One of the most profound divisions in the Church (universal) these days, especially exacerbated in the last two decades by sharpening divisions in the political, societal, cultural, and global spheres, revolves around deeply differing understandings of the way we Christians approach the challenge of living faithfully in a world that changes constantly and rapidly for everyone, the faithful and non-religious alike. Of course, much of the divide results from the lens through which our many traditions and individuals in them 1) under-stand and interpret Holy Scripture, particularly in terms of Jesus’ teachings and the writings of the Apostle Paul, 2) their degree of embrace or rejection of the Church’s experience of God over the last two millennia, and finally 3) their perspective on the relative importance of the individual’s life of faith vis-à-vis a faithful life shared in community as the context for living as disciples of Christ.
As a priest in the Episcopal/Anglican tradition, it breaks my heart—as it must break God’s heart—to see the enormous chasm between the branches of the one vine, the Church of Jesus Christ, widen more deeply with every passing year, often boiling over into angry, bitter, judgmental, hate-filled words and actions. How long will it be before sectarian violence—in the Name of the Prince of Peace—becomes reality in this beloved country just as it characterized the history of Europe for the last 500 years, or the Middle East today? There has never been found an iota of salvation in the ancient doctrine of “an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth”. But with the escalation of violence in our land, almost exclusively involving guns, coupled with the co-opting of Christ and His Church by fanatical cult leaders on both extremes of the spectrum, the specter of deadly conflict rears its hideous head with alarming regularity across the world.
My prayer is that the leaders of the Church, in all her richness and diversity, will somehow (the Grace of God, perhaps?) take a step back from the deadly seductions found in any division whatsoever, whether political, social, educational, economic, ethnic, racial, even religious in nature, and invite their faithful flock to join in realizing how effective the enemies of God have become in deceiving the faithful enough to lend a “Christian patina” of righteousness and respectability to even their most devious and selfish schemes. For it is only when we open our eyes, our ears, our hearts and our minds to the unifying God of Truth that said Truth will set us all free.