Easter 2007

To the Clergy and laity of the Diocese

Dear Friends,

I greet you warmly in the name of the risen Lord Jesus. This Easter letter comes to encourage all members of the diocese to accept again and with fresh enthusiasm the new life that comes to us from God the Father by way of the empty tomb and the sending of the Spirit to be our advocate and guide.

Even in a Sussex springtime it is not always easy to believe in the shoots of rebirth, especially in a society in which the powers-that-be seem constantly to be chipping away not only at the Christian foundations of our society but also at religious liberty itself.

All that having been said (and perhaps too obvious to mention) we know that “our citizenship is in heaven” and that sooner or later this is bound to bring us into conflict with the authorities of this world. Please do not misunderstand me; this is not a plea for the Church to claim power over the rest of society and it is certainly not to suggest that when believers find themselves in conflict with others they are always in the right! Many times in history God has taught his people through others. Nonetheless, our faith does give us a distinctively different lens through which to look at the world and it is important that our faith should not be reduced to “morality tinged with emotion.”

It is in that spirit that I am writing to you at a time of acute tension in both world and Church. I think it is that context that we should view the particular challenges threatening the Anglican Communion. On the surface these issues appear to be mainly about gender in one form or another — women bishops, divorce and remarriage, sexual activity outside marriage, whether heterosexual or homosexual. As the Archbishop of Canterbury pointed out at the General Synod this February, arguments over these matters are actually “about decision making in the Church and ... about the interpretation and authority of Scripture.” So although they arise in the context of a society obsessed by sex, how Christians approach them does in fact take us to some very deep questions about the nature of our faith.

For this reason, rather than always concentrating on the “presenting” issues, it is better to think through some of the principles underlying them. I am therefore proposing a short study programme based on the latest report from the Doctrine Commission of the Church of England: Being Human, which was announced on our diocesan website when it was first published in 2003. Its subtitle “A Christian understanding of personhood illustrated with reference to power, money, sex and time” may not be exactly catchy but well sums up the scope of the report.

I am grateful to those who have undertaken to provide a framework for studying this report in deanery, parish or other small groups. The team will be available to introduce and explain the course — even to try to enthuse!

At this stage, however, I simply want to use this Easter opportunity to alert you to this forthcoming initiative and to ask all members of the diocese to remember in the midst of all the issues that seem so pressing that Christ is risen indeed. His resurrection is the promise that God reigns and is triumphant even over all the death-dealing confusions of this world. May God bless us all this Eastertide and enable us to hear his voice again, “Behold, I make all things new!”

The Lord is risen indeed! Alleluia!

+John