Writings by Rev. Richard Matters
Celebrating the Love of Christ from within the Episcopal Church (Part 2)
“Unity of Love within a Diversity of Opinion”
We are thankful to be Episcopalians because our Church addresses social and moral issues critical to the contemporary world, and we courageously confront and publicly debate these relevant issues. At this particular moment in our history we are bringing the Gospel to bear on the question of the place of gays and lesbians in the Church and in society.
The wide spectrum of opinions among members is a signature of the Episcopal Church. We relish our diversity and treasure our inclusiveness, because it reflects a strong faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are not held together by a holiness code or a common ideological or political outlook; we are bound to one another through the power of the Holy Spirit. Occasionally we even laugh at ourselves when disagreeing over issues, because we are noted for our mutual respect and tolerance. At the same time, we are solidly rooted in the doctrine that defines Christians, such as the Holy Trinity and the full humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ. Consistent with the Church throughout its history, we question, agree and disagree on how we understand these doctrinal teachings. However, we embrace the historic faith handed down to us, and while doing so we affirm ethical positions that evolve to meet the moral demands of a changing world.
Our courage to address relevant but contentious topics has resulted in healthy disagreement. Church history relates many significant disagreements among believers. As we review that history, we perceive that the Church has been most faithful when it has disagreed in a spirit of mutual respect. Such respectful disagreement relies on trust that the Holy Spirit will correct any error and lead us to a deepening faithfulness. On the other hand, the Church has shown itself less faithful—and sometimes even bereft of the Gospel—when members condemn, persecute, torture or even kill one another. The disagreements we experience today demonstrate our strength and faithfulness. Clearly, some of our members experience grief and anger at the consecration of Gene Robinson (a gay man living in a monogamous, committed relationship, whose election as bishop was approved by the General Convention, 2003). Others rejoice at Bishop Robinson’s consecration, while many respond less strongly across a spectrum of opinions. Most Episcopalians, however, have responded to the current disagreement by affirming a reverent respect for the Bible, while acknowledging that there are several interpretations and many applications of its teaching. A sign of our faithfulness is not that we all agree, but, rather, that we love each other in the midst of our disagreements and are committed to remaining united and in conversation.
Debating and taking stands on social and moral issues in the spirit of love and respect is a way of practicing our faith. Shouldn’t a dynamic and relevant Church expect to disagree as it is challenged by the Holy Spirit to proclaim the Gospel in word and deed? We show courage and faith by addressing, rather than fearfully avoiding, the creative tension of growth. The disagreement and contention current in the Episcopal Church is a sign that we are taking our faith seriously by courageously addressing social issues and providing moral leadership. These profound disagreements permit us to practice being the Church at a deeper level than usual; we have opened ourselves to the love of Christ in ways that are both challenging and rewarding.
Ours is a revealed faith in which there is a profound consistency about how we are to respond to the Gospel. This historically revealed faith continues to be handed down from generation to generation. Our faith is not simply a teaching or a moral code; instead, it centers on encountering the risen Lord through the Holy Spirit: Jesus is not a teaching, but the epiphany of God. By faith we relate to the person of Jesus Christ. At the same time, God faithfully meets us in the changing circumstances of the world. Ethics directs us how to appropriately respond with joyful thanksgiving to God’s living presence. The unfolding quality of the Christian experience is most evident in those significant points of our history in which disagreement abounded and the Church articulated deeper understandings, such as during the early councils and at the time of the Reformation. The Episcopal expression of the faith seeks to balance the historic continuity and the unfolding or progressive implications of the Gospel.
Episcopal liturgy centers on the Bible and we are saturated by scripture as we worship. Most Episcopalians approach scripture with a loving faith that includes our intellect and reflects the rich heritage of the Church. As the Prayer Book states, we strive to practice a reasonable and holy faith. We discover the divine authority of scripture by recognizing its historic and cultural context, rather than by interpreting the Bible literally. As a consequence, most of us strive to live into the text rather than to memorize passages or citations of chapter and verse. We are, however, clear about the Gospel and how the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ manifests God’s saving love for us and the world.
We Episcopalians encounter that tremendous, awe-inspiring presence of God in the liturgy, and our theology reflects a similar appreciation of mystery. Instead of trying to explain every aspect of a divine mystery, such as precisely how Christ is present in the sacrament, we graciously leave room for that which is beyond human words. Our ease with mystery leads many Episcopalians to focus primarily on trusting Christ rather than on worrying about always being right. We often find ourselves in a creative tension of believing without understanding and, simultaneously, of trusting that God’s grace will continuously wash over and forgive us. We find a wideness in God’s mercy that lovingly exceeds our limited human explanations. While we yearn to be good and faithful servants, we recognize that it is not necessary always to be correct, as long as we are striving to be faithful and to do so in a loving manner. Judgment is God’s business and we joyfully anticipate being judged through the self-giving love of Jesus Christ.
We are proud to be Episcopalians because we are not a condemning Church. Most of us do not think of God’s love encompassing only a small circle of the saved (defined as Christians who think like us) to the exclusion of the vast majority of others. We rejoice in the magnitude and exuberance of God’s love. We strive to reflect the generosity of Christ’s mercies as we interact with others, both Christian and non-Christian. The vote of General Convention, 2003 is not a rejection of the Christian faith, but an attempt to live out a faith predicated on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Although some are pleased with the action of convention and others displeased, almost all Episcopalians recognize that members of that convention prayerfully applied Holy Scripture to the best of their ability to arrive at a decision.
We are thankful that the Episcopal Church is providing moral leadership within the Anglican Communion and, by example, to the entire Body of Christ. This moral leadership has provoked many reactions within our Church and we have demonstrated our resilience and spiritual maturity by the way we love each other from within a diversity of opinions. This unity of love within a diversity of opinions represents an exceptional strength in the Episcopal Church. The cohesion of the vast majority of Episcopalians demonstrates the power of the Holy Spirit at work in our Church.
We delight in being members of the Episcopal Church, even as we continue to disagree. The tension in our moment of Church history reflects the spiritual health of a diverse body of believers. We are blessed to be traditional by virtue of being rooted in the Biblical revelation and in historic Christian doctrine; we are equally blessed to be progressive as we strive to follow the Holy Spirit in the unfolding circumstances of our contemporary world. Now is a wonderful time to participate in the Episcopal Church. Come join us!
Celebrating the Love of Christ from within the Episcopal Church (Part 1)
“Saturated in Scripture”
One reason I love the Episcopal Church is because we are saturated in Scripture. Not only do we hear four different Bible selections each Sunday, but the liturgy is also filled with quotations and allusions to the Bible. Whether in the Collect of the Day or the Great Thanksgiving (Communion prayer) the words of Scripture fill our ears and hearts. Holy Scripture is at the core of each of the services in the Book of Common Prayer.
Even though our Anglican tradition does not emphasize memorizing of Bible verses, we pray with the Bible and we pray through its beautiful words. Most of the sermons you hear while attending an Episcopal Church are based on the Scripture passages assigned for that day. A typical Episcopal sermon draws out the meaning of a Bible lesson and provides direction for applying that meaning in one’s life.
Members of the Episcopal Church approach Scripture in a variety of ways, but most commonly a passage from the Bible is interpreted by referring to the context in which the passage is found. This sensitivity to context is one factor that discourages us from merely memorizing isolated Bible passages. We know that when we remove a passage from its contextual setting we are likely to compromise the breadth and depth of God’s Truth.
Once the context of a passage has been considered, questions of culture and history are usually asked. For example, regarding women as second-class beings, or even considering them as property, is understood to be a cultural perspective of the biblical author rather than a divine mandate for believers.
We Episcopalians, among other Christians, celebrate God’s gift of common sense and human reason, and use that gift to search out the meaning of the Bible. Using our reason to discern the meaning of a passage is especially important given the fact that the Bible contains letters, songs, stories, love poems, historical records, and parables, as well as direct instruction.
We also apply tradition to what we believe to be the meaning of a Bible passage, for we Episcopalians are a people of tradition. Tradition includes the teaching of the Church through the ages, but, again, each age carries its own prejudice and blindness. For instance, just because the church’s history includes persecuting Jews, does not mean that we should do the same. The tradition to which we refer is not only found in history, but is also the living tradition that includes God’s progressive revelation even within our own councils and teachings.
The Gospel itself is the overarching test we apply as we seek to understand a scriptural passage. The Gospel message proclaims God’s love for the world in sending the divine Word to take on our human nature, to live and die like us, to bear our sins upon the cross, to be raised to newness of life, and to pour out the Holy Spirit upon us. Asking whether a possible meaning of a passage is consistent with the overall message of God’s love is the best tool for judging what God is saying to us in each particular passage. This filter only makes sense because, as the Bible itself declares, God is love (e.g. 1 John 4:7-21). We might call this manner of seeking God’s will the Gospel truth in distinction to the plain or literal truth.
It is common knowledge that Episcopalians do not always agree on the meaning of a Bible passage. Most often, however, we agree that what we take to be the meaning of a passage is our prayerful and faithful interpretation. Most Episcopalians recognize that God speaks unique and particular messages to people in different circumstances, as well as in different ages and cultures. Most do not believe that there is one absolute meaning for each Bible passage for all times and places. And even when a universal law is given, such as the command not to commit murder, we are called to undertake the labor of faith in interpreting when an act is murder and when killing might not be considered as murder.
Unlike some Christian traditions that tend to mythologize the Bible, we take the historic setting of the Bible very seriously. Ours is a tradition that embraces the historical revelation that is catalogued throughout the Old and New Testaments. We are people who like to smell the fish in the net, see the leper’s outstretched hands, and feel the cool water of baptism. We appreciate how creation points to its maker. We also look to the One through whom creation was made and who was revealed as having entered into the world incarnated in the human Jesus of Nazareth.
Our primary experience of the Bible is within the context of worship. We first pray the Bible and then we seek to understand and to apply God’s message to our lives. Our love of the Bible draws us to appreciate mystery and beauty, especially as found in the holy drama of the liturgy. Saturated in Scripture, the liturgy is typically lifted with song and carried by musical instruments. Our Biblical ethos causes us to offer prayers condensed as poetry, where even silence communicates truth and love. Whether jubilant or solemn, the words of our liturgies, infused as they are with Scripture, help us celebrate Christ’s love in word and sacrament.
Someone recently asserted that he believed in God, Jesus and the Bible. Such a trilogy is not typical of Episcopalians. Rather, we believe in the Trinitarian God whom the Bible helps us know and love. We come to know God through the Bible because through the words of the texts the Word, Jesus Christ, speaks to us through the Holy Spirit. This living and eternal Word addresses us in all of life and in an especially meaningful manner when the Bible is read in the assembly at worship. Thus, priority goes to God’s living presence, rather than to an absolutely fixed and therefore dead code or interpretation. We recognize the God experienced in our daily lives as we lovingly and faithfully approach the sacred texts of the Bible. Our personal experience of the divine is formed and informed by the Bible.
Through the Bible we Episcopalians know and celebrate Christ’s love.
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