Archbishop's State of the Church Address: Provincial Council 2011

These words from the first verse of Psalm 89 are our words as this Provincial Council opens. Our God has been so abundantly good to us - despite all the challenges we have faced - that we are profoundly aware of His love for us and His faithfulness to us. My task in this annual State of the Church Address is to rehearse some of what has happened, especially in this last year, and to remind us of how God's hand of blessing has been so obviously upon this movement to rebuild a biblical, missionary and united Anglicanism in North America.

The Anglican Church in North America came together at Bedford, Texas, when its Constitution and Canons were adopted two years ago this week. Since then, the Provincial Council has met at Toronto, Canada; at Amesbury, Massachusetts, and now at Long Beach, California. We have covered a great deal of territory, both literally and figuratively.

We are now 22 dioceses stretching from Arctic Canada to the Rio Grande, and from Newfoundland to California. Three new dioceses were organized in preparation for this meeting of Provincial Council: the Mid-Atlantic, the Carolinas and the Southwest. A fourth, Cascadia - originally built from congregations that had been under Recife and from congregations of the Reformed Episcopal Church - sought change of status from diocese-in-formation to diocese. One Diocese has asked this Council for discharge, for recognition that its call as a diocese has been completed. The Diocese of the Holy Spirit grew out of the Missionary Convocation of Uganda. All of its congregations and clergy have now been dispersed to other dioceses and a remarkable chapter in our early history is closing. Holy Spirit's bishop, John Guernsey, has been elected Bishop of the Mid-Atlantic, a diocese principally formed by parishes that had been under Nigeria (chiefly in CANA's Anglican District of Virginia). But Mid-Atlantic also draws in some congregations that had been part of Southern Cone and others part of Uganda. In microcosm we see the transition from our early history of global protection and sponsorship toward domestic geographical coherence.

There are many evidences of God's favor toward us, not because we deserve it, but because we continue to work so hard to align ourselves with His will. As this Provincial Council meets, I am announcing a re-organization of my team of advisors (my "cabinet") to reflect where we are headed, rather than where we have been. This change is like the change represented in the diocesan stories just told. The Lead Bishops of the Common Cause Partnership - representing all the jurisdictions and organizations out of which the Anglican Church in North America was gathered - were the original Executive Committee of the Anglican Church in North America. Last June the transition was made to an Executive Committee of six clergy and six laity, chaired by the Archbishop. Yet because we are - in the best Anglican fashion - to be "episcopally led and synodically governed" [Lambeth Conference, 1930] the need for wisdom from Lead Bishops representing our jurisdictional and organizational roots caused me to retain a body that had literally led us together into unity. They ceased to be the Province's Executive Committee, but became the Archbishop's Cabinet.

Now comes the next step. We are becoming one church. I think everyone here now recognizes that our most important identity is as members of the Anglican Church in North America. We treasure our originating bonds, whether as part of the Reformed Episcopal Church of as part of the Province of Kenya or Uganda or Forward in Faith or whatever, but we are now chiefly all Anglican Church.

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In his speech Archbishop Duncan refers to a new Ordinal that the College of Bishops will be considering for authorization for use in the Anglican Church in North America. In the typical ACNA fashion the texts of this Ordinal have not been made public for scrutiny and comment. As an important a doctrinal statement as an Ordinal should require more than the College of Bishops' authorization for use. It should be circulated widely among the churches of the ACNA and other interested parties and should require the approval of two successive Provincial Councils and Provincial Assemblies. But I am not holding my breath.

If Duncan's anointing of the head of Foley Beech at Beech's consecration is an example of what he considers "graceful, classical, and scholarly," I have real concerns about this new Ordinal without even seeing it.

"Produce a Prayer Book that is so attractive that the faithful will want to use it" is an inadequate mandate for a Prayer Book. It places attractiveness before theological soundness. "Good liturgy requires both sound doctrine and the eloquent use of language." A number of modern liturgies, while they make effective use of language, are deficient in doctrine.

In any event the ACNA Ordinal will be very revealing as to the theological direction in which the ACNA is heading.