Comments at Parish Meeting

December 5, 2007

I want to thank all of you for coming tonight to discuss the difficulties facing the Church at this time. Since I’ve already preached, I’ll come straight to the point of this meeting. It is to begin to discuss, as a family, how we respond to the challenges posed by the Diocese of Fort Worth’s intention to disassociate itself from The Episcopal Church, and by the Episcopal Church’s intention to prevent that from happening.

I have to confess that, in the above statement, it is neither The Episcopal Church, nor the Diocese of Fort Worth that is foremost in my worries, thoughts, meditations, and considerations. It is this family, this parish family, my family that is foremost in my heart and mind. And you know how families are…imperfect, too slow in acting, too quick to act, indifferent, overly concerned, in other words, contradictory. Take a moment and look around this room. No, take a good look at your neighbors. Meet their eyes. Your brothers and sisters eyes.

Families are at their best when they choose to face their difficulties together. They are at their best when they come to a point where they take that huge step of faith and say, “For better or for worse, we’re in this together.” I have seen miracles occur when families choose this course.

I have heard so many rumors about where I stand in all of this (one rumor even claimed that, while I was staying with the Episcopal Church, all of you were going with the Diocese) that I thought about doing a stand-up routine about them. Let me give you perhaps the clearest statement I can provide you in the midst of all this-“I stand with my parish family whatever befalls, wherever we go, whatever happens.” I have shared with Bishop Iker my misgivings about our Diocese affiliating with another province. And I have shared with some of you my misgivings about some of the avenues the Episcopal Church has taken.

Tonight’s meeting is one of a series that will be offered to consider these matters as a family. The purpose of this evening’s meeting is simply to lay the foundation for discussion. I ask you, as my family, to be patient with this process. There will be a time for debate. I have no agenda other than the one I’ve stated, namely to go with my parish family, wherever God may call.

(Distribute copies of parish letter summarizing the situation thus far)

A copy of the parish letter is being distributed so that you can refresh your memory as to how things stand right now. As you can see, the problems seem to be insurmountable if you’re thinking in terms of keeping us all together. Or they may seem easily solvable, given the right doctor and a bold surgical approach. I’m sure that both perceptions are included in the range of opinion in this room. And you have been generous in asking intelligent and incisive questions about The Episcopal Church, The Diocese of Fort Worth, and St. Christopher's Episcopal Church. I have to say this, if nothing else, these events have stimulated curiosity and interest in the way The Episcopal Church, The Diocese of Fort Worth, and St. Christopher’s work (or don’t, as the case may be).

Now, I must ask your patience yet again, as a short survey of history is needed to address some of your questions.

In 1789, nine dioceses gathered in Philadelphia to ratify the American church’s initial constitution. The preamble of the Constitution reads as follows:

PREAMBLE

The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America,otherwise known as The Episcopal Church (which name is hereby recognized as also designating the Church), is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, a Fellowship within the One, Holy,Catholic, and Apostolic Church, of those duly constituted Dioceses, Provinces, and regional Churches in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding and propagating the historic Faith and Order as set forth in the Book of Common Prayer. This Constitution, adopted in General Convention in Philadelphia in October, 1789, as amended in subsequent General Conventions, sets forth the basic Articles for the government of this Church, and of its overseas missionary jurisdictions.

Those gathered at that convention also set forth the conditions for being admitted into union with the General Convention:

After consent of the General Convention, when a certified copy of the duly adopted Constitution of the new Diocese, including an unqualified accession to the Constitution and Canons of this Church, shall have been filed with the Secretary of the General Convention and approved by the Executive Council of this Church, such new Diocese shall thereupon be in union with the General Convention.

Does any of this sound familiar? It should! The first Presiding Bishop of the American Church was the chaplain to both the Continental Congress (which wrote the Constitution of the United States) and the first U.S. Senate. He and those who gathered at the first general convention in 1785 patterned the Constitution and Canons of the American Church after the U.S. Constitution. In order to understand how The Episcopal Church is put together, it is helpful to read the U.S. Constitution. Why? Because at the heart of all these difficulties is this question…Can a diocese, once admitted into union with General Convention, secede? Can it, because of “a long train of abuses and usurpations”, alter or abolish its government and “institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness”? These words are from the Declaration of Independence.

Or, is a Diocese constrained by its “unqualified accession to the Constitution and Canons of this Church” to, paraphrasing Article I, Section 10 of the U.S. Constitution, refrain from making any “treaty, alliance, or confederation” or do anything reserved only for the Congress to do? Is there “a long train of abuses and usurpations” that can justify the actions of Diocesan Convention just past to dissociate itself from The Episcopal Church? Reading the list of “abuses and usurpations” in the Declaration of Independence is a useful pursuit, I think, because it gives a sense of perspective concerning the perceived “abuses and usurpations” by The Episcopal Church toward the Diocese of Fort Worth.

These questions lead to yet another question…who enforces whatever is decided? Will we end up in civil courts? This, to St. Paul, was anathema:

“To have lawsuits at all with one another is defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” I Corinthians 6:7

Why have I brought you all this way through a history lesson? First, to make you aware of the profoundness of the questions we are trying to answer. Second, I hope that I’ve given you a sense of how easy it is to get lost in the big stuff and forget those things that most directly affect us.

Will St. Christopher’s stay with The Episcopal Church or go with the Diocese? I don’t know. Is there a deadline for deciding these things forever and ever and there’s no turning back? Only if we panic and insist on one. There will be churches affiliated with The Episcopal Church that are located in Fort Worth. Trinity and All Saints are the two sure bets at this point. Here’s the question I have for all of us. Are we willing to take a faith walk that begins with this understanding- that God has put this group of people together at this church at this time to do something greater than choose up sides, take a vote, and see who goes off the losers? Here’s what I do know. Wherever we end up, the worship and teaching to which you have become accustomed won’t change significantly under my leadership, and when it varies, I will do my best to explain why it has varied. I will continue to preach and teach from the Bible. I will continue to encourage all of us to have a sense of humor about our lives and these times. If we lose the ability to laugh, the Devil wins.

What about the property? Bishop Iker is on record as saying, and Diocesan Convention has made provision in its canons, that any parish at odds with the diocese may, with the approval of its Vestry and 2/3 of its members, opt out of the diocese with its property intact. But where does the 1/3 go? That’s an important question for me, your shepherd. If you were sheep, a 1/3 loss of the flock would be crippling. Since you are my brothers and sisters in Christ, it is unthinkable. Are we thinking in terms of “what will I do if things don’t go my way”? Where would we be if Christ had thought such things? Should we continue with our building program? In the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, those rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem built with tools in one hand and weapons in the other. Emissaries from neighboring nations kept pestering them and telling them why they wouldn’t succeed. They kept building. To stop building for them was tantamount to ceasing to believe in God’s existence. We build because we believe, and we believe because we see God working among us. Any other course never even occurred to me until someone brought it up. Through thick and thin, up and down, trials and good times, it has never occurred to me to withdraw my money, my love, and my support to this parish. I made a pledge, I made a promise, and if the Vestry fired me tomorrow, I’d move Heaven and earth to keep it.

I don’t know how going with the Diocese of Fort Worth or staying with the Episcopal Church will affect our relationships with other dioceses. And I can’t really speak to whether people are blindly following Bishop Iker because he has such vast power. And actually, I find myself in deep and dangerous waters if I imagine Bishop Iker, or Bishop Jefferts Schori, or anyone acting on the impulses of their lesser angels. Anyone standing for election as a bishop stands knowing this – that a cross of such weight will be laid on their shoulders that you and I can’t even begin to imagine it. I can only say this-wherever we end up, we have been called to a mission there, a mission that we must engage with all our hearts, a mission on which we carry our own crosses. The dark side of our branch of the Church is that it can become terribly comfy and cozy and unchallenging. A question we all must ask ourselves is “Am I leaning whichever way I’m leaning because all of this makes me uncomfortable and I want things to be settled so I can be comfy again?” Another thing I’m sure of-God doesn’t have a big problem with us being unsettled…that’s usually when we do our best work.

The question of the ordination of women has been deemed one that we can agree to disagree on by the Anglican Communion, and mandatory by The Episcopal Church as of 1997. This controversial canon reads

Sec. 2. No person shall be denied access to the discernment process for any ministry, lay or ordained, in this Church because of race, color,

ethnic origin, national origin, sex, marital status, sexual orientation, disabilities or age, except as otherwise provided by these Canons. No right to licensing, ordination, or election is hereby established.

Prior to 1997, the canon was permissive, that is, it began “No person may be denied access to the discernment process…” Why does the Diocese of Fort Worth maintain its seemingly antiquated position concerning women? My guess is that this has more to do with innovation than ordination. Their concern, not completely unjustified given some of the more edgy innovations on the fringes of the Church, is to faithfully hand down what they have received completely unfiddled with. Is that such a bad thing? My understanding is that the Diocese is also reacting to General Convention’s making mandatory what the Diocese feels should be optional. (Remember the whole “states’ rights’ controversy prior to the War between the States? There’s the Constitution again. On the other hand, General Convention has said that women’s ordination is a given. Scripture presents us with a compelling image with the Virgin Mary: She is the first to confect the sacrament, so to speak, by allowing Christ to be formed in her. Whichever of these views you may prefer, I urge you to pull the “He-man Women Haters” label off your mental image of Bishop Iker, and the “Pagan Priest Goddess” label off your mental image of Bishop Jefferts Schori. I have to believe that each of these Shepherds of Christ are seeking, both in their imperfect ways, to follow where Christ leads. Darkness is making the most of this opportunity, and we either feed that wolf with our ill will, or we don’t.

There are many things we do not know.

We don’t know whether the Anglican Communion will be OK with the Diocese of Fort Worth going with the Province of the Southern Cone. In their meeting in Tanzania, the Primates of the Anglican Communion stated that they discourage incursions by AC bishops into other jurisdictions.

We don’t know whether all of this will end up in civil court. The courts are notoriously reluctant to get entangled in church affairs, and unless there is criminal activity involved, there’s not much that they will do.

We don’t know, or at least I haven’t seen, what plans the Presiding Bishop has concerning how churches that want to remain in the Episcopal Church will be constituted as a Diocese. Who would be its interim bishop?

We don’t know what a relationship with the Province of the Southern Cone will look like, how it could be put into effect, and whether it would be meaningful.

We don’t know if the Diocese and the Episcopal Church will be miraculously reconciled. If we don’t believe this could happen, we have seriously missed the point of our existence as a church.

History illuminates our situation a little. Between the reigns of Henry VIII and Charles II, the Church in England was under the control of the Reformers, the Roman Catholics, the Puritans (Presbyterians), and the Laudians or High Churchmen. The only constants in all of this were Christ, and His parish families.

Do the Constitution and Canons of this Diocese or of The Episcopal Church affect who my neighbor will be at the communion rail next week? My God, I hope not. Will these distractions, momentous as they may seem now, diminish by even a fraction the commitment of service here that has emptied the Angel Tree twice? Will these distractions diminish the commitment to service that overwhelmed the sanctuary steps with Thanksgiving dinners, and our offering plates with checks providing 70 turkeys to those in need? Will they diminish our determination to build in order to better welcome our neighbors into the hospitality of God’s people? May it never be!

William T. Stanford, Rector