“God’s blessed us every one.” Pass it on.

by the Rev. Ethel Channon, deacon assistant, Mt. Pleasant, Trinity N.E. Texas

ll of us have been there one time or another, perhaps perennially, in the Christmas season: at our wit’s end, trying to find a suitable gift for that hard-to-buy-for someone on our lists. Usually that person has need of nothing material we can offer, yet we feel the need to give something, usually because that person has gifted us with something special — most likely a relationship itself. So we burden our brains, throwing our imagination and energy into holiday high gear to deliver something that represents the value we place on
that friend.

Would that we might do the same for the Giver who is the Gift, for which we celebrate Christmas: God with us. Incarnate. Fully human. Fully divine. For no other reason than love and relationship. With the birth of Christ, God gave his Best and His Beloved. Indeed, He gave us Himself.

Like the little drummer boy of the popular carol, we have “no gift to bring that’s worthy of a king.” What can we give to the Creator of everything? Nothing that is not already His. But our God is not offended by a regift. We give Him back what He gave us: Love. And through His Son, whose earthly birth and life we celebrate this month, we learn just how to do it.

Love God with all of our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. Love our neighbors as ourselves (Matt. 22:36-40). Who might those neighbors be? Matt. 25:35 gives us good examples.

Some assembly IS required. For that, we look to the community of faith — the body of Christ gathered not just to worship in a structure on Sunday morning, but to show the doorway to God’s expansive love. We must reach out. Members of the Diocese of Dallas do this all over for people in all places and circumstances — from sheltering the homeless to feeding neighbors from a community garden; from hospital to hospice care to mentoring children of the incarcerated; and from simply saving box tops/labels for education to tutoring at-risk neighborhood children and making sure they have the same supplies as their more fortunate schoolmates.

And now as we close out this year, the diocese has a new resource that individuals and parishes can access for ideas, assistance, encouragement, and training that can make us doers, not just hearers, of the Word. In the development stages for months, the Episcopal Community Services Network (ECSN) was presented at the convention. A brainchild of the Executive Council, the network will help diocesan churches with outreach to those in their communities who live on the margins of society where social service cracks are big enough to consume them.

In his address at convention, Bishop Lambert laid out some ambitious tasks for the ECSN. Among them:
• Encouraging cooperation between congregations to assess and address the needs in each community where Episcopalians worship. This could mean anything from providing information and proven successful experience to connecting congregations with each other to plan and develop outreach projects. Bishop Lambert is fond of saying, “Many hands make light work.” Many hands also can reach more people. Small parishes can band together to do something in big (numbers) and/or meaningful (impact) ways.
• Appointing Dabney Dwyer as executive director of ECSN. Those who have worked for any length of time in outreach recognize Ms. Dwyer’s name. She knows how to resource, develop, and encourage.

Beyond Ms. Dwyer, congregations will connect with other congregations already engaged in external ministries that can provide expertise, education, and encouragement — whether these churches are planning to implement programs they will do themselves or in concert with other denominations. Remember that God doesn’t care who gets the credit. He cares who cares.

In his convention address, Bishop Lambert noted the benefits of external focus — outreach is a gift that gives back.Congregations that serve beyond their doors are churches that put feet on their prayers. “The more we are engaged in our communities, the stronger our communities of faith become spiritually (because we are living into our baptismal covenant of faith) and in our growth, because people will be drawninto our community because of our good work,” Bishop Lambert said.

“Yes, outreach is evangelism and evangelism is outreach. Being engaged in our communities allows us to witness to the transforming power of Jesus Christ in our lives,” he continued. “We go into the world not because it’s a good thing to do alone, but primarily because our Lord Jesus Christ calls us into the world to bring Good News. … As we share our faith with one another and those outside of our communities, our lives are transformed by the power of Jesus Christ as well. We must have church-growth eyes, and see the needs before us and endeavor to fill them. We cannot do this on our own but by the grace of God in Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit.”

After his transformation, old Ebenezer Scrooge committed to keeping Christmas in his heart every day, not just in the holiday season.

To borrow a phrase from Madison Avenue, this is the kind of “gift that keeps on giving.” And it honors the Original Giver and the Gift.

What are the Anglican Communion and the Covenant — and why
should I care?

o you know anything about the Anglican Communion and the Covenant that it is developing for approval by members of the Anglican Communion (which includes your Episcopal church)? You may be like many Episcopalians who are deeply involved with their local church and don’t know much about the Episcopal or Anglican structures beyond their local congregation. Then, it’s hard enough for you to know or care about what is going on in the national Episcopal Church, let alone in an international organization of which you may know very little. But it is important for everyone in the Episcopal Church to know about the Communion and the Covenant because it affects you, and here’s why.

What is the Anglican Communion?
The Episcopal Church is a member of the Anglican Communion. These churches around the world trace their spiritual lineage through the Church of England to the church of the New Testament. It came into existence largely through the reformation of the Churches of Ireland and Scotland and the independence of the United States resulting from the American Revolution.
                 
“In 1851, churches of Anglican lineage and theological interest first used the term, ‘Anglican Communion,’ out of a desire for association and some sense of unity. The purpose of the Communion is to reflect the fellowship we share theologically and historically with our brothers and sisters around the world. Today there are 75 million members of the Communion located in 134 countries around the world. These independent churches recognize the leadership of the Archbishop of Canterbury and are "in communion" with their sister churches around the world. The opening paragraph of our Episcopal Constitutions and Canons testifies to our connection with this fellowship. It reads, "The Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America … is a constituent member of the Anglican Communion, Fellowship within the One, Holy Catholic, and Apostolic Church." We should remember however, that we in the Episcopal Church are a very small part, comprising about 3 percent (2.5 million) of the total number of Anglicans worldwide” (click here for the full text of “What is the Anglican Communion? Why does it matter?” by the
Rev. Chris Findley, vicar of St. Francis Church, Madison, TN).

What is the Covenant and why does it matter?
In 2003, the Episcopal Church consecrated an openly gay bishop, an action that the primates (heads of the various national churches) of the Anglican Communion had argued against. They had declared that this action would “tear the fabric of the Communion at its deepest level,” and this is what happened as some of the provinces declared themselves out of communion with various parts of the Episcopal Church. Many faithful members of the Communion were bewildered by the intensity of the opposing views on issues of sexuality. This group included worshippers who yearned for expressions of communion that would provide stability and encouragement. At times, they have felt their voices eclipsed by the intensity of sounds on opposing sides of the debate.

Therefore, at the request of the Anglican Communion Primates , the Archbishop of Canterbury formed the Lambeth Commission that created The Windsor Report (TWR), a document that made recommendations for a way to encourage communion within the Anglican Communion. One of the report’s main recommendations was the development and adoption of an Anglican Covenant that would give explicit articulation and recognition to the principles of co-operation and interdependence (sometimes called “the bonds of affection”) which hold the Anglican Communion together. TWR considered that this was one vital way to rebuild trust and co-operation between the churches of the Anglican Communion in the wake of recent tensions. The plan is that only those provinces that sign the covenant will be constituent members of the Anglican Communion.

Regarding the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of New Westminster in the Anglican Church of Canada (that unilaterally affirmed the blessing of same-sex marriages), paragraph 157 of TRW reads,

“There remains a very real danger that we will not choose to walk together. Should the call to halt and find ways of continuing in our present communion not be heeded, then we shall have to begin to learn to walk apart. We would much rather not speculate on actions that might need to be taken if, after acceptance by the primates, our recommendations are not implemented. However, we note that there are, in any human dispute, courses that may be followed: processes of mediation and arbitration; non-invitation to relevant representative bodies and meetings; invitation, but to observer status only; and, as an absolute last resort, withdrawal from membership. We earnestly hope that none of these will prove necessary. Our aim throughout has been to work not for division but for healing and restoration.”

Why does membership in the Anglican Communion matter?
“It is the Anglican Communion that intimately connects us to the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church — for the Communion, at its heart, is a theological communion. It professes that we not only trace our heritage from these particular beginnings; we also hold these things as necessary and valuable. The preamble of our constitution (quoted above) also goes on to say that the Church participates in the Communion by having ‘duly constituted dioceses, provinces, and regional churches, in communion with the See of Canterbury, upholding the historic faith and order as set forth in The Book of Common Prayer" (Findley).

The official website of the Anglican Communion
A description of the Covenant
The most recent draft of the Covenant
A discussion of the covenant

The January/February issue of Esprit will carry several articles about the Covenant and its importance.