The American church is in a time of transition, and it is not yet clear what form the church will take in the future, Bishop Michael Curry told the Texas Tribune Festival Nov. 13.
Curry, who is now retired as the 27th presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church, spoke in the sanctuary of First Baptist Church of Austin, Texas, one of several venues for the three-day festival of ideas.
The Christian church is in an “in-between time,” he said. “We are changing, and we are going through a change in Christianity, no question. What it looks like, what forms and shapes it will take, that’s for a generation yet.”
However, he refuses to “be down” about that, he said, citing the “Jesus movement” of the first century. “That movement began in crucifixion. It began when (Jesus) rose from the dead and that’s who we’re, and therefore we don’t know what shape that resurrection movement’s going to take. But we know because there’s a God who is responsible for that there are new days ahead.”
“Those folk, they didn’t have any endowments, they didn’t own any property.”
Mainline Christians have lost their cultural status, he acknowledged, but advised Christians to remember the example of Jesus and his disciples. “Those folk, they didn’t have any endowments, they didn’t own any property.” And yet they changed the world.
Historically, the Christian church “really didn’t get into trouble until they became the religion of the empire,” he said. “It’s really not a smart move for the church to align itself too closely with empires.”
For most of early Christian history, “this was a movement of people who were already outcast,” he explained. “It was a community of the poor and the wealthy with a passion for heaven. It was the weirdest movement. It was a movement that actually lived with a radical equality … (of) all who are in Christ. There is no more slave or free. There is no more male or female. There is no more Jew or Gentile. All are in Christ. That is not just a sociological statement, that is a statement of a radical new reality coming into being.”
He emphasized: “They didn’t have the internet and yet they really did do the unbelievable. They did the impossible. And that’s where we’re going. It’s not by our choice.”
Curry encouraged discouraged Christians today to follow the example of Jesus, who said to “love your neighbor.”
Focusing on Christian unity, “We can walk through the most difficult things together,” he said. “Love is being honest and holding each other to account. But love is also treating that other person the way you want to be treated, the way you would want members of your family treated.”
Graham pressed Curry on how realistic that is today, given the sharp divisions in the church, even within the Anglican communion that is fracturing over homosexuality.
“We have to do the hard work of loving anybody,” he replied. Later, he added that even people who disagree with you will respect you if they know you care about them.
“I’m convinced that people of goodwill and genuine faith who are committed to following in the footsteps of Jesus will find a way to live together and actually be a witness for the rest of the world. We can actually learn to live together.”