In USA Today, [The Rev. Canon Kendall] Harmon says, "If in the end, the Episcopal Church wants to play the autonomy card, they can, but the costs will be terribly high."

With all due respect to Canon Harmon, who contributes much to dialogue, such a statement only adds to the false sense of crisis being perpetuated by Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria and some others who share his "my-way-or-the-highway" views on life together in the Anglican Communion.

There is no crisis; there is no reason to be overly concerned about supposed ultimatums from abroad. The Episcopal Church has never said it would break fellowship with any other province - even with those, namely Nigeria, shamelessly supporting human rights violations. No matter the outcome of all these discussions, the Episcopal Church will continue in integrity - even in the unlikely event that the "Instruments of Communion" were to declare us an "associated" province of the Communion, or otherwise remove us from formal structures. In such a case, we would perhaps lose our place and our votes on the Anglican Consultative Council (the latter is actually the status quo anyway) as well as at Primates' Meetings and Lambeth Conferences. But just look at what many of those meetings have brought over the past ten years: acrimony, anger, coercion, infighting and an apparent, new desire to enforce uniformity of thought and practice, no matter the cost. Granted many good things have come out of ongoing dialogue and shared mission in the Communion, but, in terms of the energy and attention devoted to them, they seem to pale in comparison.

No matter what happens, close, non-coercive relationships with other Anglican/Episcopal churches will continue.

Remember, too: Whatever might or might not happen in terms of Anglican Communion structures and governance over the next few years, few things are done that cannot be undone in a spirit of reconciliation, if all are willing. TEC will probably even be willing to reconcile in future with those individuals and groups who have treated this province so miserably for ostensibly being "too inclusive," while standing silently by as other provinces - e.g., Nigeria, source of so much of this unnecessary rancor - work to crush basic human rights.

To whom are the costs of all this then highest?