The Anglican Communion

In or out ??

The Episcopal Church USA is a member of the Anglican Communion.  The Anglican Communion consists of independent churches that share a common source and that is The Church of England.  It is a Communion, not a church and each church within the communion is independent of the others, however there are three organs of the communion's life that unite us and they are; The Lambeth  Conference, The Anglciacn Consultative Council, and The Primates Meeting. 

There was a Primates Meeting a few weeks ago at which action was taken to censure the American Episcopal Church for its position on the marriage of people of the same sex.  The Marriage Equality act was voted on by the Supreme Court and the church followed by changing its liturgy to suit a same sex wedding.  This action was met with resistence and the call, by some, to dismiss us from the communion.  The Primates Meeitng stopped short of this, but did vote to censure us for three years during which we wil not be allowed to participate in sensitive communion discussions about polity and theology.  At the end of this three year period, another gathering will take place that will decide our fate. 

This causes great pain and great anger.  We are working and have worked together with other communion churches serving millions of people all over the globe.  We come from wildly different cultures and economic and political systems, but the work of the church and the proclamation of the gospel has gone on un abated for a very long time.  We will continue this work, but clearly we are not welcomed  at the table where important decisions will be made and our fate within the communion is not in our hands.

Wha twill happen?  Who knows!  We will continue our work until such time as future decisions are made.   Let us pray that a spirit of love and grace will unite all of us and that all God's children will be welcomed in his church.