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August 2005, Page 4.
Index of articles:
by subject,
by date.
In this issue:
August 2005
Star Wars,
I need you,
Ang/Meth,
Terrorism,
Question.
In the Spirit of the Covenant?
Anglicans and Methodists entered into a "Covenant" in 2003, in which they agreed to try to work together as much as possible and to make progress towards unity. So the "Joint Implementation Group" has produced an interim report.
The report basically has two parts. On p1-35, there are some reflections on what "covenant" means, some stories of how different local churches are actually working together, and a "guide to good covenanting" which says some very sensible things - such as you can't expect a marriage without each of the partners having to give way a bit to the other. All this is very sensible and commendable.
But I think p36-116, an examination of what still separates us, is a negative and fruitless piece of work. It looks at three issues:
- communion bread and wine,
- who may consecrate it, and
- accepting each other's ministers;
Methodists hate Anglican wafers as they aren't "one bread", but Anglicans hate Methodist glass beakers as they aren't "one cup". So let's not do either of these, says the report. Let's always have one small loaf which we consecrate and then divide for the people, and let's always have one container for the wine even if we later pour it out into lots of glass cups.
At first sight this seems OK - it's the line of least resistance, and will be acceptable to all. But hang on a minute! Are we really saying that if it's not done like this it's not holy communion? We should really be saying that both churches' traditions are acceptable, not that we have to find a narrow compromise.
Because, let's face it, there are other issues which simply can't be resolved that way. Anglican canon law insists on alcoholic communion wine, but Methodists always use non-alcoholic wine because there may be reformed alcoholics present. There's no way of inventing wine which is both alcoholic and non-alcoholic at the same time. Instead of insisting on an acceptable compromise, we ought to be saying it doesn't matter!
After all, when St Paul writes about "discerning the body of the Lord" (in 1 Corinthains 11:29), he doesn't mean is the bread properly consecrated? He means have we recognised that the Lord is truly present in the people? In both Anglicans and Methodists?
The main problem with p36-116 of this report is it's not really in the Spirit of the Covenant, despite its title. I hope that people reading it will be able to see that it's a blind alley, and not go there!
John Hartley