A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose. It would be horribly selfish if it wanted all the other flowers in the garden to be both red and roses.
- Oscar Wilde, The Soul of Man and Prison Writings
By Rev. Partick Martin
IMAGINE one’s disappointment upon visiting a garden and realizing all the flowers were a matching shade of beige.
This garden could be remarkable for its uniformity, but that’s about it. A much more enjoyable garden would be one with a variety of colours, but one where the plants grew well and complemented each other. Now any gardener would tell you that it is not only the look of a plant that matters, but that plants grow well with each other rather than choking each other out.
One of the beautiful aspects of Anglicanism is our long history of variety, captured by the phrase, ‘via media’ or the middle road; that the length and breadth of the Anglican tent is very broad. One of the struggles that the church has faced throughout its history is how to live with broadness and still be a church. One prevalent myth is that unity means uniformity, that to be together we must all think, and act, and worship the same. And so that everyone is (relatively) happy we pick some neutral common denominator. The often-corresponding thought is that anyone straying from this neutral is thinking of themselves, rather than the happiness of everyone.
Enter our quote from Oscar Wilde, “A red rose is not selfish because it wants to be a red rose.” The rose is not selfish for being a rose. There is no fear of the rose forcing its redness on anyone, but instead an acknowledgement that it is blooming as roses do. There is a boldness about being unabashedly authentic, but there is also truth in it. Part of being a creature created by God, is being the creature that God created. Really, allowing people to be authentically themselves is respecting the dignity of their person as a God created creature. It should also be noted that this mindset cannot not align, as some might fear, with bigotry, because at its core is about respecting the dignity of others. It could perhaps be summed up as, Loving God and loving one's neighbour.
So how might this play out in the church? I think it is by acknowledging that difference exists and that nothing can be accomplished by chasing that artificial ideal of uniformity. That one Anglican is going to be different from another Anglican. We each have (and are allowed) our preferred flavour: High or Low, Praise Band or Choir, Mtr/Fr. or The Rev’d., but that should not dictate our validity. What matters is that we all have a place in the garden.
Rev. Patrick Martin is Assistant Curate at St. John's, Tillsonburg.