On Saturday afternoon the President of the House of Deputies asked for the house to suspend its normal calendar and allow for five guests to speak to the House. By this time we were behind on our work and had pages and pages of resolutions to review and dispatch. This seemed like yet another unneeded and tedious interruption. I couldn't have been more wrong.Five people came to the podium. They were Esther Mombo (Kenya), the Very Rev. Victor Atta-Baffoe (Ghana), the Rev. Luiz Alberto Barbosa (Brazil), the Very. Rev. Rowan Smith (Canada) and Jenny Te Paa (New Zealand and Aoterea). Each of them made the obligatory thank you's and spoke graciously to the members of the House of Deputies. But with each speaker the language became more open and supportive of the Episcopal Church and specifically of who we are in light of the tensions within the communion. This pattern reached its zenith with Jenny Te Paa who spoke the longest and the most candidly.
Her words regularly set a lump in my throat and on at least 4 occasions brought tears to my eyes. Here is a small example of what she said:
If I could be so bold I want also to assure you that among ourselves as your international friends we are now all quietly urging you not to dwell unduly with any sense of uncertainty about your place within the global Anglican Communion. Sure the fearmongerers abound – they always have and they always will but surely our gaze must always be fixed beyond the horizon of fear and just as surely that gaze must always apprehend first and foremost the images of those who are the least among us.
After 6 years of argument, tension, and (frankly) vilification by many within the Anglican Communion and a less than warm attitude from the Archbishop of Canterbury I had come to a place where I had stopped speaking of being an Anglican and spoke principally about being an Episcopalian. I knew that I had pain about this, but these affirmations from churches in the Global South made it clear that I had felt more than hurt, the loss of identity as an Anglican was the source of even deeper pain.
Thanks to these speakers, especially Jenny Te Paa, I once again am proud to say that we truly are Anglicans. I invite you to do likewise.
To read all of Jenny Te Paa's speech click here.
Peace and joy,
Mike Mayor
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Mike, I heard Jenny Te Paa at an Epiphany West Conference, along with a priest from Brazil. They were both wonderful speakers and brought the same kind of response that you felt this time. We are not alone and we must continue to be authentic. Whether or not we would ever be "kicked out" of the Anglican Communion or not, we will always be Anglicans.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts.