Barry Goldwater, a man of firm opinion, once wrote a letter about something that particularly irritated him. The letter began with "I'm p...ed!" It expresses perfectly my feeling after reading the story of two meetings the Presiding Bishop held on two major issues, ordination of women and the place of homosexuals within our church [TLC, May 11], both of which are due to come before General Convention. The content of the meetings was bothersome. There are committees in existence with the responsibility for dealing with these issues. What really irked me, however, is the way in which fear motivated the meetings.

One bishop, who was not named, wondered whether the meetings may be too late to prevent the church from "destruction." I still believe the language of Onward Christian Soldiers: "Hell's foundations quiver" at the march of the church through history. This is God's church. To talk glibly of destruction is close to apostasy!

Two of the four nominees for Presiding Bishop reportedly were among those who attended the meeting on the ordination of homosexual persons and blessing of same-sex relationships. Who were they? Were we not told because someone is afraid? Ordination of homosexuals has been taking place for years. The blessing of same-sex relationships is going on all over the United States as more and more clergy and lay people, and even a bishop or two, come "out."

The meetings took place, we are told, following widely circulated reports that a move had been made by some of the primates of the Anglican Communion to excommunicate the Episcopal Church from the Anglican Communion. Who are these arrogant primates? Shades of papal politics, when the pope issued a bull of excommunication against the English Church. Roman Catholics have been trying to explain that one for 400 years, by saying Henry VII founded the Church of England. How will we explain our arrogant primates?

All of the above examples represent someone's fear - or they are meant to inspire fear in others in order to achieve an end and control events.

Looming on the horizon is Lambeth Conference 1998 [TLC, June 8]. The "gloom and doom" proclaimers reach as far as they can to scare us. The longest reach was made into the Articles of Religion, which are meant to be for our instruction. They are talked about as if they were something we could violate like constitution and canons.

It bothers me profoundly that two groups of people are being scapegoated by all of this behavior. The fear is so great in some of our leaders that they use women and gays and lesbians as victims. Women are representative of 50 percent of the world's population - and slightly more than 50 pecent of the population of the Episcopal Church. Lambeth Conference, in 1998, will have at least 10 women bishops present. The Episcopal Church, acting as part of the Anglican Communion, has done its homework well on ordination of women. We are accompanied by Canada, England, New Zealand, and many other parts of this worldwide Communion. Will all of those churches in different parts of the world be accused of violating Article VI of the Articles of Religion? We'll be the laughingstock of the Christian world.

The second group being scapegoated is the gay and lesbian community. They, as a group, represent at least 2 percent (and by some estimates 10 percent) of the world population. To be conservative, we're talking about somewhere between 120 million and 600 million people. In the past 25 years, we have become conscious of that population in a new and vivid way. There are those who are trying to bulldoze this church into saying that these people have no right to intimacy.

My wife, Nancy, and I were privileged to be present in Southwark Cathedral in England last November. It was the 20th anniversary of the Lesbian Gay Christian Ministry. Some 2,000 people attended that service. Is the Christian Church of England to be excommunicated as a result of what is happening in its midst? Is it fear to be assuaged today as it was 4,000 years ago - by sacrificing victims?

Where is our sense of mission? I read the article about the suggestion for parallel bishops [TLC, May 11]. The illustration taken from the life of the Diocese of Pennsylvania seems an oxymoron. It is described as a way the diocese is carrying out mission. Among the congregations being served by Bishop Parsons, there seemed no sense of mission whatsoever. Before the 1988 Lambeth Conference, we debated the idea of parallel bishops at the General Convention in Detroit. It had little effect when it was finally approved as a concept to take to Lambeth. The English Church has apparently decided to use it. It may work for them, but we need to develop our own sense of mission and not emulate another place. Fear, if great enough, and if it becomes a substitute for our sense of mission, is a sign of Satan. Where is our proclamation of hope, and our sense of God's love and compassion?

I think we all need to take something home from General Convention instead of fear, gloom and doom. I think it's time we take home a renewed sense of responsibility about mission. I think people who are in opposition to the present direction of the church need to rediscover hope, not just for themselves, but a sense of personal hope they can be challenged to hold out to and for others. We have a great Communion. It represents, in our broken world, God's love and compassion. Our church is not a debating society. If we go home scared, or even if we permit fear to guide our decisions in Philadelphia, our bishops won't know how to go to Lambeth, our clergy won't know how to lead, and our laity will say "ho-hum." If we are a responsible, mission oriented people, ready to carry hope and forgiveness to a broken world, the world will change because of us. Let's get with it, for God's sake.

The Rt. Rev. Walter C. Righter is the retired Bishop of Iowa. He lives in Alstead, N.H.