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I was glad when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD."
Psalm 122:1
"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
Genesis 1:1
"This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it."
Psalms 118:24
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And he shall direct your paths."
Proverbs 3:5
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Rector's Study
"DO YOU ALSO WISH TO GO AWAY"
Hours have been spent in prayer. Questions too numerous to count have been asked and answers, when possible at all, given in hesitancy of humility. Articles, resolutions, public statements, emails, essays, and tirades have been read. The triennial stress of General Convention has been upon us. Its actions have occupied the minds of the clergy and many of the active laity. Some may well wonder where we will be once the assembly has dispersed. What does the Episcopal Church believe? Is it still part of the Anglican Communion? How is our diocese connected with others? What about St. Mark's parish?
Many of us were aware that the 2006 General Convention could prove to be of great historical moment. After the 2003 General Convention voted to affirm the consecration as bishop of a man living in an openly homosexual relationship, the Archbishop of Canterbury established the Lambeth Commission on Communion to respond to the decision. This commission produced The Windsor Report in 2004, a document that concluded with the warning that a division within the worldwide Anglican Communion could result if the Episcopal Church would not repent of and correct such theological and moral innovations. The final paragraph of the report reads as follows.
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There remains a very real danger that we will not choose to walk
together. Should the call to halt and find ways of continuing in our
present communion not be heeded, then we shall have to begin to
learn to walk apart.
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The Windsor Report, paragraph 157, page 60
There will be varying interpretations of who it was that determined to "walk apart" from whom, but it appears that the fracturing of Anglicanism that began years ago will continue. The prayer of Jesus resonates in the chasms formed by our divisiveness, "that they all may be one; even as thou, Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe" (John 17:21). While this situation is very sad and we may rightly respond with grief, we need not be discouraged in our faith. Disciples have departed from disciples in the past. Indeed, whole churches have separated one from another. This always involves sin and disobedience to the will of Christ. But our Lord is merciful, and our trust is in him.
With all these thoughts in mind, I remembered an occasion when "many of his disciples" decided to walk apart from Jesus and his apostles. It is recorded in St. John's Gospel, chapter 6, verses 66-71. When those who withdrew had gone, the Master asked the Twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" The response is the confession of St. Peter:
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"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal live; and
we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One
of God."
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By God's grace, we too have believed and come to know the Christ. We have encountered his Sacred Presence in the Sacrament of the Altar. In Holy Scripture and through apostolic tradition, we have heard the words of eternal life. Not only do we not wish to go away, it is our blessed privilege to walk with the Savior, to journey in faith with the apostles, to seek the unity with saints on earth and saints in heaven that the reality of communion reveals. Wherever and with whomever anyone else, even of "his disciples" decides to walk away, our path is with the Lord; and from his straight path, led by the Holy Spirit and empowered by grace, we shall not stray.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Timothy P. Perkins  , SSC
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