Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

I’m glad I’m Not the Archbishop of Canterbury!

The introduction of Living in Love and Faith and its acceptance by the General Synod has rocked the worldwide Anglican Communion. The headline measure, the blessing of same-sex marriages in Church of England churches has, predictably, caused uproar amongst certain sections of the church and outraged the global south. To an observer, such as yours truly, it looks like a classic example of committee’ism(!). It doesn’t allow same-sex marriages to be formed in a Church of England parish church but, once formed elsewhere, a service of blessing over the marriage may be performed. This is the very worst kind of compromise that pleases no side as we have observed in the  months since.

It seems to me that it is a pastoral impossibility, in a single parish church or congregation, to simultaneously affirm that it is not right (sinful!) to form same-sex marriages but that it is good to formally approve and bless such a marriage once formed. A minister in that church would, in effect, be saying to certain parishioners it is not right for you to marry but, then, to other parishioners, it’s perfectly right and good for you to be married! It does seem to me, that for an individual parish church it has to be one or the other. It can’t be both.

I do not know if the Anglican Church has the mechanisms or procedures to allow individual parish churches to hold different views on this matter but I would suggest this is the better way forward. It declares that our position on same-sex marriages is not of fundamental importance to our unity as Christians – we will all stand before the judgement throne purely on the basis of what Christ has done for us and on our faith in Him – but, it recognises that we humbly hold very different understandings of what scripture teaches on this matter and that these differences are pastorally incompatible at the local level. Unity does not mean I must agree with my brother on every single matter (if it did, then I would have to seriously question the salvation of Christians claiming to be Tory 😊) but it does mean that, sometimes, it is better to live in separate houses because of these differences while acknowledging we are still family.

As a Senior Pastor, I led a complex church: multi-congregational, multisite, multi-lingual and multicultural.  Sometimes, the differing expectations, differing outlooks, differing assumptions made life very fraught (ask the wife!). It’s with considerable sympathy, then, that I regard Justin Welby and his unenviable task of leading the Anglican Communion which spans not only hundreds of parish churches in the UK but individual communions across continents. At the best of times, it is a complex task requiring great diligence and care to navigate tricky currents. When times are contentious those tricky currents become treacherous and can explode in raging white water threatening to overturn the boat each moment that passes. I am really glad I am not the Archbishop of Canterbury!