By Archbishop Linda Nicholls
In a few weeks I will be attending my final meeting of ARCIC III (the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission). After fourteen years of meetings we have completed the mandate given to explore how we discern ‘right ethical teaching’ in our two communions. We agree on so many fundamentals of scripture and theology and yet find ourselves in different places on moral issues! It is the confounding question within our church as well – whether on the role of women, human sexuality or medical assistance in dying.
We love it when agreement is clear and rules can simply be applied and the answer pops out readily. We struggle when we face competing ways to live our values and rules cannot be so simply applied.
That is the dilemma of the religious leaders in the Gospel today. The law is clear – ‘Honour the Sabbath Day’. Over the centuries many rules have been developed to guide what that means. No work on the Sabbath. Even into recent centuries some denominations have applied that rigorously. I am told that in Scotland at one point even the swings in the playground were tied up on a Sunday. Into that expectation comes Jesus and a woman crippled for eighteen years.
Jesus knows the law. In another part of scripture he says he has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. He knows that applying it requires discernment. It requires looking at the context and need and he wants to draw the religious leaders to see the possibilities. So he heals the woman and when challenged, points out that even animals are treated better on the sabbath day. Yes – he could have said, ‘Come back tomorrow – what’s 1 more day after 18 years?’ But he discerns the time is now and acts.
Who is right? We certainly see the mercy of Jesus as good – but he is disruptive to the community. He points us to the uncomfortable truth that discerning what is right and good is not easy and will not always bring agreement from others.
Our lives are a steady journey of discernment. What is right to do and be now – in this moment? How do we live the values of the gospel today? In every generation the church has been challenged to look at gospel values afresh and assess how to live them now.
In the 1920’s the Anglican Communion wrestled with whether birth control is a sin. Or is the abject poverty of families with so many children simply a social failure to live with? We decided fairly quickly that it could be applied to allow families to choose how many children could be cared for and raised well. The Roman Catholic Church has held to a prohibition on artificial contraception although in recent decades the faithful have not received that teaching as practice.
Discernment requires us to know our values deeply – our core commitments – which is not necessarily the same as ‘how we have always done it here’. Values can be expressed in many ways and can change over time.
Change brings risks that we assess and decide whether we can tolerate the risk. It is often easier to stay with what is known rather than risk and even with our best efforts there may be factors that we cannot control.
Jesus knew his action would upset the religious leaders and add to the growing unhappiness with the disruption it was causing in the community but deemed the risk worth it for the dignity of the woman before him and accepted the consequences. Those consequences would culminate in the weight of Gethsemane and the cross. Even then he entrusted himself to God.
This community is discerning its future. Today you will be affirming the values of monastic life and asking how they can be lived today. What new ways may need to be tried? What older ways need to be reinvigorated? And most importantly – how can we live with uncertainty while we test them out? Uncertainty breeds anxiety and, in my experience, anxiety leads people to behave in ways that can hurt and harm oneself and others. How will we live together with the needed humility to let go and accept change in some areas and resist change that is too fast or too far for the community at this time?
There is no formula or right answer. No magic words from the Reverend Mother or the bishop or the Episcopal Visitor. There is only the love of God rooted in your hearts -and the desire to live into the vision of Mother Hannah and the generations since that will guide you. At the heart are the vows that you have made to God and to the community to live the monastic values you will affirm today. There is no single way to do that and whatever is chosen is open to transformation in the future. The one certainty is that you do it with your hands in the hand of God, secure in God’s love and grace. God grant you courage for the road and the risks ahead!