MOVEMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS

Dear Friends,

The Anglican Church of Canada will probably be in the news over the next week or so. What is the news and how does that church connect to Church of the Messiah?

The Anglican Church of Canada will be having its national Synod from July 10-16. A Synod is an official gathering of Bishops, Priests, and lay people which can make authoritative decisions. Since this is a national Synod, they will make decisions for the Anglican Church of Canada. The “newsworthy” part of their gathering will be the second reading of changes to the Marriage Canon. To change the national canons (think by-laws) requires that two thirds or more of all laypeople, and of all priests, and of all Bishops vote in favour of the changes. The first reading of the changes passed in 2016. This is the second and final reading. If the second reading passes, then the governing canons for the ACoC will officially be changed. The ACoC has already effectively changed their doctrine of marriage, this change to the canons will entrench and institutionalize the changes, making them binding and enforceable. The new Marriage Canon says that as long as there are two people, regardless of gender (undefined), they can marry.

We at Messiah are Anglicans in communion with the majority of Anglicans worldwide, but we are not part of the ACoC. So what the ACoC decides has no bearing on us. If the second reading passes, their decision merely confirms the wisdom of our decision in February 2008 to separate from the ACoC so we could connect with an Anglican body in South America.

Movements are real and institutions are real. Those who have remained in the ACoC by and large, see Anglicanism as an institution which has a theology and spirituality. The institution is the primary reality and it determines its theology and spirituality. On the other hand, we see Anglicanism as a part of the Christian Faith. The Christian faith is a response to the good news of the Gospel. The Gospel helps us to understand the whole counsel of God, and the whole counsel of God helps us to understand the Gospel. The Gospel launches a movement, a theological and spiritual movement which always has implications on how we live – and institutional implications as well.

But the matter is a bit more complex. The Christian faith is not the only movement. Ironically, when Anglicans in the ACoC choose to see Anglicanism as an institution, not a Gospel movement with institutional implications, they then become easy prey for other secular and religious movements. This is what we see happening right now in the ACoC – they are under other secular and religious movements which have institutional implications! These sundry movements are reshaping the ACoC and its doctrine.

For us, we are to embrace the Gospel and the whole counsel of God and reject all false gospels and counsels. This is personal not political. We are to reject movements contrary to the Gospels, but we are always to embrace people. Every person we meet is someone that God loved so much that He sent His only Son to die for, so that they will not perish, but have eternal life. We can reject ideologies, but we are not to reject people, but love them.

George+