Luminous Church and the ACNA

In which I take a break from Friday Takes to lament and be shocked over heresy

It’s Friday! I know I normally do Takes, but I’m going to mix it up and have some thoughts about something near and dear to my heart—the Anglican Church in North America. Several days ago a picture showed up on X that caused a stir. A person from Jars of Clay, a Christian band I haven’t listened to very much, posted a picture that caused a lot of evangelical grief. Here it is:

The Jars of Clay person is to one side. As an Anglican, it is the person in the middle of the picture wearing the big “A Pastor With Pride” shirt that concerns me.

He is someone named Fr. Heath McClure who is on staff at something called Luminous Church in the diocese of C4SO in the ACNA. So let’s just look at some of the stuff on the Luminous Website, the FAQ in particular. It begins this way:

Why the name “Luminous”?
Around 2010, there were conversations in our orbit about what it would mean to truly embody the Way of Jesus. The word luminous came up while creating a conference-like retreat, which was named The Luminous Project. Luminous: adjective- radiating or reflecting light, illuminated, enlightened, clear. When planting the parish, it was between Luminous Parish and Saint Francis Parish. Too bad Saint Luminous wouldn’t have made sense.

Incidentally, as the pic says, Father Heath is associated with something called St. Francis Mission, whose website is here, and which is a fully LGBTQ-affirming gathering. They meet on Sunday evenings and there’s a link back to Luminous if you would like to donate to the Mission. I will forbear to be snide about calling a church something like “Luminous.” It is not to my taste, but I hear it is the latest in church naming fads. I will just note that the name is a little bit ironic, because light is something central to Christian spirituality and faith, but it is the Light of Jesus, and not some sort of radiating, luminosity for enlightenment. I am not super excited about the imprecision of all these light-associated words in this FAQ. It strikes me as unserious. We carry on:

Is Luminous a part of The Episcopal Church?
No, but we are episcopal. In our case, The Episcopal Church (TEC) encouraged us to plant a new parish through another organization due to the presence of multiple established TEC churches in our area. We have no conflict with TEC, and welcome a cooperative spirit with their providence as well as other Anglican jurisdictions. We planted with The Anglican Mission in the Americas (AMiA) and have since transferred to our current diocese, Churches For the Sake of Others (C4SO).

Why is this the second question? Why would this have to be addressed? Why does any ACNA parish have anything to do with TEC? Why don’t they have a conflict with TEC? What is this “cooperative spirit?” Are they doing ministry together?

So, I know this has been litigated to such a degree that it seems tiresome, but a long time ago, in 2003, which might as well have been another century at this point, The Episcopal Church decided to consecrate and ordain a man as bishop who was in a sexual relationship with another man. The bishop was called Gene Robinson, and as you should know by now, that action tore the fabric of the Anglican Communion. It took many years to sort it all out, but as a result of the turmoil and strife, GAFCON came into being and formed the Anglican Church in North America which is not an affirming Christian body. It is an orthodox Christian body. Though we have many troubles and disagreements over things like women in ministry and churchmanship and even how best to read the Bible, the one thing we do know is that God does not bless sin, that same-sex marriage is outside of God’s purposes for his kingdom, and that we do not bless and celebrate Pride. This is so abundantly simple, I am astonished that it would be possible for a church in the year of our Lord 2024 in the ACNA to write on a website that TEC encouraged them to plant in the ACNA and that they have no problems with TEC. Are we so easily defeated so soon? How is this possible?

The FAQ goes on to explain that they are a trauma sensitive environment, particularly for those who have endured “Religious Trauma,” and then, in the “What is the view of women in leadership?” they explain that they believe that “women can and should lead in every aspect as men, including deacons, priests, bishops, and teaching.” This is deeply troubling, as the ACNA does not ordain women as bishops. I’m not sure why they would need to include that. Anyway, let’s jump to the one about LGBTQ+ concerns, reminding ourselves along the way that the + for many people includes things like pedophilia. Here’s what they have to say:

What is the parish’s view of LGBTQ+?
Luminous is a hospitable and inclusive community. We honor the dignity and humanity of everyone, so therefore, everyone is welcome. Everyone. Anyone who is a disciple of Jesus, anyone who is curious, and those who feel as though they have no place… all are welcome at our parish. Also, please see the Unity Prayer.

Observe, again, as if we haven’t been through this for the last two thousand years, that to welcome people in the name of Christ requires—requires—that both the Law and the Gospel be proclaimed. We cannot skip over the Law. The Law shows us that we have fallen short of God’s glory, that we are sinners, that there are things about us that cannot continue or we will not get to go to Heaven when we die. Sexual Immorality and Lying are the two I think most pertinent here. For if you are sexually immoral, including every single thing along the L.G.B.T.Q. acronym, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God unless you repent and put all those sins and identities away from you. And if you are a liar and say that the Law does not matter, it would be better to put a millstone around your neck and jump into any local body of water in Franklin Tennessee. This is so basic it ought not to be a question in any list of frequently asked questions.

When you skip the Law, of course you then have to skip the Gospel. Your church larping—live action role playing—is an exercise in self-aggrandizement and self-worship, rather than bringing the sheep along to the Shepherd who laid down his life for them. How dare any clergy person in any congregation anywhere confuse this and make it about their affirmation rather than the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Let’s just look at a couple more, though not all of them, or we shall never get into the day:

How does the parish embody the values of Beauty, Communion, and Peace?
Great question. Our intentional pace and rhythms help us frame a sustainable way of parish-life. We are not program-heavy. We schedule times of activity and times without activity. We are continuing to become who we are meant to be as a community. We certainly won’t be everyone’s “flavor”, and we are aware enough to be okay with that. Beauty will change the world. The Way of Jesus gives us the eyes to see and ears to hear. Communion with God & others brings us closer, sending us for the sake of the world. Peace is the undercurrent in which we live, breathe, and embody the Way of Jesus. This is the Way.

Actually, Peace—true Christian Peace—was won by Jesus on the Cross by means of his shed blood. It doesn’t matter how beautiful your rhythms are or how sustainable your parish life, if you are going to chuck over the gospel, you aren’t giving anyone peace. This is not the Way. This is the anti-way.

They do all kinds of baptism—though I don’t know why, what is anybody being invited into?—including of babies, and then we get to Luminous Church’s denominational affiliation:

What is your affiliation?
Our diocese is Churches For the Sake of Others (C4SO), led by Bp. Todd Hunter, which is a national diocese rather than geographical. The Anglican Communion is present in over 165 countries and is the third largest expression of Christianity behind the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Church. By association with C4SO, our providence is the Anglican Church in North America.

How is it possible that Luminous Church is in C4SO with this anti-Christian view and practice? We have already been defeated. I am so discouraged and shocked.

Skipping over the questions about children in worship (disagree here also—babies should be in worship, children should be in worship, if they have to go out for the sermon so they can wiggle and practice listening elsewhere, ok, but beyond that, all Christian education should happen at another time than during corporate worship), and when children may receive the Sacrament, we get to the question of communion for everyone:

Does the parish have an “Open Table”?
Yes, we do, as we are Anglican. If you are a person of faith in Jesus Christ, you are welcome to receive the sacrament of Communion regardless of your denominational origin of baptism, orientation, church attendance frequency, or your church affiliation. The Eucharist is a gift, so we encourage a posture of receiving rather than “taking”.

Actually, Anglicans do fence the table. Anyone who believes and Jesus and is baptized, no matter the Christian denomination, may receive, but you can’t be in notorious sin. If you have adopted an identity that is contrary to the gospel of Jesus Christ and are acting unrepentantly in sinful ways, you should not present yourself for Communion. So no, Anglicans don’t have “open” Communion. Why would they say that?

Skipping the Bible Translation question (First Nation??? the Message?? Oh the humanity) they conclude their FAQ with politics:

How is Luminous navigating the cultural & political climate?
Our parish hopes to offer another way… The Way of Jesus. We strongly discourage culture war approaches, as they are only meant to divide & inflame. “Distance breeds suspicion. Proximity breeds empathy” -Tyler Merritt. As we follow our Rabbi, Jesus, we look for the image of our Maker on every single human. Today, we must change the narrative, seeking to understand more than to be understood… seeing humans as souls humanizes one another rather than allowing our distance and divisions to dehumanize another. The Way of Jesus is better than a “left & right” or so-called “middle”. This is the Way.

I’m sorry, but the leadership of Luminous Church are the ones culture warring. Do not be caught in the trap of the person who comes preaching a different, in this case politically and culturally expedient gospel, and who, when you protest, accuses you of engaging in the culture war. That is not how any of this works.

You may have noticed that they brought up something called the Unity Prayer. That also is posted on their website. It goes like this:

Unity Prayer

All are welcome at the table of God
Every human is God’s child
For Christ brings peace to all
Tearing down every hostile wall
So that the many become one

One heart
One family
One new humanity

For God who is Love
And Christ who is all and in all
Show no partiality and make no distinction
So neither race nor class
Gender nor sexuality
Politics nor religion
Personality nor nationality

Count for us or against us
The light of Christ enlightens all
Christ the prisoner and the naked
Christ the hungry and the sick
Christ the thirsty and the stranger
Christ the Other

May God’s Spirit hover over our chaos
Our hatred and indifference
Descend in our hearts with love and pleasure
Blow us out into the world to listen and serve
And set us ablaze to forgive and reconcile

For all are welcome at the table of God
Every human is God’s child.

I would like to contrast that “prayer” with the collect for this past Sunday, in the ACNA 2019 Book of Common Prayer which goes like this:

O God, the protector of all those who trust in you, without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Increase and multiply upon us your mercy, that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal that we lose not the things eternal; grant this, heavenly Father, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

What’s happening to Christians right now, in this dark, perilous, and lying age, is that too many are not passing through things temporal, they are stopping and grabbing things temporal and making those temporal things the very source of their being, trading the things eternal for the things that are passing away. For, we are not strong and holy without the mercy and blood of Christ. We do not live forever by the power of our affirmations and our good thoughts. We are not able to save, to bind up, to heal and to restore. Those are all God’s works which he does for us while we were yet his enemies.

I hope—I pray—that the Bishops of the ACNA who have stood so strong, who are this moment building a gracious and faithful church for Anglicans in North America will look into what is going on in this congregation and do something. It is not too late. It is the Lord’s property always to have mercy.

Have a nice day!