Posted on 06/17/2007 11:21:14 AM PDT by Huber
Trapped for more than a decade inside a wrenching cyclone of doctrinal disputes, the Anglican Church of Canada will try to chart a path through the storm at a historic meeting in Winnipeg.
More than 400 bishops, clergy and ordinary members of Canada's oldest Protestant church will convene on Monday for the church's General Synod - the first such national meeting in three years - to elect a new Canadian leader and to vote on whether to let priests bless the partnerships of same-sex couples.
However the church decides to treat its gay and lesbian members, the outcome is certain to spark recriminations - and possibly schism - both in Canada and abroad.
An influential group of retired Canadian bishops pleaded with the church on Thursday to approve the blessings and then move forward to more critical matters, saying a failure to do so, "will only continue to draw us away from issues which are gradually destroying God's creation," such as poverty and global warming.
Meanwhile a group of conservative clerics warned Anglicans in a letter at Easter that any tampering with the church's traditional views on homosexuality would fragment the church and lead to "North American Protestant sectarianism."
The Canadian decision is part of a larger political drama unfolding within the 77-million member, global Anglican Communion led by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
The communion - one of the few Christian denominations, like Roman Catholicism, that spans continents and cultures - governs itself not by the authority of a pope, but through consensus and courtesy.
"One of the great geniuses of the Anglican Church is comprehensiveness - the idea that we can live in tension, but still live together with great diversity," says Rev. Stephen Andrews, a theologian at Thorneloe University in Sudbury.
But same-sex politics has stretched traditional Anglican tolerance to the breaking point, and bishops across the globe will be watching the Winnipeg meeting with anxiety, eager to know the outcome of the vote scheduled for next weekend.
Many Anglican leaders in Africa and Latin America, where the church is growing, are opposed to any loosening of Anglican doctrine on homosexuality, and have grown increasingly irritated at their colleagues in North America.
In 2002, the Anglican bishop in Vancouver allowed same-sex blessings in his diocese. More recently other Canadian dioceses have announced similar plans. And in 2003 the Episcopal Church, the Anglican branch in the United States, appointed an openly gay man as bishop of New Hampshire.
The following year, in a bid to preserve international unity, an international panel of Anglican theologians called for a moratorium on the blessing of same-sex unions and the ordination of gay clergy, and asked the Canadian and U.S. churches to apologize for their actions.
Their calls were largely ignored by the American church, which in 2006 elected its first female national leader, a bishop with well-known liberal views.
This year, a worldwide meeting of Anglican bishops gave the U.S. church an ultimatum: recant support for gay clergy and same-sex unions by September, or face expulsion from the communion. No similar threat has yet been issued to the Canadians, but that may change, depending on the outcome of the Winnipeg vote.
While sexual ethics fuel this dispute, many believe the struggle is actually a deeper debate about core Anglican doctrine: a tug-of-war over the way Scripture should be interpreted in the 21st century.
Many Anglican traditionalists and evangelicals, for example, hold to the view that the resurrection of Jesus Christ was a real, historical event, just as the Bible says it was. Liberal attitudes are murkier; many say biblical accounts of Christ's "virgin birth" and resurrection should be interpreted symbolically, not literally.
So sensitive are these questions in Anglicanism today that none of the four bishops now seeking election to the leadership of the Canadian church agreed to answer questions about their own personal beliefs when asked to do so for this article.
Whatever they may believe, one theologian says at the heart of all the wrangling about sexuality is a more profound disagreement over 400-year-old Anglican doctrine.
"The debate around the blessing of same-sex unions really is a discussion on whether the Bible is the word of God still today or not," says Rev. Charlie Masters, director of Anglican Essentials, a group of conservative Anglicans. "This is why the (global leaders) of the Anglican Communion have been so strong in their dealing with both the Anglican Church of Canada and the Episcopal Church of the United States."
For gay and lesbian Anglicans, however, the same-sex issue is itself a core question, and some say if the church rejects the idea, significant numbers of clerics in Canada will simply perform blessings anyway, creating the conditions for schism.
That in turn could lead to debilitating rounds of litigation, as priests and parishes on either side of the dispute battle in the courts over Anglican properties and financial assets.
Chris Ambidge, who leads the Toronto chapter of Integrity, a group of gay and lesbian Anglicans, acknowledges that same-sex couples could simply get married outside the church, or transfer their worship, as many already have, to more welcoming denominations such as the United Church.
But Ambidge says many couples have personal allegiances to local Anglican churches, and have a real need for public recognition of their relationships in their own parishes.
"Why are we asking for church 'blessings' in a country where we can already be legally married?" Ambidge says. "Because there's a pastoral emergency - there are Christians who are getting older, who want to be married in church, but who are willing to settle for blessings now, and the church needs to minister pastorally to them."
But Stephen Andrews, a conservative priest, predicts much harm will also be done on a personal level if the church votes to change the status quo.
"We've already seen a number of lay people seep away from the church, and I think there will be clerics who will feel obliged to leave, and the church's ministry in many places will be diminished," he says.
"The really tragic part is the personal estrangements such changes will bring about between clergy, their colleagues and bishops."
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams. 30,000 Christian sects in America, soon to be 30,001.
Just because it’s legal doesn’t mean it’s morally right, and vice versa.
Sexual immorality yes; Incense no!
“Chris Ambidge, a parishioner of Toronto’s Church of the Redeemer, has been known to flee churches when incense is used. While his church seldom uses incense (and it gives notice in the bulletin when it will use it), visits to other church services are a gamble.
“I often get chased out of big church services,” said Mr. Ambidge, who visits other churches frequently as one of the heads of Toronto’s chapter of Integrity, a group for gay and lesbian Anglicans.
In one instance, Mr. Ambidge quickly left a church service at General Synod ‘98 when incense was brought in. Incense, pets, pollen and physical stress trigger his asthma, which occasionally sends him to the hospital emergency room.
“Liturgy is supposed to be life giving, not life threatening,” observed Mr. Ambidge. “I have problems with people deliberately choosing to make worship space unfriendly and life threatening to people with lung problems.”
This shows the real issue is weather or not Jesus Christ was the Son of God or just a moral teacher, if he is just a moral teacher then why bother being a Christian? I know atheists who accept Jesus as a moral teacher.
You’ve hit the nail on the head.
As has been proven all over western Europe, when Jesus is just seen as a great moral teacher, there’s no need to go to church...one can be (relatively) “moral” and sleep late on Sundays. This is why the liberal churches are dying so quickly—without the gospel, there’s no light, life, or liberty...completely un-compelling.
I have sung in choirs for over 40 years where incense is copiously used and have had a great deal of experience as a thurifer. I could not disagree more with this gentlemen. Incense has been an intense part of my worship experience throughout my 55 years and could not even dream of worshipping without it. Just as Mr. Ambidge is entitled to choose his sexual orientation, I am entitled to worship in a church with lots of incense.
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