Liberals and Conservatives: the Value of Living Together

A decade or so ago, when All Saints was last searching for a rector, the search committee administered a parish survey as part of the process of building a profile. Among the questions was whether or not respondents thought it was acceptable to ordain gay clergy. One person responded no, but I was surprised we had even one, given that the prior two rectors had been gay men. I have no idea who it was who responded that way, but I was pleased that individual felt welcome at All Saints.

I thought of this today reading an article in Center Aisle, a daily opinion journal at General Convention that can usually be counted on as a voice of reason. In today's issue, The Very Rev. Ian Markham reflected on diversity in the church:

Living with disagreement is tricky. The desire to make the Church pure is so strong. We are so sure we are right that we don’t welcome conservatives. We are so sure that our progressive stance will be vindicated that we insist that those who want to “move less quickly” are ignorant appeasers.

Conservatives are important for two reasons. The first is that we need their voices. Conservatives keep asking the very basic question: Are we sure this is of God? A church is neither the “United Way at Prayer,” nor a social pressure group. Instead the Church is the Body of Christ and therefore the vehicle of God’s will in the world.

Everything we do should be tested by Scripture. We need to have our biblical reasons for the positions we take. If we lose this perspective, then we are just another dying cult that invites individuals to create whatever faith suits them.

The second reason is that there are many hurting conservatives who are feeling that this Church is not welcoming. Numerically the majority of the Episcopal Church is in the South. Many of the larger churches are evangelical. We need these conservative congregations and conservative dioceses. South Carolina is the only diocese that is growing: we need South Carolina to stay in.

An example of the value of conservative emerged yesterday in the House of Deputies, where the deputation from South Carolina helped strip down A089, which encourages holy habits of prayer and renewal of baptismal vows during the 50 days of Easter. So far, so good, but the second paragraph went on to mandate this:

Resolved, That the Office of Stewardship, The Episcopal Network for Stewardship, and the Standing Commission on Music and Liturgy develop a readily available liturgical resource that prayerfully invites Episcopalians to embrace the practice of holy habits to nourish and strengthen their vows in living out their baptismal covenant.

The argument from South Carolina was along the lines of: Really? What additional liturgical resources do we need besides the Daily Offices available in the Book of Common Prayer and the Lectionary? And shouldn't we be encouraging praying the offices and reading scripture year round anyway?

Leave it to South Carolina to bring us back to basics. The existing prayer book provides traditional language versions of the offices, modern language versions, simple versions, and also a simple outline so you can do it yourself. (Incidentally, I am not naive about South Carolina, as the parliamentary saga of A061 shows...more on that later. But that bit of sly trickery doesn't mean they're always wrong).

What are conservatives and liberals in the Epsicopal Church supposed to do together besides argue? The Rt. Rev. Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, has an idea:

Mission is a wonderful thing for many reasons. First, it is commanded by God, and thus to do it is to obey God. Second, it causes us to look outwards, away from those things that divide us, and to find ourselves shoulder to shoulder with others with whom we may disagree profoundly but with whom we share one unutterably precious thing — that we both love Jesus Christ and for His sake we are doing what we are doing.

Across the Anglican Communion, we are profoundly divided on many things, and yet at the same time there are links through diocesan and provincial partnerships. The more we are engaged in these works of mission, carrying in word and action the Good News of Jesus Christ to a world that is more and more in need of Him, the more we find ourselves regarding those with whom we disagree as fellow Christians, who may be wrong but with whom we are called to live, whose love we receive and to whom we owe such love.

Here in the Diocese of Indianapolis, we see that in our tri-party covenant with the dioceses of Bor and Brasilia. Bor in particular is no on board with us when it comes to ordaining women or considering gay people as full participants in the church. Yet we pray for each other and engage in joint mission.

In the national church, this may be embodied in no better way that Episcopal Relief and Development, which provides domestic support through disaster response, and international support through health, sanitation and economic development projects. The Episcopal Church's approach is notable in that we stay for the long term. A project to provide millions of mosquito nets to Africa to prevent malaria has lasted five years. And on disaster recovery, the church remains long after the cameras leave: I worked with the Episcopal Church in New Orleans 2 years after Katrina, and in Galveston a year after Ike, when many other relief agencies had already left.

These projects require dollars and hands, and neither the helpers nor those helped care whether the dollars or hands are liberal or conservative. A focus on mission can help us remain in conversation. We need not agree with each other to advance God's kingdom.