The Rhythm of Pilgrimage

The Rhythm of Pilgrimage
Deuteronomy 15: 19- 16: 17

Five or six miles from where I live is an Episcopal church whose leadership and congregation recently decided to withdraw from its identification with the Episcopal Church in the United States, while staying Anglican in a broader sense. It thus became a missionary parish under the oversight of a bishop in another part of the world, one of a number of parishes in Los Angeles that have taken this action. While the denomination’s stance on same-sex marriage has been one factor in this development, these congregations have a broader conviction that the denomination plays fast and loose with Christian doctrine. If a congregation does believe that the church at the center has gone off the rails and that it can no longer associate with it, it is wise to submit itself to some other oversight rather than to assume it will be fine on its own. (I am not concerned to comment on the rights and wrongs of these congregations’ action; I am still in the Episcopal Church myself.) In contrast, sometimes the center may stay on the rails, and its job is to take action if the church locally falls off them. The Episcopal bishops recently declined to ordain as bishop a priest who said he was a Buddhist as well as a Christian...