Via TitusOneNine:
By Charles Raven
SPREAD
http://www.anglicanspread.org/?page_id=49
February 26, 2009
As the March 9th deadline approaches for Provincial responses to the Covenant Design Group, an odd but telling paradox is emerging; in order to stabilise the Anglican Communion, it seems essential that the Covenant's biblical foundations should be weak. During debate at the Church of England's General Synod earlier this month, the Archbishop of Canterbury articulated a view which resonates with many in the liberal leaning Churches of the Communion when he stated that the Covenant is 'part of an ongoing inquiry of what a global Communion might look like." and "At every stage it is something which churches voluntarily are invited to enter into."
But how is this weakness? Is it not simply a commitment to listening with a generous spirit? Experience of the 'listening process' over the past ten years has taught the orthodox to be wary as in practice it has served to subvert discipline and lend credence to false teaching. And this persistent impression can't be waved aside as the suspicious interpretation of those opposed to the revisionist agenda. Paul Elie in his March Atlantic Monthly article 'The Velvet Reformation' praises Rowan Williams for 'prodding the communion toward acceptance of gay clergy' as he doggedly persists in trying to keep everyone at the table.
The particular danger of this emphasis upon relationship and process rather than confessional integrity is that the orthodox become acclimatised to a church culture which dulls their biblical awareness. GAFCON clearly represents a significant break with that culture, but resisting it is a continual discipline and a recently released video of an interview with Dr J I Packer helps to keep things in proper context.
In a discussion about the difference between first and second order issues, he says that the closest parallel with the current crisis in the Anglican Communion is not even the Reformation, but the Arian controversy of the fourth century which threatened to undermine the whole Church through the denial of the incarnation. Even more striking than this parallel however is the strength of Dr Packer's feeling; when asked how he feels, he says he is sick at heart, deliberately echoing the distress of the prophet Jeremiah (8:18) at the rebellion of God's people and its destructive consequences.
The reference to Jeremiah is instructive because he was especially grieved by the failure of Judah's spiritual leadership "...from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying 'Peace, peace', where there is no peace" (Jeremiah 8:10b, 11). For Jeremiah, false prophets were a potentially lethal threat to God's people, yet it is very difficult to detect any reflection of this biblical seriousness in the proposed Anglican Covenant - even if it were possible to recognise false prophets, it seems clear that there are no means of enforcement, an impression reinforced by the Lambeth Conference Commentary which states that there should be no 'juridical impositions'.
In fact this has to be the case if the Covenant is to find institutional acceptance and not be rejected by revisionist leaders. As Idris Jones, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, who is inclined to speak more directly than some, said in September 2007 "Actually I can suggest the wording of a Covenant like this - 'As sisters and brothers in Christ we pledge ourselves to remain together in spite of any differences that arise.' We really do not need anything more structured in order to facilitate what began and remains in essence a relational experience."
This of course begs the question of what it is to be 'in Christ', a question which lies at the heart of the present crisis of which sexual ethics are essentially a symptom. We cannot assume that everyone who speaks for Christ is 'in Christ'. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus himself alerts his disciples to false prophets who 'come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves' (Matthew 7:15).
These are counterfeit leaders within the church and we are given a strong hint from the context of the previous verses (13, 14) that they will be those who are on the broad road of destruction - uneasy with moral and doctrinal boundaries - yet claiming to be on the narrow road of salvation. Although they build behind the façade of the trappings of religion, the true nature of their teaching will inevitably reveal itself and the longer the crisis of doctrine and authority continues in the Anglican Communion, the clearer the fruit of counterfeit religion becomes - something Dr Packer has experienced firsthand through his deposition from the Anglican Church of Canada despite his many years as one the world's leading evangelical theologians.
After the Primates meeting in Alexandria Rowan Williams was invited to comment on Dr Packer's treatment, and the similar action taken against Pittsburgh Bishop Robert Duncan, and it was reported that 'he declined to answer, but noted the communiqué "deplores actions that deepen division or give rise to suspicion or hostility." Dr Williams and Dr Packer live in different spiritual worlds. The one is practised in measured ambiguity and it is difficult to resist the conclusion that he loves the Church as an institution; the other is passionately clear and there is no mistaking that he loves the Church as the bearer of saving truth.
Jesus' warning about false prophets comes near the end of the Sermon on the Mount and he concludes with the parable of the two houses, one built upon the rock of obedience to his words, which will stand, the other built in disobedience on the shifting sands of other words, which will fall. The paradox of the Covenant is that in seeking to find a secure foundation for the Anglican Communion, it entails a practical rejection of the very thing that can give it security, the Word of God.
Fortunately, the future is not one of inevitable and wholesale collapse. The GAFCON movement has faced up to the reality of false teaching and it has re-established the confessional foundation of God's Word in the Anglican Communion. Now there is a choice for those willing to see it and with the courage to take it.
---The Rev. Charles Raven is Senior Minister of Christ Church Wyre Forest which is an independent Anglican congregation but located within Worcester Diocese
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