Bishop Howe calls for patience in preparation for meetings of Windsor Bishops and with the Archbishop of Canterbury

BB NOTE: As many know, John Howe is a longtime dear friend. We present his letter in full here. But we do ponder - in addition to the important points he raises here in his letter, namely the issues of love and patience - the issue of trust. What has been broken over and over again has been trust. We've learned in the last few days from Archbishop Drexel Gomez that the Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori did, indeed, agree to the Communiqué - only to come home and tell us that she just said she'd pass it on (and of course, she failed to do that at Camp Allen in March). When does trust become wishful thinking? Neville Chamberlain springs to mind. At the same time, reading the bishop's letter reminds us that is important we trust those who have shown themselves to be trustworthy - and a call to patience and love is indeed timely. One never knows what surprise is around the corner.

From the May, 2007 Central Florida Episcopalian

Dear Diocesan Family,

Two months ago I asked Joe Thoma, our Communications Officer, to publish the “Communiqué” issued by the Primates of the Anglican Communion following their meeting in Dar es Salam, Tanzania. It requested clarifications by the Bishops of The Episcopal Church regarding two specific concerns that have been before the Communion for the past several years: a) are the Bishops willing to give “unequivocal” assurances that they will not authorize any more blessings of same-gender unions? And b) are the Bishops willing to give the same kind of assurances they will not consent to the election of any more non-celibate persons in same-gender relationships?

They also said that they would create a “Pastoral Council” that would work with a “Primatial Vicar” to provide pastoral oversight for those congregations who cannot accept the ministry of their Bishops and those Dioceses that cannot accept the ministry of the Presiding Bishop.

We were initially told that all of the Primates meeting in Tanzania had agreed to these proposals, including our own Presiding Bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori. However, when the American Bishops met in Texas last month, Bishop Schori told us that she had only agreed to “present” the proposals to us for our consideration.

If you have followed the news, you already know that the American Bishops rejected the Primates’ proposals as an unconstitutional intrusion into the oversight of The Episcopal Church. (I thoroughly disagree with that assessment, but it passed by a significant majority.) We have not given a collective answer to Primates’ two questions, but approximately two thirds of the American Bishops have given their own answers, individually. Approximately thirty of the American Bishops have said “Yes” to the Primates’ questions, and about an equal number have said “No.”

Whatever those still “in the middle” decide, it is clear there will be no “unequivocal” assurances from the House of Bishops as a whole as we move toward the deadline the Primates set, September 30 of this year.

There are many questions, and a great deal of speculation, as to what all of this means for The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Communion.

I proposed that the House of Bishops invite the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the members of the Primates” Standing Committee, to meet with us sometime between now and September 30. Many of the Bishops believe the Archbishop needs to hear from us directly. All of the Bishops believe we need to hear from him. The proposal passed unanimously, and on April 16, Archbishop Rowan Williams announced he will accept that invitation, and join our Bishops at their September meeting at the Kanuga Conference Center in North Carolina.

Between now and then there will be at least two more meetings of the “Windsor Bishops” (those committed to being compliant with the requests of the Windsor Report and the Primates). The first is scheduled for June 17 – 19 in St. Louis, and the second for the first week in August at Camp Allen, Texas.

I cannot tell you how any of this will continue to unfold, but I ask your prayers as we seek the mind of Christ.

These are some of the things I know are true: 1) Many of our Bishops believe that the “full inclusion” of gay and lesbian people in the life and ministry of The Episcopal Church is not only a matter of “justice,” it is a “gospel imperative.” 2) Many other Bishops, including myself, believe that sexual orientation is not the issue, but sexual behavior is. Holy Scripture and the nearly unanimous witness of Christian tradition say that sexual intimacy is appropriate within marriage, one man and one woman in Christ, and not outside it. 3) However much we can respect the sincerely held positions on both sides of this issue (and I do), both cannot be true at once. 4) The Primates have repeatedly declared the position of the Anglican Communion, and asked The Episcopal Church to comply with it, and they have warned us that a refusal to do so will have consequences regarding our standing in the Communion.

I met with our clergy during Holy Week, and I told them (yet again) that I am committed to remaining both an Episcopalian and an Anglican as long as it is possible to do so. But ultimately, all of us may have to make choices. We will not all make the same choices, and we will not all make them at the same time. What is imperative is how we treat each other.

“By this will everyone know that you are my disciples,” our Lord declared, “if you have love for one another.”

It is not by all the sermons we preach, not by all the books we publish, not by the cathedrals we build, the missionaries we send out, the bold actions we take, or even the purity of our doctrine, but it is by the quality of our relationships with others who name the name of Christ that we will prove we truly belong to him.

We reflected together on what it means to “love one another,” and I suggested we use as a template the great “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13, and I shared four reflections with the clergy that I want to repeat today.

1) There is not a single “feelings” word in all of 1 Corinthians 13. The kind of agape love that Jesus calls us to, and that St. Paul attempts to describe, is entirely a matter of attitude and behavior; it is a matter of choice. I don’t have to feel a certain way toward you; I have to behave a certain way toward you. (There are a lot of feelings in eros; there are none in agape.)

2) The “love chapter” is a remarkable description of the Lord Jesus himself. You can actually substitute his name every time Paul uses the word “love.” (“Jesus is patient; Jesus is kind; Jesus is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. Jesus does not insist on his own way; he is not irritable or resentful; he does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hope all things, endures all things.”) The corollary is that when I run out of my own supply of agape love for you, I can ask Jesus to love you through me!

3) There are sixteen synonyms or synonymous phrases in the chapter, and nine out of the sixteen are negative: Love is NOT envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, irritable, resentful; it does NOT insist on its own way or rejoice in wrongdoing, and it never ends. Evidently, then, there are things I need to work on NOT doing toward you.

4) Notice how many of the synonyms are also synonyms for patience (or heavily dependent on it). You cannot be kind without being patient. You cannot bear all things, believe all things, hope all things, endure all things, without being patient. By my count at least eight of the sixteen words or phrases are synonymous with patience – which is to say that extending agape love toward someone is at least half a matter of being patient with him or her. The old phrased, “Please be patient, God isn’t finished with me,” is really a plea for an expression of Jesus’ agape love from each other!

I suggested that it is no accident that patience is the first word on the list; it is like getting the top button of your shirt right; if you don’t all the other buttons will be wrong, as well.

So, I say to you, as I said to the clergy: please be patient. Let’s trust the Lord. Let’s see what comes out of the meetings of the “Windsor Bishops” and the House of Bishops. Let’s hear what Archbishop Rowan has to say to us. And if and as we make difficult decisions, sometimes perhaps not in agreement with each other, let us do our very best to comply with our Lord’s instructions.

Jesus shared his Last Supper with the one who would betray him and the others who would desert him, and then he went to the cross for them – and us. And he said, “Love one another as I have loved you.”

My love to all of you,

John W. Howe
Bishop, Diocese of Central Florida