In 1219, St. Francis of Assisi spoke with three of his brothers who complained that the bishops in outlying areas were forbidding them to preach. Francis was not surprised, since his order was still in its formative stages and bishops were weary of the "self-styled prophets" who challenged the church at every turn. Instead of listening to complaints about unfair prelates, Francis told his friars to go back to their towns and live the gospel for three years. He predicted that a sustained gospel witness would be proof enough and the bishops would beg them to preach.

Obstacles to faithfulness are not unique to the early Franciscan movement. The prophet Elijah was convinced that he was the only faithful one in Israel, and Jonah has always served as an archetypal reminder that God expects prophets to fulfill their ministry in spite of difficulties that come their way.

Many good people feel alienated in the church today because of "intolerable" circumstances they face. Some believe they cannot serve the Lord in their diocese because the local bishop won't ordain women, or because another ordains gays and lesbians to the ministry. Traditionalists in the church worry about a slide into nihilism while progressives fear totalitarian oppression. And as often happens, fringe elements on both sides of divisive issues carry the argument for their side and discernment is drowned in ideology.

As we approach General Convention, we continue our struggle to find a unifying gospel vision which will free us to live as faithful disciples of Jesus Christ. The debate is so serious that there are elements asking Canterbury for a separate Anglican province in America. Failing that, discussions take place about "communion" with a sympathetic primate from another Anglican province to keep our lineage authentic. Steps toward this separation were taken by the Singapore consecrations [TLC, Feb. 13, 20].

The tendency in the church to run away from painful circumstances which seem to threaten our vision of gospel life is common. Each "schismatic" movement in church history might be a moment when vision of the whole is lost and people opt for creating an ecclesial ghetto, where everyone thinks, looks and acts like the other. David Watson, an Anglican clergyman, pointed to the shame of this when he wrote:

"This break with Rome (the Reformation), although probably inevitable due to the corruption of the time, unfortunately led to split after split within the Body of Christ, with the result that the mission of the church is today seriously handicapped by the bewildering plethora of endless denominations ... a torn and divided Christianity is, nevertheless, a scandal for which all Christians need deeply to repent."

Watson looked both at history and the present to see the damage done by separation done under the aegis of doctrine. When one sees the recent Lutheran and Roman Catholic agreement on justification and compares it with the number of lives lost by religious zealotry, one asks ... was any of the quarrel worth it? Throughout history, countless lives have been lost, reputations destroyed and good works inhibited because of a limited perspective on God's will. Yet, the question remains: Given Jesus' commandment for unity as a sign of God's love for the world, what has been served by continued church division?

Sadly, this splintering impulse has also been a part of the Episcopal Church for years. Since the founding of the Reformed Episcopal Church in the 19th century, many "continuing" churches have been formed as people, uncomfortable with the changes in the mainstream life of the Episcopal Church, have formed Anglican-style churches for support, fellowship and a sacramental life. Anglicans Online, a web page devoted to our Communion, lists 23 "continuing" churches in its directory. Presumably, these churches are trying to remain faithful to their understanding of Anglican polity and the gospel.

A review of the vibrancy of these churches, however, poses at least two questions for Episcopalians thinking about separation. One is that several of these groups came into being after having broken away from another on the list. Whether the rupture was rooted in personality conflict or authentic doctrinal differences, it appears that sometimes even reformed churches aren't pure enough for some. The next question then follows the first: "What is the standard or measure of faithfulness for communion?" Is it agreement on sexual ethics, scriptural interpretation, or the style and type of prayer book that qualifies one as an "authentic" Anglican?

The purpose of this article isn't to engage in a debate about Anglican polity as much as it is to suggest that living the gospel, faithfully and with integrity, is possible every day of our lives, no matter where we find ourselves. This is very good news indeed. We don't have to go anywhere else to live as disciples of Jesus. To say that I cannot remain within the Episcopal Church gives another person, movement or philosophy power over my discipleship and in essence, traps me in a web of reaction and anger. A victim-mentality, that is, blaming others for my difficulties, has swept across this country like a wildfire and the church is not immune from its ravages. In some ways it is much easier for the disaffected to point to the "liberals" or the "conservatives" in the church and blame them for all that's wrong than to look deeply at their own lack of faithfulness to God.

Adherents of this thinking process, which we are calling "victim-thinking," are easy to spot. Ecclesiastical victims look for others to blame for their pain and in so doing, derive personal satisfaction from having identified the "enemy." Once having identified their enemies, they profess to love them in Christ's name, but actually speak and act with venom toward them. Because this type of behavior is rooted in pain and anger, their vision becomes myopic, seeing only what is safe to see in politics or doctrine. Finally, once convinced of the rightness of their cause they easily fall into the jihad mentality, which says that "there is no extremism in defense of virtue."

We would suggest that there is a practical way for the Episcopal Church to keep itself together and remain faithful to God's commands which is rooted in gospel simplicity. First, let us agree to stop the violence that we use against each other. If we believe that we can hate our enemies, then we've turned our back on the gospel. Even if you think that the liberals or the conservatives are your enemies, Jesus' command is that you actively love them, and violence is never an act of love.

Next, let us agree to speak honestly, but humbly, in our dealings with each other. To do this requires a grace-infused willingness to see "only dimly" and to trust that God can be heard through the church when the church speaks from an open heart.

Finally, let us agree to be about the kinds of tasks that Jesus commands. In the 25th chapter of St. Matthew's gospel, Jesus identifies those who have done his will and those who have been cast off. Let us embark on a campaign to discover afresh in the words of the gospel the essence of Jesus' teaching and courageously agree to commit to them no matter what the cost.

This course of action and theology is less ideological and more practical. It recognizes that too many lives have been lost, reputations destroyed, and people turned off to the gospel by the schismatic anger of the church. For as long as there are hungry children, abused spouses, lives destroyed by exploitation, racial injustice, and economic depravation, we have much work to do. It's admittedly easier to focus on theological debates and enjoy the feeling of righteous anger and control that they bring than to embrace the brokenness of the church with Jesus who has promised not to abandon it. Yet this is our call, and it could be our gift to the new millennium. So let us join in this crucial moment of our history and heed the words of St. Francis, "Return to your village and live with faithfulness the gospel entrusted to you." o

The Very Rev. J. Jon Bruno is bishop coadjutor-elect of the Diocese of Los Angeles. The Rev. David C. James is the vicar of St Mark's Church in Tracy, Calif., and the author of two published books on spirituality.