The One Thing Needful
At the beginning of every service of baptism or confirmation we recite the words from chapter 4 of Paul’s letter to the Church in Ephesus: ‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all.’ We begin thus on an ecumenical note; our identity as Christians is front and center, not the subset thereof called ‘Anglicanism’ (of which we Episcopalians are a member). Still it is valuable to know the lore of our particular family, as well as our tradition, for they help us be better witnesses for Jesus Christ in our corner of the vineyard.
There are a variety of ways scholars have defined what makes us most ourselves. ‘The religion of the incarnation’, or ‘the law of praying’ guiding ‘the law of believing,’ or the three streams of catholic, evangelical, and liberal, etc.: each definition leaves us wondering what it ultimately means and how it sets us apart. And so I think the best definition is the simplest, that Anglicans are Christians whose praying and believing are guided by the Book of Common Prayer. (Wait a minute, which version? Put that aside and focus on the big picture!) The other definitions can be folded in under the shelter of the BCP, entailing as it does Nicene doctrine, a Reformation doctrine of grace, and a traditional sacramental practice.
I recently benefitted spiritually from three sermons by the Rev. Tish Warren at our clergy conference, all on the story of Martha and Mary, where Jesus says that the latter sister has grasped ‘the one thing needful.’ That’s the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not this or that book or tradition! Still, for us, the BCP is a trustworthy means of guarding and presenting that one thing!
I have in view, in all of this, the upcoming General Convention, ever a source of hope and anxiety. There is much we cannot foretell about its outcome. But it would seem likely that the availability of the 1979 BCP for any and all congregations going forward will be reinforced. This is something for which we will be able to give thanks, the simplest means of insuring the ongoing life of more theologically parishes in our Church. (By the way, for this initiative we are grateful, among others, to Bishops Doyle of Texas and Bauerschmidt of Tennessee, and our own Matthew Olver and Jordan Hylden).
But of course the book’s not thing, the human conscience to bring to Christ, but the praying, absolving, celebrating, hearing, teaching, and serving, in actual parishes of Christians together. And these will continue on, after yet another Convention, and not by our resolutions, by God’s sovereign grace.
Peace,
+GRS
