Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don't

The Episcopal House of Bishops met in Navasota Texas last weekend, and released this response to the pdf file of the Dar es Salaam Communique, note in particular, the key recommendations beginning on page 8.

Not only was there a large elephant in the room, but the desert terrain of east Texas allowed them to stick their collective heads in the sand and completely ignore the request of the Anglican Primate's meeting in Tanzania last month.

There has been much comment on various blogs and diocesan websites about the Communique, how it stands in opposition to the polity of the Episcopal Church and her Canons and Constitution; and how the Episcopal Church is an independent, sovereign entity, and the greater Anglican Communion cannot dictate conditions counter to that polity; but the fact remains...it is the business of the greater Anglican Communion to determine conditions for membership in said Communion, and if the Episcopal Church is unable or unwilling to meet those several conditions, then she (The Episcopal Church), chooses voluntarily to sever the relationship with the rest of the Communion.

As we see it, the Episcopal Church is, or should be, an interdependent part of the Communion, and if that relationship is important to the Episcopal Church, she should be willing to agree to those terms which insure a continuation of that interdependence. Instead, her bishops, some standing committees, and some special interest groups, have repeatedly stated their total independence from the Dar es Salaam statements; therefor, in our humble estimation, thumbed their collective noses at the Anglican Communion, and said, in a paraphrase of the 60's chants, "Hell no, we won't go!"

Well, the Episcopal Church cannot have it both ways...you must either suck it up, comply with the Communique, and be a part of the greater Anglican Communion, supporting the full Gospel; or you can walk apart, serving the humanistic goals of the United Nations and the Millennium Development Goals, 'living into' the Baptismal Covenant, and seeking to serve the greater god of self, under a new inspiration of the spirits.

Methinks the choice has been clearly demonstrated, and 1 October will see a new alignment for Anglicanism in North America and around the world. I have been wrong before, and will be wrong again, no doubt; but of this I am fairly sure, whichever way the cookie crumbles, I will be with the greater Communion, although, perhaps not aligned with +Cantuar.

And, if you need a graphic representation, scroll down here: