Daily Reading for July 16
Prayer for the Lambeth Conference, for the ACC, for the Primates, for the Congress, is increasingly needed, that in our talking together we are at the same time listening to God. I have been convinced, however, more so in recent months, that it is not enough. In particular, it was the passage we had for the epistle that has shaped my thinking. . . . “Consider others better than yourselves, look out for one another’s interests, not just your own.” That’s one translation. Another is—“in humble mindedness each counting the other better than himself, each looking not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others.” . . . Now, let us put those injunctions in the context of the tensions and divisions we face in the Communion.
I can illustrate the sharpness of the challenge from my own personal history. For some 25 years I strongly supported the cause of women’s ordination in writing, in planning with others. In the opposition ranks were men and women whose attitudes on this matter I disliked, whose arguments I regarded as fault-ridden, though I did not doubt their sincerity. But I have asked myself—“Did I meet this test of St. Paul?” “Did I count the others as better than myself?” “Did I look to their interests as well as my own?” If these verses from Philippians 2 are about unity in the Church, then, at the heart of the matter is the creation of this humble-minded attitude, this spirit, mutually shared by Christian people. . . .
I recently read an article by one of our most respected newscasters on British TV. Trevor McDonald . . . is the main newscaster on Independent TV. Some years ago he had been to interview Nelson Mandela. . . . McDonald turned to political considerations and suggested there was really no possibility of a meeting of minds between the ANC and the National Party about South Africa’s future. McDonald says, “Mr Mandela’s response was unforgettable.” He said, “when two parties begin serious negotiations you must be prepared to compromise on fundamental principles.” McDonald thought he could not have heard right and Mandela could not have meant that, but Nelson Mandela said it again and again.
To Anglicans, to Christians locked in disagreement over divisive issues—does Mandela’s line sound like heresy? “Being prepared to compromise on fundamental principles.” Apply it to any divisive issue we face! I do not suggest, of course, we have to accept ideas that seem quite wrong—to us dishonest! But I do suggest that if we can recognize that even in the convictions we feel most sure about, regarding contemporary divisive issues in our Communion, we may not possess the whole truth—we are getting to that humility which is essential to true harmony and unity.
From the sermon by the Rev. Canon Colin Craston at the closing Eucharist of the 10th meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council, October 1996, quoted in Being Anglican in the Third Millennium, edited by James Rosenthal and Nicola Currie. Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Morehouse Publishing, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. www.morehousepublishing.com