As I have sat with the words of the Primates from their meeting, I am not worried about our place in the communion or with Jesus. We are being faithful to Christ's calling, as we understand it. To make this stand with our LGBTQ brothers and sisters, then we must also accept the consequences for our stand even as we continue to reach out to all. (and to speak up where lives of LGBTQ are threatened and unsafe.)
Besides the wonderful video above by our PB Curry, these two responses below merit your reading:
As far as Communion itself goes, the main message TEC members should take from Canterbury this week is that Communion is what we ourselves will make it. While the Primates may be judged by many to have stumbled in their difficult work of fostering communion, at least in their declaration about TEC, they are an instrument of Communion and not the thing itself. We should redouble our own efforts to have strong relationships with other national Churches and their members, and be thankful for the opportunities we have to engage with Anglicans of other cultures and traditions. The curious and powerful gift of Communion is God's, not the Primates, to give.
While discussions and debates in inter-Anglican bodies are important, we must never lose sight of our baptismal vocation to participate in God's mission of restoration and reconciliation. The Episcopal Church is deeply committed to the full inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the life of our church and we affirm the dignity of every human being created in the image of God. In Connecticut, we are fully supportive and stand behind the positions taken by The Episcopal Church with respect to LGBT sisters and brothers. We are grounded in the love of God who invites all people, and all creation, to the fullness of life in Jesus. Our passion for sharing the vastness of God's love for all people is at the heart of our participation in God's mission.
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