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             The Fourth Gospel has been known from antiquity as “the spiritual gospel.”  In Canada the new rites of the Anglican Church show a clear shift away from the English Reformers’ emphasis on personal salvation to a one-sided concentration on the collective symbols of church, community, and people of God. 
             It is therefore important for us to bear in mind that while being born again can be described in a general way, it cannot be achieved in a collective way.  It is painful to have to admit that although valiant efforts are being made to breathe new life into Christian sacramental rites, for most people they are no longer living symbols. 
            Today the numinosity has vanished from the ceremony of baptism, which often has more social than religious meaning for the participants.  The Fourth Gospel is an appropriate text to enlist in the struggle to correct the balance in the age-old tension between the individual and the collective, between personal salvation and community belief. 
            Nowhere in the Johannine writings do we find Paul’s emphasis on building up the community through the labour, self-sacrifice, and example of its members.  Matthew’s gospel affirms, “You will know them by their fruits” (7:16), but for the Johannine community the only thing that bears fruit is remaining in Jesus. 
            John’s gospel is a relevant text for another reason also.  Next month our bishops will be joining the 800 bishops invited to the 2008 Lambeth Conference, which will try to prevent the break-up of the Anglican Communion.  The Archbishop of Canterbury’s appeal to “the bonds of affection” between Anglicans is based on the command of the Johannine Christ, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). 
            The “presenting issue” at Lambeth of homosexuality is only the latest challenge to our church.  In the 16th century, when the Church in England became the Church of England through the Act of Supremacy (1534), the English church came to include both the followers of continental Protestantism, especially in its Calvinist form, and those who remained attached to the pre-Reformation church.  The Catholic-Protestant divide has been with us ever since. 
            In our own day the Anglican Church has addressed the divisive issues of liturgical change and women’s ordination.  Let us hope that the issue of homosexuality will not prove to be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back. 
            Archbishop Williams has asked Anglicans around the world to pray that Lambeth 2008 may be a spiritual encounter and not simply a time to formulate position statements.  He has expressed the hope that the participants may encounter God as they encounter one another and seek to grow in the ministry of Christ.

June 22, 2008

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