Rob O'Neill, the Episcopal Bishop of Colorado, is over in Jerusalem right now, by invitation of the bishop there, as a representative of the Episcopal Church to the GAFCON thingummie. (They've banned him from entering the conference himself, but he's there anyway.)

He has an OpEd in the Episcopal Life magazine on the question of whether we Anglicans actually need an "Anglican Communion" or not.

The answer, I believe, is a resounding and heartfelt "yes."
 
No one finds God alone. The intricate web of relationships that form our global Communion provide an invaluable network of mutual benefit, often bringing desperately needed resources into remote communities that others either cannot or will not reach, often making the difference quite literally between life and death. Those same relationships call us all out of our self-limited little worlds, cracking open our hearts and minds, challenging and compelling us as a kind of corrective, to see and to understand the full spectrum of Christian witness that often takes place under circumstances and with a kind of courage that many of us cannot begin to understand.

 

Do we have differences? Certainly. But as Archbishop Runcie observed, "it is only by being in communion together that diversity and difference have value." Do those differences challenge us? Unquestionably. But those same challenges, by the grace of God, form the very crucible of our own transformation.

Communion, in other words, is not our gift to God. It is God's gift to us.

If I still followed any of the conservative Anglican sites, I'm sure I'd see hoots of laughter, derision, and scorn at Rob over this article, but I think it's worth reading on both ideological ends of the Episcopal Church.

Filed under :: Religion - Episcopal Church
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