In this issue;  a Christmas letter from Giles Goddard, an article by Christina Rees on where we are on women as bishops,  a sermon by Paul Oestreicher, what's new on the website, and an invitation to read "Open Theology".  Just keep on scrollin'...

And can we wish you all a very joyful Christmas and a happy New Year

Clare Herbert,  Coordinator

Dear IC Supporter

Here at St Peter's the round of carol services has well and truly begun.  As I write this our school are rehearsing for their service this evening;  Year 6 are singing the first verse of "Once in royal.”  

As Christmas approaches I thought it good to take stock of the last year,  and to look forward to 2008.   There could be no better context than the words of that carol;   "and his shelter was a stable,  and his cradle was a stall.  With the poor and mean and lowly, lived on earth our Saviour holy.”

The cosmic implications of the Christmas story are often dulled by familiarity.   As we know so well, according to the Gospel story, Jesus was conceived out of wedlock in a country under enemy occupation;  he was born,  vulnerable and weak, in a stable and immediately became a refugee;   and the powers that be were so threatened by him that they ordered the death of hundreds of children.    He lived his life among the outcast and  rejected,  having nowhere to lay his head,  accused of consorting with tax-collectors and sinners,  welcoming all into his new family whether male or female,  Samaritan,  Jew or Roman;   he died a broken man and in his death transformed the whole of creation.    And our eyes at last shall see him,  through his own redeeming love - for that Child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above.

It's only in the last year that Inclusive Church has begun truly to understand the implications of what we're trying to do.   Beyond doubt,  we have grown and developed.  There have been three highlights in our work;   first, the joint visit to the UK of our Patrons the Archbishop of Mexico and the Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway,  who alongside Joe Cassidy and Clare Herbert provided first class food for reflection on what it means to try to be inclusive within an Anglican Communion which isn't.   Then we were able to appoint Clare as our National Coordinator;  she brings deep wisdom and wide experience to her tasks.  And we held our first residential conference,  Drenched in Grace,  which was characterised above all by a profound desire to understand in today's context what the words of Archbishop Tutu might mean;  "Christ when he was lifted up, did not say 'I draw some people to myself.  I draw all,  all,  all!' "

We are a UK based Anglican organisation,  but we cannot avoid being engaged with the world-wide Anglican Communion.   Indeed we welcome it,  because the Communion,  in spite of everything,  is a Good Thing.  

The Archbishop of Canterbury in his recent Advent letter to the Primates identified the place of authority as the key issue in the struggles we're engaged in.   But it seems to me more and more clear that behind the question of authority, a paradigm shift in the life and work of the Communion is taking place,  and the reason that we are locked in our struggles is because the nature of the change is so profound. 

Inclusive Church is often accused of having a "human rights agenda”  (as though that were a bad thing) instead of a "Christian agenda.”   I could not disagree more;  at the heart of all that we do is a desire to make manifest the love of God for the whole world and for all people. 

Until very recently,  and especially (to simplify) since the Enlightenment,  the reins of power in church and state have been concentrated in the hands of a small group of people based in Europe and the United States.  That group has been characteristically rich, male,  straight, married and white.  

The cataclysms of the twentieth century,  the winding down of European imperialism and the recognition that all (not just all men)  are created equal,  has brought about a shift in the structures which, while it hasn't been fully worked through,  is deeply affecting the whole world.   It would have been inconceivable even ten years ago that a woman and a black man would have been the two most likely candidates for president of the United States.

The church is not immune from the changes.  We believe,  as Inclusive Church,  that the way the church has developed over the past fifty years is deeply in accordance with the Gospel and scripture.    Jesus the outcast spent his life with outsiders,  seeking to bring them all in to the household of God, the Body of Christ.    The prophet Isaiah in that great Advent reading looks forward to a time when the wolf shall live with the lamb,  the leopard lie down with the kid,  the calf and the lion and the fatling together,  and a little child shall lead them.  And St Paul is unequivocal -  "there is no longer Jew nor Greek,  there is no longer slave or free,  there is no longer male and female;  for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's offspring,  heirs according to the promise.” (Gal 3.28)

What is beginning to happen, in the Anglican Communion,  is that the reading of the scriptures which is genuinely inclusive and genuinely welcoming is becoming mainstream.  The Episcopal Church embraced civil rights in the 1960's,  women's rights in the 1970's and gay rights in the 1990's because it tries to live out the implications of its Baptismal Covenant, of which the fifth question is:

"Will you strive for justice and peace among all people and respect the dignity of every human being?”

But it's not a straightforward development.    It may be that one of the reasons that tempers are so high in the United States is that many of the founders of that nation were puritans escaping a "too liberal” Europe.  Certainly the main agitation for preservation of the status quo is coming from the Mid West where there is often a very particular understanding of the interpretation of scripture, the role of men and women and the legitimacy of lesbian and gay people.  And also of "purity” -  which is why some parts of the Church are choosing to take themselves off to an ecclesial fortress in South America which they hope will be immune from the way the world is changing.  

In the UK,  it is much more than coincidence that the Episcopate is the last no-go area for women and openly gay men, and is almost entirely white. Not that all our bishops wish it to remain that way - but the structures of power and influence are very ingrained, and change is very difficult. And often threatening.       Please read Christina Rees' piece below, on the progress towards women as bishops, for more on this.  

The loss to the church is incalculable.  We are failing in our pastoral duty towards those we serve,  especially as we are completely unable to develop a theology of relationships appropriate for the 21st century (and I am glad that the Goddard to Goddard correspondence is beginning to look at this).  We are failing to make the most of the gifts and talents which are offered to us,  by black and minority ethnic people,  by women and LGBT people,  whose ministry is not welcomed fully and whose witness is constrained.   And we are failing to live out the Gospel with which we have been entrusted.  It is a scandal that across the world the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer,  but the Church is so caught up in its own struggles that we have little to say on this or on the many other threats to the world for which we care.    We have become a stumbling block;  "it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened round your neck and you were drowned in the depths of the sea” (Matt 18.6)

For the want of a vision the people perish.   Inclusive Church has been percieved as being issue-driven instead of Kingdom driven,  and inspired by the UN Charter for Human Rights instead of the Gospel,  partly because we have not fully articulated our vision for the church.  

Our passion is for the Gospel in all its complex,  rich,  creative,  God-given wonder.   We draw our support from across the theological and church spectrum,  including married and single,  young and old.  Our vision is for a church where the relationships of love are celebrated,  where we can offer people a way into the wholeness which God wants for them,  where everyone can play their full part regardless of the colour of their skin,  of their gender,  of the way they are created to love;  where there is indeed no longer either male or female, either black or white,  either straight or gay;  where the body of Christ is whole and each member is equally respected.   Where people are not excluded by wealth or poverty,  education or ability;  where ALL are lifted up to be part of the body of Christ.  

The coming year has great challenges for the Communion.  Nobody likes having to give up power, and we anticipate that things will get worse before they get better.   In the inclusive movement we have to work out how we can with Christian charity engage with those with whom we disagree,  and how we can create a church where the ministry of all,  including the historically powerful, is welcomed.  

The Lambeth Conference has the potential to be a repeat of the 1998 disaster or something much more creative.   We are profoundly unconvinced about the Windsor Process and the Covenant;   our fear is that they are being used to seek to maintain the status quo rather than allowing a deeper understanding of the Gospel to emerge, and so far we have little evidence to the contrary. 

We very much welcome the new work of the Chicago Consultation and look forward, through the St Anne's Network,  to developing international cooperation across the Communion towards and beyond the Lambeth Conference.   

But we recognise that difference of opinions will continue over these matters for many years,  and we have to find a way to live and love together.  The question is this;  what does it mean for the Communion to be in communion?  And how can the Church of England rediscover the values at the heart of the Gospel and celebrate the gifts of all who are part of it?   

A much deeper challenge for the whole church is how we can rediscover the vulnerability and the wisdom of the Christ child.   It was,  in the Gospels,  often the outsiders who understood the message quickest - the Syro-Phoenician woman,  Zaccheus,  the woman at the well.   In a sense,  we are all outsiders now;   can we sink our differences enough to acknowledge one another's vulnerability and seek to learn together?  

The tragedy is that the sacrament of Holy Communion has been devalued.  It is at the eucharist that our shared humanity is celebrated.  It is God who invites us to the table,  and when we respond we respond to God's call.  

The joy is that,  every year,  our hope is renewed as we celebrate again the birth of the Christ Child.   And so we,  at Inclusive Church,  look forward to the future with hope and awe,  knowing that

"Not in that poor lowly stable

With the oxen standing by

We shall see him,  but in heaven,

Set at God's right hand on high.

Where like stars his children crowned

All in white shall wait around.”

Giles Goddard

Chair,  IC

 

Change: difficult for individuals, even more difficult for institutions! For over a century, the Church of England has been gradually changing its beliefs and behaviour towards women, and specifically towards women's ordained ministries. 20 years ago women were ordained as deacons; 15 years ago General Synod voted to ordain women as priests, and two and a half years ago it voted to remove the legal obstacles to having women as bishops. A year later, Synod agreed the principle that having women as bishops was 'consonant with the faith of the Church,' and a group was appointed to prepare draft legislation to bring before Synod.

The group has met ten times, but has yet to produce any draft legislation or even a progress report. Recently Synod was informed that we will have to wait until July 2008 for the group's first report, and it is likely to be another year after that before the final vote can take place.

We know that the Church overall will welcome having women as bishops. We also know that the watching world is confused and disturbed that the Church has accepted women as priests but is now taking so much time deliberating about whether they can or should be allowed to be bishops.

So what's the hold up? It seems that a number of bishops, while agreeing that women should be permitted to be bishops, are somewhat reluctant to take the step of actually including them in what has been an all-male enclave. Only a very few bishops, perhaps four or five out of the 44 diocesan bishops, disagree with the principle of ordaining women as bishops, but a larger number seem unprepared to disenfranchise the few male priests in their diocese who still oppose women's ordination. Some are also worried about the Church of England's relationship with the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches and think that 'the time is not right'. 

Meanwhile, the gifts, insight and experience of women are excluded from the Church's ministry of oversight, the witness and mission of the Church is compromised, and women clergy continue to live with the knowledge that their ministry is still considered suspect and invalid by some.

When the Church finally ordains women as bishops, it will send the message to all people, male and female, ordained and lay, Christian and non-Christian, that, at long last, it accepts that women, with men, are fully made in the image of God, fully part the new creation in Christ and fully included in the life of the Holy Spirit. Until then, the unspoken question remains: are women fully human?

If you care about this, why don't you write to your bishop and ask him where he stands on the issue and timing of having women as bishops, and let him know how you feel. Who knows, it could just help to assure him that the Church is ready for women bishops!

Christina Rees,

Chair,  WATCH and Exec Cttee Member,  IC

There's a sermon preached by Canon Paul Oestreicher at Coventry Cathedral here - read it,  it's good!  And some recommended books here.  We have taken down the list of Inclusive Churches until more have asked to be included - if you would like your church to appear here,  please contact us.  All the papers for Drenched in Grace can be accessed here either by audio or in text.    And the latest in Andrew and Giles' correspondence is under "Areas of Work" then "gay and lesbian".  Do read the recent three or four if you have nothing else to do over Christmas! 

We've been asked to let you know that the 2nd issue of OPEN THEOLOGY is now on-line which you may access without any charge. The theme is: Mary, Women and the Church and includes an article by Christina Rees

Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski Editor-in-Chief,  Open Theology

 

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