The Bishop of Bethlehem (Pennsylvania), Paul Marshall, has written a candid letter about the Archbishop of Canterbury and his relationship with the US church. I encourage everyone who cares about the Anglican Communion and our situation to read +Paul's letter in its entirety. Here's a snippet.
The most un-biblical part of traditional Anglicanism is its politeness, its charm, its unwillingness to confront and hold accountable those who have sought and accepted positions of supreme leadership. We in the Episcopal Church often brag about our Church's failure to address slavery as though that were a virtue and not a disgrace. The Church held together while humans died in chains and even bishops (both north and south in the beginning) traded in human flesh. We now have put the british emancipator William Wilberforce in our calendar but do not make his commemoration one of fasting and lament for our heritage of cowardice in the name of togetherness. The words and deeds of Paul and even more certainly of our utterly tactless Lord Jesus suggest that charm is less important than candor or provocative questioning, that real love in times of disagreement is often something quite uncomfortable. It seems no accident that historically we are enthralled by John, whom we cannot understand, rather than Paul, whom we can but would prefer not to.
The letter was written to the HOBD email list, but it's been posted widely on the Internet. Jim Naughton has posted it on his blog.
UPDATE: Maybe if the Archbishop of Canterbury came over the US more often, things would be different. Maybe if people from the US went to Africa more often, things would be different. I theorize this because of "the power of the incarnational experience", as Katie Sherrod writes.
No comments:
Post a Comment