The death of the Church

This General Convention will go down in history as the Convention that killed the Church. The Church needs to die in order to live into becoming the Body of Christ in this world. I have no idea what the resurrected Church will look like, but I want to be a part of it.

The 77^th General Assembly of the Episcopal Church was historic. It officially adopted a ceremony for blessing Same Sex Unions. In a world that often sees those within the Church as the enemy of those that are outside the norm, especially in their sexual expression, the Episcopal Church has said: “We stand with the outsider and we bless the outsider.” This moment when Resolution A049 passed was a predicted moment in history. The Episcopal Church has been moving towards this for some time, notably since the ordination of the first openly gay Bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003. We have consistently been redefining what the “all” in our slogan “God welcomes 'all'” means. This week we finally said that this expression of the Body of Christ, the Episcopal Church, means ALL, in relation to most sexual minorities. There are still many ways that the Church is redefining all; we still have work to do. Blessing same sex unions is a life giving moment for the Church.

As momentous as this decision was, this is not the reason the Church is heading towards the cross. I will tell my grandchildren that I was lucky enough to be in the committee hearing when the deadly resolution was read for the first time. I believe that I will live to see the death and the resurrection of the Church. This resolution entitled “C095 Substitute”  created a task force to, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, “reimagine itself [the Episcopal Church] grounded in our rich heritage and open to our creative future.” This resolution passed unanimously out of committee, unanimously in the House of Deputies and unanimously in the House of Bishops. Change was a buzzword at this convention, but I do not know if people realize how painful change will be.

Our Church has become accustomed to preaching the Gospel of Conformity rather than the Gospel of Christ. If this task force does its job well, they will cause havoc. We still have members of this Church that grumble about women's ordination. Yesterday the dioceses that disagreed with the blessing of Same Sex Unions walked out of General Convention.  The way forward is unclear. There are as many different ideas about what we need as there are Episcopalians. Christ needs to be our guiding light, but I am afraid that many people have substituted a false idol without even realizing it. This false idol could be the United States, it could be the Episcopal Church, it could be Conformity, it could be Comfort, it could be the Democratic Party, it could be Money, it could be Change, it could be Sexuality, it could be Justice. We have a way of thinking that we understand what God is calling us into. If we do not remove these false idols the Church will continue down the path it is on. This path is not a path of life, it is path of death.

However, following the path the Christ is leading us into will feel like death, like we are destroying the Church we have always known, the Church that brought us to Jesus, the Church that created salvation. If we truly reimagine this Church we will be calling out these false idols. We will be truly awakening the Church to it's calling of being the body of Christ in this world.

This General Convention is challenging the Episcopal Church to become the resurrected Church. We are called into new life through Jesus Christ. That new life is individual, but it is also corporate. Corporately the Episcopal Church is at a breaking point. In order to become resurrected we must first die. This General Convention will kill the Episcopal Church but I am impatient and excited to see what the resurrected Episcopal Church will look like.