Disagreeing Well?

Or is this wishful thinking?

In a few days, I’ll be sitting at General Synod.
If you’re not familiar, it’s a national gathering for the Anglican Church of Canada.
Not my first one, but my first as a delegate.
Lots of prayer. Lots of worship. Lots of decisions to make. And this one has a vote for the next Primate (national bishop).

And like most church meetings, the deeper stuff doesn’t show up on the agenda.
Behind every motion, every vote, every speech, there’s usually something underneath.
Convictions.
Stories.
Hopes.
Fears.
Pain.
Change.

And that’s where it gets complicated.
Because when people care deeply, we don’t always show up with grace.
We show up ready to fight.

We draw lines.
We pick sides.
We label: progressive, traditional, orthodox, liberal, biblical, heretical; take your pick.
We start thinking in "wins" and "losses."
We pray for the Spirit to lead, but quietly hope/assume the Spirit agrees with us.

We’ve all done it. It’s the human condition.
I’ve done it.
I usually assume that if people just listened properly, they’d obviously land where I have.

That’s not discernment.
That’s not community.
That’s not church.

Somewhere along the way, we’ve confused being right with being faithful.
We’ve confused conviction with combat.
We’ve started believing that if someone else gets it "wrong," our job is to correct, resist, or withdraw.
And if we can't fix it, we distance ourselves, emotionally, relationally, sometimes even physically.¹

Is that faithfulness?

Is the real work staying at the table?
Listening harder than we speak.
Praying not just for outcomes but for one another.
Holding space for the discomfort of not always agreeing, and not needing to.

The church has always been messy.
Always.
Read Acts. Read Corinthians. (Read our recent history!)

As we go into this, I wonder what statement, as delegates, we’ll make to the wider church.
Or what statement will we make to those still paying attention to us.
Or what statement will we make to each other.
And, if this is an act of worship, what statement will we make to our Creator.

Just things I’m wondering.

1. Fun (Sad) fact: There are at least four different variations of the Anglican tradition in Canada.

Cover Photo by Savann Prak on Unsplash