That We All May Be One

An extremely productive trip to Rome last week. The Presiding Bishop’s Canon and I spent some time with the clergy of the Convocation of North American Churches in Europe at a conference/retreat center called the “Palazzola” across the lake from the Pope’s summer residence and overlooking the Vatican in the distance.

They are a great group of clergy, spread out from Paris to Geneva to Munich to Rome and beyond. And I was once again convinced that, in spite of the fact that we have two Anglican jurisdictions in Europe (the Church of England and us) there is a real need for the American-based Episcopal Church to have a witness there. We need to cooperate with our Church of England colleagues (and with the Old Catholics, Lutherans and ecumenical partners there) but our perspective is an important one, I think.

Meetings at the Vatican were warm (if clear and direct) and we found once again that the Roman Catholic Church deeply cares about the Anglican Communion and wants us to find a way through our current difficulties. We heard this from Cardinal Kasper from Bishop Farrell from Fr. Don Boland and others.

The presenting issue may be human sexuality, but what they are most concerned about is ecclesiology — what does it mean to be “church” and what kind of global ecumenical partner do they really have? That’s the question we need to be wrestling with.

They know that the Lambeth Conference cannot “fix” all our problems, but they await it with great anticipation for some sense of where we are headed. For my part, I hope as many bishops as possible will be present, that we can avoid divisive legislation, but that we can spend extensive time in prayer and discussion and sustained work on the Anglican Covenant.

I believe that is the Archbishop of Canterbury’s desire as well. Now, if we can just keep the crazies (on all sides) from sabotaging it…!   

Our Lessons from Scripture today form part of an interesting trajectory we can trace through the entire Bible. A trajectory one might identify as moving from punishment to justice to mercy. One of the more disturbing parts of the Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, is this threat attached to the Second Commandment about worshipping idols:

“You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of the parents, to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.” (Exodus 20:5-6)

This idea of the “sins of the fathers being visited upon the sons” sat somewhat uneasily with Israel’s idea of a just God. You can see that hinted at in our Psalm today, “If you, Lord, were to note what is done amiss, O Lord, who could stand? For there is forgiveness with you; therefore you shall be feared…O Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy; with him there is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all their sins.” (Psalm 130:2-3, 6-7)

Indeed, by the time of the Prophet Ezekiel, we get teaching like this one which leads into our First Lesson today: “Yet you say, ‘Why should not the son suffer for the iniquity of the father?’ When the son has done what is lawful and right, and has been careful to observe all my statutes, he shall surely live.  The person who sins shall die. A child shall not suffer for the iniquity of a parent, nor a parent suffer for the iniquity of a child; the righteousness of the righteous shall be shall be his own, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be his own.  But if the wicked turns away from all their sins that they have committed and keep all my statutes and do what is lawful and right, they shall surely live; they shall not die.” (Ezekiel 18:19-21)

So, here we have a kind of “fair is fair” justice with the sinner suffering the consequences of his or her own sin and not punishing the children for it. And we even see mercy beginning to show itself in the possibility of forgiveness after repentance being offered.

Jesus, of course, takes it even further in the Gospels by saying things like, “You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer…You have heard it said, ‘you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love you enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:38 ff).

So, we have a kind of compassion and mercy shown here, so that sinners do not even get what they deserve but are recipients of God’s grace and God’s mercy. In the words of Frederick Faber’s great hymn, “There’s a wideness in God’s mercy like the wideness of the sea/ there’s a kindness in his justice which is more than liberty/. There is welcome for the sinner, and more graces for the good/ there is mercy with the Savior; there is healing in his blood.”

However, lest we get too comfortable with all this, we also need to recognize that Jesus holds us to an even greater standard, in some respects: “You have heard it said…You shall not murder…But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment…If you insult a brother or sister you will be liable to the council; and if you say, You fool, you will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21 ff)  

Jesus looks on the heart and into our intentions, not only to our actions and behaviors.

That means we need to look into those same hearts and intentions before too quickly absolving ourselves of any sin.

We’re all sinners. And we will all stand before God for judgment. It’s just good to know that the sin we will be confronted with is our own sin – not those of our ancestors.

And that the judgment God will render…is always tempered…by mercy!