If you’ve been keeping your eyes out for news from the Primates’ Meeting since Monday’s Rector’s Rambling, you may have seen some news that came out today. These are my initial thoughts on this breaking news: Someone keeps leaking official documents from the Primate’s meeting in advance of their official release, and so a communication from the Primates to the Communion was shared early today and made official shortly thereafter as a result. The Primates have called for temporary sanctions against the Episcopal Church as a result of changing our Church Canons around marriage at General Convention this summer. Our decision (as a Church) to open up marriage to same sex couples, has led to a three-year exclusion from full participation in the polity of the Anglican Communion.

You can read the Primates’ full statement here. While all of the statement is worth reading, the pertinent part of the statement reads: “It is our unanimous desire to walk together. However given the seriousness of these matters we formally acknowledge this distance by requiring that for a period of three years The Episcopal Church no longer represent us on ecumenical and interfaith bodies, should not be appointed or elected to an internal standing committee and that while participating in the internal bodies of the Anglican Communion, they will not take part in decision making on any issues pertaining to doctrine or polity.”

The Primates also recognize that there is work to be done to keep the Communion in relationship and to restore it, and have asked the Archbishop of Canterbury to, “appoint a Task Group to maintain conversation among ourselves with the intention of restoration of relationship, the rebuilding of mutual trust, healing the legacy of hurt, recognising the extent of our commonality and exploring our deep differences, ensuring they are held between us in the love and grace of Christ.”

To those commentators already responding on the internet who seem outraged or surprised by this communication from the Primates, all I can say is that they have not been paying attention. The actions of the General Convention were taken with full awareness that such a decision about marriage would put us in a unique and lonely place within the Communion and that it would be likely to further strain relations with the wider Communion. Sometimes that happens when answering God’s call as faithfully as possible. As one who was there, and one who participated in our Provincial gathering beforehand, I can attest to this awareness and understanding. The decisions of the General Convention were made with this knowledge. While it may be disheartening, it is not surprising either.

The Episcopal News Service, with its connections inside the Primates’ Meeting, reported that an initial vote called for the Episcopal Church to withdraw voluntarily from the Anglican Communion for a period of three years, however, that vote failed. Such a vote is not surprising either, although I am glad it failed. As I shared on Monday, there were Primates who made it known that they wanted to deal with this matter at the start of their meeting before continuing. To date only the Archbishop of Uganda has left the meeting out of displeasure with the process. He left the meeting Tuesday before today’s discussion took place, while the agenda for the meeting was still being set.

Most reactions I have read online have expressed sadness over the sanctions. Unfortunately, I have also seen a fair amount of self-righteousness and indignation. In more than a few cases I have read for calls that we stop funding Anglican Communion ministries and pull back as a response. Such responses are unhelpful and unchristian. If you fall into the camp that supports the actions of the Episcopal Church this summer, then you should be able to trust that what was done was good and just, even if it brings consequences. In such a situation, again, remembering that we knew we were stepping away from historical Christianity, we can respond with humility. If we feel persecuted, we should remember our Lord’s example who loved his persecutors: “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.”

Frankly, that response is one that can go both ways. I suspect this is why our Church wasn’t “kicked” out of the Communion. We may not like being censured, but this is an action of love when an action of violence (breaking bonds completely) could have been taken. Clearly the majority of the Primates felt this way or that first vote might have been it. I suspect they also know that while the Episcopal Church is the first to take this step, it will not be the last. There are several other Provinces of the Communion heading in the same direction, although it is not known if and when they might make allowance for same gender marriage. The Communion will benefit from further conversation about how to deal with situations like this, as it will likely encounter them again.

In response to the Primates’ censure, Presiding Bishop Michael Curry said, “Our commitment to be an inclusive church is not

based on a social theory or capitulation to the ways of the culture, but on our belief that the outstretched arms of Jesus on the cross are a sign of the very love of God reaching out to us all. While I understand that many disagree with us, our decision regarding marriage is based on the belief that the words of the Apostle Paul to the Galatians are true for the church today: All who have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female, for all are one in Christ.” He continued, “The pain for many will be real. But God is greater than anything. I love Jesus and I love the church. I am a Christian in the Anglican way. And like you, as we have said in this meeting, I am committed to ‘walking together’ with you as fellow primates in the Anglican family.” (These quotes are from The Episcopal News Service and I have not been able to find the entire statement posted online yet.)

On Monday I called us all to prayer, and I do so again. For today, we are still Anglicans, which is of great importance to me, and I assume to many of you. The Primates have much more to discuss beyond the Episcopal Church and its decisions. We live in a broken world with people in great need in every corner of it. As they deal with such matters we need to continue to hold them in prayer. Let us pray for the unity of the church and the humility to reflect on these sanctions. Let us pray for those in pain and those who feel wounded on all sides of this issue. The pain is real on all sides of the table.

I suspect the will not change our mission to pray together, to gather for shared worship, to serve the needy in our communities, to welcome everyone, and to spread the gospel. In many ways, nothing has changed, and yet we know that it is changing even now. I am going to pray that God would continue to send the Holy Spirit to move in and amongst us as we continue to discern where we are called to go and what we are called to do. We are not forsaken, we are not lost, and we are not unloved, and for that I say thanks be to God.

Fr. Tom+

From the Church of England:

Jesus prayed that his followers may all be one.
In the power of the Spirit, we join our prayers with his.

O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
our only Saviour, the Prince of Peace:
give us grace seriously to lay to heart
the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions.
Take away all hatred and prejudice,
and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord;
that, as there is but one body and one Spirit,
one hope of our calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of us all,
so we may henceforth be all of one heart and of one soul,
united in one holy bond of peace, of faith and charity,
and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

I am the vine and you are the branches.
Abide in me as I abide in you.
As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you.
Abide in me as I abide in you.
No one has greater love than this,
to lay down one's life for one's friends.

Abide in me as I abide in you.
You are my friends if you do what I command you;
love one another as I have loved you.

Abide in me as I abide in you.

Amen.