Dean's Letter

October 2005
From The Very Reverend David Bird, Ph.D., Dean and Rector

Three Current Conflicts

No matter what I may wish to think or pray about these days, three things come back to haunt me: the natural devastation of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast; the continuing violence in Iraq; and the contentiousness which exists in the Anglican Communion of Churches (of which our Episcopal Church is a part).

All three situations say something about the need for human beings to rethink our priorities and especially to examine our inner motives. Some years ago I traveled round New Orleans with a former vestry member and treasurer of a local parish. He was incredibly forthright about the damage his church could suffer in the event of a major flood. He was disparaging of those who said the area was safe and deeply concerned for the poor of that city.

His worst fears have come true. His church, I am told by a friend who used to minister down there, is no more, and we have all seen graphic results of the lot of poorer people in particular, whose lives have been ravaged by the storm.

In a previous time of war (1961) Pete Seeger’s song “Where have all the flowers gone?” included this verse:

Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the soldiers gone?
Gone to graveyards every one
When will they ever learn?
When will they ever learn?

We do not just devastate people in war. We devastate people whenever we fail to look to the needs of our fellow human beings, often by categorizing them in some (ultimately) disparaging way.

Sadly, the same thing often happens in the church. After all human beings are human beings. The powerful battle of good and evil in everyone has victories for both sides. (We know we must never fall into the trap of thinking we are all bad; nor of considering ourselves all good.)

Currently the worldwide Anglican Communion, of which we are a part, is seeing a fierce series of battles between various national churches. One of the presenting issues is the ordination of homosexual persons in faithful same sex relationships. The debate has become so intense that the Nigerian Church—believed to be the richest Anglican or Episcopal Church among the African nations—has changed its constitution to indicate its unwillingness to accept any longer the historic leadership of the archbishop of Canterbury, except when the Nigerian Church agrees with him.
The original constitution of the Nigerian Church stated that "the Church of Nigeria shall be in communion with the See of Canterbury and with all dioceses, provinces and regional churches which are in full communion with the see of Canterbury." The amended version deletes reference to Canterbury, affirms commuion only with "all Anglican Churches, Dioceses and Provinces that hold and maintain the historic Faith, Sacrament and Discipline of the one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church".

This position conflicts with the “pivotal” role in maintaining unity afforded the archbishop of Canterbury in the Windsor Report—a report published with the intent of maintaining the integrity of our worldwide communion. What matters here is only that other churches much conform to the Nigerian Church’s view orthodoxy. The new constitution makes this very plain: “in all questions of faith, doctrine and discipline, the decisions of the ecclesiastical tribunals of the Church of Nigeria shall be final."

There is a common thread which runs through every one of these issues: the Gulf Coast; the violence in Iraq; and the controversies in the Episcopal Church. In each situation there has been some level of de-personalizing others.

Obviously there are many other themes running through each of these situations. To name just a few: natural disasters happen; states do go to war for justifiable reasons; orthodoxy is important.
I fully realize that I open myself to the justifiable charge of over-simplifying each issue. On the other hand, there is no more important aspect of Jesus’ teaching for me than his conviction that all creation is God’s and that our neighbor is not just our friend but every human being (remember: “love your neighbor as yourself”?)

We face the task of restoring the central tenets of Christianity to the forefront of our society. Currently it is captive to culture and to political interest groups of a broad variety. Our challenge is to take the Christian faith itself into the public square and, together with other faith traditions, seek to see what God, not our own self interest, is calling us to do.

— David

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