The Church of England is a week away from making the decision on whether it wants to have a Communion that lives with the discomfort caused when the wind of the Holy Spirit gets a-blowin' or whether it wants to tackle and shackle that spirit and form it into something it will call "Anglican". Stuff it into a box labeled "Covenant" and tell everybody that there is no reason to be alarmed by a document that sets up a system for kicking churches out of the Communion when they don't toe the line.
Let's be clear: the Anglican Covenant is neither Anglican nor is it a Covenant. It is an attempt to control, and you can not control the movement of time nor where God guides a church. And the whole history of the Church of England has been filled with moments in time of tension between Anglo-Catholicism and Protestant Evangelicals. So why must we rush into definitions, and contracts, and standing committees which will become more powerful and controlling if this Covenant is adopted?
My spiritual director and I were talking about this whole issue of the Covenant. As she noted, the Church seems to go through 500-year cycles of major upheaval and discord. And so, here we are in the midst of another one. And, as with other rows in the life of the Church, somebody felt the need to draw up a document that is meant to put an end to the questions. But if my experience of God has taught me anything it's that the questions never end. They only create more questions. How we live with those questions is the bigger challenge. Do we drive ourselves nuts trying to reach THE answer, or do we keep letting the questions push us to deeper inquiry? And, in the midst of all this, do we remember to re-member ourselves to the One who keeps us in this inquisitive relationship?
Do not let the current wailing and gnashing of teeth lead us into the temptation of a "fix it" like the Anglican Covenant!
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