Are we good enough?

Image via Wikipedthe

The truth is that the Church of England is imperfect and I must admit that it gets things wrong very often indeed.

The truth is that Jesus acknowledges this tendency in humanity. Put more clearly; “He died that we might be forgiven”.

The truth is that we have a duty to Christ to give to our fellow beings our best.  As people of Christ we are called to go further than society might demand and to offer charity; agape, to offer love, the shirt from our back, to go that extra mile.

To hide behind the prevailing societal expectation, indeed legislation, is not an option for Christians in matters of moral behaviour.

To live in a place and quote the laws of that place as adequate justification for doing bad things is to abandon our Christian calling, it is to allow secular powers to govern the actions of  us as individuals and the actions of the Church.

In the matter of employment, the Church has to do what the law requires and more besides.

In matters of human rights for all, the church must do what the law requires and more. 

In all matters we have to do what our society asks, demands, and then do more!

From the Archbishop to the humble member listed on the electoral role, we frequently fail to live up to this standard.  Unfortunately for the humble parishioner, many senior clergy, and too many that are ‘blessed’ with higher office, fail to act in good and honest ways and too often their dealings with people are of low moral quality preferring to protect their own reputations and indeed (very often) prospects.

They will hide behind legislation and perhaps falsify matters, if they are able, in order to protect their reputations.  In some cases they prefer to say nothing rather than give false witness, refraining from speaking the truth clearly and openly.  Anything difficult and unpleasant is brushed under the carpet and stays there.

This is why the frequent use of ‘confidentiality clauses’ in retirement packages for those long serving laity is so prevalent and perpetuates a veil of secrecy and some degree of fear amongst many corridors of power.

If only we could be more forgiving and listen to one another’s story, to understand that we are weak and none of us the paragons of virtue we spend so much time encouraging everyone to believe we are!  The damnation is almost deafening!

This situation in the Church is one that we are all responsible for.  We are too quick to criticise and we love to twitter stories that are harmful.

We need to revive the spirit of forgiveness and be more Christ like, to bend the knee and hear the plea of the sinner with compassion and with forgiveness pouring from our hearts by the grace of God.

We must go that extra mile even if it may cost us, even if others call us fools; for Christ.

How wonderful it would be if the leaders we have would be free to do this Christian thing.

Mr C

Don’t submit to the Archbishop’s ‘Covenant’!

Image via WikipediaThis week key people in the UK will be thinking about their plans to help the people in the Diocese to understand the negative aspects of the proposed ‘Anglican Covenant’.

They will have to face the might of the establishment, not least the force of the Archbishops of York and Canterbury, who are in favour of the Covenant and Mr. Sentimoo particularly is demanding support.

Let’s hope that this restrictive and damaging proposal can be successfully avoided and that moderation and reason prevail.

Statue of Richard Hooker: A founder of 'Anglicanism'. He helped to establish reason and tolerance, along with tradition, as being central to the church.  The Archbishop's covenant is a clear attempt to undermine that foundation.

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Mr C is opposed to the Anglican Covenant because it is an attempt to add yet another layer of bureaucracy to the church.  It is an attempt to centralise the world-wide Anglican Communion and to limit its ability to respond to local situations. The Archbishops support it because of the real power it gives to them and to the ‘establishment’ within the Church in their attempt to keep the church as they want it.

The church has already responded positively to the position of women in the church, and this has inevitably resulted in divisions and fractures in the Church of England and the leaders are very nervous as a result.

The path of change has already been chosen and the church leaders applauded it at the time.  The proposed Anglican ‘Covenant’ is a clear attempt by some leaders to discourage any more change. The Archbishops are attempting to stifle the church rather than allow it to grow and develop, they wish to control any future development by having power to discourage that which they may disapprove of.

It is an unnecessary piece of legislation that destroys  the gift of Anglicanism to the Christian world and includes force by discipline for those who wish to continue in the Anglican tradition of liberalism, risk and diversity.

It is wrong of them to suggest that they would not be given new powers to admonish and punish by introducing this illiberal document into the church and it reveals their desperation every time they deny this part of their document despite its clear inclusion.

It is dishonest and misappropriates the true nature of ‘Covenant’ which is God-given and final, and has been with us since Christ redeemed the world.

We have all that we require for salvation in the documents and covenants we already posses.  The current church leaders cannot usurp the truth of salvation through Christ, and they cannot brow beat the church into ‘good behaviour’.

In opening the door of change, from its very inception, the Church of England has walked along its chosen path devoutly and with courage.  It cannot now wish that it were elsewhere and pretend to be in Rome!

Mr. C.

Related articles

• General Synod: Anglican Covenant debate (thinkinganglicans.org.uk)
• The Anglican Covenant (archbishop-cranmer.blogspot.com)