We are not mere instruments but a Sacramental Communion

by Andrew Soshi Kawashima

Anglican Consultative Council (ACC)-18 closed with the confirmation that we will continue “walking together”. It is a reaffirmation that, no matter how drastic yet practical attempts we have made, in the end only the basic principle “walking together” can be shared at present. The main reason for this division is the issues surrounding gender, such as “women” and “homosexuality.” In fact, in essays and articles published in various media, “Anglican”, “crisis”, and “gender” are often found as key words. After all, it is gender issues that currently concern the Anglican Communion. Moreover, it is in the context of the “crisis of organizational division” that “gender” is addressed.

I believe that the word “communion” implies a deeper meaning than just a community. It should be understood as a spiritual community and organismic fellowship. Therefore, the division of the communion should be¹ discussed focusing not on organization (as a whole), but on spiritual and organismic fellowship. Naturally, there are individual and concrete human connections and stories there.

On April 23rd, 2022, the Anglican Church in Japan, to which I belong, held the laying on of hands ceremony for the first female bishop in East Asia. The news spread quickly around the world as good news. The ordained bishop was the Revd Tazu Sasamori. It has been about 40 years since the Revd Yoshiko Shibukawa was ordained as a deacon in the Diocese of Chubu of the Anglican Church in Japan (NSKK) in 1978. Of course, there had been a long history of discussion on ordaining women before Revd Shibukawa. That is why the laying on of hands for the first female bishop this time was so deeply moving.

Bishop Sasamori is a very spiritual leader, who knows the importance of praying and asking for God’s guidance at any time. When I met with her for personal consultation, she said, “Don’t worry. It’s going to be alright. It’s okay.” In these short words, I felt that she had spiritual support backed by her deep faith.

One of Bishop Sasamori’s thoughts was also evident in her own address at the laying on of hands ceremony. While addressing the painful reality of the recent divisions, she stressed the importance of dialogue and continuing to entrust ourselves to God. From the ordination of the first female deacon in 1978 to the ordination of the first female bishop in 2022, there have been many complicated and difficult issues. The series of ordinations are the result of various factions working together and consulting with one another in a process which has always been painful. Of course, this process is still ongoing, not only in the Anglican Church in Japan, but in the Anglican Communion as a whole.

So far, I have focussed on a concrete example, mentioning the laying on of hands of Bishop Sasamori as the most recent event of note in the Anglican Church in Japan. While we now know the complexity and pain of the discussion behind a specific person, we need to be aware of the ongoing dialogue and words which exist around that individual. Although attention tends to be paid only to the pros and cons of the laying on of hands ceremony, there are in fact specific stories of solidarity among communities and even among individuals behind the ceremony.

I would like to look at Bishop Nishihara’s sacramental theory. Bishop Renta Nishihara is a bishop of the Diocese of Chubu in the Anglican Church in Japan and a world-renowned theologian. While noting the work of Anglican female priest Terrie Robinson, Nishihara said, “‘women in ministry’ is by no means an abstract concept. It is, for example, one concrete priest, and at the same time an extremely sacramental presence that ‘makes God’s grace visible’”.

I do not think this sacramental thing applies only to those who are in favour of the ordination of women. Nor do I think it necessarily applies only to certain people. Various factions continue to engage in dialogue as they discuss a certain matter. The whole process of weaving words together can also be called sacramental.

Conservative groups will have their processes, and so will the progressives. If this is the case, then this communion itself can be assumed to have a sacramental character. In this sense, the movement of the Global South, which could leave the Anglican Communion to form its own faction, is noteworthy. How will ACNA, GAFCON or GSFA respond to theology of sacramental communion? How can the groups which leave the communion express Sacramental grace without dialogue to weave words together?

I speculate that conflicts between conservatives and progressives will become even more active in the future. I hope that the Sacramental Communion will be a prescription for unchecked schisms. There are those who suffer existential pain as harsh criticism is levelled at those who are marginalized in various places, not just in the gender sphere, and all in our communion are carrying the pain of the recent communal divisions.

In my point of view, “sacramental” thinking is for not only liberal but also conservative groups. In other words, if both liberal and conservative groups stay within one communion, these two groups represent “something sacramental”, a communion, a sacramental thing, which still has complicated debates around gender. We need both aspects of liberal and conservative groups to fully represent our communion and to make our communion truly sacramental.

Just as our reading of the Bible and theology is one of the factors which creates such division and pain, it is also the agent to re-spin the frayed threads of communion. I would like to trust in that.

¹ E. R. Morgan & Roger Lloyd, (ed). The Mission of the Anglican Communion (SPCK, 1948, pp. 18-26)