Center Aisle


	June 17, 2006 Center Aisle is an opinion journal offered by the Diocese of Virginia as a gift to General Convention. We offer analysis and opinions from a variety of sources that reflect the transformational center of our church. Center Aisle home

The middle is not the midpoint on a line between two extremes. In the life of faith, the great bulk of people are at the center, and that center is faith in the Risen Christ. The Pastoral Address to the 210th Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia, 2005, the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee

A Date with the Methodists

Everywhere you turn at General Convention, you bump into another metaphor for marriage. There are, of course, the “broken vows” between the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. But now, finally, there’s a romantic metaphor that really hits the mark.

The proposed interim agreement on Eucharistic sharing with the United Methodist Church would not really be a marriage, argued one bishop this week. It’s more like a first date. And goodness knows, we trust each other to behave ourselves by maintaining appropriate boundaries.

Resolution A055 proposes that we stay in the conversation with the Methodists by spending more time together in worship and prayer. Neither vows nor concessions (liturgical or otherwise) would be involved.

Let’s make room for the Holy Spirit to move between Episcopalians and Methodists by continuing the conversation. We’ll find out later if any wedding bells are in our future.

Center Aisle is published by the Diocese of Virginia; Publisher:Peter James Lee; Editor: Ed Jones, St. George's, Fredericksburg; Editorial Writer: The Rev. John Ohmer, St. James', Leesburg; Editorial Writer: The Rev. Lauren Stanley, Episcopal Missioner to Sudan; Staff Writer: Susan Daughtry Fawcett; Cartoonist: Mike Kerr, Diocesan Treasurer, St. Clare's, Richmond; Researcher: The Rev. Holly Antolini, St. Paul's, Richmond; Design/Production Print/Web: John Dixon, Michael Pipkin, Leo Campos; Coordinator: Patrick Getlein