A Battle to Fight and a Beauty to Win

February 4, 2011

Dear Parish Family,

I am on retreat with some of the men of the parish this weekend. We are looking at what it means to be created in God’s image and how that plays itself out in the life of a man. We will hear the author of the book we are reading say that for each of us (maybe for all of us together?) there is an adventure to live, a battle to fight, and a beauty to be rescued. These archetypes represent God’s true calling upon each of our lives and if it is our desire to be faithful to God we must embrace the adventure, the battle and the pursuit of beauty wholeheartedly. They are not things to dabble in. They are at the heart of our meaning and purpose and engaging them will require all the courage and all the fortitude we can muster. We had no way of knowing, when this retreat was scheduled, that the message would be delivered in such a concrete way.

This has been a tough week for the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. On Tuesday the third largest parish in the diocese announced that they had been negotiating with the Episcopal Church (TEC) for nearly a year and had voted to break communion with us as part of an agreement to secure the release of their property from the pending litigation against the rest of us. St. Philip’s is, thereby, free even if the rest of our interests have suffered as a consequence. (Make no mistake about it. One of the primary goals of the Episcopal Church is to destroy the Anglican Church in North America movement. That is why they insisted on St Philips separating as a condition of settlement.) I am not going to judge the men and women who made this decision for St. Philips. I am sure they have persuaded themselves that they are doing the right thing. I would say, however, that compromising the interests of our brothers and sisters for personal gain rarely, if ever, winds up being the right thing.

The tough week continued on Wednesday when the appeals court verdict was read. The appeals court decided that the decision of the lower court was correct, that all diocesan property belongs to the Episcopal Church. This has been a major defeat for the diocese and for all of us. While Trinity, Beaver’s property is not named in the suit originally brought by Calvary Church, the decision probably makes our legal position much more tenuous.

These two events were delivered like a double barrel shotgun blast, one barrel late Tuesday, the other mid-day Wednesday, and many of the clergy and people of the diocese are still reeling from the news. None of us have had a chance to think through all the implications but we will. None of us fully understand the adventure that the Lord has drawn us into but we will. Our way forward has not been made clear but it will be. We simply must remain principled, attentive to doing the next right thing, seeking God’s face, and relying upon God’s strength to carry us through. In other words, walking the Christian walk with integrity is the surest road to fulfilling God’s purposes in our lives and God’s purposes for our lives are good.

We are in no imminent danger of losing our property but we are in danger. The diocese will ask for a judicial review of the appellate court’s decision. If they fail in that, and they probably will, they have expressed the will to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. It is possible that the Supreme Court may agree to hear the case but you ought to know that the Supreme Court only agrees to hear a very tiny percentage of the appeals made to them. So, the diocese is rapidly exhausting its legal remedies and when they are finally through, whether that is in six months or a year (probably not longer than that), we can expect that our property ownership claims will be challenged by TEC. I am not an attorney and while I have an opinion about how that might play itself out in court, as do lots of us, the only opinion that ultimately matters is the judge’s.

The time has come for us to address the issue of how we intend to proceed as a parish. If the lower court decision stands our options become clear: turn over the keys, mount a legal defense, or negotiate a settlement. I will be calling on many of you to listen to you, to seek your counsel and to offer the little information I have at my disposal. I am interested in your opinions, your concerns, and your hopes and I will do my level best to listen carefully and respectfully and to represent your views to the leadership of the parish as they meet to plan. This is a team event.

In the meantime, the most important thing we can do as a church family is fast and pray. I am following our bishop in this. He has committed to fasting and praying for our welfare and for wisdom and guidance of the Holy Spirit as we all attempt to discern a way forward that honors Christ and protects Christ’s body, that is, the churches of the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh. I also am committing myself to a time of fasting and of prayer devoted to petitioning God on behalf of the Diocese and Trinity Beaver. Will you join us?

So, we are indeed, involved in a rather high stakes adventure. It is an adventure brought on by a crisis of conscience. We believe in the pursuit of beauty. We believe it is worth fighting and sacrificing to preserve. And so we battle on to preserve the beautiful truths that God is the same, yesterday, today and tomorrow, that Jesus Christ died and rose again in order to save sinners like us, that God’s desire for humanity is that we live free from sin and death, and that his people are called to lives of holiness and righteousness. The battle is of epic proportion. In earthly terms there are thousands, even tens of thousands of churches involved in the struggle on every continent in the world except perhaps Antarctica. At a cosmic level, the battle is against the principalities and powers, and all the forces of darkness that oppose God. And even though we may not be able to see them, we fight alongside angels. Our decisions have real life implications and real eternal consequences. The battle is costly but the battle will be won.

I pray that all of us will remain faithful, courageous and principled as together we seek the Lord’s way forward over the next several months. Would you pray for me,that God would grant me wisdom, strength and compassion?

We will be talking a lot more about this in the months to come. In the meantime, give me a call if there is anything you need to get off your chest. Blessings to you and yours,

In Christ, Scott+