Canada's Archbishop Andrew Hutchison preaches in Cuba
Episcopal News Service. February 7, 2007 [020707-01]
The Most Rev. Andrew S. Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, delivered an address at the opening Eucharist of the Synod of the Episcopal Church of Cuba February 2. The full text of Hutchison's sermon follows.
The Synod of the Episcopal Church of Cuba
Opening Eucharist – February 2, 2007
I welcome the opportunity to be with you once again for your diocesan Synod, and to bring you greetings on behalf of the Metropolitan Council of Cuba.
My colleagues on the Council are the Most Reverend Drexel Gomez, Primate of the West Indies, the Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts-Shori of the Episcopal Church of the United States and our Secretary, Archdeacon Michael Pollesel, General Secretary of the Anglican Church of Canada. You will know that according to your constitution there are certain responsibilities assigned to us. Yesterday we met with your Bishop, as is our custom, and discussed a number of important matters that will be reported to you later in the Synod. For the moment let me say only that we welcome to the Council the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church who has chosen to make Cuba one of her first visits outside the United States since taking office. We take that as a symbol of a new commitment to the Church in Cuba on the part of the Episcopal Church in the United States.
The Metropolitan Council serves as your connection to the wider Anglican Communion, offering friendship, counsel and advice to your Bishop and the people of the diocese. The Canadian Primate serves as President of the Council, and I want to say how much I have valued this aspect of my primacy during the past two and a half years. This will be my last synod with you, since the date of mandatory retirement is approaching, and I will step down as Primate following the election of my successor at the end of June. It has been a joy to work with Bishop Miguel and Francisco, who give such steady and enthusiastic leadership to strengthen the Church in Cuba.
You have chosen as a theme for your Synod a prayer:
Grant us a heart
Big enough to love,
Strong enough to strive.
It arises from the Gospel appointed for this liturgy. The scene is the last supper. Jesus knew that his betrayal was immanent, and by way of last things to leave to his little family of disciples he gives them a new commandment,
that you love one another
as I have loved you, that
you also love one another.
Jesus goes on to say,
By this all will know that
you are my disciples, if
you have love for one another.
This, then, is the distinguishing mark of a faithful Christian community. We bear witness to the love of God in Jesus Christ. That love was realized in a life of service and sacrifice that offered forgiveness and new life to all who would receive it.
Just over a year ago it was my privilege to lead an ecumenical delegation to China. Through the 1970's the country went through what was called a cultural revolution. All the churches were closed or taken over by the Red Army for other purposes. The clergy were sent to the factories and fields as laborers. Ten years later the revolution came to an end. The church could identify only 600,000 Christians remaining in China. They reflected on what the future of Christianity might be in their country. As they looked to the earlier mission they could not deny that it had brought much good. But they also saw that it had been aggressive, triumphalist and judgmental. They would say very un-Chinese. So under the guidance of Bishop K. H. Ting, the last living Anglican Bishop in China, they undertook a theological reconstruction. They asked themselves "How could the Gospel of Jesus Christ commend itself to the Chinese people in the present context?" The new focus was not on the power and majesty and might of God, but on the servant Jesus, who walked among the poor and washed the feet of his disciples. Had not their clergy walked among the poor and shared their sufferings through the Cultural Revolution? So they assessed the needs of the people, and they addressed those needs. The church trained village doctors; they initiated a ministry to the blind, a ministry to autistic children, to drug abusers, to ex-convicts all in the name of following in the hope-bearing footsteps of the servant Jesus. In less than 20 years there are now 20 million Christians in China. The church is the fastest growing organization in the country. "The kingdom of God is within you, and among you," said Jesus. It is a kingdom that advances as the divine love in action is experienced and stirs within human hearts.
So you come together with your Bishop called by the Spirit of God with the prayer,
Grant us a heart
big enough to love.
The baptismal covenant calls us to,
Strive for justice and peace
among all people and (to)
respect the dignity of
every human being
Most of us I hope would say that we are generally in favour of justice and peace, and even mutual respect among people. But that is now what is asked of us. We are asked, "Will you strive for it?" Will you work to make a difference so that the world will be more just and peaceful, and relationships more respectful because of you. We know of so much injustice and conflict in the world, and so much degradation in human relationships. Can we really make a difference? As we think globally, there is so much that seems beyond our control. But we can act locally to assure justice and peace in our families, in the family of the church, and in the community in which we live. In our relationships we can guarantee respect for the dignity and integrity of others, even when we disagree with them. If we do that for Christ who calls us to it, then the kingdom of God grows within you and among you even as it is growing in China. So in this synod of pray,
Grant us a heart
strong enough to strive.
We are a global family of churches throughout the world in 164 countries setting forth the good news of God's love in a variety of political and cultural contexts, and in a variety of circumstances of conflict and peace, of poverty and prosperity, and at various stages of social, economic and technological development. We reach out to one another in love to encourage one another in the growing realization of the Kingdom of God within and among us – that kingdom of justice, peace and right relationships that are the fruit of God's love.
We encourage and collaborate with governments in the realization of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals. In the 1960's a Canadian, Marshall McLuhan described the world as a global village, and so it has become. Through information technology and modern transportation the world has become smaller and more immediate for us all. We can no longer afford to live in isolation from one another, nor effectively shut one another out from the opportunity and abundance with which God has blessed the whole human family. As the world supply of fossil fuels is consumed we all lose; as the ozone layer grows because of increasing toxicity in the environment, we are all affected; as the polar ice cap melts, the effects on weather are global; the AIDS pandemic, once a local issue, takes its toll around the world, the pollution of fresh water, the devastation of old growth forests, the loss of fish stocks are all issues for the whole human family. The scandal of poverty and lack of education, opportunity and health care are serious concerns for us all. And armed conflicts and the atrocities associated with them destabilize the whole world for future generations.
Despite all of this, God has not given up on us, but has planted forever among us signs of his kingdom of justice and peace. In such a world we are called to bear witness to his love, here in Cuba and throughout the world. So in this synod we pray,
Grant us a heart
Big enough to love,
Strong enough to strive.