Reflections on Archbishop Stephen Cottrell’s Presidential address to York Diocesan Synod

Apr 26, 2023 by

by Martin Davie:

Introduction

In his Presidential address to York Diocesan Synod on 22 April[1] the Archbishop of York listed three things which he thinks those of us in the Church of England may be in danger of forgetting and which may be ‘particularly relevant’ as we navigate what he calls in a masterpiece of understatement ‘the slightly choppy waters that LLF has created.’

These three things are:

  1. ‘We cannot choose our fellow disciples.’
  2. ‘The Bible itself gives us the interpretative framework for addressing issues where clear and obvious answers elude us.’
  3. ‘You can tell a tree by its fruit (see Matthew 7. 16-20).’

In the remainder of this article, I want to explore what the archbishop has to say on these three points.

We cannot choose our fellow disciples.

The archbishop is correct to say that we cannot choose our fellow disciples. This is because our fellow disciples are those who are drawn to Jesus by the action  of God the Father through the  work of the Holy Spirit (John 6:37, 44, I Thessalonians 1:4-5). This means that our fellow disciples are chosen by God and not by us.

The archbishop is also correct to emphasise that we cannot say to any other member of the body of Christ ‘I do not need you’ (Romans 12. 4-8 & 1 Cor. 12. 12-27) and that we are called to love one another despite our disagreements with one another (John 13:34-35).

However, the important thing to note is that no one in the Church of England debate about marriage and sexual ethics is saying that we can choose our fellow disciples, or that we can say to any other member of the body of Christ ‘I do not need you,’ so these two points by the archbishops are red herrings.

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