Welby recently hired a new lady "reconciler", Sarah Snyder, as his new Advisor for Reconciliation. David Porter, the previous professional reconciler, got pushed upstairs to become Welby's right hand man to help him arm wrestle truth to the ground. One can only imagine what the House of Bishops in Nigeria is saying about this new appointment. If they were drinkers (and they are not), one might imagine someone passing around an open bottle of scotch, and then, after each swig, shaking their heads at English peregrinations, as Welby searches desperately for ways to square a circle that can never be squared. Perhaps, after a third gin and tonic, he will announce that the Law of Non-Contradiction has finally been lifted and lo, on clouds descending, the Holy Spirit appeared and whispered to him that his latest plans to keep the Communion together had finally succeeded. Dear God, say it ain't so.

There are whispers in the loggia that Welby has called for a meeting of primates in October, presumably to announce the nuclear option...stay together or let's be honest and admit the jig is up. IF all the primates attend and there is serious doubts the GAFCON archbishops will waste the airfare, then Welby will huddle in the basement of Lambeth Palace and declare that God had told him to stay with the remnant (because that is all he has), which includes the vast sea of aging and dying Episcopalians and Anglicans who will one day stand before the throne of God as his failed agents of reconciliation. Michael Curry will announce that they are the true inheritors of the 'Jesus Movement' mantle, and a Guardian photographer perched on a nearby building will swear that he saw the black presiding bishop running up and down the hallways of Lambeth Palace shouting, 'don't worry be happy.'

So the question must be asked, what keeps conservative bishops in the Episcopal Church, the Anglican Church of Canada, the Scottish Episcopal Church; The Church of Wales and even, for that matter, the Church of England. (This is not to name them all, but is only representative).

Why don't these bishops leave these various liberal bodies and join with the ACNA, AMiE or the ANiC and hookup with GAFCON?

The generous answer might be that the bishops value unity, want to work for change from within and are taking a long view hoping these liberals will repent of their decisions promoting homosexual marriage, writes Canadian blogger David of Samizdat.

But this unity answer is unconvincing because the bishops claim to be committed to both their respective provinces and the Anglican Communion. They can't be committed to unity with both since the majority of the Anglican Communion is not in unity with these liberal and progressive provinces. They are opposed to these recent actions. Like it or not, it's one or the other.

Working for change from within is having no effect whatsoever and there are no signs that any of these dioceses will repent this side of the eschaton.

Says Samizdat; "I think the reason is much simpler and conforms to Jeremiah 17:9, ("The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?") a verse worth bearing in mind whenever probing a person's motives, including one's own: if the bishops attempt to move their dioceses to ANiC, they will lose all their buildings. They are not serious enough about their objections to do that."

Another argument we keep hearing is that conservatives are staying for the money and pension. This is a partial truth. Most I talk with say they are staying because they can preach the gospel without repercussions.

This is a common argument given by conservatives who remain in the Anglican Church of Canada, writes Samizdat. He cited George Sumner, former principal of Wycliffe College, (now the Episcopal Bishop of Dallas), John Bowen, who taught evangelism at Wycliffe and Alan Hayes, professor of church history at Wycliffe, all justified their continuing in the ACoC because they were still allowed to preach the Gospel.

"The undercurrent here, of course, is the unstated follow-on, which would begin: "in spite of". I would claim in spite of the ACoC no longer being a Christian denomination. They would not have gone that far but, I think, all would concede that the ACoC had strayed from the Gospel.

"However one characterizes it, it is akin, to borrow an idea from Malcolm Muggeridge, to being a piano player playing hymns in a whorehouse in the hope that it might distract the clientele from the business at hand."

The deeper truth is that conservatives who stay are deceiving themselves.

The problem is this. Their continuing presence in these liberal/progressive provinces lends a legitimacy to the enterprise which it does not deserve. The fact that there are still some orthodox Christian priests in the denomination might lead the unwary to conclude that the denomination itself is still a Christian Church -- an illusion it is desperate to maintain.

There is no polite or easy way to address or remedy the rot which is eating away at the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

Writes Samizdat, "I recall a synod in my former diocese where a number of priests walked out over the decision to allow same-sex blessings (at the time, assurances were given that same-sex marriages would never happen). A liberal priest -- a rather pompous and bombastic specimen -- stood up, spluttering that, by walking out, the conservatives were declaring him not to be a Christian. Well, I know that was not their intention, but I think the histrionic cleric was on to something."

In the Episcopal Church, a similar situation was encountered by an orthodox priest in the Diocese of Kentucky, who refused to perform homosexual weddings. Kentucky Bishop Terry White did not support him, even though at last summer's General Convention the Episcopal Church adopted a resolution allowing homosexual marriage, but also stipulating that it would honor theological diversity by not demanding priests perform such acts.

The Rev. Jonathan Erdman, rector of Calvary Church in Louisville, KY, was forced out and resigned. Bishop White not only did not enforce this resolution, he was complicit in forcing the resignation of Fr. Erdman from his position as rector of Calvary Church. That story attracted more than 16,000 viewers!

If our decision in this life for or against Christ is what determines our eternal destination, if, as C. S. Lewis said, we are all, every moment, helping each other to a place of either glory or horror, why persevere in belonging to an organization that has not only lost sight of this, but is actively encouraging its followers along the road to the wrong destination?

END