National & International Church

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It is always nice to be proven a prophet! In an earlier post I said the national news outlets would not be able to accurately discuss what is happening between our national Episcopal Church and the worldwide Anglican communion. Part of the reason is that the "anti's" are better at publicity than anyone else. Why is that always true?
Let me give you the links again to read the up to date info: www.episcopalchurch.org/ens is the official news source for the Episcopal Church. They tend to be moderate to optimistic about the future of our church. http://www.livingchurch.org/ is a more conservative, private news source that is somewhat pessimistic about our future. Read them both and you MAY get a fairly accurate picture.
Our House of Bishops (HOB) was meeting to discuss the criticism aimed at the Episcopal Church by some other members of the Anglican Communion. The central, presenting issue was the election and consecration of Bishop Robinson in New Hampshire, an openly gay man. A related issue is that in some dioceses and churches have blessed same sex unions. (Note again, a point of anger for me, the Canadian church has gone further and yet they are seldom mentioned. There is at least a hint of anti-Americanism in all this.)
I have not yet seen the formal statement so will not comment on it except to point out that both sources said it was adopted with only one negative vote (NB: 3 bishops left before the vote in essence saying the HOB was not worth their time.). Both news sources stressed that it was a middle of the road statement attempting to offer some reconciliation without turning away from or damning gays and lesbians.

Brass tacks time (I have no idea what the phrase originally meant!) (1) The Anglican Communion is not an organization with rules, etc. It is closer to a family. If some of the other churches in the Anglican Communion say they do not want to attend an event Americans attend, they can do that. It is theoretically possible that if enough other churches took that stand that the group would simply not meet. Very unlikely.
(2) If there is some split with some churches refusing to associate with other churches, this will have no direct impact on NC or St. Christopher's. Question -- 5 years ago did you even know you were the member of a worldwide Anglican Communion? I suspect that most people did not.
(3) That said, I and most of the Bishops have stressed the advantage we have when we are in communion with and discussion with other churches. We do not learn much from people we agree with. Having people say they believe we are wrong is the most productive way for us to learn about our relationship with God. It would be a shame to lose that.
(4) The biggest issue for many Bishops, and the one with the most agreement at the HOB is anger at foreign bishops who are deliberately working to split American churches. Yes, that is harsh, but it is also accurate. To go into another church's area and try to recruit people away from their church is not a very good way to show community! Yes, I know, they would say they are only serving the people but there are other ways to accomplish that goal. The American church has set up a system whereby a congregation or an entire diocese can request that another American Bishop serve them.

Finally, the other place most (not all) Bishops agree and I agree with them is that one issue has been allowed to sidetrack us for much too long. Without ignoring the importance of and need for continuing discussion and learning --- let's get back to central Christianity!!