January 21st, 2007
"Dissatisfied persons are sowing seeds of disunity in the church. So, how does reconciliation take place? ... You are called to the ministry of reconciliation among those within our household of faith who are disaffected, alienated, or angry. Though their number is not great, and their concerns must be kept in perspective, their voices should be heard. At the same time, the mission of the church must not be held hostage by the discontented. The idea that some members of the body can say, "I have no need of you," or "you have no need of me," is decidedly unscriptural."
These are the words of Former Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning on November 6, 1997, soon after Frank Griswold was elected and just before Bishop Griswold took over as Presiding Bishop. He is quoting the words from Paul’s first letter to the church at Corinth, the passage we hear this morning. As I spent time with our epistle lesson this week, that section of chapter 12 from the First letter to the Corinthians, I couldn’t help but think not just of Paul, and the fractured situation in parts of the early church he was writing to address, but also of our just-retired Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold, who quoted Paul’s words about Christ’s body, the church often in his nine years as the leader of our Episcopal Church. I wanted to take the opportunity this morning to do some reflecting on the state of our beloved church, and also on the words of the man who led us most of the tumultuous past ten years.
But first, a word about the context in which we hear these words of Paul this morning. During this Epiphany season we are in the midst of hearing a significant stretch of that first letter to the Corinthians. Last week, we heard the first part of chapter twelve of that letter, as Paul describes the various spiritual gifts that are given to the faithful. The gifts are different, he points out, yet all are necessary and all come from the same Spirit. Next week, we’ll hear most of chapter 13 from this letter, Paul’s reflection on love. This morning, we have the middle part of that Corinthian sandwich. Following the conversation on spiritual gifts, and immediately preceding the words on love, we get this extended metaphor Paul uses to talk about the church. It may be a familiar metaphor to you. Paul describes the church as a body – one body – which has many members. All of the different members of the one Body of Christ matter, Paul says. All are important. The lack of any member does damage to the body, makes the body less. These are Paul’s exact words: “ If the foot would say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? . . . The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
This is a powerful metaphor. These are powerful words, maybe even more powerful in a time of such fractiousness as we experience today, within our society and within our church. And I can see why these particular words of Paul were regularly quoted by Bishop Griswold during his tenure. They clearly apply even that much more so when things within the body the church –are difficult. They are a reminder that we have a great responsibility to treat each other, even in our differing viewpoints, as if each of us is central to the Body of Christ. Even when it’s difficult, as life is within our church today. The Episcopal church has gotten some interesting press the past month or so, if you’ve noticed on the front page of the Post lately. Several churches – large, wealthy churches – in Virginia have elected to leave the Episcopal church because of our new female presiding bishop and the election in 2003 of the first openly gay bishop in our church, and ally themselves with the Anglican Church of Nigeria. The rhetoric surrounding all of this has not been pretty. Which is exactly why we need to remember the words of Paul from first Corinthians.
Now, much of the current discord heated up in 2003, two-thirds of the way through Frank Griswold’s tenure as presiding bishop. But his was never an easy job. He was elected to serve the nine-year presiding bishop’s term in 1997, and he was considered to be a moderate, though progressives in the church felt that he was their best option. Others were less than pleased with his election. From the beginning he pledged to represent all factions of the church, reminding everyone that ‘the bishop belongs to all.’ And of the state of the church he took on leadership of in 1997 . . . well, here’s what the article written about his election in Christian Century magazine said: “The new prelate takes the helm of a church that has seen its liberal and conservative wings fight unresolved battles over sex and gender issues for more than 20 years. At a postelection news conference, Griswold reflected the basic Episcopal concept of tolerance toward differences of opinion. He stressed that the Episcopal Church -- like the diversity of opinions among Jesus' apostles -- reflects wide, sometimes opposing beliefs. He called for those with differences to "discern truth together through conversation and conversion." Taking note of the splits within the church over the divisive issues of church-sanctioned rites for same-sex couples and the ordination of women, Griswold said: "What is important is that the conversation be continued."
Of course, in the past three years we have seen the fractures in our church grow wider, first with the election of Gene Robinson to be the bishop of New Hampshire, and then with the election of the first female primate in the Anglican Communion in Katharine Jefferts Schiori this past June. These are not easy times in our church, and therefore it is even more important to remember the words of Paul – that all are part of the body, even those we disagree with. A hallmark of the Episcopal Church – at its best, at least - has always been its willingness to do as Bishop Griswold said: continue the conversation. We disagree over issues, we argue, but in the end we come to the Eucharistic table together and break bread and wine. And, again at our best, we remember that we are united through Christ and the Eucharist, and that the power of that is much more than the power of what divides us. But sad to say, not all within our church have been at their best of late. But none of that kept Frank Griswold from leading the church by reminding us of two important truths: that being united to each other in baptism was more important than almost anything else, and that we are, though different with varying opinions about a variety of things, still one body in Christ.
In June of 2003, just before the start of the General Convention which would give its assent to Gene Robinson’s election, this is what Bishop Griswold wrote to the bishops of the Episcopal Church. He said, “As Presiding Bishop and chief pastor of the church, it is my duty to ensure that all perspectives are treated with reverence, care and mutual respect in the service of a unity, not of our own creation, but rather given to us through our baptism into Christ. This means that though we may disagree, no one can say, "I have no need of you" to another member of the church.” This, I believe, is what we are called to remember, even now, as we wait to see how the current controversies play out. Just because some of us may be perfectly willing to say ‘good riddance’ to those who choose to leave, doesn’t mean that that’s what we should do, or what we are called by Christ to do. On the contrary, even though they are perfectly willing to say to those of us here, “I have no need of you,” we are called to remember Paul’s words and not say the same thing back. The truth is, the Episcopal church has always been somewhat messy. When a church, like ours, is united not by doctrine, but by liturgy – not by what we ‘believe’ about God, but by how we worship God together – some messiness is inevitable. It’s the willingness to live with the tension and some messiness which has long been a hallmark of our church.
Some of the words of Frank Griswold which I was quite struck by came just after the Convention which elected Gene Robinson. In this letter he reflected on what it means to be a communion. He says, “As Professor David Ford told us several years ago during one of our primates meetings, we are in the process of becoming a communion. I have reflected often upon his words and come to see more and more that communion is not a human construction but a gift from God. Communion involves not only our relationships to one another on earth but our being drawn by the Holy Spirit into the eternal life of communion which belongs to the Holy Trinity. Communion on this earth is always in some way impaired, both because of our limited understanding of God's ways and our own human sinfulness. Because we have been baptized into one body through the death and resurrection of Christ, we cannot say to one another "I have no need of you." (1 Corinthians 12:21) This means that maintaining communion is a sacred obligation. It is not easy and involves patience with one another, and ongoing conversion . . . Declarations of being "in" or "out" of communion with one another may assuage our anger or our fear, but they can do little to show our broken and divided world that at the heart of the gospel is to be found a reconciling love that can embrace our passionately held opinions and transcend them all.” “At the heart of the gospel is to be found a reconciling love that can embrace our passionately held opinions and transcend them all.” That sounds like the good news. Churches leaving over the differences, that is not good news. Good news is that the reconciling love of Christ can transcend all of our differences, including our passionately held differing opinions. But it is worth noting that this does not always happen on our time schedule, but rather on God’s time. I might ask those who are leaving our church whether their departure has upstaged the power of God’s reconciling love to keep us together.
Because as Bishop Griswold reminds us, “the very fact that we are all different, that we are not all eyes, or hands, makes possible patterns of relationship and interaction that could not exist if we were all the same. The sacrament of baptism helps us to see that our differences, when they are brought together in Christ, are an amazing gift which will allow us to do amazing things in Christ’s name.”
I offer all of this for our reflection this morning for a few reasons. Our church will continue to generate headlines as the legal battles over the church property in Virginia begins, and people will have varying opinions about the Episcopal Church based on all of this. But it is vital for us to remember is that our church is much more than whatever controversies we find ourselves in. Our church has rarely been without controversy, in fact. But what matters is how we treat each other in the midst of it, and how well we do remembering what Paul tells us about being the Church. We are an important member of the Body of Christ. Disaffected Episcopalians-turned-Nigerian Anglicans in Virginia are too. And our job, it seems to me, is to spread the good news that despite our difficulties, the reconciling love of Christ will transcend our differences, maybe not yet, but eventually. Meanwhile, we should strive always to be that one body in Christ, the Church, differing in our opinions perhaps, but unified through the power of Christ’s death and resurrection, in our baptism. If we don’t think that God in Christ has the power to transcend our differences as a church body, then we’re in the wrong place.
But here we are. I pray that each of us will do our part to be faithful members of that body.
Amen.