The Anglican Communion\u2019s civil war has flared up again, with more headlines about sex, sin and schism. <\/p>\n\n
Colorado was the front lines last week, when archbishops from Southeast Asia and Rwanda invaded Episcopal Church territory to lead rites consecrating four additional missionary bishops for America. Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey asked if they were aware \u201cthat action of this kind takes you perilously close to creating a new group of churches at odds with the See of Canterbury and the rest of the Communion?\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The African, Asian and American bishops behind the Anglican Mission in America think they know what they are doing. The crucial question is: \u201cWhy are they doing it?\u201d <\/p>\n\n
To answer that, it may help to flash back nearly a decade to words spoken at a Colorado altar by another Asian bishop. During a 1992 visit, Archbishop Moses Tay of Singapore offered a radical view of the doctrinal divisions within Anglicanism. Tay is a symbolic figure, because he later hosted the January 2000 rites to consecrate the Anglican Mission in America\u2019s first two bishops. <\/p>\n\n
Tay is soft-spoken, but not timid. Speaking at Denver\u2019s Christ Church, he turned to Revelation, chapter 2, an ominous passage in a mysterious book. In this vision, Jesus is seen reigning in heaven. Christ tells the angel of the Church of Pergamum, \u201cI know where you are living, where Satan\u2019s throne is.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Is it possible, asked Tay, that Satan had a throne in that church? \u201cWould we be shocked if that is true, that Satan has his throne in some of our churches?\u201d <\/p>\n\n
The Revelation text offered two warning signs of this condition, said Tay. The first was \u201ccorrupt teachers\u201d who brought other gods into the church through syncretistic worship. The second was compromise on issues of sexual immorality. <\/p>\n\n
The archbishop didn\u2019t have to say much about sex. Clashes over sex outside of marriage \u2014 especially homosexual acts \u2014 had already shaken Episcopalians and other oldline Protestants for a decade. But this sermon came four years before an Episcopal court ruled that the church has no \u201ccore doctrine\u201d on sex and marriage. It came eight years before the House of Bishops acknowledged that many believers live in \u201clife-long committed relationships\u201d outside of Holy Matrimony and pledged \u201cprayerful support\u201d and even \u201cpastoral care\u201d for those living in such relationships. <\/p>\n\n
Sex was old news. So Tay spent more time warning that church members would have to worry about their leaders \u2014 literally \u2014 praying to other gods. As shepherd of a small flock in Singapore, he stressed that he knows what it\u2019s like to work in a culture packed with competing gods. He wondered aloud if Americans take this issue seriously. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe have this pressure (to compromise) in our own place, in Singapore, in the Far East,\u201d Tay said. \u201cI believe this is \u2026 very prevalent within some quarters of the Anglican Communion. I say this with some shame and sadness, because this is the very thing that the Bible forbids.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
A year later, I witnessed what Tay was describing during a news event in New York City \u2014 the annual \u201cMissa Gaia (Earth Mass)\u201d at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Before the bread and wine were brought to the altar, musicians offered a rhythmic chant that soared into the cathedral vault: \u201cOba ye Oba yo Yemanja. \u2026 Oby ye Oba yo O Ausar. Oba ye Oba yo O Ra Ausar.\u201d This was printed in the bulletin. <\/p>\n\n
As New York Bishop Richard Grein waited at the altar, the musicians sang praises to some of the gods of Africa and Egypt. <\/p>\n\n
Is this kind of syncretistic worship common? Of course not. Is it encouraged by a few academic leaders and trendy liturgists? Apparently so. Have some bishops quietly tolerated the worship of other gods \u2014 by name \u2014 at Episcopal altars? Yes. <\/p>\n\n
Are some Third World Anglicans concerned about this? Yes. <\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s tempting just to argue about sex, said Tay. But after his Denver sermon, he asked this tough question: What is the meaning of unity in a communion in which some believers and even bishops may not worship the same God? <\/p>\n\n
This is an explosive question. Sooner or later, the See of Canterbury will need to provide an answer.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Anglican Communion\u2019s civil war has flared up again, with more headlines about sex, sin and schism. Colorado was the front lines last week, when archbishops from Southeast Asia and Rwanda invaded Episcopal Church territory to lead rites consecrating four additional missionary bishops for America. Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey asked if they were aware […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":610,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n