The consequences of that event have been congregations separating from dioceses and one diocese seceding from The episcopal Church, USA. [The majority of clergy and lay delegates to the annual convention of the Diocese of San Joaquin voted to leave The Episcopal Church, USA (ECUSA), and many clergy and lay members of this diocese have since left TEC. The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin still exists and has been reorganized under the leadership of a new Standing Committee and new Diocesan Bishop. —Ed.] All of this has been played out in the news media, leading to our church being chastised by some as a church which is opposed to the basic rules and regulations of Christian morality as established in scripture by the Lord Jesus himself.

Some other churches in the Anglican Communion would like nothing better than for ECUSA to be somehow voted out of the worldwide communion because of our having strayed from the historic faith. For some people this is only the latest of the many unholy betrayals of the mind of Christ by the Episcopal Church. We began our headlong rush over the cliff of orthodoxy, some might say, when we trotted out a new prayer book, permitted remarriage after divorce and welcomed women into all three orders of ordained ministry. There might be others who even think our love affair with sinful modernity began when women were allowed to read lessons in church, hold office as a vestry member and warden and serve as acolytes at the altar.

Asa result of our being branded theologically perverse many of our faithful members have been embarrassed by our church's positions. Some have had to bite their lip when casual conversation might veer off into snickering at an Episcopal Church which lacks appropriate awe for principles "all other" Christians seem naturally to support. What an inauspicious time for the convening of the Lambeth Conference, the once a decade gathering of Anglican bishops from around the world. Lambeth is tainted this year by some bishops not participating, Bishop Robinson not being invited and others refusing to attend though invited because there is such a thing as Bishop Robinson in the first place. In other venues, some bishops have routinely refused to take communion with other brother and sister bishops who are members of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

This all-but-in-name-only schism infects our common life and distracts us from being a worldwide witness to the power and grace of God alive in the world through Jesus Christ. In any other time the Lambeth Conference has the potential of showing the world that Christians from diverse cultures and even theological positions have a unity in Christ that transcends our differences. We, the Anglican Communion, could be a sign to "this sinful and broken world that unity can overcome estrangement, forgiveness heal guilt, and joy conquer despair." Unfortunately, we're not credible about that right now as we choose to fight about who's in and who's out to the detriment of our mission from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's pray for the Holy Spirit to lead us beyond our differences, our wounds and disappointments to claim the high calling of a unified world wide communion of faith. We look to our bishops to listen to this still small voice of God and help us find a path out of this tiresome and hurtful morass into which we have allowed ourselves to wander.