Well, I’m late today because there was an entire warehouse full of stuff that a local store was just giving away and I felt moved by the spirit of the age to see what there was. More bowls, that’s what there was, which is what I felt I needed, so that was propitious. Then we had to eat lunch. Then I had to look at my phone for a while. So here I am, just beginning the work of the day, which is to glance around the interwebs for any noteworthy items.
The big news broke yesterday that another congregation has left the C4SO diocese in the Anglican Church in North America for The Episcopal Church. Here’s a bit of the letter from the church, announcing the move:
The last month has been intense for all of us, and it was certainly not the summer we expected. Thank you for leaning in on such a vital discernment process, opening yourselves up for dialog, and being diligent in prayer. I am so proud to belong to a parish that has never been afraid to face complex topics while demonstrating hope and faith in our Good Shepherd to see us through. Those who have long been with this faith community will be the first to tell you that we have always aspired to be the kind of place that could welcome everyone in our neighborhood to encounter the love of God, or as we say it, “Life Together in the Goodness of God.” Today our community deepened its commitment to that vision. While this moves us out of affiliation with our friends in the Anglican Church in North America and the Diocese of Churches for the Sake of Others, we appreciate the support and relationships we have enjoyed with so many sisters and brothers in Christ over the years and hope those friendships continue. We are especially grateful for our colleagues in C4SO and our beloved bishop, Todd Hunter. We also look forward to pursuing affiliation with the Episcopal Church, getting to know the Episcopal Diocese of Texas and the parish communities that have long been at work in Central Texas. Though our affiliation is undergoing change, more importantly, our commitment to the Gospel of the Kingdom and our mission as a parish will be sustained and strengthened.
The rest of the letter goes on in much the same vein. Everyone is basically grateful and happy. The vote to go was 80 to 20, and I’m seeing today that some people are grieved, and others are relieved. In a few days, the news cycle will have gone on to the next thing. Still, this is an interesting moment in the Anglican corner of the Kingdom of God and one that deserves some attention.
I was recently wondering to myself how the history of the world would have played out if there had been, in long ages past, a Twitter, or even a Reddit. I complain a lot about how my life is tethered, seemingly, to the internet, how my own emotional landscape rises and falls according to the news cycle. But in moments like these, it behooves me to pause and remember how the ACNA even came into being. Because TEC had been heading down the broad wide road that leads to lower Average Sunday Attendance (ACA) and increasing irrelevance in a world gripped by consumptive self-love. Given the opportunity to preach the gospel, with or without words, TEC pulpits began to be filled with people who thought the best and obvious way was to talk less about Jesus, who has always been embarrassing, and more about having the correct position on the Middle East and reproductive “health care.”
Various groups, seeing the rot, split off as the decades careened by, but nothing ever managed to coalesce into a real, substantial, viable pushback. The thing that made the difference in 2003 is that we finally had the internet—and blogs. People were able to find each other online, and the parameters of the conflict took shape according to the actual discussions people were able to have online. Sometimes I wonder to myself about other sorts of conflictual moments in human history. Would the church, for example, in Germany have capitulated so readily to the Nazi agenda if there had been something like Twitter?
Of course, the first thing something like the Nazi party does is try very hard to shut down all the social media, which, it turns out, is harder to do than taking over the airwaves and the newspapers. It is such a terrible thing for a totalitarian-inclined person to find that people are able to have their theological and philosophical thoughts shaped by engagement with other people.
TEC was never big enough to rule the Christian world, but they were trying to do backroom deals to change the doctrine and polity of a once great institution without letting ordinary Episcopalians know about it. I think one word I’m fishing for is “gaslighting.” It’s where you tell everyone to simmer down, nothing untoward is happening, but all the while you’re doing the very thing that people are pretty sure you are doing, because all the signs point in that direction. Like, you had to be living under a rock to avoid seeing the trajectory of the denomination, but if you said, ‘Hey, wait a minute, this doesn’t feel Christian,’ all those associated with the institution veritably lost their minds. This led to small-time people in small-time churches who really believed in Jesus feeling isolated and like they were crazy. Until they could click on Titus One Nine every morning, and Stand Firm, and read another person who was sane, who was willing to name what was really happening.
This is what it’s been like for at least five years in certain corners of the ACNA. Some clergy and congregations look like ducks, they sound like ducks, they walk like ducks, and sure enough, they are happier in TEC after all.
Not to just keep talking about Hitler, but the Church in the West, what’s left of it, is being beguiled by the siren song of wokeism. It seems to come over people and groups like a fever. They shudder and become ill, and stop making clear sense, and yet insist that everything is exactly the way it was before—you’re the one that’s actually changed, when that isn’t the case at all. It’s how I’ve often imagined it must have felt to watch someone succumb to Nazi propaganda, to go all in on something so very dark, yet, over sherry, insisting to you that it’s the only lighted path to a better world—a better you. You’re left standing, seemingly alone, while she begins to tread that wide, perilous path that leads to ruin, unable to cry aloud for fear of being called a bigot.
One of the best antidotes is to be able to hear other voices, to connect to real people, even thousands of miles away, to listen to podcasts, to catch a quick Zoom call. Anglicanism isn’t an infinitely malleable ideology that can stretch to include the l.g.b.t.q.i.a.+ acronym. The Christian Gospel and the Gospel of Self-Expressiveness are not compatible. You can linger between two opinions for a while, but eventually, you’re going to have a make a choice, and there are consequences either way.
I’m grateful that Rez Austin finally made theirs. I’m not glad they changed their doctrine and became Episcopalian—that’s tragic. Rather, I’m glad they were honest enough to give voice to their hidden spiritual inclination. It means everyone else can observe and make a clear judgment about their own path. All the more, those who persist in the ACNA need to discover exactly what time it is, need to steel the spine to speak the truth. For, it seems, that the truth is not seasonable just now.
And now, I need to go get rid of something to make space for all my bowls. Have a nice day.
I just heard about this a day or two ago, and after reading the letter from the rector, with its happy/thankful tone, it left me wondering what was the tipping point? What was the issue that forced the decision? If they're happier in TEC than even C4SO, what exactly is the gospel of their 80% (who voted to leave)?
Excellent analysis of living in a late stage dying denomination. The faithful have not changed and yet they are continually gas lit for noticing what is supposed to be not noticed. Finally, a fascinating question about Weimar/NS Germany and the church’s response. I keep writing this: there is no better writer on church affairs and contemporary events than Anne Kennedy.