Re: Don’t change canon, says commission (Anglican Journal, Feb. 2015, p.1). So the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Unity, Faith and Order (IASCUFO) does not want the Anglican Church of Canada to change its marriage canon because of the intense distress it would cause the Communion and the damage it might do to its ecumenical relationships? To approach the decision from this angle is confounding to me. This is either the right thing to do or it is not, and if doing what is right causes people distress, well, so be it.
There are clearly too many people who have never read Pierre Berton’s book, The Comfortable Pew, which casts a critical eye at the Anglican church as a religious institution. It was written in 1965 and sadly, almost all his valid criticisms apply today.
We seem to be focused on maintaining our institution instead of leading the lives we were called to lead. When Jesus asks the Samaritan woman at the well for a drink of water, when he turns the tables in the temple, when he breaks bread with the tax collectors, he does not concern himself that his actions will cause people distress. It is people’s discomfort, in fact, that gets them thinking, and opens their eyes.
We are talking about the officiating of a ceremony between two consenting adults who want to commit their lives to one another in love and before the community and God. This is something to be celebrated. This is something to be welcomed. This is the right thing to do.
Jennifer Duholke
North Vancouver, B.C.