A Common Goal?

Many American bishops have devoted a great deal of time and money to trying to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals to end various forms of world poverty and oppression. This emphasis seems now to be shared by the Anglican bishops meeting at the Lambeth Conference who marched en masse through London last week in a "walk of witness"
against global poverty.

In a press conference before the Lambeth meetings began, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, the Rt. Rev. Katherine Jefferts Schori indicated that she thought Anglican unity could be found in such "issues of life and death;" sexuality debates in comparison were much less important.

It will be interesting to see if Bishop Jefferts Schori's prediction will be proven true. The MDG's already seem somewhat dated and, in any case, it is hard to believe that we won't always have the poor with us. On the other hand, the Presiding Bishop has a point in considering these issues more central to the Gospel message. --J. Douglas Ousley

What's Happening at Lambeth?

Everyone is asking me what is going on at the Lambeth Conference.

Like most people stateside, I am relying on various Internet sites and blogs for news. The official Episcopal Church site has a lot of special coverage, including videos of many speeches and comments. For the first time there is a team of "Blogging Bishops" (God help us) and they are contributing to the Lambeth Journal. The Episcopal Diocese of New York is also relaying a blog by our own Suffragan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Catherine Roskam.

As for what is happening, my own hope is that there will be some reconciliation or at least an uneasy truth. The likelihood of that happening, given the anger on both sides and the love of some activists for media coverage of their own pronouncements, seems small.

Pray, brothers and sisters, for the Church. --J. Douglas Ousley

Really Looking for Communion?

The Lambeth Conference of (most) Anglican Bishops begins in a few days and as usual, there will be calls from all factions for unity and dialog.
My own suspicion is that most progressives and traditionalists are wholly unwilling to compromise and therefore conversation will be pointless and unity elusive. Progressives will call for everyone to speak at the same table--but with the implied agenda that if conservatives will only listen, they will change their minds and agree with the liberals. Traditionalists will fear this gambit and in addition will fear that giving up on any of their issues will lead to the collapse of the church.
This divisiveness is hardly new but it seems to me to be more rigid than ever. May God have mercy upon us. --J. Douglas Ousley

Lights, Cameras, Action

I wonder if part of the enormous interest in Barack Obama's local church came from the unfamiliarity of the media-centered nature of modern worship. It must have been a shock to many viewers, religious and secular. The hand-held microphones, the rock music, the hand-clapping, the theatrics--this is not my grandmother's Congregational Church!

Yet spectacle is part of many mega-churches these days, including those on the conservative side as well as the liberal. Even at St. Patrick's Cathedral, cameras are everywhere and applause interrupts the Cardinal's sermons.

As one who likes church to look like church, not a media event, I am feeling well behind the times. On the other hand: among the fastest growing denominations in America are Orthodox Congregations with the most traditional liturgies and few concessions to secular performances.

May God's holy name be praised. --J. Douglas Ousley

Our Batty Mother Church?

As a break from the serious sacred and secular news of the day, here are two items about the Church of England.

First, a senior clergyman from Nottingham, Canon Andrew Deuchar, recently resigned after admitting "inappropriate conduct toward a woman." No details were given and the departure of Canon Deuchar, a chaplain to the Queen, will likely pass relatively unnoticed. However, I cannot help remarking that this priest was formerly the Archbishop's Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs.

Second, a recent government study reported that one in ten English churches in inhabited by bats. Because all the species of British bats are protected, users of the churches are not allowed even to plug the holes by which the bats enter, much less try to get them out of the buildings. The study suggests covering the furniture to protect from droppings. --J. Douglas Ousley

Brand Erosion?

Since its founding at the English Reformation in the 16th Century, the Anglican tradition has been known for its "comprehensiveness." In particular, the Church of England and its branches in other countries have been able to include Anglo-Catholics and Evangelicals, conservatives and liberals, traditionalists and progressives.

Now, no one seems to point with pride to the inclusiveness under which we were founded. Many traditionalists are trying to pull their property out of one province of the Anglican Communion into another, while progressive leaders are spending vast amounts of money to retain that property.

At the same time, the reality is that we still share many of the original traits of comprehensiveness: apostolic liturgy and leadership and Protestant freedom of conscience and theology. 

I have realized only recently how much I cherished the "comprehensiveness" of the Episcopal Church. Not the least of my dissatisfaction with our church today is my recognition of how unclear it is what we stand for, and how little we really care to include fellow Anglicans with whom we differ. --J. Douglas Ousley

The PB in Jerusalem

"This morning we were spat on by a young Jewish man. Howsimilar must have been Jesus' journeys the last week of his life."

The Holy Saturday press release from the Episcopal News Service offered this quote from an address in Jerusalem by the Rt. Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church. The full article from which the release is excerpted contains similar veiled criticisms of the free state of Israel, just as past bulletins from the Palestinian territories frequently mentioned the “occupying” Israeli forces. No mention was made of Palestinian leadership or their terrorist allies.

Perhaps it’s not completely surprising that the Jewish man spat at American Christians who he could have suspected of mouthing anti-Israeli platitudes--and who might not have acknowledged that Israeli Christians and Muslims are free to practice their religion and even serve in the Israeli Parliament while, across the borders, Christian Palestinians are being forced to leave the Palestinian territories and Jews are slain. If the Israelis have put up barriers and checkpoints, it is to try to keep their children from being blown to bits.

I hesitate to speculate how “Jesus would have felt;” perhaps he might have been sympathetic to the disturbed “young Jewish man,” who like many Jews in the Holy Land, rarely have a peaceful night’s rest. --J. Douglas Ousley