Pastoral Letter of the House of Bishops
Diocesan Press Service. November 2, 1964 [XXVI-2]
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Brethren, at the Anglican Congress in Toronto in 1963, the Archbishop of Canterbury said, "A Church that lives to itself will die by itself," a vivid negative summary of the positive report, "Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ. " His words, loyal to the thought of Scripture, are the text of this Pastoral Letter.
Since the Church is an organism - the Body of Christ, with many members - any part of the Body, severed from the life-giving whole, will perish spiritually, then physically. Since our Lord said, "I am the Vine, and ye are the branches," we know what happens to a branch severed from the life-giving vine. Since the Holy Spirit is out-going Love, and sin is self-centredness - a false isolation - living curved in on oneself, that which lives curved in on itself, will die by itself. "Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ" is, thus, a great, old, authoritative, necessarily general, policy principal for the Church, which the General Church and each unique diocese and congregation must apply to its particular circumstances. Against this background, from St. Louis, we speak under three main headings.
I
First, the Church, by its nature, is a worshiping Body, living to God and not to itself. We are not self-contained, but a Body open to God's Word in Scripture, singing His praises, confessing sins to Him, and living by His Grace. This living to God is what makes us "a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people. " This is the source of our inspiration and renewal. If we have not joy, hope, and power from God; if we are not freed by Him from earth's fears, hatreds, divisions, and hopelessness, how can we truly serve? If we are not put to rights by worship, how can God use us to put the world to rights?
We live, then, not to ourselves, but to Christ; praying that the Holy Spirit may give to us wisdom, unity, zeal, and love; praying that we may be what we are, a Body living by God and for God, and never, never, a self-contained club, complacent in success, or filled with worldly despair over adversity. In the brave words of Bishop Lichtenberger, we are "joyful now, " serving God with "a quiet mind, a ready will, and a merry heart. " "With a joyful heart, " said he, "we live hopefully in the world. " Without God, we cannot please God; living to ourselves, we perish spiritually by ourselves.
II
Second, when we face God in worship, He faces us back to the world He created and loves. There are two conversions - one as we turn from self to God; the other as He turns us back to the world. The Creator has a will for His world, and poured forth His love for it in Christ, Who taught that the second commandment is like the first. And so the Prayer Book prays in the world, for the world; prays "for the whole state of Christ's Church, " for education, for justice, for government, for the home, for peace, for "all sorts and conditions of men."
It is this turning to the world which saves Church life from being trivial; for, be it remembered, that whenever we do not act in our communities as we pray, men come to believe that we are not related to life, that faith has no important consequences, and that the Church is not relevant to the world's joys and pain. Once again, "the Church that lives to itself, will die by itself."
(a) The Church, as it lives for God and His world, must consider the new nature of the world, and read aright the signs of the times. Of the many marks of the new age, perhaps the most all- embracing. is the massive fact of .rapid change, leading us to say that an old person living today has seen more changes in man's daily life than occurred in all previous history. This means, not only that the Church, like all institutions, must change in order to preserve itself, but that it is called by God to change in order that it may serve.
If men can travel by jet to the ends of the earth, or within dioceses by super-highway, it is clear that, reading aright the signs of the times, God calls us to a new "Mutual Responsibility and Interdependence in the Body of Christ. " Let no man say that this curtails our freedom; for freedom, properly understood, is always social and responsible. The speed of communication of the modern world, then, liberates us to be truer members of the Church universal, to "bear one another's burdens," to die to old and false isolations, and to lose ourselves that we may find ourselves. The Church is not, by its nature, a series of parishes or dioceses - like marbles on a tray; it is, rather, a world Body, brotherhood, fellowship, through which there moves a common divine Life. Let us see, then, as a great opportunity, that the Hand of God in modern history is pushing us together, and calling us to become what we are. To fail to adapt to new facts, the life, forms, and structures of the Church at all levels (national, diocesan, and parochial) is a form of disobedience, a living to oneself, which receives an observable judgment.
(b) All of us are sometimes numbed by the massiveness of the world's problems and needs. In addition to racial tensions, the problems of urbanism, and the threat of nuclear war, we know that half the world goes to bed hungry. But God does not call His creatures to an impossible task; nor, since our circumstances vary, does He ask us primarily to "succeed. " He asks of us, rather, loyalty in the station in which we are placed. God has placed us all in subdivisions, in platoons, of the one human race, and it is in these, and through these, that we are called to learn, grow, and act. Our own spiritual home, subdivision, platoon - call it what you will - is the great inclusive Anglican Communion. We are not disembodied creatures, vaguely looking at an impossible task; we are members of this branch of Christ's Church, with God calling us at our different levels to quite definite local responsibility, Anglican fellowship, and ever widening ecumenical encounter within the whole company of Christ's people.
III
Because theology should end in action, and great facts should appeal to the will, we ask all the dioceses and congregations of the Church, without exception, to do the following:
1. Since "what we do with our money is significant as a symbol of what we are doing with our lives," join, as your circumstances dictate, in greater support in money and manpower, through old and new channels, to be developed by our Overseas Department and The Executive Council, in cooperation with other churches of the Anglican Communion. As we ask our people to be responsible stewards of their possessions, let the leaders of the local congregation, the diocese, and the General Church never for a moment forget they, too, are stewards responsible to God for the world mission of the whole Body.
2. Let us study and evaluate the structure and organization of the Church at the level for which we are responsible, and test every activity at every level by the test of mission and service to others. Do our organizations and activities conform to the great purpose of the Church? Are our structures appropriate?
"The Church exists to witness, to obey, and to serve," said the leaders of our world Church; and that means that organizational structure must follow purpose. Every department of the national Church and diocese, every vestry and local organization, must ask itself whether its structure and activities show forth what is really important to God and men. Why, for example, if we have borrowed money for ourselves, do we never think of borrowing for others? And why, when a thousand dollars will build a church in Zululand, and eight thousand dollars double the salaries of twenty-eight priests in Malawi, do we not wrestle with the problem of priorities as we spend so much on ourselves at every level of The Church's life?
3. Let us learn humbly the way to receive, as well as to give, when we enter into deep relationship with other cultures and other churches. It is always a peculiar arrogance to believe that we do not need to receive; that, spiritually, we possess all we need. Surely, if others increase our vision, warm our hearts, and teach us the glory of Christ, that is receiving. If our values are straight, we know that fellowship in Christ is an end in itself, and that what we give materially from our relative abundance is a little thing compared to the fellowship, faith, and new meaning that can light our altars as we truly work and pray "for the whole state of Christ's Church. " "I long to see you, " says St. Paul to the Church in Rome; "I want to bring you some spiritual gift to make you strong - rather, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine. "
4. Let us develop every possible channel for communication with our distant brethren in the Anglican Communion, as well, of course, with our brethren in other parishes in our own diocese. We can do this generally through The Anglican World, The Episcopalian, and other magazines, and through the guided and specific prayers of the booklet, Make His Name Glorious, published by The Forward Movement. We can write to the committee or department in our own diocese concerned with world mission, and ask for advice on a particular relationship we can build with far-off people.
Already this great movement has begun. Seventeen dioceses and 191 parishes have established companion relationships with missionaries and dioceses in other parts of our Communion. Sixty-five parishes are in a partnership program with parishes of the Philippine Independent Church. Twelve dioceses have established Departments of World Mission or Committees on Mutual Responsibility. Already the gifts of the United Thank Offering have gone to the ends of the earth. This letter requests that, without exception, we begin these new relationships, opening our hearts that new Life may flow in.
It is true that a Church, living to itself, will die by itself. But it is also true that, if we live for others, we will be blessed in both obvious and subtle ways by the Servant Lord of the Church.
Stir up, we beseech Thee, 0 Lord, the wills of Thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by Thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
St. Louis, Mo.
October 23, 1964