THE FIRST EPISCOPALIAN

Depending on one’s perspective, St. Augustine was the Apostle to England sent by the Pope to convert heathen there. Others assert he was simply an emissary who, upon arriving on the English shores, discovered a nascent Christian community already in place brought there, some believe, by Joseph of Arimathaea, he of the linen cloth and owner of the tomb after Jesus’ crucifixion. The truth is, no one knows how the Christian faith reached England .

We may not know who the first Anglican Christian was, but I do know who the first Episcopalian was. My Friday morning Bible-studying colleague, Bob Janney, clued me in. We were reading the Acts of the Apostles and discussing one of Paul’s missionary journeys and Paul himself. I mentioned the fact that Paul was always getting into trouble not only because he sometimes was too bullheaded to take "no" for an answer but mainly because, as he said in his own words, he tried to be all things to all people. Bob’s quick response was, "Paul must have been the first Episcopalian."

When I told my wife about that exchange, she did the same thing I did, she broke out into a very long and hearty laugh. Bob was and is right. If Paul was not the first real Episcopalian, he certainly seems to be our patron saint given who we seem to want to be as the Episcopal Church: a church of all things to all people. We certainly have made a very good effort over the years to be so inclusive that we exclude no one. The recent actions at General Convention are only the latest indication of this truth.

Over the years great brouhahas arose in the Episcopal Church over the ordination of women, the seating of women in General Convention, allowing divorced people to remarry and have their marriages blessed by the church, over issues of birth control and civil rights and civil liberties. People rose up in righteous indignation asserting that such actions not only would split the church but were also immoral and wrong. This latest issue was, of course, not the first, nor will it be the last given both the nature of our church and human nature itself.

Perhaps life would be easier if it were not so messy. Life in the church certainly would be. But for better or for worse, that is also who we are, whom we have chosen to be. We are a church of all sorts and conditions of people, a church willing to take on the hard and difficult issues, allowing those who disagree to disagree, willing to live together as a loving community while not having all the answers, knowing we will all never agree on everything except our faith in Jesus.

Paul, in trying to please everyone, certainly displeased many, even his closest friends and supporters. It is dangerous to try to be all things to all people, to welcome everyone, to invite all to the table. When we open the doors to our church and our heart, many will walk through whom we might prefer would not. When we do, we know somehow that we will never be the same again because those who enter will change us and will change us, whether we realize it or not at the time, for the better.                WJP