| Certain Thoughts |
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A Balancing Act
In the summer of 2006, as I prepared to leave for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, former President Gerald R. Ford, a long-time parishioner and friend, expressed his concern for the church he loved. He asked me if we would face schism. After we discussed the various issues we would consider, particularly concerns about human sexuality and the leadership of women, he said he did not think they should be divisive for anyone who lived by the Great Commandments to love God and neighbor. He then asked me to work for reconciliation within the Church. I assured him I would, just as he had worked for reconciliation within the nation thirty years ago.
When I related that story in my homily at the President’s funeral in January, I was accused of several things: interjecting Episcopal Church concerns into a “state occasion”; promoting the “gay agenda”; even lying about the conversation. The truth is that the conversation was real. The answer to the first objection was that the funeral was an Episcopal Church religious occasion with interest to the nation and the world (not the other way around). The call for reconciling work in the Church generated a level of hostility I did not expect. “Reconcile” has at least six definitions: to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired.to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church I think my detractors were thinking of the first definition, while I was thinking more along the lines of one or more of the others. I deeply believe that “God was in Jesus reconciling the world to himself; and I believe that we are to continue that work” (II Corinthians 5:18-19). However, it has never crossed my mind that such reconciliation has ever involved definition #1, but it has definitely included #2, 5, and 6, if not also 3 and 4. Using definitions 2-6, I have tried to model my parish leadership in a way that encourages wholeness and balance in the Church. Wholeness means that the Episcopal Church (and her respective parishes) needs a broad spectrum of Christian belief within it; balance means that we must hold our various perspectives in creative tension. It seems to me that we are having difficulty in our time not because people hold “social agendas” different from our own, but that some significant numbers of people have chosen to withdraw, and others are saying “good riddance.” Neither side of the argument represents the reconciling work of Christ. Our work in the Church at each level (parish, diocese, province, national, international) is to seek the truth in Christ Jesus as he is revealing himself to us. If we lop off those who disagree with us, we will never know the wholeness of Christ, and we will miss some vital insight He intends for us. As you have heard me say on Sunday mornings, no one comes into the church by mistake, nor do they come only by their own choosing. Our Lord attracts and calls people into the church for at least two reasons: for what the community has that can benefit them; and for what they have that can benefit the community. The result of that mutual benefit will change us all – preferably into the likeness and image of Christ. It is my intention to be an agent of reconciliation in this place during our sojourn together. I hope and pray that you, too, will join in this work with excitement and vigor. As a parish in the top 2% (129 of 7,347) in the Episcopal Church (based on average Sunday attendance), we can and should take our place in the leadership of the Diocese of Atlanta and the national church. If you want to make this parish a flagship of Christ’s redeeming and reconciling love, do your best to invite your un-churched and under-churched friends into the fellowship of Christ in this place, to welcome the new people He is bringing to us, and to rejoice with those He is bringing back to us. Good things are happening here at St. Peter and St. Paul. As we become more complete, more balanced, and more reconciled, let us share the joy of Christ with others, both in and out of the Church.
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| Last Updated ( Monday, 07 April 2008 ) |