Honey and Hemlock

It is impossible to take the Church out of the world, and it is impossible to take the world out of the Church.  Jesus forbade it.  “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, but while he was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away.”[i]  The weeds were zizanion, tares, a form of darnel which resembles wheat, but its grains are black and poisonous.  Zizanion produces a form of intoxication which can end in death; so also do the doctrines of the apostates in our field of the kingdom.

When the servants asked the Master if they should pull out the zizanion he forbade it, saying, “No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them.”[ii]  When the grains of wheat are ready for harvest they bend down, but the zizanion stands up above them and can be easily identified and removed.  There is a lot of zizanion in the Church, but the fruit of the Church, thirtyfold, sixtyfold and a hundredfold is not yet mature enough to be harvested.

In the field of the visible Kingdom, the Church, there is good grain and zizanion, and often the servants of the Church become panicky and want to pull out the zizanion, or failing that, pull out the Church from the field.  If you try to pull out the zizanion some of the wheat will be damaged.  If you try to pull out the sons and daughters of the Church you inevitably will pull out some of the zizanion them.  In the premature harvest some of the tallest stalks will not be wheat.  You can’t purify and preserve the Church by pulling it out of The Episcopal Church, or out of the Anglican Communion; and be aware of some of the tallest stalks when you try to do that.

In the field of the kingdom, the world is in the Church and the Church is in the world.  Obedience demands courage and steadfastness, not flight.  Of the servants of the kingdom let it be said, “Your servants love her very rubble, and are moved to pity even for her dust.”[iii]  When you live in the field of the kingdom you will by necessity be faced with the mixture of honey and hemlock.  “So it is most needful that those who wish to separate out the honey from the mixture should beware that they do not take the deadly residue by mistake.”[iv]

There are two basic tests for hemlock, correct doctrine, and love.[v]  Vincent of Lerins is correct when he says, “We take the greatest care to hold that which has been believed everywhere, always and by all.”[vi]  To negotiate away from either the authority of Scripture or the witness of tradition is to feed on the intoxication of zizanion.  To sue your brothers over property is a witness the quality of your love.

The first solution is not flight, but in steadfastness and in the clarity of the doctrine held by loving hearts.  When a prominent church leader tells us that a personal saving faith in Jesus is a western heresy, and we know full well that Eastern saints like Cyril of Jerusalem held that everyone coming to baptism must have a personal faith in Christ, we see the parable of the zizanion and good wheat clearly illustrated.  Until the harvest time our clear and loving response is to point out the zizanion and say, “Don’t eat it!” 

Let’s be honest, some of the fields of the kingdom are almost entirely run over with zizanion.  The Lord himself declares, “I know your works.  You have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.  Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die.”[vii]  He does not say that the faithful should flee but rather, “You have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy.  The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments and I will never blot his name out of the book of life.”[viii] 

The one who conquers is not the one who flees, or even wins the political battles in the field of the Church, but the one who remains steadfast and faithful.  I and others who refuse to flee, say with Paul, “I make up in my own body that which is lacking in the sufferings of Christ on behalf of his body which is the Church.”[ix]  That is not a ministry of giddy happiness, but it is a ministry of a very real and unique joy in sharing in the incarnate presence of Christ Jesus who loves his Church on earth.

There are others who share that same ministry of suffering joy, and they have been driven out of the Episcopal Church.  It is hard for us who would rather fight than switch to judge when enough is enough.  How does a priest in a diocese in the northeast survive when she is told by her peers that she is not welcome at the clericus because she does not support the homosexual-lesbian agenda?  Woops.  Did I say “she”?  She would not be welcome in some conservative dioceses either.  Some who would reject her because she is a female priest don’t believe in the resurrection either, but they do hold their fingers correctly when they “say the Mass”.  Churchmanship is no guarantee of either orthodoxy or charity.

There is a solution, but whether or not you appreciate it depends on whether or not you irrevocably want your own way despite the cost to the Church itself.  That solution is submission, dare I say “obedience” to the proposed Anglican Covenant.  The Covenant is not a perfect solution, but it will provide the basis for unity for the greater majority of the Anglican Communion.  This solution is actually a submission to Catholic Order and to what has been believed everywhere, always, and by all.  I would suggest that integrity would demand that if you don’t agree with the Anglican Covenant you should humbly acknowledge that and take the necessary steps to remove yourself from the Anglican Communion, instead of trying to drive out those who do share a common faith.

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[i] Matthew 13:24-30; 36-43

[ii] Matthew 13:29

[iii] Psalm 102:14 BCP

[iv] Gregory Palamas, The Triads, I, i. 20

[v] I John 4.

[vi] Chapter 4 of The Commitorium, AD 434

[vii] Rev. 3:1b-2

[viii] Rev. 3:4-5

[ix] Col. 1:24

The Anglican Covenant and the Special Convention

The Anglican Covenant and the Special Convention of the Diocese of Dallas

There is no reason why we cannot remain in the Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion at the same time by accepting the Anglican Communion Covenant. The Anglican Communion Covenant is not something new, but is simply a re-affirmation of our historical position as Episcopalians. We have over the years made a number of covenants and you may review some of them in the Historical Document section of the Book of Common Prayer on pages 863 to 878.

You yourselves have made a number of Covenants in the context of your Episcopal faith. Among these Covenants are Baptism, Confirmation, Marriage, and for some Ordination. Every time you say a Creed in church you are renewing your Covenant with the ancient and historical Church. The acceptance of The Book of Common Prayer is a Covenant setting forth the Liturgy of the Church. This covenant is on page 8 of The Book of Common Prayer and says, “This Convention having, in their present session, set forth A Book of Common Prayer, and Administration of the Sacraments, and other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church, do hereby establish the said Book: And they declare it to be the Liturgy of this Church: And require that it be received as such by all the members of the same: And this Book shall be in use from and after the First Day of October, in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and ninety.” This ratification requires that you as a member of The Episcopal Church make a Covenant to accept The Book of Common Prayer as your standard for worship. That Covenant is part of both Baptism and Confirmation.

The making and renewing of Covenants is central to the very nature of the Episcopal Church and our American heritage. It is not at all unusual for us to belong to several organizations by accepting the Covenants of these Organization. For a number of years my wife and I have been members of both the Episcopal Church and at the same time Oblates of the Order of St. Benedict at St. Scholastica Monastery in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Now St. Scholastica Monastery happens to be Roman Catholic (quite a stretch for an old Scots Presbyterian boy). There is no conflict in making covenant with both the Episcopal Church and the Order of St. Benedict. We are also members of our Scot’s Clans, Clan Chattan and Clan MacNaughton, a two other Clans at the same time. You yourselves are no doubt members of the Episcopal Church and members of a number of other organizations. In most organizations there is an implicit Covenant to accept the rules for membership and pay the fees to maintain your Covenants, and most often you renew those Covenants annually.

Covenant making is part of life, and we do it all the time. To be an Episcopalian is to be a Covenant Maker. I strongly support renewing our “Anglican Covenant” with the Anglican Communion and at the same time remaining within the Episcopal Church.

The Rev’d. Canon Rob Smith +

Postscript: The Special Convention is over. We have not only voted to endorse but also to enter into the Anglican Covenant and the news is now out on the internet. I am saddened by how many of the conservative “departed” who make up the primary audience of “Virtue On Line,” have marginalized themselves by their attitudes and actions. You will note that I have characterized them as loveless. Do you doubt me? Read their responses to any view that does not agree with their strong and self-righteous agenda; then reflect on the truth, “by their fruits you shall know them. I was startled by the claim that the Diocese of Dallas is more liberal as result of the departure from our diocese of some of their number. That reveals that the writer of that remark has no understanding of the trend and history of this diocese over the last twenty years. From my own perspective what is remarkable is that the strong majority of this diocese has supported the Covenant without being radicalized.