This is a semi-continuation of posts that start here and continued here.)
My thoughts upon the Covenant and its inherent Donatist double bind have been interrupted by the most recent maneuvers’ of the GAFCON crowd. Namely they have begun their own meandering side steps which will (probably) lead to an attack on the Covenant as being to lenient. They are doing so, at least in part, by demanding another Primates meeting with neither the Primates of TEC nor the Anglican Church of Canada invited. (Examples of this can be found here)
Now, one of the things about Donatism is the fear of infection by association. When several of the Primates refused to sit in the same room as the Primate of TEC or to receive communion with her, they proved their Donatism. Now, to cut off communication because of a perceived sin, and to threaten to widen that shunning, is to follow right down the road paved in North Africa before the Council of Nicea.
This, sisters and brothers, is the conundrum we face. The fearful, hateful, and scornful are demanding that “gracious restraint” be one way, and that they are free, due to the inherent holiness of their own persons. We must all bow to their (ever shifting) demands or else face banishment from the Table they foolishly think of as theirs. That +++Rowan will, no doubt, bow once again to these bullies will again cause the fractures begun in 1998 with the creation of the AMiA to widen. The GAFCON crew has already shown that they are not particularly willing to be in communion on any but their terms.
I was working on a longer post, but the actions of the heserarchs of GAFCON have neatly proven my point. In the end this dissolves into an argument about cooties and purity of some over others. I have no patience with this as a childes game, let alone as a theological argument.
