Shared Identity

Beloved in Christ, 

This is a day of extraordinary significance in the history of Christianity. Earlier this morning, Archbishop Sarah Mullally was formally seated in the chair of St. Augustine in Canterbury Cathedral, and instituted as the 106th Archbishop of Canterbury.  You can watch it here. There are only three episcopates that have truly global and historic influence and authority: the Bishop of Rome (the Pope), the Archbishop of Constantinople, who leads the Eastern Orthodox churches, and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is the titular head of the Anglican Communion, of which the Episcopal Church is a member. So this is not only the first time a woman has led the Church of England, but the first time one of the three global sees has been occupied by a woman. It is a day for rejoicing, giving thanks, and pausing to really feel its significance.  

Archbishop Mullally is widely respected around the communion for the work she has done as Bishop of London. On the one occasion I met with her, I was deeply impressed by her faith, her grounded leadership, and her visionary capacity. I thank God for the gift of being an Anglican bishop under her historic leadership. 

In the U.S., we tend to be almost thoroughly congregational in our mindset, and it’s easy from our place of relative comfort and privilege to disregard or grow cynical about being part of a wider global and historic family. But as followers of Jesus, we are the body of Christ in the world. As Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians, the various parts cannot fully function as themselves without the wider body. During these past painful months in Minnesota, I have learned in a visceral way how nourishing and soul saving being part of a wider body can be, as prayers and notes came in from all around the world because of our shared identity as Anglican Christians. 

Tending to and being mindful of our shared identity also helps us most effectively witness to Jesus’ power to hold us together across difference in a world that is tearing itself apart into political, racial, and national factions.

God is about the business of healing the world with love. Part of our participation in that healing is deepening our unity with Christians throughout the world. I hope all of you will pray for Archbishop Mullally by name in your weekly prayers of the people, as you do for me and the Presiding Bishop. This weekly prayer is not just about sustaining the office holder, but making us ever mindful that we share a wider identity that is one more way to witness to the power of love in a fractured world that so loudly cries out for it. 

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya