Bishop Griswold: We can disagree
THE PRESIDING Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States, the Most Revd Frank Griswold, has reiterated the Church’s standpoint on the interpretation of scripture. He declared it important to recognise that “people of genuine faith” could differ in their understandings of what was agreed as the word of God.
Last week, the Bishop used the sixth anniversary of his investiture to reflect on the state of the Episcopal Church. The reality was that it lived with divergence, he told members in a pastoral letter. He acknowledged real tension in the community, arising from different images and different “faithful expectations”.
It had not been easy to live “openly and honestly” with the various points of view arising from the ordination of Canon Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire, declared Bishop Griswold, who made reference only to the repercussions within the Episcopal Church.
The Church had not drawn back from “this necessary, painful and often grace-filled work”, and was engaging in respectful and deep conversation about “how our faith is shaped and formed in response to the gospel”.
Difference could be recognised as potentially positive and creative, and the Episcopal Church had been energised by a new commitment to mission, he said. He concluded: “I do not think it is accidental that our sense of revitalisation is coming at the same time as a difficult season of living with our differences.”
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