The teachings by Bishop Lebhar and his wife Marcia represented one of the high points of the convention. Conflict in churches, he told the assembly, is “a major problem for American Christians. We go shopping for non-conflict churches – good luck!” We are generally viewed as failures if we’re involved in conflict, and yet sometimes conflict is a necessary part of our spiritual growth. Often the problem is not so much with the information that we gather on a problem but how we interpret it, and it is in the white heat of interpretation that conflict flourishes. In a conflict situation, the default position for those who are afraid is to cling to the familiar rather than to trust in God’s power to preserve us from even the worst of situations. God’s purpose in difficult times is both to humble and to test. Often our preference is to relieve pressures rather than have the inner workings of our hearts revealed. Members of his Diocese were all obliged to go through a process of coming to terms with their lack of control and of learning to forgive their detractors.

Marcia Lebhar later took up the theme of trust with a reflection on the reality of the paucity of water in Canaan as compared with the Israelites’ experience in Egypt. The heart of idolatry is the insistence on a “Plan B” and God has prepared a new Anglican for ACNA that its members must expect on God’s terms. Finally, and at the close of proceedings Bishop Lebhar, introduced the imagery of the challenge posed to Judaism posed by the Romanized culture of Herod the Great’s Caesarea and the warning to the infant Christian Church given by the Epistle of Jude, namely of cultural surrender. “Many Americans,” said, “have become co-dependent on the culture.” His greatest fear for ACNA is that today’s vitality will weaken and acculturation make its way in, for if we acquiesce to the prevailing culture we cannot save those now imprisoned by it.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts: Pennsylvania • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

1. New Reformation Advocate wrote: Thanks to Kendall for posting this, and to Dr. Bonner for his rather full, upbeat report on the recent convention, which sounds very encouraging indeed.  I also note the welcome comment by Bruce Robinson+, one of the conservatives left in the TEC diocese. This report certainly whets the appetite for more, especially about the numerous church planting projects and how various congregations are finding new homes now.  I hope the ACNA diocese soon posts fuller information on its website. David Handy+ November 7, 10:43 am | [comment link]

2. Sarah wrote: Very nice of Bishop Hathaway to ask for letters dimissory from both dioceses [the Diocese of Pittsburgh, and the faux illegally-constituted “diocese”]  . . . I appreciate him very much. November 7, 1:42 pm | [comment link]

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