The klieg lights are on in Downers Grove this week, as national media and the United Methodist Church follow the peculiar phenomenon of Rev. Greg Dell’s church trial, a theo-judicial drama in a sanctuary turned courtroom.
But if Dell’s trial represents a new level of confrontation over homosexuality in the Protestant church, it is only the most public sign of what lies ahead.
In the Anglican world, a much quieter but equally peculiar standoff is under way.
On Feb. 26, eight Anglican bishops from around the world sent an unprecedented letter to Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold of the Episcopal Church in the United States. The bishops–three Africans, two South Americans and leaders of Anglican churches in Australia, Southeast Asia and Jerusalem–reminded Griswold that last summer’s Lambeth Conference, which brings together the entire Anglican Communion, had voted to declare that homosexual behavior is contrary to scripture
The letter went on to assert that some Episcopalians continue to condone homosexuality and urged Griswold to bring his flock into line with the Lambeth resolution.
The Anglican Communion is a voluntary and fairly loose organization of churches that trace their roots to the Church of England. The communion has no direct authority over member churches; in the past, these ecclesiastical cousins said what they had to say at Lambeth, then went their own ways for the next nine years.
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Now the Anglicans’ more conservative leaders appear ready to take on their older, and more liberal, relatives in North America and Western Europe. Griswold, in his own genteel fashion, signaled that he’ll look them in the eye; he invited his accusers to visit local churches they are talking about and see what’s going on for themselves. They have yet to RSVP.
Griswold, whose personal sympathies run toward extending church blessing to homosexual people and relationships, has a powerful ally, George Carey, the archbishop of Canterbury and nominal leader of the Anglican Communion. Both have asserted that the conversation on homosexuality is only beginning and that it will take considerable time to resolve.
In part that is a way of telling the conservative majority that arm twisting won’t work. But it also hints at a larger truth, one that underlies the conflict among not only the world’s 70 million Anglicans, but also the Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans and others.
The parties that disagree about homosexuality also differ about far more fundamental matters: what the Bible is, how to use it, even who Jesus Christ was and is. For decades, even centuries, Christians have spoken common words that mean vastly different things to different people, some of whom sit side by side on Sundays or at grand gatherings like Lambeth.
In the most heated disputes, homosexuality being at the top of the list, those differences break the surface. Once engaged, there will be no quick or easy resolution.
Seasonal convergence: Once again the Big Three of Monotheism find some of their most sacred holy days overlapping, a fairly frequent occurrence between Jews and Christians, less common with Muslims, whose lunar calendar moves backward through the modern year.
This weekend Muslims will celebrate one of two major feasts, Eid ul-Adha, the celebration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son to God and God’s willingness to save him. In Chicago, an estimated 15,000 Muslims are expected to gather at McCormick Place Sunday for a prayer service followed by feasting, shopping, mingling and celebrating.
Wednesday, Jews mark the beginning of Passover, the eight-day commemoration usually kicked off with a Seder meal among family and friends. But in Chicago, a new tradition picked up speed this week, as the second annual African-American/Jewish Seder attracted more than 600 people to the Chicago Hilton and Towers. The interfaith service is sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, the Chicago Board of Rabbis, the Chicago Urban League, St. Thomas Episcopal Church and Young Leaders United.
Meanwhile, Sunday–Palm Sunday–begins Christianity’s Holy Week, leading up to Easter. The public face of the observation may be most visible on Good Friday, which more and more churches mark with a representation of the stations of the cross, Jesus’ final journey. The largest may be Pilsen’s Via Crucis, an emotional procession through the streets organized by eight Catholic parishes, beginning at St. Adalbert at 9 a.m.
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