Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Respectful at Episcopal Cafe

My newest post is up today at Episcopal Cafe. It's timely, as it addresses how we might address those who will be part of the new union among the Common Cause Partnership, and their efforts for a new "Anglican" province in North America.

In an interesting coincidence, I met at a patient's bedside yesterday a priest of a local congregation that left an Episcopal diocese to seek oversight from Uganda. This particular priest had been arguably aggressive in encouraging Episcopalians to leave their congregations. When last I had seen him he was a deacon in the Episcopal Church. The meeting was pleasant and sociable, without reference to Episcopal/Anglican issues. At the patient's request, we prayed together. Both of us prayed, without any sense of stepping on each other's toes (well, no more than is common when any congregational minister and I meet at the bedside of that minister's member, whatever the tradition). The patient was pleased. God was served. The encounter was good.

As a colleague said later, "Perhaps if we spent more time praying together, we wouldn't have these tensions...." I would respectfully agree.

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