Deputies have made an encouraging start in the Church’s response to Windsor. Yesterday, they passed Resolution A160, expressing regret, with only a slight change.

Debate over A160 and A161, the omnibus resolution on the consecration of bishops and the blessing of same-gender unions, was reasoned, polite and caring.

But is that enough?

Why are A160 and A161 important? Because they respond to the rest of our family. Are they perfect? By no means. As Deputy Frank Wade said in the introduction, “The words before you are imperfect. The people around you are imperfect. We are all imperfect. When gifts are offered in love and received in love, they become perfected by the grace of God.”

General Convention needs to remember: This debate over Windsor is not about us. It is about the rest of the Anglican Communion hearing from us that we want to be in conversation. A160, in the hands of the Bishops, and A161, debate on which will resume this morning, open doors to allowing the conversation to continue. Without these resolutions, those doors very well may be closed, and that very well could be the end of the Anglican Communion experiment. And if this experiment ends, if we end up walking alone because we are not willing to apologize and go slow, what good will we have accomplished?

Turning down these resolutions would seem to say we don’t need the rest of, not the world, a secular phrase and interpretation, but the Body of Christ. The Apostle Paul clearly warned us not to do that, and we should not do so, even in the face of the perceived compulsion of the Windsor Report and recent statements of Anglican leaders.

Josephine Hicks, the Church’s representative to the Anglican Consultative Council, put it clearly: “Regardless of our personal views, these create space and help us reach out.” Isn’t that what Jesus asks us to do? To reach out? To take the first hard steps? Isn’t that the most biblical response?

Is A161 fair to gays and lesbians? No. Is it fair to anyone who supports gays and lesbians? No. But is this debate really about fairness? Or is it about following Jesus and making sacrifices?

The bottom line is this: Are we willing to respond to Windsor, to keep the conversation going? Or do we want to go it alone in a great big world, separating ourselves from the rest of the Body of Christ?

Deputies need to remember: This whole debate is not about us. This is about the Body of Christ. As one deputy said, “We are wrestling with mysteries, the mystery of sexuality and the mystery of being the Body of Christ.” In this wrestling, we need to admit that all of us will suffer somehow, no matter what we do. To live at the foot of the cross, to emulate the outstretched arms of Jesus, is to live lives of mutual submission, taking into regard the concerns and the needs of all people.

That’s what we need to remember and do.