Unity of Spirit

Fr. Dale Matson
2-01-11
“Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:1-3, NASB).

The Anglican Communion is no longer of one Spirit. This above all, is the reason that another Anglican Communion is in formation. It is a separation of the wheat from the tares. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ repelling another gospel. It is the Kingdom of God over against the kingdom of this world. The Communion in formation has no place to lay its head. It is a church without a roof and without walls. It is sending out new shoots while dead branches are being pruned. It is the Church of Smyrna. It is a church where Christ is at the headship and the Holy Spirit is increasing its numbers. It is a church knit together and led by the Holy Spirit. This communion lacks structure but clings to the tradition of the fathers and the faith of the saints once delivered.

This is not a Eulogy for the Anglican Communion. It is a rededication ceremony. It is a Communion born of the Word of God and unashamed of Christ and His cross. It is a Communion with a destiny to offer Christ to a world that does not know or sense a need for Him. It is a Communion engaged in spiritual warfare and willing to suffer and die. It is a Communion filled with martyrs. It is a church that does not worship God in the temple, in Canterbury but in Spirit. It is a Communion in unity of Spirit seeking fellowship with the Orthodox and Roman Churches proclaiming and believing the ancient Creeds. The Communion is new wine for the end times.

It is a Communion with an existing identity forged by the Apostles, refined by Cranmer, embracing God breathed preeminent Scripture. It is a Communion that loves and worships God and serves Christ in neighbor but loves God first. It is a Communion that accepts the Great Commission as its mission. It is a Communion with a Benedictine spirituality emerging from another book; the Book of Common Prayer. It is a Communion with a tap root in the Garden of Eden and branches in Heaven. It will be a Communion standing as an end times witness when the coming persecution arrives. It is a renewed Anglican Communion calling for a leader to come forth. God is speaking to him now.

“But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ’s triumphal procession and uses us to spread the aroma of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are to God the pleasing aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are an aroma that brings death; to the other, an aroma that brings life. And who is equal to such a task? Unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God.” (2 Cor.2:14-17, NIV).