One of the most quoted metaphors in the early days of the ACNA was that we were \u201cflying the plane while building it.\u201d Apt\u2014and dangerous. Circumstances in those first months demanded urgency. We \u201cready\u2013fired\u2013aimed\u201d the Province into existence, united in our goal: the restoration and renewal of biblical Anglicanism in North America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another favorite image came from the maritime world. In those tense days, TEC was likened to the Titanic, already struck by the iceberg of modern secular liberalism. The ship of the church was taking on water and would soon sink. Those who could launch lifeboats or lashed together the flotsam and jetsam into makeshift rafts. Out in open water, people could jump from lifeboat to lifeboat while waiting for rescue from our Global South friends\u2014our ecclesial Carpathian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was all very compelling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And then there was Shakespeare\u2019s line from The Tempest<\/em>: \u201cMisery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.\u201d <\/em>Anglo-Catholics, charismatics, and evangelicals agreed to be strange bedfellows\u2014if only for the sake of getting off the runway\u2014to mix our metaphors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Since \u201cbedfellows\u201d isn\u2019t the most appealing picture\u2014who really wants to sleep together anyway?\u2014we borrowed a gentler idea from Psalm 46:4: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.<\/em> One river, three streams. Many clergy and bishops even claimed to be \u201call three.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the reality was more fragile than the slogans. Compromises were stamped with a large \u201cTBD.\u201d Let\u2019s get along for now so we can get going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read it all<\/a>.<\/p> I fully agree with @DHRoseberry<\/a>\u2019s conclusion in today\u2019s article. https:\/\/t.co\/8EkxYBMktE<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/SQH9G3VAfQ<\/a><\/p>— Fr. Ron Offringa (@RonOffringa) August 12, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>