Division without Demise

Division Without Demise

Bishop Cox, retired suffragen of Maryland, is 'leaving' for the Southern Cone; Bishop Herzog, retired diocesan of Albany, is leaving for Roman Catholicism; the Church in England is leaving Rome to become the Church of England; and the Church of England in the American Colonies is leaving to form the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. The difference between the latter two instances and the two former is that the first are current and the latter are now history. But they all serve to demonstrate that division per se is not an evil in and of itself. In light of the anxiety that has afflicted some of late, I suggest the healing balm of a reality check.

Division doesn't equal decay. Division is a natural and God-given process that enables growth. I pray, then, that we can all relax the lamentations a bit and bring our reactions to it into a healthier perspective. It’s important that we not confuse religion with denomination, faith with Church. Our religion is Christianity; our faith is Christian. Our denomination is the Episcopal Church, and our Church is a part of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic ideal. We can take great solace, then, in the fact that when people depart the Episcopal Church, they are not, unless specifically stipulated departing, Christ or Christianity.


Where people choose to follow their consciences rather than compromise them, I see God at work in this, not the devil. Where there are available a multiplicity of branches extending from the one tree of the Christian faith, I see God at work in this, not the devil. Where the entirety of Christianity is indeed almost able to be all things in order to reach all people, I see God at work in this, not the devil.

Conversely, where I see a single branch trying to function as the whole tree, I see human pride at work in this. Where I see people unable or unwilling to celebrate one another's progress in relationship with God simply because that same progress draws them out of conformity with one another, I see human pride at work in this. When I see people unable or unwilling to renew and adapt their relationships with one another as they follow their respective paths, I see human pride at work in this.

So, what it is that is 'dividing' people? People aren't leaving Christ Jesus; they aren't leaving the Communion of Saints. They are leaving nothing more than the former structures of relationship. It is differences around ecclesiology that are causing some people to divide from one another, and this is not automatically a bad or evil thing. Some people simply cannot or will not abide a Church that admits and allows a plurality of theological views on matters beyond the Creeds. Matters of hermeneutics, authority and power, social conformity, all come under the umbrella of definitions of 'Church;' and these are the matters around which some are deciding to leave, and some are deciding to remain.

Bp. Cox, former Bp. Herzog, along with Martyn Minns, a leader in the splinter group “Convocation of Anglicans in North America,” David Anderson, former president of the American Anglican Council and now member of the splinter group known Anglican Mission in American have departed the Episcopal Church. They and others are following their hearts and minds to Christian relationships that do not as deeply include some of the rest of us as did officially our former relationships. Conscientious choices to stay put and to depart are outward and visible signs of an inward and invisible reality. If adjustments in our relationships help keep us all more honest then so much the better for everyone. And we will do well to remember that fine ecumenical tradition of our Church. Wherever there are good, decent, faithful people upon whom we wish to call for the service of our own progress in faith, then, thanks be to God, there are simple honorable ways for us to invite one another to share our gifts.

I would encourage us to rejoice that people who choose not to remain under the banner of the Episcopal Church are in fact free to exercise their consciences; and that they have available to them fellowships of Christian faith that are better suited to them to which they can go. The real tragedy would be for people to compromise deeply held convictions in order simply to stay superficially and under duress. The genuinely sad aspect of this division is the insistence by some that those from whom they are departing are no longer authentic Christians. This sort of Christian-on-Christian sin truly is lamentable. For, while you and I may disagree about the relative gravity of the concerns that move people to leave, there is no inherent tragedy in the departure itself. If people are following their consciences, being the best Christians they know how to be, then thanks be to God, and let's stay in touch. The reality is that some people are "changing their addresses"; they're not dying, for goodness’ sake. If we're really important to one another, we'll allow all of this to function only as distinction, not as division. We won't allow it to come between us, but only to draw us closer in the work and faith we truly share.

Jim Stockton +