I have always been thankful that I was never in a position to control the lives of others.  Parents are expected to control their children, until their children learn to control themselves, but I have never had children.

“All power tends to corrupt,” said Lord Acton, and although he was a Roman Catholic, he added, “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”

I am glad that I am in a church where the only absolute power is vested in sacred scripture, even though this has meant interminable controversy which a more authoritarian system might cut short.

Paul knew the paradox that strength comes from weakness.  When he besought the Lord three times to remove the thorn in his flesh (whatever this may have been), he received the divine answer, “My grace is sufficient for thee, for power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The power we seek, as spiritual men and women, is not power over others, but power over ourselves, the power to grow into the likeness of Christ, and this power comes from God.

Nevertheless, the polarity between the strong and the weak is a fact of life.  It exists in society, and it exists in the church.  When Paul refers to the weak, he means persons whom we would call scrupulous: those who eat only vegetables (though today vegetarianism is a matter of religious conviction with many people), or those who esteem one day as better than another (don’t we consider Sunday special and lament the consequences of the introduction of Sunday shopping?).

The strong are those who regard such scruples with contempt or, at least pity.  They are above all such nonsense.  There is a passage in 1 Corinthians where Paul is also dealing with the strong and the weak.  Here the weak are those who fear defilement from eating food offered to idols, as happened routinely in the market place in ancient Rome.

These particular issues have either shifted or disappeared altogether, but the issue of the strong and the week is still with us.  I referred to it in a talk I gave back in 1993 at Wycliffe College, when the particular issue was the two service books.  I spoke of Paul’s efforts to bring together the factions within the church at Corinth.  He implores his Christians to show respect and consideration for each other, and he warns them that those who boast in their superior knowledge should take care lest this knowledge destroy a brother or sister for whom Christ died.

How different from the cynical attitude we sometimes encounter in our own church, that disaffected Anglicans will eventually accept what is being imposed upon them, since they have nowhere else to go.

The Anglican way used to be tolerant of diverse approaches, but today, sadly, we have seen even less tolerance in the debate over homosexuality than we in saw in the debate—though there never really was a debate—over liturgy.

The result is there for all to see in the current Anglican, entitled “People are going to be shocked.”  Are you shocked, or did you even know, that in the 50 years between 1961 and 2001 the Anglican Church of Canada lost 53% of its membership!

If we are not shocked, then we ought to be.  “Back to church Sunday,” two weeks from today, is one small step towards addressing this issue.  Please help!