Drawing on some powerful imagery from JRR Tolkein, Sarah Hey at Stand Firm outlines her hopes for how the Windsor Bishops will act in these crucial days:
For several years now, I have been clear with myself and others about what I hope for and seek. I believe that the Anglican vision of the church and the gospel is the most beautiful and complete Christian vision that there is. I want a disciplined, boundaried, ordered, and united Anglican Communion as the vehicle for that vision. I believe that such an Anglican Communion is the best, and probably the only hope for carrying that vision. It appears now highly unlikely that the Anglican Communion will discipline itself or further establish its ordered and clear identity — and thus the vehicle for carrying that vision to sinners will be lost, at least in the United States. Furthermore, because of my theology, numerous options that may be open for others are closed to me.
I understand that others do not believe as I do — but those who do, must take the path as it leads, regardless of any sadness or pain or defeat that may lie ahead.
This brings me to the Windsor bishops who are at this moment in the closed session of the House of Bishops meeting.
The temptation must be great for artificial closure — a shortcutting of the path that seems to lead to defeat. The honorable path is that of taking one’s stand for the clear and sole path towards the integrity and wholeness of the Anglican Communion — and that path is firmly standing for the doctrine and practice of the Christian faith and of the Anglican Communion. It is firmly standing for the principles espoused so clearly in the Windsor Report. And it is standing for the solution offered to the intractable problems that face us by the Dar es Salaam communique.
Down that path one must go. The ACI believes it. Kendall Harmon believes it. The staff at StandFirm believe it. In fact, there has rarely been such unity amongst conservatives in the Anglican Communion as today. All of us believe with our whole hearts that the path forward is Windsor and Dar and the outcry amongst us all, nearly to a person, is to please put to the floor a clear and forthright resolution that answers the questions of Dar, and vote as a stalwart unit for that resolution, making certain that your names are on the record for it.
But as we have learned — and I mean this personally, and am not pointing the finger at others — there are many opportunities for a conservative Episcopalian under immense pressure to betray one’s principles, one’s path, and one’s comrades. One might negotiate with other progressive bishops and produce a resolution that proves “acceptable” to a bare majority, but unacceptable to your fellow traditional bishops and which betrays the principles of the Windsor Report and the communique from the Primates. One might watch one’s comrades speak and urge for a clear statement, while remaining silent oneself. One might vote for the wrong resolution, in the hopes that it will pass without having to vote on the principled and clear resolution. One might refuse to let one’s vote be known, in the hopes of slipping quietly away. One might fail in defending the principled resolution from amendment, and then end up voting for the amended one as “the best we can do.” One might yield to the need of your diocese for money and aid. One might be tempted not to use the language asked for at Dar, but instead use “blurry words” that some revisionists might vote for. One might yield to the nearly irresistable temptation to save one’s diocese from the dissent and anxiety that may arise should a principled resolution come to the floor and be defeated. What will happen, an orthodox bishop may think, should I “step off that plane with no piece of paper that proclaims peace and stability for our time?”
The first paragraph here is terribly important and very well stated.
Sarah, this beautiful piece is one of the only bright spots of an otherwise grim morn / day. The HoB open session was just unbelievably bad. I hope and pray your piece gives the Windsor bishops encouragement to regroup and take a stand, no matter how terrible the odds and forces against them.
Deeply moving, but on the next morn, or the one after that, it will be time to embrace the reality, and not the seeming of it, and move on. No matter what your theology, you always have options. Perhaps not the ones you want, but they are there, and you must chose one to follow. If you are one of those in a position of leadership or influence, you simply do not have the luxury of wallowing in what should be, but rather what is.
Sarah, you have described so wonderfully here and in some of your prior pieces what I feel I am doing. I cannot leave because I feel God calling me to be in TEC, as uncomfortable in my reappraising diocese as I am, and to follow God’s will, I must continue in this time of wilderness wandering until He says for me to go somewhere else. It is unsettling but there is also a certain “peace” in it that I am where God intends me to be. Thank you for putting such beautiful words to my life. God bless.
I think that some individual bishops are willing to stand firm in the faith, despite the personal cost. Others will dither and finally take the easy path – the wide road with the wide open gate. We are asking for a fish and a loaf, but are being handed a serpent and a stone. Woe to those who lead their flocks down the wide path which leads to perdition.