Bishop's Letter: September 2007

September 28, 2007

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

There are countless news reports about the House of Bishops meeting, its conversations with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Joint Standing Committee of the Anglican Consultative Council and Primates, and the resultant response to the requests of the Primates’ Communiqué, each with its own spin about what we did or failed to do. I trust you to wade through whatever amount of them you can endure, with confidence in your ability to separate the wheat from the chaff and to know which is which. Whatever else you do, I urge you to read in their entirety both “A Message from the Bishops of the Episcopal Church” and “A Response to Questions and Concerns Raised by our Anglican Communion Partners”. They can be found at the following links, respectively:

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90522_ENG_HTM.htm

http://www.episcopalchurch.org/79901_90457_ENG_HTM.htm

I offer here a few personal reflections.

I want you to know how important to me personally and to the work of the House of Bishops was the wisdom and presence of Bishop Bowman and Bishop Williams. Their generous participation contributes immeasurably to the health and ministry of the Church, and in particular the Diocese of Ohio. To them and for them I am endlessly grateful.

In spite of what the media outlets claim, the House of Bishops articulated nothing new in respect to The Episcopal Church's stance regarding the consent process for the election of a bishop and authorized rites for the blessing of same-sex relationships. Rather, we pointed to previous resolutions of the General Convention, actions that we have no authority either to diminish or expand. We have been repeatedly asked for "clarity" about these resolutions, perhaps in the expectation of a legalistic specificity by which all can be measured. It is important to understand that the General Convention's legislative process results often in an intentional ambiguity that, rather than drawing lines to divide us, allows us to draw a line that encircles the comprehensive perspectives of those whom God has gathered in this Church. That, I believe, is the sort of line Jesus drew in the sand, a line that gathers rather than divides. Remember the story of the woman caught in adultery: by the time Jesus finished doodling in the dust, all present found themselves inside the circle. I am grateful that in responding to the request for clarification we faithfully preserved that very Anglican and Episcopal comprehensiveness, even as it may sometimes require a certain degree of ambiguity.

The Archbishop of Canterbury's gifts as a teacher were powerfully manifested in a wonderful sermon preached at the Ecumenical Worship Service on Thursday night and in a Bible Study he led on Friday morning. They were the highlights of our two days with him. At the same time, I wish our conversations with him and the other Anglican Communion visitors had been more personal and direct. In spite of a continuing honesty and deep respect exhibited by members of our House for one another and our guests, the conversation felt more like thoughtful people speaking in the same room than talking to one another. If the "listening process" commended by Lambeth 1998 and the Windsor Report is to be achieved, it will likely require more direct dialogue than has been experienced hitherto. My understanding and prayer is that the 2008 Lambeth Conference will be so structured as to make that possible.

I appreciate that the House of Bishops made a clear appeal for an end to incursions by bishops in dioceses over which they do not have jurisdiction. Such incursions by bishops of our own province, and more recently by bishops and archbishops from abroad, have compromised the efforts of generations of Episcopalians in the Diocese of Ohio to do the hard work of building Christian community that embraces the diversity God has called into this Church. During our meetings, the discussion of these divisive actions led me repeatedly to the abiding gratitude I have for the people of this Diocese whose patience and forbearance have consistently modeled the temperament of Christ.

In the letter that proceeded from our meeting in March of this year, we stated, "We proclaim the Gospel that in Christ all God's children, including gay and lesbian persons, are full and equal participants in the life of Christ's Church." You will see that these words are repeated near the end of this week's response to our Communion partners. It is a specific charism of The Episcopal Church to advocate for the civil rights and leadership gifts of gay and lesbian persons, by both our words and our actions. This need not conflict with our uncompromised commitment to continued relationship within the Anglican Communion, rather it may be an essential and valuable part of it.

Finally, let me say what a gift it was to roll up my sleeves and work together with colleagues from across our Church and Communion, rebuilding houses destroyed by the hurricanes of two years ago. And what a relief it was to find that, in the end, whatever differences of perspective and conviction we may have on the issues of the day, they did not in any way impede our ability to frame walls, stuff insulation, hang sheetrock, or paint, as together we prepared a place for the Christ in the other to lay his head. It affirmed our commitment in this diocese, both with one another and with companions across the wider Church, to work together in mission that we might grow together in Christ.

Gratefully,

The Rt. Rev. Mark Hollingsworth, Jr.
Bishop of Ohio

September 27, 2007