----- Original Message ----- From: "Rob Voyle" <rob@voyle.com> To: <trinity-email@trinity-episcopal.org> Sent: Friday, October 10, 2003 7:29 AM Subject: Pastoral Letter: A Place to Love To the People of Trinity, I am sending out this post electronically to let you know of a letter that the staff and I have written to Bishop Griswold and Archbishop Williams in response to the meeting of the American Anglican Council in Plano, Texas and their declaration of a "place to stand". We trust that our response is on your behalf as well. Because the leaders of the Anglican Communion are meeting next week we have had to expedite the mailing without having the opportunity to discuss it with you all; however my knowledge of past conversations with many of you suggests that you would be in favor of what we have done. I have shared it with our Senior Warden Bob Davis and he cosigned the letter. My deep concern for us a parish in the Anglican Communion is how we live together with all our differences. The "how we live" to me is more important than the content of our differences. That is not to say that our differences are unimportant, but that our caring of each other, grounded in God's love for us all, must be the primary basis of our communion and not secondary to the rightness of our beliefs. I also want to hear loudly and strongly within our worldwide com-munion a voice of love that seeks to heal and unite rather than wound and alienate. I know many of you are in agreement with the General Convention decision to confirm Gene Robinson's election as the Bishop of New Hampshire. I am also aware that there are others in our congregation who disagree with this decision. Regardless of where you stand on the issue I want you to know that you stand on welcome ground at Trinity Cathedral, and that our corporate heart, which I trust is the heart of God, is big enough for all of us. The following letter captures the spirit of the staff's commitment of how they live and work among you. It is our desire that our worldwide Anglican Communion would not be a place to stand and divide but a place to love and unite. Sincerely Rob October 10, 2003 Dear Bishop Griswold and Archbishop Williams: A Place to Love We are writing this letter to you to affirm another voice from within the Episcopal Church in the United States that is not represented in the recent proclamations and actions of the American Anglican Council. We agree that the mission of the church according to Jesus' Great Commission is to make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Triune God and teaching them to obey everything that Jesus commanded. We believe Jesus invites us, in his new commandment, not to simply assent to a homogeneous doctrinal orthodoxy or proscribed behavior, but to live into a radical way of loving that is unconditioned by our opinion of other's beliefs, actions, cultures, or lifestyles. We seek not to be defined or to define others by labels of liberal, conservative, orthodox, or apostate, but rather to be as lavish with God's love as Jesus was and is. And so, we see the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion not as a place to make a stand, but as a Place to Love. We value that within our church there is great diversity of opinion, not only on issues of sexuality, but along the ethical, economic, social, theological, and political lines that can so easily divide us as people. We also value that our church does not ignore or deny these differences but provides a place where we can safely and openly discuss and theologically reflect on these issues. We are profoundly aware that within our community there are some at the ends of the spectrums on all of these issues who feel alienated. We know that alienation is the core injury of the human soul, and so we seek to love and embrace beyond our comfort zone rather than resort to division and further alienation. It is only in such love that we will know the mind of Christ. The gate to the Kingdom of God is narrow, not because it requires a narrow mindset or viewpoint to enter; rather it is narrow because so few are able to trust that God's love is so wide. It is the wideness of God's love that embraces us all and unites us beyond our human divisions. There have been many claims to Anglican orthodoxy in recent days. We do not see Anglican orthodoxy as a singular doctrinal viewpoint. Rather, at the heart of Anglican orthodoxy is a dynamic ability to deal with ambiguity, to agree to disagree, to be open to diverse opinion, and respond boldly to the changing world in which we live, trusting in the changeless love of God. What holds us together as Anglicans, and is, therefore, fundamentally orthodox to our tradition, is not the purity of our beliefs but the greatness of God's love shown to us in Jesus, and in our willingness to trust the Holy Spirit's guidance over time. We do not demand, threaten, or coerce others to agree with our viewpoint, whatever that viewpoint might be. Rather we commit ourselves, as a diverse people, to worship together, to stay in fellowship, to care for our neighbors, and in love, to follow Jesus, who was and is the perfect expression of love in the world, and the one who formed the church, not as a place to stand and divide, but as a place to love and unite. Yours in Christ, The Rev. Dr. Robert J. Voyle Interim Dean, Trinity Cathedral Bob Davis Senior Warden, Trinity Cathedral Portland, Oregon |
| Pastoral Letter Rob Voyle - Interim Dean, Trinity Cathedral |