February 17, 2010

Anglican or Other: Where Exactly Do We Stand in the Communion?

The Rev. Scott T Homer
February 17, 2010


On October 4, 2008 the Diocesan Convention of the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh (ADP) voted to separate from the Episcopal Church in the United States (TEC). We followed a similar action on the part of the Diocese of San Joaquin in California. These were unprecedented acts. A diocese has not separated from its mother church since Americans separated from the Church of England at the time of the Revolutionary War. Although parishes had left TEC, no diocese ever had and for those of us who consider membership in the Anglican Communion an important, even vital, part of belonging to the Body of Christ, the action has raised the question, where exactly do we stand? Is the Anglican Diocese of Pittsburgh Anglican in name only or are we truly part of the worldwide Anglican Communion?

Of course, the first question begs a second. That is, what does it mean to be Anglican? What makes Anglicanism distinct? Here is a partial list: Anglicans have a particular organizational structure. They share a common set of beliefs and they worship in specific ways. But is that all? Is anyone who claims similarity in matters of organizational structure, belief, and liturgy legitimately Anglican or is there something more to it? Perhaps, some sort of official recognition that needs to occur?

Christian First, Anglican Second
This ought to go without saying but regrettably it has become a clouded issue. We are Christians before all else. We believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God. We believe that he was born of a virgin. We believe in his bodily resurrection and that he is alive and living in heaven today. And we recognize that being Anglican is simply a distinctive way of being Christian but we also assert that there can be no Anglicanism apart from the core Christian beliefs. The one follows the other and their position can never be inverted. We are Christians first, and then we are Anglicans.

Theologically Anglican
We are theologically Anglican. Like Anglicans everywhere and at all times, we believe in the Creeds, the Apostle’s and the Nicene, as normative statements of the Faith. In them, we are told certain things about the character of God and the character of man and the nature of God’s redemptive work in the world. The Creeds are not historical oddities. Their teaching is not optional. The content of the creeds is nothing less than the Apostle’s teaching coming down to us through the ages, to instruct and to guide us in right belief. The Creeds define what it means to be Christian.

We, along with Anglicans around the world, ascribe to the teachings of the Thirty-nine Articles. These statements of belief were formulated in order to clarify what the Church of England and her daughter churches believed and how they differed from other denominations. We are theologically Anglican because we believe what Anglicans believe.

Liturgically Anglican
We worship like Anglicans. We do not worship like Presbyterians, Baptists, or Methodists. We are known as a liturgical church because our services follow an order that is both ancient and universal in form. Our Eucharist dates back to very roots of Christianity and the Medieval Church. In most respects we worship in precisely the same way that people worshipped in the Court of Charlemagne and perhaps much earlier even than that.

We believe in sacraments. We believe that the Holy Spirit has blessed and ordained certain outward and visible signs of inward and spiritual grace and that we can actually come to know the Lord in powerful ways through certain actions and events in the life of the Church. We believe that Baptism is not just an initiation rite but that, in fact, the Holy Spirit does come and wash away sin, and take up residence in the life of the Baptized. We believe that the Lord is really present to us in Holy Communion. And to lesser or greater extents, Anglicans honor the other sacraments as well. We are Anglicans because we worship like Anglicans worship.

Structurally Anglican
We are Anglicans because we believe that the Christian Church is universal. The Christian church is represented all over the world. We are all one body which the Bible calls the Body of Christ. As a consequence, we can not act independently. Our actions have a profound impact on other parts of the Body and so we are called to interdependence. So for us, a Church is a diocese made up of many parishes. Parishes belong to a diocese and are accountable to it. Diocese voluntarily join in a province, again to promote interdependence, and that province becomes a part of the worldwide communion. And we take council with one another to assure that our message is universal both in content and in effect, not just within our own context but for believers throughout the world.

We believe in different orders. We have lay people, deacons, priests, and bishops. Each has a legitimate function in the Church but the really distinctive thing about Anglicans is that their Bishops receive the laying on of hands by other bishops and they always have, all the way back to the time of the Apostles. We believe, therefore, that our Bishops stand in a special place of authority and responsibility and they deserve a special place of honor. We have traditionally listened to our bishops and allowed them to lead us. We are Anglican because our Church is built in the Anglican model for church.

Politically Anglican
Before a final vote to depart TEC and before any clergy led worship following the split the bishop and the clergy of our diocese were officially received as clergy in good standing in the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. That relationship existed then. That relationship exists today. Our diocese was never anything other than Anglican. We have never been without accountability to the Anglican Communion. Today, the majority of Anglicans and the majority of Anglican Churches in the world recognize the Diocese of Pittsburgh as an Anglican Diocese. They have declared they are in communion with us. They are, likewise, in the process of recognizing the Anglican Church in North America, as the authentic Anglican province on our continent. And so, politically, we are Anglican.

When will we be officially recognized as Anglican?
Despite our legitimate claim to the title Anglican, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican Communion Office, and the “official” decision making bodies of the Communion evade and obfuscate. They acknowledge in private what they ignore in public—that our bishops, our clergy and our churches are legitimate. Why? There are two major reasons. First, they are unhappy with the way we went about the separation. Second, they are afraid of TEC. They recognize that when we split with TEC we presented a viable option to dissidents around the world and they do not want to encourage dissident actions in their own provinces. But by far the more compelling problem for the Communion is that much of the work of the Anglican Communion is being financed, governed and controlled by TEC. There is a real question as to whether the Communion Office could remain open apart from TEC funding. And there are real questions about whether or not the clear majority in the Communion has any real voice in the decisions being made or any real authority to act against TEC.

And so, we sit and wait. We are Anglican in every legitimate sense of the word but we are like the Man in the Iron Mask, the true heir to the throne who has been imprisoned and disguised in order that the usurper might continue in power. I believe the day will come when we will be officially recognized but it will be a long time before we see it. In the meantime, we will continue to live out our lives in Christ, honoring the Anglican way and awaiting the day when the instruments of unity acknowledge what the rest of the world already knows.

No comments: