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Two Steps toward Denominational Renewal – An Open Letter to TREC

Two Steps toward Denominational Renewal – An Open Letter to TREC
Noli me tangere, Antonio da Correggio (public domain)

This post has a backstory.

In response to the recent Letter from TREC, I wrote a post in response to the Acts 8 Blogforce Scramble. I thought I was alone in my concerns until I noticed that Tom Ehrich had written something along similar lines for the Religion News Service. When I thanked him for it, and included the link to my post, he invited me to write for his publication Fresh Day. “What do you think TREC should be doing?” he asked. He agreed that I would post my answer to my blog as well as to Fresh Day.

Without this invitation, I don’t think I would have been bold enough to write an open letter to the task force with suggestions for their work. Because of Tom, I did. I thank him for the encouragement.

This letter has been emailed to the Task Force.

Holy Cross Day 2014

Dear Task Force to Re-imagine the Episcopal Church,

It seems like every time you release a document a good bit of your reward is public criticism. I bet that’s discouraging, and I’m sorry. I write this out of gratitude for your dedication to our common mission – to equip the church we love to thrive in the present day.

As the Episcopal Church stumbles into the twenty-first century, we still remember Mary’s visit to the tomb early on a Sunday morning two thousand years ago. She weeps because she believes Jesus is gone forever. In her grief, she cannot see Jesus greeting her. (John 20:11-18)

Noli me tangere, Antonio da Correggio (public domain)
Noli me tangere, Antonio da Correggio (public domain)

Like Mary, we can become so lost in grief for what is gone that we do not recognize what is here. We mistake Christ Himself for a gardener. I write this letter to ask you: please, acknowledge our grief; please, help us to see.

Acknowledge our grief: The trends of our times indicate that not all of the churches we love will survive this century. Too often, we deny this possibility with bright talk of church growth. But it needs to be named and it has to be grieved. Your acknowledgement of potential church closings and the complex emotions surrounding them would help us move out of denial and into more compassionate clarity. This is a conversation the church needs to have across diocesan boundaries. You are uniquely positioned to begin it.

Help us to see: In faith we accept the promise that Christ has a new day for His church. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). We do not know what the Episcopal Church of 2050 will look like. But we can be confident that Christ has a future for us. Even now, there are places in the church which are early indicators of that future. Could the Episcopal Church create an online commons where we share innovations, vibrant ministries, and “holy hunches” so we can learn from one another and be inspired by what the Holy Spirit is already doing in our midst? Various people have created different hubs for this work, but you have the eyes of the whole church to create a single commons. Your sponsorship of such an initiative would help us all to re-imagine local ministry – to open our eyes and see that the risen Christ is already here, greeting us by name.

You were called into being by a holy longing for a renewed church. Your focus on the churchwide governance mandate you received is understandable. But the potential exists for you also to enable Christ’s church to engage our dying and rising in a more intentional way together. Through wider sharing of information, deeper conversations, and the work of the Holy Spirit among us, we could discover the ways the church is already being renewed – the “ten thousand places” where Christ plays, while we look in the one place he will never stay: the tomb.

Please lead the way for us to live into that holy longing and accept the promise of renewal that Christ always offers His people.

I ask your prayers and I promise you mine,
Nurya Love Parish