Background Resources for Synod 2020/Regional Meetings
Background Resources for Synod 2020
and Preparatory Regional Meetings
The following list is by no means exhaustive. It is offered in an attempt to provide quick, annotated reference to recent documents of The Anglican Church of Canada related to the proposed change to Canon XXI (“The Marriage Canon”) considered at General Synod 2019, and a fair and accessible representation of perspectives both affirming and opposing the Celebration and Blessing of Marriages involving two people of the same sex. The latter collections of posts were written in anticipation of General Synod 2019.
This Holy Estate
This link takes you to the 2015 report from the Commission on the Marriage Canon, a summary of the report, and other related materials.
A Word to the Church (WTTC)
At its March 2019 meeting, the Council of General Synod adopted and commended for consideration by General Synod the document A Word to the Church concerning the proposed amendment of Marriage Canon XXI. The five affirmations in the statement are particularly important. WTTC passed overwhelmingly at General Synod 2019.
The letter from the House of Bishops responding to the vote on Canon XXI and affirming WTTC is here: https://gs2019.anglican.ca/atsynod/a-message-from-hob/
Pastoral Letter from Archbishop Anne to the Diocese Following GS2019
https://www.dioceseofalgoma.com/2019/07/22/pastoral-letter-from-archbishop-anne/
In addition to the Archbishop’s letter to Algoma following General Synod 2019, this page also provides links to “A Word to the Church” and the letter from the national House of Bishops.
Posts Opposing Same-Sex Marriage in the Church
Below are links to a series of essays published last June and July examining same-sex marriage in advance of General Synod 2019:
This is the introductory essay by Joey Royal, a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of the Arctic.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/06/18/conservative-voices-on-same-sex-marriage-in-canada/
The author provides counsel as to how the “conservative” can survive spiritually in a church within which exist theological pluralism and competing definitions of the gospel.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/06/20/plural-pedagogies-in-the-anglican-church-of-canada/
This article argues that the matters of same sex marriage, indigenous self-determination, and the stewardship of creation are all deeply connected.
Jonathan Turtle urges repentance in the face of church division as he sets about to make scriptural sense out of this cultural moment.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/06/27/fruits-worthy-of-repentance/
Cole Hartin offers advice on how Anglicans can live faithfully their Christian vocation if they believe their bishops are undermining the teaching of the gospel.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/07/02/episcopal-authority-in-a-changing-church/
David Ney argues that the proposed marriage canon revision failed to uphold the authority of Scripture.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/07/04/scripture-and-the-mystery-of-procreation/
The author advances the necessity of repenting of the ways the Church has excluded the marginalized, and the need to repent of the ways our understanding of what it means to be human is derived more from our experience or observation rather than the revelation of God in Christ.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/07/10/christ-and-care-for-the-marginalized/
The concluding essay by Bishop Joey Royal.
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/07/12/same-sex-marriage-where-do-we-go-from-here/
Posts Supporting Same-Sex Marriage in the Church
Following is a series of blog posts providing perspectives favourable to same sex marriage. They are responding largely to the above articles in The Living Church, and provide links to those articles. A number of comments follow each post.
Brian Walsh suggests it should give us pause that Bishop Joey Royal’s Living Church essay resonates so well with the conservative voices of the Jerusalem Council in chapter 15 of The Acts of the Apostles.
http://empireremixed.com/2019/06/21/from-jerusalem-to-vancouver-the-pharisees-strike-back/
The author argues it is shocking and heretical to hear an evangelical describe the biological family and the act of procreation as the primary form of evangelism.
http://empireremixed.com/2019/06/22/the-heresy-of-procreative-evangelism/
A brief reconsideration of the classic biblical texts usually cited to oppose same-sex marriage:
“If we are united in cruciform love, the love that Jesus demonstrated, then we are called to work for justice…”
http://empireremixed.com/2019/06/27/unity-and-a-crucified-messiah-a-response-to-testing-the-spirits/
Rather than fearing how we might lose some members of our Church to another denomination, we should be concerned about those who are being lost to the faith because they do not see the church reflecting the story of Jesus, living as a community of “healing, forgiveness and hope for the brokenness, sin and despair of our culture.”
This post contends that St. Paul’s theology of creation in the first chapter of his epistle to the Church in Rome is good news for same-sex marriage.
http://empireremixed.com/2019/06/28/the-good-news-of-romans-1-for-same-sex-marriage/
This post sounds the alarm about how the issue of same-sex marriage seems to be the only one that stirs talk about seeking alternative episcopal oversight.
http://empireremixed.com/2019/07/03/episcopal-authority-and-the-mission-of-the-church/
Most participants in the conversation around scripture and same-sex marriage are concerned with biblical authority. However, what is at stake, according to this post, is precisely how the Bible is authoritative, and which texts and narrative strands are privileged in our reading of the text.
http://empireremixed.com/2019/07/05/the-mysterious-authority-of-the-bible-a-response-to-david-ney/
This post confronts the notion of a tension between theology and pastoral care, arguing fidelity to Christ and the integrity of Christian discipleship recognize the Theological Priority of the Marginalized in the gospel and summons Christians overall to “a radical and embracive love for our LGBTQ+ siblings.”
http://empireremixed.com/2019/07/10/jesus-and-the-theological-priority-of-the-marginalized/
There were a couple of rebuttals to some of the above posts on empireremixed.com in an article published by ‘The Living Church’:
https://livingchurch.org/covenant/2019/07/15/responses-to-empire-remixed/
