I mean, can we really say that none of that stuff matters as long as we eat his flesh and drink his blood? Is it really all about what we do and not at all about what we believe? Well, no, not quite. If there are no limits at all, we don’t even have fudge any more, just goo, and I’m not here to commend Anglican goo.
Take this business about the sacrifice of Jesus. I suspect many of you haven’t heard this story, because unlike what happened at General Convention, this didn’t lend itself to being misrepresented by a secular press that is just looking to whip up anxieties and tell sensational stories, whether they’re true or not. A certain priest was elected bishop in one of our dioceses. Now even though our dioceses choose their own bishops, the Church as a whole has to approve episcopal elections by a majority vote of all the diocesan bishops and a majority vote of all the diocesan Standing Committees. Usually this sort of thing proceeds without much attention being paid, but in this case, for various reasons, people started to get suspicious about this priest’s theology, and more and more people began to think that he had gone too far, even by the rather generous standards of Anglicanism. One of the turning points in the whole process came when one highly respected bishop ”“ who is very much on the liberal side of things ”“ wrote a public statement saying, basically, “I can’t see that this guy believes that Jesus’ death was a sacrifice, or that it accomplished something for us that we couldn’t do for ourselves, in any way whatsoever. So I can’t consent to his election.” In the end, a majority of both bishops and Standing Committees said no.
Though I grieve for the diocese that now has to go through the election process all over again, I rejoice ”“ you have no idea how much I rejoice ”“ that our beloved Anglican fudge was not allowed to melt into Anglican goo. After all, how can we really accept the gifts of God for the people of God ”“ how can we feed on Jesus in our hearts by faith, with thanksgiving ”“ if we do not acknowledge in some way that Jesus gives his flesh to be broken for the life of the world?
There have to be some core elements somewhere, to keep our Anglican fudge from melting into a pile of goo. But what are they? They are the essentials of believing without which our doing makes no sense.
Yes, grieve for the diocese that must elect another bishop instead of the one who did not uphold an understanding of Jesus’ death as atonement for sin, but grieve also for the people of God who are subject to his unchristian theology and ministry as a priest. It appears to be irresponsible to withhold consent regarding his election to bishop without also re-examining his fitness for ordained Christian ministry period.