ACNA'09 -- WHERE'S THE SPIN?

Commentary

By Canon Gary L'Hommedieu
www.virtueonline.org
6/26/2009

There's a species of language that Americans have grown accustomed to, perhaps without knowing it. For the sake of convenience let's call it spin.

Spin is communication inappropriately overlaid with the self-interest of the speaker. Spin is not always dishonest or devious. It could just be overly defensive. But it becomes dishonest in a hurry. Anyone who wants to con you is going to weave normal sounding speech with deceptive markers that turn facts into something else. The point is, there is no "pure" speech, completely devoid of the self-interest of the speaker. If it didn't serve some need or purpose, why would we bother opening our mouths?

In honest speech the self-interest of the speaker does not intrude upon the legitimate self-interest of the listener. This is the Golden Rule of communication: speak unto others as if their needs and interests mattered as much as your own. Christians get in trouble very quickly when they pretend they're more selfless than they are or than anyone ever can be. Every word, like every act in general, is laden with, even driven by, some form of self-interest.

Some would call this a cynical view of human motivation. It is only "cynical" relative to a false notion of honesty. We all love to think of our words and actions as dripping with selfless good intentions, and we have a lot invested in making sure everybody notices. This is not "speaking the truth in love." It leaves people wondering, "Why can't he just come out and say it? Who's he trying to convince of all his good intentions?"

In honest speech the speaker recognizes, perhaps only intuitively, that his own interests are best served by promoting the needs and interests of the listener. When he resists the temptation to make a display of his good intentions, what comes across is a servant's heart. A servant does not need to apologize in advance or constantly reassure his audience. And nothing is more tedious than to be endlessly subjected to the profession of someone's sterling intentions. Uriah Heep in Dickens' "David Copperfield" comes to mind.

Spin carries its own weight. It generates a certain static that fills a room and takes on the property of a physical presence. Those who grow accustomed to spin as the regular mode of communication live under a weight which they likely will not be aware of until they find themselves in a circumstance where a speaker is speaking simply and directly with the sole purpose of conveying a message and not promoting or protecting himself.

I first noticed this two years ago when I heard Archbishop Drexel Gomez, recently retired Archbishop of the West Indies and Caribbean, address the clergy of Central Florida on the heels of the Primates' Meeting in Dar Es Salaam.

In Dar es Salaam we were dizzied with the constant spin. The press conferences were more like dog and pony shows. The ACC was always close at hand to let us know things were very much under control--theirs. There was the constant reminder that the Primates were locked away under guard.

On a Sunday morning at Christ Church Cathedral on the island of Zanzibar, we were subjected to a thirty-five minute apology by Rowan Williams for the English involvement in the slave trade. The Cathedral's promotional leaflet happened to mention that slavery ended on that very site 200 years before when British warships blockaded the island thus shutting down the Muslim slave trade. Presumably the Archbishop was embarrassed by the display of British militarism. Whereas earlier Christian leaders considered their role that of Christian apologetics, the Archbishop of Canterbury has settled for apologizing for Christianity. In the heat of the subtropical summer, the spin was almost nauseating.

The comparison with Archbishop Gomez was shocking. When I heard him, I realized I hadn't heard a straight talker in years. He said what he meant, expressing passion and even indignation, but there was a lightness about it. What was missing was the invisible layer upon layer of defensive self-promotion--the spin.

This is a long introduction to a brief report on the ACNA conference that concluded yesterday in Bedford, Texas. Some of us kept waiting for the spin, but there wasn't any.

In teachings, sermons, announcements, interviews, directions, predictions, press conferences, passing remarks, spin was conspicuously absent. Lay and clergy leaders said what they meant, didn't hide when they didn't know an answer, didn't gloss over potential problem areas, and above all did not seem to be hiding something. People communicated carefully, but not so carefully that we all came away wondering what they weren't telling us.

In a press conference when Archbishop Robert Duncan called himself "the servant of the servants of God", people's eyes began to role. But he followed quickly with a remark I've never heard from a bishop: "We speak for the people because we know them, not because we're over them." This was reinforced throughout his public remarks, where he declared repeatedly the priority of the new Province to promote mission.

"We're actually bringing people together, without papering over differences," said CANA Bishop Martyn Minns. This will be easier said than done, of course. But Minns was not trying to sweet talk anyone. I've heard Bishop Minns speak too carefully before. Here he was quite matter-of-fact.

Throughout the week we were all aware that there was disagreement between catholic- and protestant-leaning factions of ACNA. These will undoubtedly bubble to the surface at some point. There is disagreement regarding women in holy orders. Some are disappointed that women were marginalized in the proceedings, others that they were rammed down everyone's throats. No one expects the controversy to disappear. Certainly no one expects the ACNA leadership to sweet talk it into nonexistence.

While we hammered away in the press room, we became aware of a strange anxiety among Anglicans looking on from the blogosphere. There seems to be a growing panic at the thought of giving up the old antagonisms that have fueled the present movement. Many disgruntled Anglicans will be lost without a cause for their disgruntlement. Sour grapes is a type of reverse spin--where the hidden self-interests of the listener intrude upon the legitimate interests of the speaker.

If representatives of the new Province become known for nothing more than speaking the truth and saying what they mean, they will convey something of the character of God that North Americans, including North American Christians, have all but forgotten. This would form a foundation for the missionary objective of proclaiming the Kingdom of God. Perhaps the medium of straight talk will be the new bridge that tomorrow's Anglicans will build to the culture, rather than the old "bridge" of accommodation and appeasement.


---The Rev. Canon J. Gary L'Hommedieu is Canon for Pastoral Care at the Cathedral Church of St. Luke, Orlando, Florida, and a regular columnist for VirtueOnline.