…a bishop or the diocesan offices sent out a note to all the parishes in the diocese on Monday morning, asking them to please send in the sermon preached at the church the previous day?
What sort of uproar would it cause among the clergy, and what do you think the bishop would learn about the quality of preaching, exegesis, and doctrine in the diocese?
Dude—when you’re under fire for the suspect nature of your views, you don’t come out with a statement like this.
Try something more like this:
As an Anglican, I understand the Incarntion to be an especially important way that the Triune God has shared himself with humanity. As the Creeds and the Ecumenical Councils of the Church teach, Jesus, who was born of the Virgin Mary, was both God and Man in a way that tends to defy our hollow explanations. By taking on real flesh and real humanity, Jesus honored—glorified even—our humble existence and as Anglicans we treasure this act as part of the great mystery of redemption.
I’m also informed by Eastern traditions and greatly respect Athanasius’s foundational On the Incarnation. I’ve also thought a bit about how Gregory of Nazianzus thought about it…
I’m sure you can take it from there.
Bottom line—gave us what we want to hear up front. Then get subtle. Starting out subtle makes folk think you’ve got something to hide.