Sermon by the Rt. Rev. Stephen T. Lane

189th Annual Convention of the Episcopal Dicoese of Maine

October 25, 2008

Bangor, Maine

 
Isaiah 2:2-4; Ephesians 2:13-22; Luke 10:1-9

Howard Anderson, one of the talking heads in the Church Pension Group’s safe church training videos, in addressing the practice of having two adults present whenever we have a group of children or young people, speaks a memorable line. He says, “First of all, one person is not the Christian way. Christian’s are not lone rangers. Christians are sent out two by two. We don’t go alone.” In our work, whether in our congregations or in the larger community, we represent the truth that Christian life is always about relationships; that ministry is shared; that happiness and satisfaction are not something we achieve alone.

Community, that joyful experience we so hope for and so cherish, which is the foundation of the life of our churches, is a gift we receive from God when we do God’s ministry together. As we pray and work, as we serve others together, we are blessed with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. And in that fellowship we incarnate the divine community, the Trinity of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Serving together is of the essence of God.

What we’re talking about here is the ministry of reconciliation. The divine fellowship we sometimes experience is a foretaste of what God desires for all creation. That fellowship is a gift God intends for humankind. And God calls us to draw the circle wider.

This summer I had the privilege of attending the Lambeth Conference. I went with a certain foreboding because I expected to be on the receiving end of a lot criticism about the Episcopal Church. And there was some of that. But what I encountered for the most part were bishops and spouses deeply committed to serving the Gospel of Jesus Christ and many at considerable risk and sacrifice. I met bishops from the Churches of North and South India who struggle with a culture and country that has outlawed evangelism and where a fine and jail sentence can result from putting a cross on a sign for a church-sponsored health clinic. So as one Indian bishop said to me, “We have to make our service so beautiful that people will want to know why we do it.” Gretchen met with an African bishop’s spouse in her Bible study group who has two children of her own and has adopted nine AIDS orphans because, as she said, “That’s what Christians do.”

I learned at Lambeth that our contexts are so different, the pressures we deal with so great, that we often do not understand one another even after a time of sitting together. What was required was patient conversation over a number of meetings, slowly getting to know one another, hearing about our faith from one another, and building a shared context within which we could communicate. The motivation we all shared was our knowledge that we all belonged to Christ, and if we belonged to Christ then we belonged to each other.

There were very great differences among the bishops. I’m not sure many minds were changed about particular matters of doctrine. We knew that we would soon return home to face anew our own contexts and the day to day realities of our own ministries. And yet we also knew that if we could not resolve our conflicts that failure was ours not God’s. No matter what, we all still belonged to God.

I wondered at times what God thought of the Lambeth Conference; because I think from God’s perspective our oneness is not a question. It’s a given. God has made us one in Christ. God has given us to each other and asked us to model reconciliation for the whole world. Even our deep disagreements about what God wants for humankind cannot overshadow the greater depth of our unity in Christ.

For me the symbol of the Lambeth Conference was the witness of the Melanesian Brothers and Sisters. In Melanesia, there are four Christian orders, two for men and two for women. Young Melanesians often spend several years as members of the orders learning about faith, spirituality, ethics, and then leave the orders to pursue careers and family life; so many of the members are not lifelong monastics. The Melanesian Brothers and Sisters were very present at the Convention as part of the Chaplains Team, leading daily prayers and being available for pastoral counseling.

In 2003 a civil war broke out in the Solomon Islands, often called the Happy Islands. Such fighting had never happened before. There was bloodshed, and people were terrified. People from both sides flocked to the monastic houses for sanctuary, and as their numbers grew, the Brothers and Sisters realized they needed to do more. And so they pitched a tent in the literal middle of a battlefield, between the warring factions. This did not immediately end the fighting, but eventually the government side asked them to assist with disarming the combatants. The Brothers and Sisters were reluctant at first because they felt their motives might be misunderstood by the rebel side. And indeed they were. Seven of their members were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered. And then the fighting ended. In their telling of the story, the Brothers and Sisters simply said that Christians are called to reconciliation. It is what Christians do.

We Episcopalians are not only members of a bridge church; we are part of a bridge people. Our job is to connect people with one another and with God. We serve the poor because they are part of the circle. We reach out to strangers because they are part of the circle. We take risks to connect with folks with whom we disagree, because they are part of the circle.

In speaking with bishops after the vote deposing Bishop Duncan of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, Presiding Bishop Katharine reminded us that our decision had to do with ecclesiastical duties and responsibilities. It was not a referendum on Bishop Duncan’s faithfulness or the value of his ministry. And though he was no longer a bishop in the Episcopal Church he was surely still a Christian and surely still deeply concerned about many of the ministries we once shared. She asked us to reach out to him and to look for new opportunities to do ministry together. It is a tribute to the pain of conflict between human beings that the realization of her vision may be a long way off. But our hope is the same – to draw the circle wide enough that all are included.

That’s the ministry God has given us. That is the ministry we are called to live out in every place, so that we might no longer aliens and strangers, but citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. May it be so. Amen.