Colorado Unrestrained
Part III: Questions for Personal and Parish Faithfulness
The parish I serve, St. Philip-in-the-Field is 132 years old. The facility sits amidst a large graveyard. There are more parishioners buried there than are living (our Sunday average attendance is 81). Fortunately, many of the living in the parish are the descendents of the dead. The place isn’t just a building; it’s a kind of sacrament of the generations. Our vision is: From this Sacred Place: Lift Up Christ, Build Up People, Share the Light.
Here is how we, a community that is largely conservative, are attempting to wrestle with the questions posed by the bishop’s decisions, and the direction of the diocese.
The Big Question: Can we Fulfill the Vision in this Context?
The Setting: What has Changed in the Diocese?
New Policies:
Ordination
Same Sex Blessings
Re-commitments:
Delegated/Restricted Giving
Delegated Episcopal Pastoral Oversight.
What Challenges does this change present to your ability to share your gifts and
receive gifts from the bishop/diocese, and to share your gifts and receive gifts from this parish?
In what ways can you personally, and we as a congregation, differentiate ourselves
from the bishop and diocese while remaining in the diocese?
What commitments are you willing to make to fulfill the vision of St. Philip’s?
To this Sacred Place:
To Lift up Christ:
To Build up People:
To Share the Light:
So far, part of the community has discussed the changing context. People seem to be both relieved, and dismayed. Relieved because it finally happened, clarity has arrived. Dismayed because it changes our relationship with the bishop and diocese. We don’t want “space,” we want to love and respect him! There is also a bit of anger—how can a bishop turn his back on our traditions, on reason, and on Scripture? Why did he leave us all hanging for so long? Why didn’t he at least let us know before he did it?
For over a decade we’ve have been working on building a new facility. We’re running a pastoral sized congregation in an 850 square foot church (seats 55) and a 1350 square foot hall. We’re beyond full. This very week we’re to receive bids from contractors. We’ve already raised three times our annual budget, and another two times our budget is still pledged to come in. We’ve spent a wad on “soft costs” (why do soft costs hit so hard?). Needless to say, there’s a good deal of anxiety about going out on a limb! Often, the issue is posed as, “Why are we going to spend so much money on something the diocese could take from us?” This most recent turn in events will certainly sharpen that point!
Now, our tough, soul-searching work begins. We, as individuals and as a parish must move beyond “him” and “them”, beyond blame and anxiety, into personal choices, accountabilities, and commitments. Hence, the big question: Can we fulfill the vision given this context?
It’s really quite difficult to shift the focus away from the situation and onto one’s choices. “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4). I am among those who feel relieved that the bishop has finally showed his hand. I knew what cards he was holding, but wow, he sure held that Queen of Spades for a long time! I’ll always prefer open debate and engagement than all this subtle stuff!
Next Sunday (18th), during our formation time, we’ll start in on the second question: What Challenges does this change present to your ability to share your gifts and receive gifts from the bishop/diocese, and to share your gifts and receive gifts from this parish?
I hope the parish and I can do some steadfast thinking and praying on the nature of the church. Even if some decide its time to walk on, I hope they do so with a much deeper understanding of what it means to be a member of the body of Christ. Whatever the outcome, if one isn’t growing through this, but only becoming cynical and angry, the problem isn’t the trial, the problem is we’re not letting steadfastness have its full effect!
Anyway, the church exists by and through the giftings of the Holy Spirit. Our oneness, holiness, catholicness, and apostolicity all are gifts. These are virtues that we come into as we receive them, and share them. The gifts are not static; they cannot be stored away or owned. They, like the Holy Spirit who gives them, are always on the move. As we give our gifts to one another through Christ, they increase exponentially (this is the logic of 2nd Corinthians 8 and 9).
Thus, the church is an economy based on gifts, not on commerce or coercion. Sarcastically, one parishioner quipped, “What gifts do we get from the bishop?” That question was actually a commerce question, not a gifts question. The questioner was saying, what products do we get back for paying into the diocese? Well, we don’t get a lot of products.
However, what gifts is a bishop supposed to offer to the churches and people in his charge? Not only do bishops confirm and ordain, they embody diocesan unity. In the same way that a parish becomes a Eucharistic fellowship as its offerings go through a priest’s hands and back again, parishes become a diocese as they offer themselves through the bishop. Bishops are the ministers of our communion beyond ourselves, but also with the Anglican Communion, and the church catholic stretching over time. A parish becomes one with other parishes and with the Church through the bishop. Bishops are also guardians of the faith. A parish and its people know if they are in or out of communion with the larger body because they are in communion with their bishop.
With our bishop openly teaching and promoting innovation and moving the diocese into a sectarian ecclesiology, how can we receive his gifts for unity and truth? Granted the validity of sacraments isn’t determined by the quality of the bishop. Practically, one can be baptized or confirmed or receive communion from the hands of someone living outside of normative Christianity. At the same time, the sacraments aren’t magic. To accept a gift from someone is to accept them, which binds the receiver to the giver in an informal but real obligation. Someone who is confirmed by a heterodox bishop is really confirmed, but do they really want to be obliged to such a person? Sacraments and the Body of Christ are not products that we can buy and the person involved is irrelevant. Conversely, if one hands their life and labor over to such a bishop, one is aware that their gifts, instead of returning to the community, will be spent on activities that tear down the body. Hence, the practice of designated giving. Its not that the bishop puts on a poor confirmation service (he doesn’t), or is a spendthrift (he isn’t); it’s that people are hesitant to enter into the mutual obligations of giving and receiving from one another.
What may you, and what may we accept from the bishop? What gifts would it be wrong for you, and for us to receive from him?
What may you, and what may we offer to him? What gifts would it be wrong to offer him because they would not build up the body, but would further tear it down?
Comments