wfn.org | [ENS] A Word to the Church: From the House of Bishops

["Matthew Davies" <mdavies@mail.epicom.org>]

Thursday, January 13, 2005

A Word to the Church

The House of Bishops of the Episcopal Church
January 12 - 13, 2005
Salt Lake City

ENS 011305-1

[ENS] To the faithful in Christ Jesus, greetings in the season of
Epiphany.
We rejoice together with you that God has "caused a new light to shine
in
our hearts" revealing God's glory in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord.
The
sufferings of our brothers and sisters in the aftermath of tsunamis in
South
Asia and flooding and mud slides in California and here in Utah where we
are
meeting, make us long all the more for this new light revealed to us in
Christ. We are mindful as well of the suffering around the world caused
by
global poverty, HIV/AIDS, malaria, other diseases, and war. In this
suffering world we are called to "serve and signify God's mission to the
world, that mission whereby God brings to men and women, to human
societies
and to the whole world, real signs and foretastes of that healing love
which
will one day put all things to rights" (Windsor Report, paragraph 3).

We decided at our September meeting in 2004 to set aside this time so we
might together begin to receive the Windsor Report with humility. We
have
met for a day and a half in Salt Lake City. We welcome with gratitude
the
work of the Lambeth Commission on Communion. We realize this is a
long-term
effort which will most likely extend beyond our March meeting. In the
meantime, we aim to practice the more intentional consultative processes
called for by the Windsor Report. We also anticipate the Executive
Council
of our church joining in this consultation.

In this spirit of intentional practice, we affirm that all need to
repent,
as the Archbishop of Canterbury reminded us in his Advent Letter 2004.
We
repent of the ways we as bishops have sometimes treated each other,
failing
to honor Christ's presence in one another. Furthermore, too often we
have
also failed to recognize Christ's presence fully manifest in our sister
and
brother Anglicans around the global communion. We honor their full voice
and
wisdom. We desire mutuality. We recognize our interdependence in the
Body of
Christ.

Moreover, we as the House of Bishops express our sincere regret for the
pain, the hurt, and the damage caused to our Anglican bonds of affection
by
certain actions of our church. Knowing that our actions have contributed
to
the current strains in our Communion, we express this regret as a sign
of
our deep desire for and commitment to continuation of our partnership in
the
Anglican Communion.

We note here that our decision-making structures differ from those in
many
parts of the Anglican Communion and that our actions require conciliar
involvement by all the baptized of our church, lay and ordained.
Therefore
we as bishops, in offering our regrets, do not intend to preempt the
canonical authority of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church.
At
the same time, we are keenly aware of our particular responsibility for
episcopal leadership.

We long for the fullest expression of the gift of communion that God has
given us through Christ. "The communion we enjoy with God in Christ and
by
the Spirit, and the communion we enjoy with all God's people living and
departed, is the specific practical embodiment and fruit of the gospel
itself" (Windsor Report, paragraph 3). We rejoice in our partnership in
the
worldwide Anglican Communion and affirm anew our commitment to the
interdependence of this church as a member of the Anglican Communion.

We agree that one important expression of our communion would be a
Communion-wide study and discernment process on matters of human
sexuality
as recommended by Lambeth Conferences of 1978, 1988 and 1998 and are
eager
to continue to respond to this challenge. This would be a sign of
respect
for gay and lesbian persons in our common life and of our ongoing
pastoral
care for them. We also believe that such a process would strengthen our
communion. By doing so, we will be able to share more of the prayerful
conversations and studies on the ministries and contributions of
homosexual
persons in the church that have enriched our experience for many years.
The
Presiding Bishop has already established a committee to offer a
theological
explanation of how "a person living in a same gender union may be
considered
eligible to lead the flock of Christ" (Windsor Report, paragraph 135).

We pray our brothers and sisters throughout the Anglican Communion will
forgive us and that together we may remain in steadfast relationship so
we
might open our lives and our hearts to one another and learn how the
Holy
Spirit is acting in our different contexts. We are eager to take steps
to
make this possible, and particularly would welcome invitations to visit
other Anglican provinces to learn from them the many ways they are vital
witnesses to the healing love of Christ, often in very difficult
circumstances.

During this brief meeting we humbly struggled in our deliberations to
discern how best to receive the Windsor Report. We had an extensive
discussion about a "moratorium on the election and consent to the
consecration of any candidate to the episcopate who is living in a same
gender union until some new consensus in the Anglican Communion emerges"
(Windsor Report, paragraph 134). We have only begun a serious and
respectful
consideration of how we might respond. Further, we have not had
sufficient
time to give substantive consideration to recommendations in the Report
calling for a moratorium on diocesan boundary violations or the call for
a
moratorium and further discussion of the authorization of liturgical
texts
blessing same sex unions. (Here we note that there are those among us
who do
not agree with the statement in paragraph 144 of the Windsor Report that
"the Episcopal Church has by action of Convention made provision for the
development of public Rites of Blessing of !
same sex unions.")

In February 2005 the Primates of the Anglican Communion will consider
the
Windsor Report. We commit ourselves to a more thorough consideration of
the
range of concrete actions identified in the Report at our House of
Bishops
meeting in March 2005.	We do not wish to act in haste. We believe it is
extremely important to take the time to allow the Holy Spirit to show us
ways we can engage with people throughout our church in a consideration
of
all of the invitations for further reflection and the recommendations of
the
Windsor Report.

We seek together the epiphany of Christ's reconciling love for the
world,
which lies at the heart of the mission we share. It is our prayer that
along
with Anglican Christians around the world we may be faithful to God's
mission.

___________________________
To SUBSCRIBE to enslist, send a blank email message, from the address
which
you wish subscribed, to: join-enslist@epicom.org

Send QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS to news@episcopalchurch.org.

The enslist is published by Episcopal News Service:
www.episcopalchurch.org/ens