By George Clifford

The Episcopal Church and much of the Anglican Communion suffer from a paralysis caused by long-simmering controversies brought to a boil by the consecration of an openly gay bishop and the blessing of same-sex unions. These controversies increasingly dominate conversation and agendas — both formal and informal — in parishes, dioceses and the Communion.

Like the man in John’s gospel who was paralyzed for 38 years, we desperately need to hear Jesus’ words: “Stand up, take your mat, and walk” (John 5:8). Sometimes, a sick bed or a paralytic’s mat tragically becomes the sick person’s comfort zone. The cost of healing — abandoning that comfort zone to re-enter the everyday world with all of its uncertainties and strenuous demands — exceeds the allure of health. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion act as if they prefer the comfort of the current controversies to the riskier and more demanding health of serving Christ.

Healing will begin only when we realize the full extent of our plight. No one is going to come by to lift us out of our misery and place us in a pool of healing waters. We must recognize that reaching a consensus, or even finding a compromise with which a significant majority can agree, is, like the quest for the Holy Grail, an impossible quest.

Our persistence in this struggle reflects the exaggerated importance many people on both sides attach to the issues. But the energy, time and resources invested in these controversies that have paralyzed much of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion also indicate how comfortable we have become with these issues. Recent expressions of this myopic and paralyzing focus include the Eames Commission’s Windsor Report with its recommendations for restructuring the Anglican Communion; the Episcopal Church’s House of Bishops’ response, To Set Our Hope on Christ; initiatives by other provinces; numerous diocesan resolutions; countless parish debates; and advocacy within the Church by lobbyists, networks and others. Sharp divisions, fixed opinions and the conviction that God is on one’s side preclude consensus on these controversies in the foreseeable future. Further votes will create more winners and losers, exacerbating the paralysis.

Jesus commanded the paralytic to stand. All the paralytic had to do was to obey. Christianity has never taught that any definition of sexual purity or particular sexual orientation constitutes a litmus test of whether or not one is a Christian. The only litmus test of Christian identity with which I am familiar is the one articulated by St. Paul and St. John: Do you acknowledge Jesus as Lord? Anglican Christianity’s “big tent” is thus defined not by anyone’s views on any of the current controversies but by whether one has stood in obedience to Jesus’ healing command: stand up and walk.

Refusing to acknowledge a bishop’s authority because of the bishop’s stance, pro or con, on consecrating an openly gay bishop or blessing same-sex unions is tantamount to declaring that the bishop is not Christian. That refusal is without historical warrant as the early Church wisely recognized that the validity of a sacrament is not contingent upon the holiness or even Christian identity of the one administering the sacrament. Similarly, refusing to be part of a communion of disparate views and practices with respect to those issues either means ignoring Jesus’ prayer that his disciples be one or implies that those with whom one disagrees are not Christian.

Indeed, John’s gospel reports that Jesus told his disciples, “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” The New Testament repeatedly echoes that injunction. Yet no serious commentator could characterize the present animosity and divisiveness within the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion as a good faith effort to love one another after the pattern of Jesus’ love for us.

Instead of paternalistically attempting to take responsibility for the acts or faith of others, no matter how abhorrent we may find their acts or beliefs, each of us must work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. That was good advice when it was written, and it remains good today. Obedience is the only answer to Jesus’ command, “Stand up.”

Jesus’ command to the paralytic finds fuller expression in the parable of the Good Samaritan, his call (not an invitation) that those whom he has healed become instruments of healing for others. Confined to our mats, masochistically choosing paralysis over health, deafened by our laments and blinded by our pain and discomfort, we are like the priest and Pharisee in that parable, unable to hear the cries of others in pain or to see the dying.

In a world torn by strife and division, a world in which millions starve to death because they have no bread — spiritual or physical — to eat, a Church that stands together and walks in Christ’s name would make a powerful witness. Anglicans have always found their unity as a Church that prays together, not as a Church united by common doctrines or structure. The Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion could make a dramatic difference in the quality of life for others (loving neighbor) and a dramatic testimony to God’s love in Christ (loving God) by walking together in health and agreeing to disagree about the issues underlying the current controversies.

As a priest and naval chaplain, I preached and taught on a wide variety of social issues, including homosexuality. Once every few months someone would ask me about the current controversies. But several times each day people would come to me for help with failing relationships, for moral clarity on the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, and in search of a meaning for their life that would give them peace and joy. Parish clergy who are not obsessed with the current controversies share similar experiences with me.

Now — not next year, not in 10 years, but now — is the time for us to stand and to walk together as God’s faithful servants, united in our disagreement, ministering to the hurting and dying in our badly broken world.

The Rev. George Clifford is an Episcopal priest and retired Navy chaplain who lives in Raleigh, N.C.