The Church’s Purpose
Did you know William Temple, Archbishop of York from 1929-1942 and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1942-1944, preached at St. Paul’s in the late 1930s? According to our parish history, written by Alice Roettger and Joe Thompson, we were one of only five churches in which he preached during his second visit to the United States.
I have found no record of the text of his sermon. But I hope he mentioned what Oxford Reference calls his personal dictum: “The Church exists primarily for the sake of those who are still outside it.” He appears to have shared this motto many times in various forms, another being “The Church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members.”
Based on three decades of ordained experience, I’d say more often than not the church forgets this truth. As we approach the 80th General Convention of The Episcopal Church meeting in Baltimore next month, the latest kerfuffle is about communion. Who is eligible to receive the Body and Blood of Christ? One side, represented by a recent open letter written by scholars from several of our Episcopal seminaries, advocates for the traditional and canonical practice restricting communion to the baptized. A second open letter responding to the first, signed by clergy, laity and academics, advocates for the removal of the canonical requirement, thus opening the reception of communion to those who are not yet baptized.
My point in bringing this up is not to dive into the debate. My concern is the debate itself. I take the sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion seriously. But I wonder, is this debate really where the focus of the church needs to be right now?
We live in a time in which fewer and fewer people engage in organized religion. There are now predictions about the death of The Episcopal Church because of the rapidly decreasing numbers of people who attend and participate in our congregations. A recent survey sponsored by The Episcopal Church, Jesus in America, makes clear that non-Christians have very low opinions of us. We’re seen as hypocritical, judgmental, self-righteous, arrogant, unforgiving and selfish. I imagine a debate about who is eligible to receive communion only reinforces these perceptions.
Thirty-six years ago, I left the Southern Baptist Convention because of people demanding and enforcing theological and organizational purity. I learned then that insistence on purity ultimately leads us away from the core practices of the faith to which Jesus called us: radical hospitality, sacrificial love, servanthood, striving for justice. “God loves you, no exceptions,” we like to say in The Episcopal Church. Yet when our practices become too restrictive and pure, they communicate exactly the opposite.
If Easter had been one week earlier this year, our opening collect for this coming Sunday would have been the prayer appointed for Proper 6. It’s an outstanding prayer, reminding us for whom the church exists. Since it will be Trinity Sunday, and we won’t pray it, I’ll share it here. I suspect William Temple would approve.
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion: for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
