This letter does not represent a “bull rusing into a china shop”. Rather it is careful, cautious and mindful that what they are preparing to do does not represent the mind or the will of the entire church. I think the letter is gracious and charitable and to be commended. Perhaps in our “divorce” within the Church we are learning lessons that only come from suffering. Perhaps this seperation is what it takes to help us see the divine image in each other’s eyes… defaced for sure but no erased. Reappraisers are learning to live more deeple, I think, into our belief in the communion of the saints. We think we are acting under God’s leading (with LGBT inclusion) but we are learning to honor other voices we are connected to that repudiate what we do. Even as we walk apart over different views of the Anglican way, may this also be an occasion of grace and an opportunity, through covenant, to stand firm what we hold in common. Like all authentic ecumenical discussions they can be fruitful only when grounded in Truth and we Reappraisers need conversion to an inclusive orthodoxy like this: http://www.truthsetsfree.net/

This is a good beginning for a conversation, but may I ask a question?  Aside from the political conversation, surrounding diversity and cultural anthropology, what is the origin of the use of the word “inclusive” in this debate?  It seems to me that “inclusive” has become a trump for all other grounds for discussion.  If a scriptural norm sets a boundary, it is labeled “exclusive” and therefore anathema.  Yet even Jesus spoke in these “either/or” terms on a regular basis.  Seems - again - those desiring to “expand” the horizons of the Church are willing to dispose of biblical and Catholic understandings in favor of the local/autonomous decision to “include” everyone.  Certainly, God desires that all would come to know and follow Jesus as Lord - but not all will.

Enlighten me, if you wish.

Darin+

Inclusion is not a “trump” of biblical boundaries even if used as such by more radical/leftist religionists. I see the idea of LGBT inclusion seeking to ask and answer how LGBT Christians are invited into the universal call to holiness and how to respond to such folk, whose live’s manifest the gifts and fruits of the Spirit, and who feel a sense of call to ordained ministry. Ordination is not a right but surely the right to participate in the discernment process of the Church should be offered to those whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual and who may be in partnerships marked by a holy, committed and sacrificial love. Vocation is a mystery. God often calls the seemingly most unlikely or unsuited (in the world’s eyes) to serve him. The Bible demonstrates this reality again and again. If an individual can go through the discernment process for ministry and is found to have a genuine call using the same discernment process as a heterosexual man or woman… what is the Church to do? A comparison with the Samaritans seems both obvious and legitimate to me.
“You know well enough how the wind blows this way and that. You hear it rustling through the trees, but you have no idea where it comes from or where it’s headed next. That’s the way it is with everyone ‘born from above’ by the wind of God, the Spirit of God.”
John 3:8 (The Message)
2 Corinthians 5:16-20 (The Message)
“16-20Because of this decision we don’t evaluate people by what they have or how they look. We looked at the Messiah that way once and got it all wrong, as you know. We certainly don’t look at him that way anymore. Now we look inside, and what we see is that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him, and then called us to settle our relationships with each other. God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins. God has given us the task of telling everyone what he is doing. We’re Christ’s representatives. God uses us to persuade men and women to drop their differences and enter into God’s work of making things right between them. We’re speaking for Christ himself now: Become friends with God; he’s already a friend with you.”

It seems the new religion comes swathed in goobledygook as well as divine winds.  One of the hallmarks of authentic Catholic religion is its robust concreteness.  “Repent and believe the gospel.” “For thou hast had five husbands: and he whom thou now hast, is not thy husband.”  “This is my body.”  When Anglicans start blathering on about “mystery,” it’s very often the finesse under which they intend to promulgate heresy.

archangelica,

Thanks for your response - I appreciate your reflection.  However, a question is begged by your appeal to “the universal call to holiness.”

Agreed - this is universal.  All people are called to holiness, through faith in Jesus Christ (this is the missional imperative of the Church).  This is holiness on God’s terms, not ours.  God has revealed in Scripture a clear, unambiguous, univocal message about holiness as it overlaps with human sexuality:  sexual intercourse between a man and a woman in marriage (Jesus himself validates and ratifies this Truth - on more than one occasion), and celibate singlehood (of which Jesus himself is supreme model).  Beside this - despite the univocal prohibitions against same-sex behavior in the Scriptures (and in the Church universal for two millenia), there is a positive and overarching vision of human sexuality from Genesis 2 (male and female in the image of God) to Revelation (Church as Bride of Christ).  Any call to holiness in Christ is naturally to be heard within this context, as far as sexuality is concerned.  This is true for lay as well as ordained - the issue of ordination is entirely secondary.

And as long as we’re quoting Paul, and his reminder that we have been given a fresh start by the reconciling act of Jesus on the Cross, we ought also to include his insightful analysis in Romans 1, where sexual deviations from the God-created (and blessed) natural order are examples of human rebellion (not blessedness).

On these matters, I agree with ++Rowan Williams.  TEC has gone out of bounds, not just from an Anglican point of view, but from the broader Christian consensus as well.

Fr. Darin Lovelace+
St. David’s Anglican (ACNA)
Durant, Iowa

#4
“The Church not only embraces in herself all the vocations which God gives her along the path to salvation, but she herself appears as a mystery of vocation, a luminous and living reflection of the mystery of the Blessed Trinity,” he said. “In truth, the Church, a people made one by the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, carries within her the mystery of the Father, who, being neither called nor sent by anyone (cf. Rom. 11:33-35), calls all to hallow his name and do his will; she guards within herself the mystery of the Son, who is called by the Father and sent to proclaim the kingdom of God to all and who calls all to follow him; and she is the trustee of the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who consecrates for mission those whom the Father calls through his Son Jesus Christ.”
The Holy Father John Paul II entitled his book on his own vocation “Gift and Mystery” saying: It (the priestly vocation) is “a mystery of divine election.”

austin,

Right on.  We often appeal to “mystery” when we want to avoid the clarity God has already offered us. 

Darin+

#6,

If you have not yet read, please do, read JPII “Theology of the Body”.  It may help synthesize your desire to reconcile the mystery of divine call with the call to holiness in bodily human living.

Darin+

Fr. Darin,
Of course I am familiar with your arguments from Scripture. I think at this point we all understand that reappraisers and reasserters intrepret these differently as do many of us regarding WO. Hence the impasse is essentially one of hermeneutics. I have studied the scriptural arguments and intrepretations from all sides (as so many of us have), but am most persuaded by arguments that essentially say that what the Bible speaks to in the culture and context of the day is pedastry and cultic prostitution. I am not attempting to change anyone’s mind… we are all past that I think. The question now is how can we bless one another to live as faithfully as possible with the light we have? We reach profoundly different conclusions. I get that. Still, the heart of the Faith is in her ecumenical creeds and these are timeless, perrenial Truths that are under assault. My energy will go towards this battle and in seeking to be a witness and a missionary for inclusive orthodoxy within TEC. All the other controversies are flesh wounds.
May God bless you and your ministry in the ACNA.

archangelica,

Thank you for your generous prayer of blessing.  The same to you as you fight for creedal faith in TEC.

Darin+

how can we bless one another to live as faithfully as possible with the light we have?

Sadly, I really don’t think you can.

#11 Yes, we can and indeed we must… as awful as it is to come to the point where these words apply to members of the same Church. May God have mercy on us… especially we in TEC who have persecuted or who have stood by and done little or nothing while our conservative brethren have been apallingly disparaged and generally treated shabbily. I support LGBT inclusion and WO but I very often find that I have more theologically in common with reasserters than with my progressive brethren. Truly I have fallen down the rabbit hole!
“Love your enemies, do good to them that hate you.
Bless them that curse you, and pray for them that calumniate you”
(St. Luke 6.28)
http://www.boston-catholic-journal.com/bless-those-who-curse-you.pdf

Archangelica, I don’t mean to offend, but saying that the two sides simply have different interpretations of Scripture is convenient but misleading.  Please consider that by and large those few Christians who support your “new” interpretation have a vested interest in their interpretation.  By and large those of us who adhere to the centuries-old interpretation have no bias and no vested interest in our interpretation.  I also have read lengthy explanations of both interpretations, and frankly I think the reappraisers’ conclusions are simply absurd.  I don’t know if you’ve read Robert Gagnon’s work, but if you haven’t I would strongly recommend it.

Archangelica,  You are not my enemy—I don’t even know you.  But, I read what you print and I read and hear what TEC teaches and I believe you are teaching death and I will not bless that.  My hope is that God will see that your ministry totally fails and will be supplanted with a ministry of life.  I will however pray God bless you AND ME with eyes to see and ears to hear the/His Truth.

#14
Thank you for your prayers. Please know and understand that I see my mission and ministry as this: Inclusive Orthodoxy seeks a revitalization of the faith, which is both orthodox in theology and grounded in the progressive message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ—a message of love, a proclamation of hope for the oppressed, an invitation towards all regardless of race, ethnicity, sex, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. We are calling for the Church to extend its inclusivity upon the foundation of Christian orthodoxy, and to embrace the radical implications of the Gospel message, not despite Scripture and Tradition, but in light of it.
Specifically this means that I seek to teach, preach, live, grow and promulgate the eternal truths proclaimed and declared in The Nicene Creed, The Apostle’s Creed and The Athanasian Creed. All other ground is sinking sand.
“In the message of salvation there is a certain hierarchy of truths, which the Church has always recognized when it composed creeds or summaries of the truths of faith. This hierarchy does not mean that some truths pertain to faith itself less than others, but rather that some truths are based on others as of a higher priority, and are illumined by them.
“On all levels catechesis should take account of this hierarchy of the truths of faith.
“These truths may be grouped under four basic heads: the mystery of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Creator of all things; the mystery of Christ the incarnate Word, who was born of the Virgin Mary, and who suffered, died, and rose for our salvation; the mystery of the Holy Spirit, who is present in the Church, sanctifying it and guiding it until the glorious coming of Christ, our Savior and Judge; and the mystery of the Church, which is Christ’s Mystical Body, in which the Virgin Mary holds the pre-eminent place.”
(Sacred Congregation for the Clergy General Catechetical Directory)