Around the communion

I know there are a ton going on in the Anglican Communion. Every dissenting male priest is being consecrated a Bishop, the HoB (House of Bishops) has just met in New Orleans for a very important meeting, that was another meeting in Pittsburg, and the JSC said the HoB's statement was good, etc., etc., etc.

But, really is that what we should focus so much of our time and energy on? How many churches are closing due to lack of funding or lack of membership. I know in my Diocese (RI) there have been several merges of parishes and from what I can tell have worked pretty well. Shouldn't we be focusing our time and effort on supporting our parishes and making decisions that will help them grow and succeed. How many average parishioners know who Gene Robinson, Bob Duncan, Rowan Williams, or Peter Akinola are. I bet there are some people who don't even know who their own diocesan bishop is, and they are getting along just fine.

Why aren't we focusing more of our energy on the work of the Millennium Development Goals. A plethora of Diocese and the National Church have committed themselves to this work. The national church even made the MDGs the number one mission priority for the next three years - so why aren't Susan Russell and Kendall Harmon writing about that. We can focus on so many other things peace, environmental sustainability, youth ministries, fostering vocations for ordained ministry in young people, and the list goes on.

If we are going to survive as a church we need to start talking about more than just who is sleeping with who and who doesn't want Katherine JEfferts Schori as their Presiding Bishop.

I'm not saying what is going on the TEC and the global Anglican Communion isn't important, because it is. I believe in an inclusive church. A church where everyone - gay, straight, black, white, yellow, green, purple, conservative, liberal, high church, low church, and any other thing you can think of - belongs and is loved and accepted.

Jesus didn't say, "If you are a straight white male and believe in me you will have eternal life." Jesus said, "WHOEVER believes in me will have eternal life." Open your church doors let everyone. Because when we can worship side by side with those who we disagree with then we are truly following - what I believe to be - the most important principles of Anglicanism. When we worship together, we can work together. We can realize that no one province is perfect and that we will all do things that upset each other, but in the end we will find we have more in common than we think. If we can't worship together how can we expect to say in communion together, how can we expect to bring Christ's light into the world.