of providing Cast Iron Gold Plated opportunities...

1. To recognise What real Unity is and where it comes from — impossibles bound together by transcendent love — strong as death — not from our process but the Cross — not by politics but as gift by grace. Student Politics, Great White Chief stuff, Post-Colonial turf wars and Imperialism can offer appealing quick fixes, but they are ludicrously poor substitutes for the real thing.
   Read Colossians 1:20...
   
   
2. To listen carefully and to allow generous imagination to birth extravagant forbearance — including listening to the real Bible, not just our pet notions, left wing or right wing, about the Bible. Neither extreme side can change the other without being willing to follow the logic of the incarnation, by stepping into their shoes and thinking different.
   Read James 1:19...
   
   
3. To be the rubber that hits the road for the rest of the Christian Community — Exactly the tension and ambiguity surfacing among Anglicans can be found wherever development and globalization happen in the world; er... everywhere. More authoritarian or imperialistic denominations may be better at covering it up. One of the wisest spiritual teachers in the world, Sister Joan Chittister OSB, makes this point in this week's National Catholic Reporter:
   “The issue is in the air we breathe. The Anglicans simply got there earlier than most. And so they may well become a model to the rest of us of how to handle such questions. If the rate and kinds of social, biological, scientific and global change continue at the present pace, every religious group may well find itself at the breakpoint between "tradition" and "science" sooner rather than later.”
   Lying and pretending won't magic the problem away; so why not just get on and work it out up front, not through lying and pretence?
   Read Ephesians 4:25...
   
   
4. To enact Grace and Mercy, by consciously renouncing factionalism and shallowness. The world has quite enough Walkouts, Boycotts, and Factional Custard Pie Fights already, thank you very much. Why not let's think different? The Cross teaches that niceness is not enough. Every life, every predicament, right or left wing, requires redemption, more or less obviously. Truth > Justice > Reconciliation. Political fallings out and stitch-ups don't come anywhere near it.
   Read I Corinthians 3:3...
   

Finally, NT Christians needed constant forcible reminders about this stuff. The Scriptures were written for our learning. We are no better than them. Being an Anglican is getting to feel very much like it must have felt in the Early Church. So what? Learning how to be real is tough but necessary discipline for any follower of Christ in Community, any family. It's no big deal.

So, friends, are we up for tackling the real issue, in us, among us, within us, in Christ, or do we just play out those silly “Godzilla versus the beast” scripts?

The Episcopal Church welcomed me

Morning worship at Epiphany Chicago, a parish with a troubled past (including a high churn rate of clergy) now being led into more fruitful places by the Reverend Meigan Cameron, priest and congregational developer. Situated on S. Ashland, one half of the parish is gentrifying, the other is the Mexican Barrio, with big social and healthcare challenges. About 50 there, good for August, with one of anyone, racially, in age, experience wise, with many younger people, couples and singles.

Having pulled Meigan's leg about the faded inscription from 1881 over the North window ("Goodwill towards Men" is all it says), I gathered that this was not quite the whole message at Epiphany these days. So what is?

"Jesus comes to remind us to pay attention to our neighbour: who's at our doors, and what do we do about that?"

"Being connected to the community made it possible for me to stay on the journey" (about a kind of near death experience whilst out running, where friends from Church got her going again and helped her through)

"Through our lives and by our prayers your kingdom come..."

Epiphany came over as a supremely real, improvisatory and earthed community of disciples, deeply engaging with their context not so much by throwing money at it or hiring help, but by living the gospel for themselves as a whole life thing on the streets. They've got big problems, but faithlessness isn't one of them. And you get melon at Coffee hour.

One sign of an excellent Church may well be the excellence of its facilities and electronics — why not? — but another, maybe more significant, is the way it interfaces with its context as a blessing and sign of hope.

A lot of English reporting about the Episcopal Church sees it entirely in terms of its internal politics, sometimes through lenses supplied by the dissidents from its cave of Adullam. They say it's lost its way, and is declining into a mushy liberal la-la land. Maybe some of it is. I don't know. But the Episcopal Church also has people out on the barrio, taking bullets for the kingdom, and giving all they've got to seek justice, and build a new community which challenges the complacency and blindness around it, by thinking different and living different. They may not always get it right, but they do what they do because of the hope that is in them, and they love the Lord as they seek to live out kingdom values.

The Lord's grace is over all his works, and he surely knows his own, and is not ashamed to call them his friends. Whatever the politics of it all, it would bless everyone, including the English, quite frankly, to give this lived kingdom reality a bit of damn respect, instead of ignoring it or patronising it. I will probably read lots of slick Willy spiteful comment about the Episcopal Church in the coming year, but I hope through the lens of the love and commitment to kingdom values on the ground I experienced here, not the other way round.

This brings me back to a question raised at the Summit by Michael Porter of Harvard — when we call ourselves community Churches, how much is this about real people out there, and how much about us, and how real and focused are we about this aspiration?