26 July 2008
Lambeth 1.
Tense times behind the scenes at the Lambeth Conference
Posted by geoconger in Church of England Newspaper, July 24, 2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury’s efforts to steer the Anglican Communion away from the theological and political shoals appears to have been for naught, as the 14th Lambeth Conference began to founder on its second business day.
While the three day retreat led by Dr. Williams was universally applauded by bishops from across the geographic and theological spectrum, once the bishops were loosed upon each other the tensions that have plagued the Communion stepped back into center stage.
On July 22, the Archbishop of the Sudan released a statement calling for the Episcopal Church of the United States to repent, and to cease “with immediate effect” its advocacy of gay bishops and blessings.
Rebuffed by conference organizers in releasing his message, Dr. Daniel Deng, Archbishop of Juba and Primate of the Sudan, went round them and held an impromptu press conference in the media room, and issued a call for Gene Robinson to step aside to save the Communion.
If [Gene Robinson] were a real Christian he would resign” Archbishop Deng said on July 22, as the Episcopal Church’s media handlers looked on in shock. A number of American bishops were taken aback by the Sudanese statement, as Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori and a number of her colleagues spent the days before the opening of Lambeth with the Sudanese bishops in Salisbury.
The extended encounter with the American bishops did not have the intended effect, however, as it prompted the Sudanese Archbishop, with the full support of his bishops, to issue the call for repentance.
The small group format of the conference, called Indaba groups, has so far discouraged collective action, and left many bishops unaware of what was happening in the wider conference. However, a meeting of over 150 Global South bishops during the free period on Tuesday afternoon, brought the Robinson issue back to the center.
“I have nothing to talk” to Gene Robinson about, Dr. Deng said. “First he must confess and then is the time to talk” about the divisions within the Communion, the Sudanese leader said.
The Indaba group structure of the conference has prompted mixed reviews. South African Archbishop Thabo Makgoba-one of the conference organizers—conceded the division of the bishops into groups of 40 to discuss specific issues in the space of two hours did not appear to allow for enough time for a full airing of views. “Mathematically, it won’t make a lot of sense,” he said. However, “the whole conference is an indaba.”
“Indaba starts with walk from your room,” and continues with all of the events of the day. “It is part and parcel of the whole conversation,” he explained. Bishop Nathan Baxter of Central Pennsylvania lauded the small group encounters saying that “bishops listening together” had set a respectful tone for the gathering, and “says a lot about the climate” at Lambeth.
Americans have been “well received” he said. While “not everyone agrees” with each other, we have been able to “talk to one another, not about one another,” Bishop Baxter said.
While fostering personal relations, the indaba project has so far not responded to the wider issues at play. Dr Deng said “until now I cannot judge” the worth of the indaba process, “but until now I think they are not doing” the job.
Central Florida Bishop John W. Howe, one of the senior American evangelical bishops told his clergy “there seems to be an incipient revolt stirring among us. Many of the Africans are saying, ‘This isn’t indaba at all! First of all, we are not a village, and we don’t know each other. And secondly, we are not attempting to solve a problem; we are talking in small groups about minor issues of little consequence’.”
The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu is reported to have said, Bishop Howe wrote, “If indaba is such a great idea, why is Africa in such a mess?”
“There seems to be the beginning of some rumbling that we need to get to a decision-making moment in the life of the Conference,” Bishop Howe wrote on July 22.
The administration of the conference appears to be unraveling as well, as queries about who actually is in charge of Lambeth—who welds authority over the day to day operations—remain unanswered.
Conference spokesman have confirmed Lambeth is over £1 million in debt, and an emergency meeting of the conference organizers and the Church Commissioners has been set for early August to deal with the shortfall. However, the Church Commissioner’s charter prevents them for bailing out the conference, and the bailiffs may soon be at the door of the Old Palace in Canterbury, if no other sources of cash are found to cover the deficits.
Over 40 percent of the bishops attending Lambeth are on “scholarship” from the Conference. With a quarter of the bishops absent and fundraising at a standstill, the financial picture appears grim, one insider told CEN.
The bishops’ communications strategy has also misfired, with relations with the church press at a new low. The names of the bishops attending Lambeth would not be revealed as this was a secret. The reason for the secrecy was a secret, though explanations of privacy concerns and security concerns were offered.
The Church of England’s policy of an open invitation to Communion for baptized Christians has been rescinded for the duration of the Conference, as the press has been banned from attending worship services, as the presence of non-bishops at worship would be a distraction and a nuisance, conference organizers said.
Little official information or first-hand observation of the proceedings will be available, for unlike past conferences, almost all sessions have been closed to the media. A request by the Times to attend the session on media training, entitled “Never say no to the press”, was met with a “no” from the conference organizers.
In his presidential address to the conference on Sunday, which was closed to the press, Dr. Williams said that the communion could address its problems through “consent, not coercion” but through open dialogue.
He acknowledged the Communion was “in the middle of one of the most severe challenges” but noted that “whatever the popular perception, the options before us are not irreparable schism or forced assimilation.”
Dr. Williams argued that the way forward for the Communion amidst its divisions was through “council and covenant.” He offered a “vision of an Anglicanism whose diversity is limited not by centralized control but by consent - consent based on a serious common assessment of the implications of local change.”
He downplayed suggestions the indaba process was designed to avoid action, saying that while “quite a few people have said that the new ways we’re suggesting of doing our business are an attempt to avoid tough decisions and have the effect of replacing substance with process. To such people, I’d simply say, ‘How effective have the old methods really been?’”
Lambeth Conference resolutions were more honoured in the breach. “If you look at the resolutions that have been passed since 1867, you’ll find many of them, on really important subjects, have never been acted on,” he said.
Past Lambeth Conferences that focused on plenary sessions had led to “the voices most often heard would be the voices of people who were comfortable with this way of doing things.”
“We need renewal, and this is the moment for it,” Dr. Williams said, charging the bishops to “help shape fresh, more honest and more constructive ways of being a conference - and being a Communion.”
Whether Dr. Williams’ plea can be honoured at this late stage remains to be seen. With the conference cracking up all around him, his abilities to preserve the integrity of the Anglican Communion will be sorely tested in the coming days.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
2a.
LAMBETH: Archbishop of Sudan to TEC Bishop Gene Robinson - "Resign"
Posted by David Virtue on 2008/7/22 12:10:00 (2766 reads)
LAMBETH:
Archbishop of Sudan to TEC Bishop Gene Robinson -
"Resign"
By Hans Zeiger with David W. Virtue
www.virtueonline.org
July 22, 2008
CANTERBURY-The Archbishop of the Episcopal
Church of the Sudan today declared that Gene
Robinson, the openly gay Bishop of New Hampshire, "should resign for the
sake of the church." In a press conference at the decennial Lambeth
Conference, the Most Rev. Dr. Daniel Deng Bul said that homosexual ordination
"is not what is found in the Bible" and that it is "not the norm
of the Anglican world."
Archbishop Bul, who serves as Bishop of Juba as well as primate of the church
in Sudan, represents some of the most
persecuted Christian minorities in the world. The Episcopal Church of Sudan has
grown from eleven dioceses, fifteen years ago, to twenty-four dioceses today.
Dr. Bul rose to the archbishopric at the end of 2007.
Archbishop Bul decided to attend the Lambeth Conference because he says that he
is unwilling to give up on the Anglican Communion just yet, hoping that the
Episcopal Church in the U.S. will still reverse its present
course. Thus far at Lambeth, Bul has not seen indications of genuine
willingness to confront the troubles coming from North America. Referring to "indaba" discussion sessions
among bishops, Archbishop Bul says "we have not seen a way out" of
the church's divisions over sexuality.
The Archbishop expects not only discussion, but resolution. "We are not to
run away. We are to face the reality," he said. "Listening" is a
poor strategy when the Bible is clear about issues of human sexuality.
"Listening should be on the periphery, not on the table whereby you make a
decision extraordinarily from the Bible."
Archbishop Bul indicated that there is no room for dialogue within the church
over sexual morality. "The Bible is not to be changed by the culture. The
culture is to be changed by the Bible," he said. If the Anglican Communion
were to affirm the ordination of homosexual church leaders, "We are saying
that God is wrong."
In a separate written statement to his fellow Lambeth attendees, the Archbishop
wrote, "We reject homosexual practice as contrary to biblical teaching and
can accept no place for it within ECS. We strongly oppose developments within
the Anglican Church in USA and Canada in consecrating a practicing
homosexual as bishop and in approving a rite for the blessing of same-sex
relationships. This has not only caused deep divisions within the Anglican
Communion but it has seriously harmed the Church's witness in Africa and
elsewhere [sic], opening the church to ridicule and damaging its credibility in
a multi-religious environment."
Virtue Online asked Archbishop Bul about the relationship of Anglicans in Africa to Muslims on account of sexual
politics. The Archbishop replied, "That's why I'm here, because we are
called infidels when they hear the Christian world" affirming
homosexuality, adding, "It will give them an upper hand to kill our
people."
The Rev. Dr. Charles Robinson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal
Church, entered the Anglican Communion press room, following Archbishop Bul's
press conference and uttered a few sentences about the Episcopal Church's
historical friendship with the Episcopal Church of the Sudan. "We want to remain
committed to the mission and ministry of the church," he said, before
refusing to answer any questions from the press.
END
OOOOO
2b.
Statement of the Sudanese Bishops to the Lambeth Conference on Human Sexuality
July 22, 2008
To;
the Lambeth Conference
July 20, 2008
In view of the present tensions and divisions within the Anglican Communion and out of deep concern for the unity of the Church, we consider it important to express clearly the position of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan (ECS) concerning human sexuality.
We believe that God created humankind in his own image; male and female he created them for the continuation of humankind on earth. Women and men were created as God's agents and stewards on earth. We believe that human sexuality is God's gift to human beings which is rightly ordered only when expressed within the life-long commitment of marriage between one man and one woman. We require all those in the ministry of the Church to live according to this standard and cannot accept church leaders whose practice is contrary to this. (See ECS Provincial Synod Communique January 2006)
We reject homosexual practice as contrary to biblical teaching and can accept no place for it within ECS. We strongly oppose developments within the Anglican Church in USA and Canada in consecrating a practicing homosexual as bishop and in approving a rite for the blessing of same-sex relationship.
This has not only caused deep divisions within the Anglican Communion but it has seriously harmed the Church's witness in Africa and elsewhere, opening the church to ridicule and damaging its credibility in a multi-religious environment.
The unity of the Anglican Communion is of profound importance to us as an expression of our unity within the Body of Christ. It is not something we can treat lightly or allow to be fractured easily. Our unity expresses the essential truth of the Gospel that in Christ we are united across different tribes, cultures, and nationalities. We have come to attend the Lambeth Conference, despite the decision of others to stay away, to appeal to the whole Anglican Communion to uphold our unity and to take the necessary steps to safeguard the precious unity of the Church.
Out of love for our brothers and sisters in Christ, we appeal to the Anglican Church in the USA and Canada, to demonstrate real commitment to the requests arising from the Windsor process. In particular:
- to
refrain from ordaining practicing homosexuals as bishops or priests;
- to refrain from approving rites of blessing for same-sex relationships;
- to cease court actions with immediate effect;
- to comply with Resolution I.10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference
- To respect the authority of the Bible.
We believe that such steps are essential for bridging the divisions which have opened up within the Communion.
We affirm our commitment to uphold the four instruments of communion of the Anglican Communion: the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, the Primates Meeting and the Anglican Consultative Council; and call upon all Provinces of the Communion to respect these for the sake of the unity and well-being of the Church.
We appeal to this Lambeth Conference to rescue the Anglican Communion from being divided. We pray that God will heal us from the spirit of division. We pray for God's strength and wisdom so that we might be built up in unity as the Body of Christ.
(signed
by) the Most Revd Dr. Daniel Deng Bul
Archbishop and Primate of the Episcopal Church of the Sudan and Bishop of Juba
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
3.
From Times Online
July 23, 2008
Lambeth voices: a panel of Anglican bishops share their views with Faith Online (EXCERPT)
We have asked a selection of Anglican bishops attending the Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican episcopate, to share their views on the meeting as it progresses
The Lambeth Conference: July 21-22
Bishop Peter Beckwith of Springfield, Illinois
“In my Bible study group I apologised for the behaviour of our province that has brought us to the brink of schism. Two hundred and seventy bishops are not here because they refuse to sit down with people who refuse to repent. Gene Robinson is a nice guy, but his lifestyle is not appropriate for a leader of the Church. Sure he’s a bishop, we ordained him. But that says something about our integrity. On the second day of our retreat, I had the feeling we were on the edge of a 10-storey building and the Archbishop of Canterbury was trying to talk us down without a safety net. He’s a wonderful guy, with a lot of integrity but he assumes everyone else has integrity too. The Episcopal Church is not representing the scriptural authority of Christ. In the Episcopal Church, the biggest lie of all is that sexual morality doesn’t matter, or that it’s changing, that God is doing a new thing. Yet prophetic voices in our history have always taken us back to basics. It will be very interesting to see how things develop here. Will enough be done to preserve the integrity of the Communion? We won’t hold together if we continue like this. It will end with a lot of fragments if this conference isn’t able to give a strong confident way forward. In the meeting with the Southern Cone, they were concerned to send a strong signal from this gathering that the Anglican Communion is going to stand for Orthodoxy. It was said in that meeting that the Western Church says things that are not Anglican and not Christian. But, as the Archbishop of Sudan has said, we can’t predict the future. We have to wait and see. The proof will be in the pudding. The time for procrastination and equivocation is over. ”
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
4a.
Bishop accuses church of manipulating summit over 'tolerance guide' to gay clerg
Posted by David Virtue on 2008/7/25 1:40:00 (1046 reads)
LAMBETH:
Bishop accuses church of manipulating summit over 'tolerance guide' to gay
clergy
By Riazat Butt,
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/
July 25, 2008
A US bishop yesterday accused his own
church of manipulating the Lambeth summit by providing its 125 representatives
with briefing notes explaining how to promote liberal attitudes towards gay
clergy.
The US Episcopal church has the largest presence at Lambeth, a once-a-decade
gathering of the world's Anglican bishops in Canterbury, and has provided each
prelate with a "messaging strategy" that tells them how to present a
cogent, persuasive argument in favour of diversity and tolerance in their
discussions with other bishops.
Liberals form the majority voice in the US
church and are eager to liberalise attitudes towards sexuality, given the
divisive furore that has ensued following the 2003 consecration of Gene
Robinson, an openly gay man, as Bishop of New Hampshire.
The document handed out to the Episcopal church's Lambeth contingent encourages
bishops to promote the idea of diversity by using examples from the Bible and
scripture.
"God made a diverse creation who reveals many gifts but the same spirit.
Jesus calls a diverse witness into being and sends them into witness. St Paul called a diverse church to unity
in Christ."
The document, entitled Lambeth Talking Points, also provides advice for bishops
when dealing with journalists: "A good message will reach the audience
without giving the media more than they need or can use."
One US bishop, Keith Ackerman from the
diocese of Quincy, said the document was
"embarrassing".
"We should come to Lambeth spiritually prepared, not tactically prepared.
It is a clear attempt to dominate the debates we are having and push them in a
certain direction.
"The Episcopal church is attempting to manipulate this conference. It was
hoping to convince the rest of the Anglican Communion that its innovations
should be incorporated and respected."
News of the document has spread throughout the Kent campus and, late on Wednesday night, conservatives
launched their own strategy to counter the prevailing liberal tone of Lambeth.
At a meeting attended by diocesan bishops from around the world, one
conservative evangelical recommended: "In group after group, find out how
many people support resolution 1.10 [the one from Lambeth 1998 enforcing a
traditional stance on gay sex].
"I am putting my hand up in my group, I invite my brothers and sisters to
do the same when they get the opportunity." All the bishops present agreed
to implement this plan.
By regularly voting on the incompatibility of homosexuality and the Bible,
traditionalists hope to seize control of the centre ground at Lambeth and to
indicate their widespread disapproval of progressive agendas espoused by
churches in the US and Canada.
Ackerman, the only bishop willing to be named, said: "It is a way to take
the temperature, to remind people that we do not all think the same. It is a
bit like a festering wound. It is not going away and we will not let it."
The feuding has overshadowed the Lambeth meeting, seen by many as being one of
the most critical in the Anglican Communion's history.
However, the warring factions were able to put aside their differences - for
one day only - as they marched through central London to pledge their commitment to cut global poverty.
Led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the bishops formed a river of purple that
gently and quietly bobbed through Whitehall and Millbank. Speaking while on the march, the Bishop of
Repton, Humphrey Southern, said: "This walk represents the presence and
influence we have. I do wish people knew that this is the Anglican Communion at
its best."
On arriving at Lambeth Palace for a drinks reception and lunch in a splendid marquee,
the bishops were joined by Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and and a large gathering
of figures from other faith groups.
Gordon Brown spoke to the gathering. He urged foreign bishops to pressure their
governments on health and education measures and called for a "green
revolution for Africa", with a review of agricultural protectionism to
help people grow food for themselves rather than export it.
The Most Rev Rowan Williams then presented the prime minister, another
embattled leader, with a letter.
It read: "Christian pastors and other faith leaders cannot stand by while
promises are not kept, when nations are tempted by easier paths of preserving
their own wealth at the cost of other peoples' poverty. We should be alarmed
that, on the halfway mark to 2015, most of these achievable targets will not be
met."
The failure was not due to a lack of resources but a lack of global political
will, he added.
END
READER'S COMMENT
The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
|
Poster |
Thread |
Posted: 2008/7/25 21:37 Updated: 2008/7/25 21:37
Home away from home
Re: Bishop accuses church of manipulating summit over �...
I think it has been obvious for years that TEc is closer to a pressure group/lobbyist organization than a church. They have no faith. They have no beliefe in the salvation of Jesus. So what are they other than a lobby group for the gender confused led by their chief "manly man" in hand me down Hillary pant suits?
OOOOO
4b.
The Anglican Communion Institute, Inc.
|
TEC's Theological Agenda and TEC's Strategy for the Lambeth Conference of Bishops |
|
Written by Rev. Dr. Philip Turner |
|
Monday, 21 July 2008 |
|
The Rev. Dr. Philip Turner Vice President The Anglican Communion Institute
I
Shortly before the opening of the Lambeth Conference (now in progress) the Rt. Rev. Clayton Matthews of the office of TEC’s Presiding Bishops circulated a memo to all TEC bishops planning to attend. The memo is entitled “Lambeth Talking Points” and is intended to guide and shape the comments of TEC’s bishops in their discussions with other bishops from other parts of the Anglican Communion. The memo is revealing for several reasons. (1) It is an obvious attempt to give uniform shape and content to the contribution TEC’s bishops have to make; (2) it reveals what TEC’s leadership intends the outcome of the conference to be; and (3) displays what the theology is that lies behind the uniform position TEC’s leadership hopes to establish as that of the Communion as a whole.
It
is revealing that the introduction to the memo states that a method of
communication is being proposed that “will provide the media with no more
“than they want or can use.” It is manifestly also a method designed to
keep a large group of people “on message” so that TEC’s bishops will remain
on the same page. It is manifest also that the memo signals a hardened
position on the part of TEC’s Episcopal leadership that runs counter to the
spirit the Archbishop of Canterbury has asked to guide the bishops in their
deliberations—a spirit of mutual subjection in Christ that is open to
correction. II
III
OOOOO 4c.
For a copy of the briefing document iteself, see: |
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
5.
First Report from Lambeth By Bishop Lawrence
July 20, 2008 (11:03 p.m.)
Dear Fellow Clergy and Members of the Diocese of South Carolina,
I just came in from a short half-hour jog. It is a full moon and the walking paths are semi-lighted. It’s not raining and I needed some vigorous exercise. I have some reading to do before tomorrow’s Indaba sessions—the first of the Conference. Our first few days were spent primarily in retreat mode. Archbishop Rowan Williams presented five addresses over the two and a half day period. Each was around a half-hour followed by substantial time for reflection, prayer, mediation and freedom to wander around Canterbury Cathedral and its hallowed close. The meditations and time for personal prayer, mediation and reflection passed all too quickly for me. The Archbishop’s addresses were (at least for me) both positively and negatively like entering into the “Cloud of Unknowing”. I should tell you that I spent more than a few years of my early Christian life reading the mystics of the church—Evelyn Underhill, Thomas Merton, Francois Fenelon, St. John of the Cross, the desert fathers, Gregory the Great, St. Augustine, St. Anselm just to name a few. And still come back to them periodically. So I am not unfamiliar to this terrain of the spiritual life. I spent most of the reflective time journaling—(perhaps if I have time I’ll type out some of this and share it with you—though most of it is highly personal and hardly altogether prudent to share). Praying in various corners of Canterbury Cathedral (which was closed to all outside visitors for Thursday and Friday), to stumble upon the chapel of the incarnation dedicated for obvious reasons to former Archbishop William Temple or to pray alone in the Thomas a Beckett chapel where the Archbishop was martyred—that troublesome cleric of King Henry II, then wander up as if guided by an unseen Docent to the chapel set apart for modern martyrs and note that some of the windows are left with clear glass for other eras to mark the future seeds of the church gives one pause. It was indeed a privilege to be in this cradle of Anglicanism for so lengthy a time— St. Augustine, Lanfranc, Anselm, Cranmer, Matthew Parker, William Temple, Michael Ramsey to name just a few of the luminaries whose lives and writings I’ve read and admired is no un-weighty exercise for heart, mind and spirit. But I’d better move on to other developments.
Frankly the significant experiences for such a recently consecrated bishop as I come so fast and feverishly it is hard to keep up with it all—but between my bishop’s journal where I record daily events, and my personal journal reserved for deeper matters of the soul I’ll revisit much of this latter. I’ve met so many possible links that may provide missional relationships for the Diocese of South Carolina that my mind is running along lines of mission, strategy, and theological alignments that I belief will be mutually beneficial to our diocese and parishes and for dioceses in every direction out from South Carolina—Ireland, England, New Zealand, India, North Africa, Southeast Asia, South America, West Africa, East Africa, et al. Some of these bishops bear names you may well recognize and others humble godly servants of God who have faced incredible challenges and have kept the faith in the midst of astonishing hardship. It heartens the soul to walk with them from one venue to another, to worship alongside them, study the scriptures with them, or share a meal in the cafeteria with them.
This morning was the 10th Sunday after Pentecost. The bishops in convocation robes processed to the Choir while the spouses of the bishops along with various dignitaries—former Archbishop Carey to name one—filled much of the Cathedral nave. As we came through the Great West Door of the Canterbury Cathedral two by two, Bishop Jack Iker with whom I was paired whispered to me something to the effect—“You won’t enter through these doors very often.” It hardly needed a response from me. I trembled for a moment. Certainly not everything in the service was to my liking—and some of it more than a little disturbing. But I’ve moved beyond that for now. What lingers is the processing, seeing my wife Allison in the congregation as I processed in, going forward to receive the sacrament for resoluteness of will, and the gospel procession with the Melanesian Brothers and Sisters dressed in tribal garb dancing from the High Altar to the Compass Rose carrying the gold Gospel Book in a coracle or little boat. All I could think of was the joy that came to aboriginal people as the gospel set them free from ancient fears and now carrying the Holy Scripture as if they were carrying Jesus as their Chief and King. That is of course what the gospel did for the early Celts, Picts, Anglo-Saxons and even Vikings on these Isles, and a thousand other tribes, tongues and nations elsewhere. The gospel always needs to be inculturated into every society and every society needs to be evangelized and transformed by gospel—including ours.
This afternoon we met back at the University of Kent where the main conference is being held. The format was unfolded and explained. I’m suspending judgment for now, though hardly entering into matters unaware of the grave concerns that lie before us. It is a day for vigilance, keenness of spirit, prayer, discernment, forthrightness and honest acknowledgement of the profound differences, fears and challenges we face in the Anglican Communion. I think of a scene from the Lord of the Rings where (I believe it’s) Stryker asks Frodo if he is afraid, and Frodo replies, “Yes.” Stryker then says, “Not nearly enough. I know what hunts you!” There were many signs and protesters as we walked through the narrow medieval streets of Canterbury from the buses that brought us from the University for the Sunday morning Eucharist. One of them was a paraphrase of Amos 6:1— “Woe to you who are at ease at Lambeth!” I can hardly disagree with such a prophetic injunction. Yet even such a searching prophet as Amos concludes his book with hope and promise—“On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old…” Such is my prayer for us. It is past midnight—I have reading to do for tomorrow’s gathering. I will give you updates as I’m able and as the sensitivity of issues seems appropriate.
Blessings in Christ our Savior and Lord,
+Mark Lawrence
South Carolina
Lambeth Report #4: 20 minutes with Rowan
July 21, 2008
by Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
Today, the Lambeth process changed. I won’t say ‘started fresh’, because after three days of retreat and one Canterbury Cathedral opening Eucharist, it shouldn’t be fresh. It should be old. It should be a renewed close contact with the Lord and Savior that drew us into a church in the first place. You know, that God whom you have always known, and his Son who bids you “walk this way, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Today, the bishops’ schedule changed because of the addition of the Indaba groups. Five Bible study groups combine to create an Indaba group. It is a foreign concept for almost everyone here and I think it is a gutsy choice for an international conference that has this much on the line.
Last evening, the bishops and spouses gathered in the big blue tent for the Presidential address by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Most of that text is appended below. It explains the way that the conference will be run starting this morning: our next 12 days.
Today, after the first press briefing yesterday, we had 20 minutes with Rowan. I am not being disrespectful in calling him that. Today, there were no fancy vestments and no lofty processions. Just a man in a black shirt and black suit given a job to do. He came to the pressroom, filled to overflowing with scribbling people and flashing cameras, and after a short introduction, explained to us what his purposes and intentions were in the design of this conference. I felt he was more candid than he was in New Orleans last September at the House of Bishops’ meeting. Granted, the situation is much more perilous today than it was then for the Communion and individual provinces within the Communion. He spoke simply and distinctly. He didn’t dodge any of the questions asked him. Today, I had an opportunity to appreciate the intellect and the character of the university professor, the man who took this job after begging not to be given it.
He began by explaining that today was a gear change. The retreat has no business agenda and his hope was that each would reconnect with the Lord who called him/her into priesthood to begin with. Why Indaba? Because the old method didn’t work. It was worth the chance to try something new that would reflect every person’s understanding. We must have unity that is formed not by coercion but by consent. And, we must have theological education that is excellent world-wide, so that there are many places to study in the future, not just a few in England and the United States. Study for priesthood and further study for bishops. It is essential to their calling and leadership roles.
Then
the questions flew:
q Will better theological education end some of the wars that pit one religious
group against another? That is my hope.
q Did GAFCON make the covenant more imperative? No. We will argue and continue
to make our case with the Gafcon people after the conference ends.
q Your statement of government of the Communion by covenant and council. What
does that entail? Cleaning house for serious debate. Not every province will
desire to be bound by a covenant.
q The Ecumenical participants are here and Gene Robinson is not. Why not? The
Ecumenical participants are full participants and have not caused a problem
within the Anglican Communion. A bishop invited to this meeting represents his
diocese and province and is allowed to engage in world-wide fellowship. This
privilege must be guarded and protected.
q The Church of England has just finished voting to allow women to be bishops.
Is this a problem? What about provinces and parishes that do not accept women’s
ministry as valid ministry? Some do not agree that ministry is happening. The
Church of England has work to do on this issue in the future. We are working
with our ecumenical partners, especially the Vatican on this issue.
q What in human sexuality do you believe is wrong in terms of sexual behavior?
Any relationship outside a public covenant of mutual love, in the presence of
God is outside my belief. I believe that sex outside of marriage is not part of
God’s plan. The Anglican Communion has spoken adequately on the issue of
homosexuality and I will adhere to those policies and decisions.
q This conference has been challenged by many different sources. What do you
hope it will achieve? Every conference is a huge challenge but this one stands
at a crossroads in the Communion. I am thankful that it is never dependant
solely on the archbishop. It is really dependant on God, through Jesus Christ.
That’s why we did the retreat first. We need to be back in touch with the one
who makes all things possible.
q Gene Robinson was not invited but his consecrators were. Why? I faced that
question squarely. Some of his consecrators have expressed sorrow and asked for
forgiveness; some have retired. The American church through their house of
Bishops asked for forgiveness and I sent their letter to each Primate. Just
over 50% felt it was an adequate response, as did the Joint Standing Committee.
So, they were invited.
q Follow up question: CAPA bishops said they would not come if the consecrators
were invited and their voices represent the majority of Anglicans in the
Communion. How did you make that decision? I told each of them that their voice
matters and we need to hear from them. I can’t invite the bishops of 70 million
and not invite the bishops of 2 million. We don’t have that kind of parity or
power politics in the Communion. Every voice counts.
q Does their absence devalue the statement that will be produced? There is a
grave disquiet about their absence and a serious criticism that must be
addressed. We will do so in the next 12 days.
q Does the Book of Common Prayer, now existing in so many different forms, lead
to problems in the Communion? The original Book of Common Prayer is the
touchstone and the reference for all other books but that doesn’t mean that
everyone has to use it. It is important, in addition to that, that we ask
people, priests and bishops, “how often do you pray? How often do you take
spiritual direction?” We would less likely be at this stand off if shared
patterns of prayer in the Communion were addressed more seriously.
The Archbishop sat quietly while an explanation about the Spouses’ Conference was made and then left the room, escorted to his next event, which was another speech. He did not look weary. He did not act dismayed. I think he is ready and eager for the next 12 days and has very high hopes that it will be fruitful for each participant. No giant ringing carillon bell peal; but fruitful, lower case “f”. In whatever way God wants to do that. I hope you enjoy reading his address, below. Cherie Wetzel in Canterbury, England
Archbishop of Canterbury’s Presidential Address (20 July)
As we begin our work together, we’re bound to be very much aware of people’s eyes upon us. There are expectations among our own people – both hopes and fears. There are expectations among the representatives of the world’s media – and plenty of stories already which seem to know better than any of us what is going to happen. I saw the headline “Is this the end of the Anglican Communion”. (Church of England News Friday, July 18, page 1) No-one has told us here. And there are our eyes on each other – perhaps not quite sure yet how it’s going to feel, who we’re going to be alongside, whether everything will come out right in the sense that after two weeks we shall be able to say something with real integrity that will move us forward in God’s way.
We know all that; but we need also to know what most matters – that God’s eyes are upon us and that God has entrusted something to us. In the last few days, we have had a chance to hold that firmly in mind as we have shared our time of retreat. We have reminded ourselves that God has entrusted something to each one of us as a bishop, the care of his people and the taking forward of his purpose for humankind through our share in God’s mission. We have been caught up in the infinite consequences of Jesus’ life and death and resurrection. We are part of God’s way of making those consequences real and liberating for all humanity. So all that is said and done in our context here is in some way to do with this fundamental agenda, deepening our commitment to God’s own vision of the world’s future in Christ.
But God does not hand out general prescriptions and inspirations: God works through the specifics of the community that is called in Christ’s name – the Church. And the Church is known in diverse forms and traditions. So God has not only entrusted to us the task of sharing in his mission; he has also entrusted to us one particular way embodying and serving this mission. He has entrusted to us this extraordinary thing called the Anglican Communion. And in our time together he is asking us, more sharply than ever before, perhaps, what we want to make of it – how we use the legacy we have been given for his glory and for the sake of the good news of Jesus Christ.
More sharply than ever? Yes, because we all know that we stand in the middle of one of the most severe challenges to have faced the Anglican family in its history. But at the same time, we shouldn’t assume that this is the worst of times. The very first Lambeth Conference met against the background of bitter controversy in Southern Africa and fierce disputes about who was a ‘proper’ bishop and who wasn’t.
… we have some choices ahead of us in these weeks together. And when God gives us choices he also asks us to think and pray about how we make the choices as well as what we actually choose. If what we want more than anything is to be guided by the Holy Spirit, and I’m taking it for granted that is what we want, who alone can make Christ alive in our midst, we shall want to find a way of letting that guidance be as powerful and as real as it could be. …
Quite a few people have said that the new ways we’re suggesting of doing our business are an attempt to avoid tough decisions and have the effect of replacing substance with process. To such people, I’d simply say, ‘How effective have the old methods really been?’ Earlier Lambeth Conferences issued weighty reports and passed scores of resolutions (I must put my hand up and admit that I’ve drafted parts of those reports and resolutions myself in the past!); no-one would say they have been a waste of time, because they still embody a lot of careful thinking and planning. Yet not much of this material attempts to convey what was different about meeting in a prolonged time of prayer and fellowship as we always do at these Conferences. And as for resolutions: if you look at the resolutions that have been passed since 1867, you’ll find many of them, on really important subjects, have never been acted on.
First, as you have heard, they recognised, with the help of those members who came from outside Europe and North America, that the methods we had got used to were very much tied to Western ways – and not only Western ways, but the habits that developed in the later twentieth century, with tight procedural rules, great quantities of paper, close timetables and yes-or-no decisions. All these still have their attractions, but, as I’ve said, it isn’t clear that they actually help things happen ….
Second,
connected with this, decisions are most effective when they are really ‘owned’
by the greatest possible number of people involved; when they reflect a
discussion in
which everyone is confident that they haven’t been manipulated, bullied or
ignored. Even if the decision doesn’t come out exactly where they wanted, they
can still be confident that they haven’t been sidelined or silenced. So what
would it take to have an outcome from an event like this that the overwhelming
majority felt they had shaped for themselves?
The process of the Conference as it’s now unfolding is an attempt to answer those questions – and not only to answer them, but to lay foundations for working better in the future. In institutional terms, we need renewal, and this is the moment for it. If you will, you can all help shape fresh, more honest and more constructive ways of being a Conference – and being a Communion. The Conference seeks to build up a trustful community in this time together – one reason we began with a retreat, so that our common trust in God could be renewed.
Everything depends of course on everyone being ready to play their part. ..The indaba process is meant to clarify what the real questions and concerns are, so that everyone comes to have some sort of shared perspective on things, even if they don’t yet agree.
We also have to draw upon the hard work of the two groups we have met this afternoon, those who have worked on the draft of a possible Covenant for our life together and those who have made up the ‘Windsor Continuation Group’. They have had one of the toughest jobs of anyone connected with this Conference because they have had to think through what needs to happen for the insights and proposals of the Windsor Report to go on steering our common life in the Communion in ways that will prevent further strain and division.
But what of these problems, what of the future of the Communion? In what I have said there may be a hint of how we should think about this. Because the greatest need of the Communion now is for transformed relationships. This does not mean simply warm feelings about each other, but new habits of respect, patience and understanding that are fleshed out in specific ways and changed habits – in responsible agreement and search for the common mind, … We need to get beyond the reciprocal impatience that shows itself in the ways in which both liberals and traditionalists are ready – almost eager at times, it appears – to assume that the other is not actually listening to Jesus.
For
this to be a reality, we must be honest about how deep some of the hurts and
We cannot ignore the fact that what is seen to be a new doctrine and policy
about same-sex relations, one that is not the same as that of the vast majority
at the last Lambeth Conference, is causing pain and perplexity. We cannot
ignore the pressures created by new structures that are being improvised in
reaction to this pain and perplexity, pressures that are very visible in the
form of irregular patterns of ministry across historic boundaries. Perspectives
on the situation are very different at the moment. Some in our Communion would
be content to see us become a loose federation, perhaps with diverse expression
of Anglicanism existing side by side in more or less open competition but with
little co-ordination of mission, little sense of obligation to sustain a common
set of theological and practical commitments. Some would like to see the
Communion as simply a family of regional or national churches strictly
demarcated from each other – sovereign states, as it were, with independent
systems of government…
Each of these is attractive in some ways to people at both ends of the theological spectrum. Yet each of them represents something rather less than many – perhaps most – Anglicans over the last century at least have hoped for in their Communion.
Along with many in our Communion since the Lambeth Conferences began and international Anglicanism started to have a new kind of visibility, I believe there is; but it will require some of what we take for granted to change. Because it is not an option to hope that we can somehow just carry on as we always have: the rival bids to give Anglicanism a new shape are too strong… That is why there is quite properly a sense of being at a deeply significant turning point.
It’s my conviction that the option to which we are being led is one whose keywords are of council and covenant. It is the vision of an Anglicanism whose diversity is limited not by centralised control but by consent – consent based on a serious common assessment of the implications of local change. ..The entire Church is present in every local church assembled around the Lord’s table. Yet the local church alone is never the entire Church.
If so, by God’s grace, we have it in us to be a Church that can manage to respond generously and flexibly to diverse cultural situations while holding fast to the knowledge that we also free from what can be the suffocating pressure of local demands and priorities because we are attentive and obedient to the liberating gift of God in Jesus and in the Scripture and tradition which bear witness to him.
It implies, of course, some obvious and simple things – being clear (to take an obvious example) about how we recognise and accept each other’s ministries in the conviction that we are ordaining men and women to one ministry in one Body. But it means also a deeper seriousness about how we consult each other – consult in a way that allows others to feel they have been heard and taken seriously, and so in a way that can live with restraint and patience. … There will undoubtedly, in our time
together, be some tough questions about how far we really want to go in promising mutual listening and restraint for the sake of each other.
That’s why a Covenant should not be thought of as a means for excluding the difficult or rebellious but as an intensification – for those who so choose – of relations that already exist. And those who in conscience could not make those intensified commitments are not thereby shut off from all fellowship; it is just that they have chosen not to seek that kind of unity,…
As we shall be reminded many times during these days, our own communion and unity are created and nourished by God for the sake of the Good News….Contrary to what some have claimed, it is not true that we at this Conference are using issues like the Millennium Development Goals to provide a rallying-point for Anglicans who can agree only about ‘secular’ priorities but not about the essence of the Gospel.
No-one’s interests are best served by avoiding the hard encounters and the fresh
insights. Bear in mind that in this Conference we are committed to common prayer and mutual care so that the hard encounters can be endured and made fruitful.
To conclude: I wonder if you noticed how the readings at our service this morning – they were from the Church of England lectionary; that’s what we had; there was no forethought – helped to ‘frame’ all our business in the context of the eternal and historical work of Christ? The gospel (Matthew 13:24-30 and 36-43) spoke of the seed sown by the Saviour – the Word of God, who was in the beginning, in whom all things hold together. Our beginnings are in his hand; it is from the gift of the Word made flesh that all our life as Church flows. And the epistle (Romans 8: 12-25) spoke of endings – the creation set free as God’s children discover their true freedom and glory is revealed in the world we know. Our endings are in God’s hand; the Word, through the Spirit, is transforming us into Christ-likeness, so that we may pray trustfully and intimately to our Father. And in that process our relations with each other are transformed, and even our relations with the material world around us. At our roots and at our end is the Word, Jesus our Lord, embodying all that God wants to do first for us and then through us. At every point, he works in us so that our relations with God and each other may be transformed; the life and process of this Conference will be a crucial part of that transformation. As I said earlier, it won’t solve all our problems straight away; but we shan’t find a genuinely Christ-like way forward without such transformation. May this happen not only in word but in deed and in truth.
© Rowan Williams 2008
OOOOO
6b.
Morning Homily on the Book of Jude
July 21, 2008
[Ed.
Note: This was the homily at our Eucharist this morning. I felt it is so
significant tha I wanted to share it with you. The reading is the Book of Jude.
Cherie Wetzel]
by the Rev. Dr. Chris Sugden, Director, Anglican-Mainstream, England
We are coming closer to what the determining view of the world will hold the ring here at Lambeth.
First – every viewpoint should be heard. But that is only as a part of a long journey that has no short cut. That is why people are upset at 230 bishops not coming. It shows that their proposed framework for including everyone is not working.
A colleague pointed out to me in an email last night that there was a very simple alternative scenario for Lambeth. Had Archbishop Rowan Williams not invited the consecrators of Gene Robinson, the 230 would have come. It is Archbishop William's decision that has made it impossible for them to come.
Second, Archbishop Williams has plumped for a solution in his presidential address. He wants to give the communion a new way of operating: council and covenant: an undertaking to consult
He said: "by God's grace, we have it in us to be a Church that can manage to respond generously and flexibly to diverse cultural situations while holding fast to the knowledge that we also free from what can be the suffocating pressure of local demands and priorities because we are attentive and obedient to the liberating gift of God in Jesus and in the Scripture and tradition which bear witness to him. Already our Bible Study Groups are bringing this into focus. And I want to say very clearly that the case for an Anglican Covenant is essentially about what we need in order to give this vision some clearer definition."
That's why a Covenant should not be thought of as a means for excluding the difficult or rebellious but as an intensification – for those who so choose – of relations that already exist. And those who in conscience could not make those intensified commitments are not thereby shut off from all fellowship; it is just that they have chosen not to seek that kind of unity, for reasons that may be utterly serious and prayerful."
The question is whether this takes the reality of the situation and those promoting the gay agenda seriously.
It is here that Jude speaks firmly to us:
False
teaching is dangerous. It is not just one of a series of perspectives that has
a right to be heard: godless men change the grace of our God into a licence for
immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord.
We know a lot about the licence for immorality. But what about the denial of
Jesus. We know of this in particular cases. But what of the inclusion of a
Buddhist chant at the end of the sermon yesterday, We sang only one hymn to
Jesus – O for a thousand tongues to sing – and that at the end of the service.
Those who promote false teaching are in a very dangerous situation: the Lord destroyed those who did not believe, though he included them in deliverance from Egypt: God will judge people for excusing, tolerating and even promoting sin. Jude gives three examples of God's judgement: on those who escaped Egypt, on angels and on Sodom and Gomorrah. And this judgement is serious: eternal fire.
Jude
says we are to be prepared for how they address matters dear to our hearts:
they speak abusively against whatever they do not understand; and what they do
understand is only at a carnal level and it destroys them.
Jude says that we are to be prepared to see their real motivation. He says:
They
are like Cain who was consumed by jealousy and killed his brother
They are like Balaam who prophesied because he wanted the money
They are like Korah who rebelled against God's appointed leaders because he
wanted power for himself
They are shepherds who feed only themselves – greed
They are shameless – eating with you without the slightest qualm.
They do not produce fruit - they are clouds without rain, trees without fruit.
Twice dead, they not only are unproductive, they are not even believers.
They are grumblers and fault finders.
They follow their own evil desires
They boast about themselves
They flatter others for their own advantage.
We are not to be surprised by this phenomenon: we are told that in the last times there will be scoffers ( at the faith) and they will divide you.
These people are to be resisted. But there is another class of people out there: those who doubt. It is to those we are sent: to show them mercy, to snatch them from this fire and to save them.
Its all a very risky business – requiring that you put your neck on the line: but our help is invincible: to him who is able to keep you from falling. How often have you prayed or rather called in despair – I just do not want to mess this up. He will present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy.
--
Chris Sugden
Anglican Mainstream
www.anglican-mainstream.net
OOOOO
6c.
Dr Williams calls for reflection and a focus on strengthening the Communion
July 21, 2008
[Ed. Note: This is the Presidential Address to the bishops yesterday afternoon at their organizational session. Photos of the Lambeth Conference are available at www.lambethconference.org. Click the photo tab. Cheryl M. Wetzel]
July 20th, 2008
"God’s eyes are upon us and God has entrusted something to us?..we need
renewal, and this is the moment for it". Archbishop Rowan Williams,
Opening Presidential Address, Lambeth Conference.
With stirring words the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, opened the first full plenary session of the Lambeth Conference, receiving an enthusiastic reception from bishops from around the world.
In his Presidential Address to Lambeth Conference Dr Williams called for reflection and a focus on strengthening the Communion.
"You can all help shape fresh, more honest and more constructive ways of being a Conference ? and being a Communion. The Conference seeks to build up a trustful community in this time together ? one reason we began with a retreat, so that our common trust in God could be renewed.
"We must be honest about how deep some of the hurts and difficulties currently go; and we must refresh and reanimate our sense of what our Communion ought to be contributing to the whole ecumenical spectrum of Christian life.
"It’s my conviction that the option to which we are being led is one whose keywords are of council and covenant. It is the vision of an Anglicanism whose diversity is limited not by centralised control but by consent."
Dr Williams stressed the enormous significance and importance of existing bonds of friendship and fellowship which were, he said, "valuable channels of grace, even if some want to give such bonds a more formal and demanding shape".
"I want to stress this partly because all those existing bonds are already being richly used by God for the service of his world. As we shall be reminded many times during these days, our own communion and unity are created and nourished by God for the sake of the Good News.
"If our efforts at finding greater coherence for our Communion don’t result in more transforming love for the needy, in greater awareness and compassion for those whose humanity is abused or denied, then this coherence is a hollow, self-serving thing, a matter of living ‘religiously’ rather than ‘biblically’.
"We seek for clarity about what we must do in a suffering world because?.we are at one in knowing what the Incarnate Lord requires of us."
Dr Williams reminded the Conference that "Our endings are in God’s hand; the Word, through the Spirit, is transforming us into Christlikeness, so that we may pray trustfully and intimately to our Father. And in that process our relations with each other are transformed, and even our relations with the material world around us. At our roots and at our end is the Word, Jesus our Lord, embodying all that God wants to do first for us and then through us."
Archbishop Williams urged that this transformation should be one not only in word but in deed and in truth.
The first full plenary session of the Lambeth Conference included presentations on the design, themes and process of the conference by the chairman of the Design Group Ellison Pogo, Archbishop of Melanesia, Ian Earnest, Archbishop of the Indian Ocean, and Thabo Makgoba, Archbishop of Cape Town. Roger Herft, Archbishop of Perth and Chair of the Lambeth Conference Listening Group, gave an account of the Reflections process.
The Reflections Document, which would be issued at the end of the conference, would be developed from the discussions in the Indaba groups, each of which would choose one member to act as a Listener. Drafts of the developing Reflection Document would be aired in hearings on three occasions during the second week of the Conference before being presented in plenary session on the final Saturday.
The aim of the Reflections Document was "to be faithful to the Gospel, faithful to the Indaba process, faithful to the bishops and faithful to the Communion," said Archbishop Herft.
An introduction to the Covenant process, to be discussed in Indaba groups on 1 and 2 August was given by Drexel Gomes, Archbishop of the West Indies and Chair of the Covenant Design Group. Archbishop Gomes traced the history of the Process to the Primates Meeting in Dromantine, Northern Ireland, in 2005 through the work initiated by the Joint Standing Committee (of Primates and the Anglican Consultative Council) to the draft text produced by the Covenant Design Group in January 2008 ? the St Andrew’s Draft. The Conference, he said, "was being invited to commend or to challenge what has been produced and to respond in a way that will inform the debate about the Covenant in the Communion at large."
Five self-select sessions would examine the draft in detail while discussions of the Covenant in principle and in practice ? "what is the potential for a Covenant in the life of the Communion" - would be in two Indabas on Friday 1 August in the morning and the afternoon. Indaba discussion would be included in the Reflections Process while work in the Covenant design Group would continue after the Conference. The Covenant Design Group would next meet in Singapore in September. A "Lambeth Commentary" would be compiled after the Conference and would feed into Provincial discernment in 2008 and 2009.
In April 2009, the Group would meet to draft a third version of the Covenant for presentation to the meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Jamaica.
Bishop Clive Handford, Chair of the Windsor Continuation Group explained the background to the creation of the group "to advise on outstanding matters from the Windsor Report". The group would be engaging with the Conference in several ways including hearings on 23 and 28 July in which they will offer some preliminary observations and inviting response both at the hearings and formally through discussion in Indaba groups on 2 August. That Indaba would look at mutual accountability in God and Mission in the context of the Covenant process.
OOOOO
6d.
Lambeth and Indaba
July 21, 2008
by Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
Today the Bishops will begin Indaba groups. What is Indaba?
Indaba was described for us at the press conference today as a process that South African villages use as a method of engagement for problems that face a set group of people. The word is from the Zulu, and means “business.” Traditionally, the elder men of the community meet and deal especially with an issue that affects the entire community. The discussion begins on a quite superficial level and then goes deeper and deeper into the gist of the problem, with the sharing of ideas and information.
Indaba is not a debate format. There are not opposing sides, a pro- and a con- set of arguments. It is a series of discussions. Originally in the Zulu context, this would include any issue that affects the whole village. In African society, tribal leaders will converse until they come to a type of consensus. They meet regularly and some topics will come up again and again, like theft. Months of discussion can produce creative ways to deal with common problems. In this way, Indaba creates a type of solution that is particular and unique to that village and their situation.
The goal of Indaba is not to problem-solve, but to find ways to hold people together in their differences. I think the easiest way for Americans to understand Indaba is to remember those times when you were in a group of people or perhaps a family meeting, discussing a problem or issue and you came to consensus about the nature of that problem. Consensus? Yes, a like-minded understanding by all the people in the group. Can individuals hold different opinions about the issue? Yes. But they have come to a point of agreement on the substance; the core issue and the potential of a way forward.
What does the Archbishop of Canterbury and members of the Lambeth Design Group expect to come out of this process? I think they want to deal with some of the substantive problems in the Communion in any other manner than making resolutions and taking votes. They want to have the luxury of time to discuss and come to consensus. They do not want this conference to determine a set way forward on any issue. No protocols. I believe they are hoping to have a thorough discussion of substantive issues without creating winners and losers. No more resolution I.10’s with a vast majority of bishops voting for and a small minority voting no.
But, realistically speaking, we have to talk about the peculiarities of Indaba that the Lambeth Conference cannot hope to uphold. South Africans understand the concept. Here, in Canterbury, we have people that don’t even know the word, let alone the concept of discussion without reaching a conclusion; of problem solving without a solution.
Local Indaba groups meet for hours, and if needed, several days. They meet regularly, with the same format. They learn how the others think. They discuss and chew over the topic until everyone comes to a common understanding of the nature of the problem, as viewed by each person in the group.
Under normal circumstances, Indaba is a group of people who speak the same language, live in the same village, share the same culture, and have known each other perhaps for decades. Can we expect that this format will be easily translated to Lambeth?
Our bishops come from many different countries on many different continents. They do not speak the same language. Effective language translation is an art and the best people are here, doing this work. But words have particular meanings in different cultures and contexts. Two weeks is not enough time to develop a global language.
Two weeks, actually 12 days. That is how much time Indaba will be given. Every day, the groups will meet for two hours. Given that there are 40 people in a group, that doesn’t give each person much talking time. Granted some conversations will begin at Morning Prayer and end at Compline. But they are still lacking the length and breadth of time that communal living over the decades provides.
Many of our bishops do not know each other. They do not share a mutual level of trust and understanding. Our bishops come from radically different cultures. Most of these bishops are university trained in criticism, analysis and problem solving – the backbone of Western education. Imagine, a discussion that is not intended to come to a conclusion and agree on a course of action? It doesn’t happen very often in my world.
Indaba is intended to reach consensus. Will the outcome be affected if several different majority opinions come to the fore, but no consensus? My biggest concern is that these groups will become the depository of personal experience over any creed or value system, especially a Christian creedal or value system.
On the third day of Indaba, a listener will be selected from each group to report that group’s discussion for a narrative. That narrative will be instrumental in the final report of this Lambeth Conference. So, a great deal is at risk here, with the possibility of a time-honored method, new to western people, being the hero of the day. Can this Lambeth come to an essential and mutual understanding of the major problems facing them? Can the participants free themselves from “business as usual” and give Indaba a real try? Speculation is futile. But the Indaba process will be closely observed. We will all have a more definitive answer in 12 days.
OOOOO
6e.
Lambeth Report #5 Tuesday, July 22, 2008
July 22, 2008
by Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
It has been a full 12 hours since my last report. Our group sharing the dorm’s third floor had an early dinner so we could all watch the BBC2’s showing of a special documentary that was made of the GAFCON conference. Since we were at Gafcon, it was an item of great interest (read: people even shut off their cell phones). Chris Sugden, Anglican Mainstream UK, had seen the video prior to its final edit.
It seems that a few months prior to that momentous conference, Chris was approached by the BBC, who had been trying to get in touch with Dr. Peter Akinola for months, without success. If Chris would assist, they would interview Abp. Peter, the other leaders of GAFCON and film portions of that conference to be included in the video.
A film crew flew to Nigeria, filmed Abp. Peter consecrating new bishops, filmed Bp. Ben Nzimbi in Jos, flew to the US and filmed Martyn Minns at Truro and the Rev. John Yates at the Falls Church. They filmed some folks from the Falls Church who are bitterly disappointed in the outcome of that vote and now worship as Falls Church Episcopal at the local Presbyterian Church.
They also interviewed Bp. John Chane of the diocese of Washington, DC at the National Cathedral. His remarks were the same released last week condemning everyone who organized and participated in GAFCON.
The video from Jerusalem was stunning! It began with the Monday worship at the top of the Mount of Olives and the descent to the Garden of Gethsemane. Several of the worship scenes from the hotel were included, along with the organizing bishops and archbishops on the Via Dolorosa, culminating at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. Each of these men gave their reason for being involved and stated clearly why they felt the time required a restatement of the foundations of our faith, based on the Lordship of Jesus Christ and him crucified, the authority of the Bible over all life situations and the great hope for orthodoxy in the world.
The last several minutes of the video were filmed at the final morning Eucharist and the reading of the statement. It was a time of great joy and that was accurately reflected as the Rev. Dr. Stephen Noll read the statement and then Abp. Peter lead the singing and dancing that followed.
I knew everyone interviewed in the video. I know their talents and idiosyncrasies. Each is a vital and dynamic personality and they were authentically themselves on tape. This means that their behavior and strong statements may be judged harshly. I felt that the video was pretty well balanced and made the case that behaviors in other provinces of the Anglican Communion (read: the USA and Canada) had pushed the envelope until a strong comeback was required.
Although Abp. Peter Akinola was initially labeled as the man possibly responsible for splitting the Anglican Communion, the video ended with a statement that he might be right. Although the conference did not declare a split in the Communion, the issue and the fault lines are deep enough there may be no other remedy, especially if the Episcopal Church USA and Anglican Church of Canada pursue their agenda of the full inclusion of homosexuals in all orders of ministry and same-sex marriage.
As the video ended, Chris Sugden, David Virtue and I jumped into a car and headed up the hill to the university. Press was admitted to the plenary session (yes! Inside the big blue tent) to hear Brian McLaren, an American from Maryland who is an expert in evangelism and has written 10 books about it. He was specifically invited by the Archbishop of Canterbury to speak three times at this conference. He talks about the emerging church, which I did not detect as syncretism of an emerging “Unitarian” type of church. His opening line was “I love Jesus Christ and have come to break open our models for Evangelism. We must proclaim the way of Jesus Christ. You are leaders in this church and this is one of your primary jobs, not being drained by the complex demands of institutional maintenance. You must speak on behalf of those who are not in your churches, people Jesus described as harassed and helpless; those without a shepherd.”
“Evangelism is disciple formation. Nothing else is worthy of that trust beyond Christ. You are here to save the church from division, implosion and exhaustion.”
Pretty good start, right? I did not doubt his commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. But I must admit that it was a very “slick” presentation, a graphically rich Power Point that showed his points on three large screens behind him. The weakness with the presentation was in naming particular countries, continents and cultures as pre-modern, modern and post-modern. The ‘tsunami’ of change that accompanies a culture going from pre-modern to modern, for example, could lead one to believe that the amazing numbers of conversions in Africa are not authentic; they are superficial and concentrate on how to go to heaven, not how to live on earth. Couple this with the increase in Aids/HIV that we have seen in this “newly Christianized” continent and you may have substantive proof of this shallow discipleship. This information alone may give the Americans more reason to dismiss the Africans and their requests to this conference.
McLaren has two additional sessions today and tomorrow for those who want more specific information on how to go about being evangelists in their local contexts.
We learned at Press Briefing this morning that the conference would not confirm the attendance of any person. They won’t even confirm the numbers of bishops here or the spouses. I have tried to find my bishop, the Rt. Rev. James Stanton, and they will not tell me where he is staying. Today I requested a media interview with him to try and find him. Lets just say that the press is not impressed with the attitude and level of candidness given by the Anglican Communion press office.
This was an issue because the one Nigerian bishop who was in attendance at Lambeth – yes, he defied Abp. Peter’s order and came – left yesterday after his wife received death threats at home. The Rt. Rev. Cyril Okorocha of Owerri was staying in Surrey with Canon Jeremy Cresswell. He came specifically, “To plead with the Communion to protest the liberalization of the western Church, particularly the provinces in America and Canada”, according to a press release by Victoria Combe, The Tablet, this morning.
The release of the Sudanese statement yesterday in opposition to the promotion of homosexuality and refusal to abide by the Bible has caused a ripple in this pressroom. The Archbishop of the Sudan is meeting with press this afternoon in a “non-scheduled” meeting. I will be there! All of this and it is only noon. Things are definitely picking up here.
Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
OOOOO
6f.
Lambeth Report #6 Tuesday afternoon, July 22, 2008
July 22, 2008
Cherie Wetzel reporting from Canterbury, England
We have just had a briefing with the Archbishop of the Sudan, the Most Reverend Dr. Daniel Deng Bul. He informed the press room this morning that he would come and speak with us, since the Anglican Communion News Bureau running this conference, would not schedule a time for him to address the press.
The archbishop is young – I would guess that he is in his 40’s. He is very articulate and has an earned Ph.D. By his own admission, he has been an Anglican since he was a very small child.
His words are responses to questions asked. I think the questions are self-evident.
“Gene Robinson should resign for the sake of the Church and the entire Anglican Communion. We are pleading with them (the others at this conference) for the Anglican World, to not throw that away.
“We do not want to throw any people away, either. But we are here to determine how to remain united. That begins with forgiving one another for errors made. Gene Robinson is an error. The American church has not admitted they are wrong and we cannot forgive them until they do.
“I do not see a way out of these problems with the Indaba groups. The main issues have not been touched.
“300 bishops are not here because of Gene Robinson. Can he not resign to allow them to come? Why has he not done that?
“He is a human being and we are not throwing him away but the norms of the Anglican Communion have been violated. The question is not if Gene Robinson comes but what are we being challenged to do by GAFCON?”
“Let the Anglican world be united and be a normal, respected Christian body.”
“We have not punished the American church yet. We are asking them to repent. I am talking about the institutional church in America, no specific bishops. I am here to speak within the House of Bishops. I cannot be silent on this issue; I must speak to the House for the reality I know with my people. I should not hesitate to be here since I have been an Anglican since I was a child.
When asked what would happen to the Communion if Robinson did not resign, the archbishop continued, “I cannot predict what will happen if he will not resign.”
Ruth Gledhill of the Times of London asked the archbishop who would pay for this conference, reportedly 2.6 million pounds in debt at this minute, and not able to pay for this by the parishes in the Church of England, if the American church was not invited. He replied very gently, “Issues of faith cannot be mixed with materialism.”
The archbishop, known as an expert in the field of reconciliation said, “I am here talking to my brothers and sisters in America. We have experienced offense by their actions. I am not trying to offend them in return but tell them that I love them. We have had a painful experience and they must ask for forgiveness so we can go on together.
“If there is a cultural problem in America, it should be kept in America and not allowed to come into the Anglican world. I am not saying the Americans should all be excluded, but keep Gene Robinson away and we will find a way to help them. (Imagine the American Episcopal Church actually acknowledging that they need the help of the Sudan!)
“This issue of homosexuality in the Anglican Communion has a very serious effect in my country. We are called ‘infidels’ by the Moslems. That means that they will do whatever they can against us to keep us from damaging the people of our country. They challenge our people to convert to Islam and leave the infidel Anglican Church. When our people refuse, sometimes they are killed. These people are very evil and mutilate and harm our people. I am begging the Communion on this issue so no more of my people will be killed.
“My people have been suffering for 21 years of war. Their only hope is in the Church. It is the center of life of my people. No matter what problem we have, no material goods, no health supplies or medicine; no jobs or income; no availability of food. The inflation rate makes our money almost worthless and we have done this for 21 years. The Church is the center of our life together.
“The culture does not change the Bible; the Bible changes the culture. Cultures that do not approve of the Bible are left out of the Church’s life; people who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches. The American church is saying that God made a mistake. He made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Adam.
“We will not talk to Gene Robinson or listen to him or his testimony. He has to confess, receive forgiveness and leave. Then we will talk. You cannot bring the listening to gay people to our Communion. People who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches, not invited in to tell us why they don’t believe.
“I have just come from a meeting of the African and Global South bishops who are here. There were almost 200 bishops there. They support the statement my Church made yesterday. That’s 17 provinces.
“The Authority of the Bible is always the same. You cannot pull a line out or add a line to it. That brings you a curse. We are saying no. You are wrong.
Archbishop Deng Bul then talked about the humiliation his country faces with the indictment of their president by the International Court. He feels it reflects badly on the whole country and will make more people in Darfur die. He spoke of a recent attack in Sudan by the Lord’s Resistance Army from the Congo and Uganda. They came across the border and slaughtered a whole town of people.
When asked if he knows any gay people in the Sudan he replied, “They have not come to the surface. We do not have them.” The press from TEC that were in the room did not laugh out loud at this statement, but nearly.
He concluded by saying that he felt the purpose of the Lambeth Conference is for the bishops to act as counselors to Rowan and the Primates. They will take these matters under discussion and decide on a way forward. The Archbishop of Canterbury will then act on the counsel he receives from the bishops. We will help him determine what is good for the Communion.
The final question was about the women and ordination, an issue that is still a smoking topic in the Church of England. “Yes,” he said. “Women are human beings that have ministered with the Lord Jesus Christ and to the Lord Jesus Christ.” He does believe in the ordination of women.
Archbishop Deng Bul was accompanied by his Canon, the Rev. Francis Loyo.
As they left the pressroom, the Rev. Dr. Charles Robertson, Canon to the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, said he had a short statement. He clarified that the Episcopal Church has had a positive relationship with the Sudan for many years and has been there with the intention of making a difference. They have succeeded in doing that. The Episcopal Church expects to continue that relationship and continue to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of the Sudan, finding a way to move forward from yesterday’s statement. Canon Robertson declined to answer questions.
People ran to their laptops to get the message out on the Web. I had a chance to personally thank Canon Loyo for their statement and told him that it would cheer and encourage many faithful Episcopalians in the United States. I hope YOU have been encouraged by this. No matter how it might feel. We are not alone!
Cherie Wetzel
OOOOO
6g.
Retraction on Bishop Cyril Okorocha, Owerii, Nigeria
July 23, 2008
The Rev. Dr. Chris Sugden of Anglican-Mainstream has confirmed for our group through contact with Canon Jeremy Cresswell, that Bishop Cyril Okorocha, diocese of Owerii, Nigeria, has not been in Surrey and did not confirm that he was coming to the Lambeth Conference.
Also false are the rumors that his wife was threatened at home in Nigeria and he returned home to protect her.
Anglicans United regrets the report of this rumor and hopes that Bisop Okorocha will not be damaged by my incorrect statement.
The Lambeth Conference office continues to insist that they have received a fax from a Nigerian bishop who is in Surrey and intends to attend this conference. They have failed to provide any proof to substantiate this claim and said bishop has not come to Canterbury as of today.
It appears to me to be an intentional statement by the Communion office to insist that every Province is represented here after all. To clarify, there are no bishops here from Uganda or Nigeria.
Cheryl M. Wetzel reporting from Canterbury, July 23, 2008 11:00 AM
OOOOO
6h.
http://www.anglicansunited.com/2008/07/lambeth_report_7_wednesday_mor.html
Lambeth Report #7 Wednesday morning, June 23, 2008
July 23, 2008
by Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Lambeth
Yesterday afternoon happened at nearly a break-neck speed as I tried to attend the press conference at 1:30 and the Rev. Mario Bergner’s session across campus at 2:30 (which I did not make because I could not find a cab) and then the ad hoc press meeting at 4:00 with the Archbishop of the Sudan, the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul.
This release is about the address to the press by the Most Rev. Clive Handford, former Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East. His Grace is the new chair of the Windsor Continuation Group, which is having a hearing this afternoon at a required session for the bishops. The Windsor Continuation Group is charged with taking the Windsor Report and along with the proposed Covenant, constructing some sort of framework for the Communion that deals with conformity of actions and essential foundational beliefs.
The Windsor Continuation Group members are Bp. Handford, the Most Rev. John Chew, Primate of South East Asia, the Most Rev. Donald Mtetemela, retired Primate of Tanzania, the Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge, bishop of West Texas (San Antonio), the Rt. Rev. Victoria Matthews, bishop of Christchurch, New Zealand and the Rev. John Moses, former dean of St. Paul’s, London.
The Windsor Continuation Group gave the bishops a two-page report, which will have debate today and again later in the conference. The report follows. In his introduction, Bp. Handford began by saying, “The term ‘inclusive’ does not mean anything goes. We are exploring unity in diversity, but there are limits.”
Preliminary Observations: A Presentation at the Lambeth Conference
This document is not a report by the Windsor Continuation Group. It constitutes their preliminary observations on the life of the Communion and of the current state of responses to the recommendations of the Windsor Report. We offer some suggestions about the way forward.
I.
Where we are: the severity of the situation
A. The reality of our current life is complex; presenting issues are not always
the issues that we are actually dealing with. Doctrine, theology, Ecclesiology,
ethics, anthropology, culture, history, political and global realities are all
dimensions. There are competing value systems at work and a lack of clarity
about a shared value framework.
B.Much
has been undertaken in the Communion through and in response to the Windsor
Process, but as a communion, we appear to remain at an impasse. There is
inconsistency between what has been agreed, and what has been done. There is a
gap between what has been promised and follow through. Cf,: -Resolutions at the
TEC 2006 General Convention, HOB meeting at Camp Allen in March, 2005 and New
Orleans, 2007
-Undertaking and affirmations of the Primates at Dromatine (2005) and Dar es
Salaam (2007)
-Resolutions and responses by the House of Bishops and General Synod in Canada
(2004, 2006, 2007)
The gap is manifested in:
-Inconsistency between the stated intent and the reality, including the use and
abuse of language, e.g., moratoria, “initiating interventions”
-The implications of requests and responses are either not fully thought
through or they are disregarded. The consequences of actions have not always
been adequately addressed.
C.
Breakdown of Trust
There are real fears of a wider agenda – over creedal issues (the authority of
scripture, the application of doctrine in life and ethics and even Christology
and soteriology) and polity (comprehensiveness, autonomy and synodical
government); other issues, such as lay presidency and theological statements
that go far beyond the doctrinal definitions of the historic creeds, lie just
over the horizon. Positions and arguments are becoming more extreme: not moving
towards one another, relationships in the Communion continue to deteriorate;
there is little sense of mutual accountability and a fear that vital issues are
not being addresses in the most timely and effective manner.
Through modern technology, there has been active fear mongering, deliberate
distortion and demonizing. Politicization has overtaken Christian discernment.
Suspicions have been raised about the purpose, timing and outcomes of the
Global Anglicanism Future Conference (GAFCON); there is some perplexity about
the establishment of the Gafcon Primates; Council and of FOCA, which with
withdrawal from participation at the Lambeth Conference, has further damaged
trust.
There are growing patterns of Episcopal congregationalism throughout the
Communion at parochial, diocesan and provincial level. Parishes feel free to
choose from whom they will accept Episcopal ministry; bishops feel free to make
decisions of great controversy without reference to existing collegial
structures. Primates make provision for Episcopal leadership in territories
outside their own Province.
There is distrust of the Instruments of Communion and uncertainty about their
capacity to respond to the situation.
Polarization of attitudes in the Churches of the Communion, not just in North
America.
The symptoms of this breakdown of trust are common to all parties in the
current situation – felt and expressed by conservative and liberal alike.
D.Turmoil
in The Episcopal Church, USA
-There has been development from individual members leaving congregations, to
congregations leaving parishes and dioceses, to dioceses seeking to leave
provinces.
-Parties within the Episcopal Church have sought allies within the wider
Communion, who are seen as only too willing to respond.
-Litigation and interventions have become locked into a vicious spiral, each
side seeing the actions of the other as provoking and requiring response.
-At this time, it would appear that the divisions in the United States will
play out in the wider Communion (particularly in Canada).
E. All this amounts to a diminishing sense of Communion and impoverishing our witness to Christ, placing huge strains on the functioning of the Instruments of Communion.
F. Such turmoil affects our relations with our ecumenical partners, many of whom face similar tensions. Some partners are beginning to raise questions about the identity of the Anglican partner. In the light of the ecumenical movement, there can no longer be tensions in one Communion that do not have wider repercussions across the whole Christian family.
Bishop Handford concluded his comments saying that it is unfair to conclude that the Communion is on the verge of fracturing. He stated that the Anglican Communion is called by God to be in existence, given time and attitudes by all of submission, can work through each of the objections above. He stressed that God still has a purpose for this Communion, especially in the fields of mission and evangelism. He will report back to the press later this week on the hearing today, and the third part of the process which is mapping a way forward from this point in time.
During questions, I asked him who wrote judgmental point two under Turmoil. I prefaced my question with the statement that I had not found the overseas allies willing to respond at all – that we contacted them for over a year before they responded to any letter or phone call. At that point, Archbishop Philip Aspinall, of Australia, moderator of the press conference, barked, “What is your question?”
Bishop Handford replied that the statement had been written sharply to draw comment.
When I saw him last night at the plenary session, I stated that I was not trying to be rude, but that I hoped the Windsor Continuation Group would realize that the overseas bishops and archbishops who have come to our aid did so only when no other possible solution was presented. This was after extensive communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury himself. He replied that he was aware of the extensive history and travail of the Biblically orthodox in America and did have our best interests at heart. I thanked him.
I heard several different people report from the American provincial meeting held on Monday afternoon, that our bishops are finding it difficult to encounter so many disagreeable attitudes towards them. In short, they are wondering why they are disliked (some said ‘hated’) so strongly by so many bishops from other provinces.
And folks, they “don’t get it.” They see their actions as fully in line with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Bp. John Chane, who is getting a great deal of face time here, was in the today’s Lambeth Daily video report as a featured bishop on The Bishop and Social Justice, which is today’s theme. He said into the camera that he and all of the other bishops of the United States believe in Jesus. I have never heard him make any kind of statement of that nature before. I acknowledge that he didn't say what they believe Jesus to be: Incarnate Son of the Living God, or just one of multiple ways? He followed that with Jesus is the American’s model for social justice, which is not a new statement for this group.
Their efforts to tell the others that there is nothing wrong with the American church and that we are not in turmoil and/or crisis is falling on deaf ears. So far, three bishops have approached me, asked if I was an American and asked me about what is really going on in our church. Several reporters from other countries have done the same.
Yesterday at the ad hoc press conference with Archbishop Deng Bul of the Sudan, the Episcopal News Service correspondent here asked if he had spoken with Gene Robinson. When he replied “No”, she asked if he would like to.
That’s
when the archbishop replied, “We will not talk to Gene Robinson or listen to
him or his testimony. He has to confess, receive forgiveness and leave. Then we
will talk. You cannot bring the listening to gay people to our Communion.
People who do not believe in the Bible are left out of our churches, not
invited in to tell us why they don’t believe.”
The gay press people and gay advocates are here en masse. Gene Robinson is on
the campus of this Conference from dawn to dusk, with events planned every
evening – last evening he spoke at the Law School - and many of these sessions
are by invitation only. There is no secret that they are here to inform and
convert. Their daily newspaper is found in every building on the campus. The
American bishops talked about moving the location of their next provincial
meeting so Gene can come, which means a non-restricted area on the campus, such
as a cafeteria or green space, outside the watchful eyes of Kent Campus
Security.
And so, the schizophrenia continues. The bishops don’t understand why they are verbally abused by those from around the world, and then sit and plot the continued and further demise of the Episcopal Church, USA. Will they listen to the rest of the world? Can they hear what is being said to them and why? Will they listen to the disenfranchised in their own church? Or will they continue to declare themselves prophetic and charge on unabated?
Lord, in your mercy, hear our prayers!
OOOOO
6i.
http://www.anglicansunited.com/2008/07/lambeth_plans_for_thursday_jul.html
Lambeth Plans for Thursday July 24, 2008
July 23, 2008
Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
Tomorrow is the London day for the Lambeth Conference. Bishops, spouses, and staff will be boarding busses at 7:15 AM for the 3 hour drive to London. At 10:00 everyone will assemble at Whitehall Place. Speakers will talk about the walk and there will be pronouncements about the Millenium Development Goals. The assembly will then begin the Walk of Witness at roughly 10:30 and end up by Parliament at the Lambeth Bridge around 11:00. A picture will be taken there and the assembly will cross the bridge to Lambeth Palace by noon, where they will have tea.
In the early afternoon, they will be transported by bus to Buckingham Palace for a garden party. The bishops and their spouses will be welcomed by the Queen and Prince Philip. Usually, the Queen meets and chats with each couple individually. This day is always a favorite one for the bishops and their wives. They are expected back in Canterbury some time Thursday night.
Because we have made our own arrangments to go to London and observe this event, I will not be able to post to the website tomorrow. Will do so as quickly as possible when we return to Canterbury.
The Lambeth Conference returns to its regular daily schedule on Friday.
OOOOO
6j.
http://www.anglicansunited.com/2008/07/lambeth_report_8_friday_mornin.html
Lambeth Report #8 Friday morning, July 25, 2008
July 25, 2008
by Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
It has been beehive of activity here since I wrote to you last. On Wednesday evening, Anglican-Mainstream had their reception for orthodox bishops and had 70 Bishops and a few wives in attendance, 10 press and staff from Anglican Mainstream.
After a Bible study on the book of Jude by Bishop Wallace Benn, President of the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC), we heard from the various bishops who cared to speak. Since the press had been invited, we were asked to stand, introduce ourselves and promise that we would not identify any bishop present or attribute what they said. All the press did so.
Then the fun began. How is the conference? Worrisome.
How is your indaba group? “Well, the funny thing is,” began one bishop, “The Americans here have this cheat sheet that they use in our group. It has statements on it that justify their decisions in the last two conventions that led to the consecration of Gene Robinson and same-sex marriage. It is a prioritized list of talking points and the one in our group reads off this thing every day.”
It was as if someone dropped a bomb in the room. Was I surprised that my church would utilize a tactic of this nature to persuade the rest of the Communion? No, I was not. Was I surprised that one of those same bishops would bring the document and read from it in a forum such as the Indaba group? No, I was not. Was I surprised by the strong counter reaction of the other bishops in the room, who considered this to be almost treachery? Yes.
So, while we were in London yesterday for the Walk of Witness, conceived by the Micah Challenge UK and nearly high jacked by the TEC promotion of the Millennium Development Goals project sponsored by the United Nations, much research was going on back in Canterbury on this story.
This morning in the Guardian, a very liberal newspaper in the UK, Riazat Butt had a Lambeth Diary story that told of this paper and its utilization. Read over breakfast after Communion at our dorm, the piece received acclaim because this young reporter is Moslem and has admonished those in the press that we joined the wrong religion.
Given a few minutes on the Internet I found a story by Ruth Gledhill, intrepid reporter from the London Times, whose pieces I frequently use on the website. Her story is equally revealing. Titled, “Rival Strategies Revealed,” the story gave links to the document in .pdf format.
First thing this morning, I emailed the press folks from TEC and asked for confirmation that this document does exist and then requested a copy of the document. Neva Rae Fox, who is part of the Presiding Bishop’s office responded that the document does exist and that we can discuss it later in the press room. OK, no copy.
Ruth Gledhill also has a paper issued by the Anglican Communion Institute, written by the Rev. Dr. Phil Turner called, “TEC’s THEOLOGICAL AGENDA AND TEC’S STRATEGY FOR THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE OF BISHOPS.” Dr. Turner’s paper continues, “…The memo is revealing for several reasons. (1) It is an obvious attempt to give uniform shape and content to the contribution TEC’s bishops have to make; (2) it reveals what TEC’s leadership intends the outcome of the conference to be; and (3) displays what the theology is that lies behind the uniform position TEC’s leadership hopes to establish as that of the Communion as a whole.
“It is revealing that the introduction to the memo states that a method of communication is being proposed that “will provide the media with no more “than they want or can use.” It is manifestly also a method designed to keep a large group of people “on message” so that TEC’s bishops will remain on the same page. It is manifest also that the memo signals a hardened position on the part of TEC’s Episcopal leadership that runs counter to the spirit the Archbishop of Canterbury has asked to guide the bishops in their deliberations—a spirit of mutual subjection in Christ that is open to correction.
“From the outset it is important to note that the central purpose of the memo (to keep TEC’s bishops on message) runs in a completely contrary direction to that of its central theological message--one that, as will become clear, amounts not to a call to unity but to a celebration of diversity. The controlling idea of the memo is that the American bishops ought to arrive at Lambeth with a single “core message” that does not in fact reflect on their own part the diversity they call for in others.
“This uniform message is to be presented using three supporting points comprised of references to scripture, statistics, and anecdotes drawn either from personal experience or from one’s community or congregation. It is a message intended to establish the right of TEC to go its own way in defiance of the requests of all the Communion’s Instruments of Communion….”
This paper can be found at http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2008/07/lambeth-diary-r.html
I think Dr. Turner’s analysis says it all. As a body, the Episcopal Church is not to be congratulated for coming here with a primary political agenda of convincing the rest of the Communion and utilizing the talking point concept that any political campaign issues on a daily basis, geared to that day’s audience.
The Archbishop of Canterbury started this Lambeth with a three day retreat of five separate sessions so that all were encouraged to come and clean up your heart, mind and spirit and get in sync with Abba, Father. He has a word for us and our job is to discern it together. We have 21 days together to do this.
The Archbishop’s planning and preparation were antithetical to this conference being a political shouting match with resolutions and position papers that created winners and losers. Even the adoption of the Indaba process, which is not getting high marks yet, works against easy statement of a problem and a quick fix determination.
I would stress to add that not all of our bishops are using this paper and not all are dim enough to bring it to their indaba group and read aloud from it. Some have actually come with the intention of cooperating with the Archbishop, listening to their fellow bishops and then begging God to speak clearly and concisely to each and every one here.
Lets pray today that the rest of the American bishops, who came to cozy up and persuade will abandon that agenda and get with the process outlined here. We have ten days left. Frankly, in a marathon conference of this length, it is not mid-point yet. Yesterday’s diversion in London was fun; but business as usual returned at 6:30 AM today.
At the last Lambeth Conference, the vast majority of bishops, led by the Presiding Bishop and his wife, went to Paris for the first weekend. This year, we know that is not happening – or if so, not being led by the Presiding Bishop. She is hosting a gathering tomorrow evening for bishops from other provinces. I know this because the invitation specifies that cocktails will be served and this alarmed the Sudanese bishops I spoke with. They don’t drink and nearly refuse to be in the room with those who are drinking. I encouraged them to go any way, drink water and state as clearly as they can, face to face, what they believe to be true about the full inclusion of gays and lesbians around the Communion.
I am convinced that this is what will make a difference. When our bishops hear what Biblically orthodox people in TEC have heard from the lips of bishops from other parts of the world, they may be challenged to re-think their position. They were convinced of the “righteousness” of homosexuality by listening to homosexuals. Let us pray that they will be convinced of the essential stand by the rest of the Communion on this issue by hearing other voices, much more diverse than the ones they have heard to date.
Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
OOOOO
6k.
http://www.anglicansunited.com/2008/07/lambeth_report_9_saturday_july.html
Lambeth Report #9 Saturday July 26, 2008
July 26, 2008
by Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
Thursday was an amazing and wonderful day. The bishops and their spouses were loaded into busses at 7:15 am and we went up in a car. We all arrived at Whitehall Place and had a good half hour standing in the beautiful sunshine in downtown London before the march began. This was the Anglican Communion our bishops both in Ohio and Texas have talked about for our 40 years in the Episcopal Church – the one bishops have been returning to talk about since 1867. Many races, many tribes, many nations, encompassing the peoples of the earth, representing millions of faithful Christians. They are all here. It was amazing.
Imagine the beauty of the scene. The sea of purple cassocks against the white limestone buildings, topped by a magnificent blue sky. The weather was perfect, with a light breeze, keeping everyone cool. The Communion here today was real, tangible and marching together in the same direction for ostensibly the same purpose. As I talked with people in the crowd, here’s what I heard.
I spoke with a bishop from the Sudan. We joked with each other, and exchanged names. He called his Assisting Bishop and the two wives over and the five of us talked for a bit. I had a chance to thank them personally for the statement the Sudanese House of Bishops released on Tuesday. He said he will pray for us and we shook hands as I departed. The one statement I remember most clearly was the insistence that we must not change the Word of God because He will judge us harshly.
I walked up the crowd and saw two spouses in quilted dresses. Comment on their native dress led to introductions to bishops from Papua, New Guinea. Their hopes for the Conference are a unified Communion that can agree to stand on the classical understanding of Scripture, Tradition and Reason. They are most worried about the Reason part of the Hooker stool, as “reason seems to be in short supply right now.”
The next stop was Bishop Bill and Judith Godfrey, from Lima, Peru. Bp. Bill has been very ill for almost a year and has spent a great deal of time in hospital. It was a happy reunion. They are part of the Southern Cone and expect the Conference to affirm orthodox Christianity without a departure from the historic faith we share.
Then I recognized Archbishop Drexel Gomez, of the Bahamas and West Indies. As the chairman of the Covenant writing committee, he asks that, “Each of you to pray for a clear Covenant that will serve the Communion for the next century.” The Covenant will be discussed next week.
I spoke with Bp. Andrew Nakamura, bishop of Kobe, Japan. His diocese has 26 parishes in a very large geographic area. Growth in Japan happens within a single culture that has many different religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism, Shintoism. Families of origin matter a great deal and can object strongly to conversion to Christianity. We don’t even think about most of the factors that these folks encounter daily.
The Archbishop of Canterbury arrived and took his place. The Bobbies assigned to the parade route were forming their ranks and with the sound of a bell, it all started. 1200 people walking down Whitehall Lane, past all these huge government buildings to the Lambeth Bridge. We turned onto the bridge and Big Ben, directly to our right, started chiming 11:00 AM. You should have seen the looks on people’s faces as they realized it was Big Ben – that bell they’ve read about all their lives and were now actually hearing.
There was a slim crowd on both sides of the parade route. I saw only one homemade sign, protesting the ordination of homosexuals. Many of the people clapped as the bishops, et al., walked by, others waved
Photographers ran ahead to station themselves and take shots of the crowd. There was a helicopter in the sky filming the march for the evening news. The mood was light hearted and cheery and many talked about the trip later in the day to Buckingham Palace to meet the Queen.
In the Opening Eucharist last Sunday and the march yesterday, the Communion was pictured at its best.
Yesterday, I concluded that this is a nearly perfect training ground for being a bishop. In this place, you have the length and breadth of the worldwide Communion. For a bishop who believes the Scriptures, knows the Lord, and has a heart for ministry, you can’t buy better training than the global set of teachers assembled here. Archbishop Williams said he wanted the bishops to leave here more ably equipped to do their jobs and lead the church. Regardless of what happens with the issues and the uncertainty over the future of the Communion, in the bright sunshine of London it looked like this goal will be achieved.
Cherie Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury
OOOOO
6l.
http://www.anglicansunited.com/2008/07/today_at_lambeth_saturday_july_1.html
Today at Lambeth Saturday July 26, 2008
July 26, 2008
The Rev. Todd Wetzel, reporting from Canterbury, England
To inform your prayers, here are four things we believe need serious prayer:
1) Spiritual warfare is real and it is intense. Please pray for spiritual protection over Canterbury, Kent University and especially over the orthodox bishops, that they might be bold and courageous in spite of mounting opposition.
2) The drain on one’s emotions is real. We are in an intense environment and it sucks the life out of you. Even when not much appears to be happening, you feel tired.
3) The intellect is on overload. This is a rich environment of thought and an environment beset by controversy. So far, no matter how hard the wheels spin, no solutions have been found. The sense of frustration at least at the leadership level, is very real. Patience is wearing thin.
4) Physically, at least for those from the west, we’ve all done more walking than ever required to do at home. While this is healthy, it does wear on the body. The cobblestone streets, though charming, make walking semi-perilous.
6:30 Morning Prayer
7:15 Eucharist: The Anglican Church of Australia
8:15 Breakfast
9:15 Bible Study Groups John 9:1-41 He kept saying ‘I am the man’
10:30 Tea
11:00 Indaba Groups The Bishop and the Environment
11:00 Spouses assemble for official photograph
1:00 Lunch
2:00 Bishops assemble for official photograph
3:30 Tea
5:45 Evening Worship The Episcopal Church
7:00 Dinner
9:45 Night prayers
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9 KJV
Provided by International Bible Society
News Feed
Stay up to date with the latest news. Subscribe to our RSS or XML
feed. Just click on the appropriate link below.
RSS XML
Anglican Voice
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
|
|