Emphasizing that new truth continues to be discerned in modern times through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the leader of the embattled U.S. Episcopal Church on Wednesday night urged followers to remain open to divine guidance.

Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold referred to the ongoing controversy over ordination of a gay bishop by telling a packed house at St. Mark's Cathedral that the apostle Peter faced stiff opposition from some early Christians when he taught that uncircumcised Gentiles would be welcome in the church.

"Circumcision was an ordinance central to Jewish identity as a chosen people. To say the Holy Spirit could fall on those uncircumcised was cataclysmic," he said. "You think we have problems — go back to that era. And it was the Holy Spirit who did it."

Observers and even the faithful often "think everything should be calm and collected, but that's not always the way the Holy Spirit prods and prompts us to go beyond what seems acceptable and normative. . . .

"Some of the law needs to be kept, but not all of the law needs to be kept," he said, apparently referring to the recent struggle within the Communion. "It's a victory for the diverse center," he said, to applause from the audience.

Bishop Griswold's most recent meeting with other top leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion brought criticism from many Anglican leaders in the Third World. They were looking for an apology and called on U.S. bishops to put a moratorium on the ordination of non-celibate homosexuals.

Instead, the U.S. bishops said they would urge their dioceses to delay any new elections of top leadership until the church's next general convention in June 2006.

Bishop Griswold addressed criticism beyond gay ordination that has come from many within the Communion because many dioceses — including the Diocese of Utah — have offered formal blessing rites for same-sex unions. Critics say both practices defy biblical teaching against homosexuality.

"When you talk about the authority of scripture, not as a rule book that has all the answers, but if we see in scripture the way in which God works — the way in our own day to attach to the motions of the spirit in our midst," he said.

Like circumcision for the Israelites, such issues are a "way of seeing how we might struggle with different issues in our own day."

Episcopalians are struggling with how to resolve the issues, in large measure because "everyone is thoroughly defended (in their own position), instead of dealing with one another from the heart," he said.

"By approaching one another with battlements in place, there's very little opportunity to meet the Christ in one another."