God is doing a new thing

These are extremely interesting times – to say the least. Perhaps troubling, for many. We live in a season when the very foundations appear to be shaken, when the familiar seems swallowed up by chaos, and everything we once held as representing the status quo is now in flux.

The recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church [ECUSA] has become the epicenter of a theological earthquake, the tremors of which are reaching Canterbury and the Anglican world beyond. Early seismic readings originating from the Diocese of New Westminster were but a foretaste of what was to come. Now, very difficult and complex decisions lie ahead. We can expect, by all accounts, that the terrain of Anglicanism as we have grown to understand it most probably will be radically altered.

It is not the first time cataclysmic events have shaken the faithful. In the year King Uzziah died, the Lord was seen high and lifted up, the hem of His robe filling the temple [IS 6]. Having come to the throne of Judah as a boy king, Uzziah grew to maturity and reigned 52 years, ushering in a time of prosperity perhaps not seen since the time of Solomon - because he sought the Lord. But sadly, when he had become strong, he grew proud, and his pride led him to his destruction. King he may have been - but he wrongfully and willfully crossed the line and, as a result, died of leprosy. [2CHRON 26.1-21].

Diocesan and National synods, whatever else they may determine, cannot by their decisions overturn or re-write biblical revelation once delivered to the faithful. God is not swayed by popular opinion or majority vote. The Lord is not at all impressed with attempts to revise His Word, even though our motives arise out of a {misguided} sense of compassion. In the end we succeed only in consigning to their brokenness those who are broken, and those trapped in sinful lifestyles are given little hope of freedom. Worse still, we even seek to bless what God cannot bless because it is so much less than His best for us. Beware those who carelessly proclaim “peace” when there is no peace [JER 6.14] and who claim visions of a new age of God’s revelation [EZ 13.9]. One wonders if they have truly stood in the council of the Lord [JER 23.18].

The General Convention of ECUSA has approved the election of Gene Robinson as the 9th bishop of the Diocese of New Hampshire – a man faithful in many ways, but involved in an active and open homosexual relationship nevertheless. Also passed at GC2003 was resolution C-051 giving local faith communities full license to explore and experience liturgies celebrating and blessing same-sex unions [thereby “catching up” to our own Diocese of New Westminster]. Such decisions have resulted in massive disruption across the face of world Anglicanism.

ARM stands in complete solidarity with the Essentials Council of Canada in opposing such decisions as not reflecting the mind of the Lord. We applaud, and stand united with Bishop Terry Buckle in his offer to provide episcopal oversight to the ACiNW parishes and other orthodox parishes in the Diocese of New Westminster. And we fully support the international Primates and those Canadian bishops who have chosen to take a stand with him at this time. For sure, now is not the time to acquiesce.

Bishop-elect Robinson expressed his “prophetic” viewpoint on NBC when he said, “God is doing a new thing.” I think Gene Robinson is correct, but not at all in the sense he intended to convey.

Of course there are exceptions, but generally, and for many years now, we have been witness to a deepening malaise and growing apathy within the Anglican Church on this continent. We have been experiencing decreasing membership and tightening financial pressures. The defining perimeters of our faith communities have all but merged with and are now indistinguishable from the secular culture in which we find ourselves. Even so, we find ourselves marginalized. We have lost any concept of scripture as authoritative, or of the Holy Spirit as God’s abiding presence to usher in the transformation so needed in our lives. In so many ways our institutional forms and system are as old wine skins incapable of holding the new wine God promises. Jesus warned against any attempt to put new wine into old wineskins. Albert Einstein said, “The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.”

God is doing a new thing. I believe we are witness these days to God’s deconstruction of a tired and worn out institutionalized system – a very old way of being and doing Church – a way that has lost its way along the way. We are in a second reformation of radical dimensions: a literal restructuring – even now the ax is lying at the root … [MT 3.10]. Out of a faithful remnant the Lord is renewing His Church once again so she might bear active witness through Word and Spirit of His transforming presence in His world.

While I was returning from meetings with Essentials Council and in support of the ACiNW parishes in Vancouver, our Westjet pilot offered a prophetic summary, advising us to buckle up and prepare for “considerable turbulence ahead.” In such days as these, what then are we to do [PS 11.3-4]? Like Isaiah of old we are to look to the temple of the living God – a temple now made in the flesh and blood of those who confess the Name of Jesus - and there see the Lord high and lifted up. In days of transition we turn to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith [HEB 12.1-2]. He alone is our life, our stability in times of crisis, our sole commander. In tumultuous times, when chaos swirls around the faithful, we will find our rest in Him alone.