Posts (page 2)

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

So what does an “ordinary day” at Lambeth Conference look like? In some ways, to speak of an “ordinary day” at Lambeth Conference is something of an oxymoron because every day is really extraordinary. You are constantly in a changing context of people, languages, perspectives and (sometimes) overwhelmed with information, sensory, and spiritual overload. And it’s all exciting. By this time in the Conference, the extroverts are just getting warmed up and the introverts are groaning! All are somewhat tired from the constant pace of the Conference.

Each day has its own theme: Today’s theme is “Equal in God’s Sight: When Power is Abused,” and will be reflected in the morning Bible Study and the afternoon Self-Select Sessions. The schedule for a typical day begins with (optional) Morning Prayer at 6:30 followed by the daily Eucharist for all Conference members and spouses in the “Big Top” (the large blue tent). Eucharist each day is done according to the rite of one of the 38 national churches which make up the Anglican Communion, assisted by a quartet of professional singers and musician. (Today, for example was led by the Province of the Indian Ocean.) Breakfast follows, and at 9:15 we gather in our Bible Study groups. We are studying the Gospel of John. My Bible Study group is made up of a fascinating mix of bishops: Bishop Api Qiliho from Fiji (who does not wear shoes and travels by boat to visit his flock); Archbishop Ian Fruest, Primate of the Province of the Indian Ocean and president of CAPA [spell out]; Archbishop Brown Turei of Aotearora/New Zealand; Bishop Steve Miller of The Episcopal Church, Diocese of Milwaukee; Bishop Tony Robinson, Bishop of Pontrfract (York, England); Bishop N.T. Wright, Bishop of Durham (England) and one of the world’s leading New Testament scholars; Bishop Richard Henderson, Bishop of Kuam and Killala, Church of Ireland (who once made a grandfather clock, including the clock works…and made the tools he used to  make the clock…); Bishop Michael Curry of the Diocese of North Carolina; and me. This is a fine group made up of interesting people, stimulating thinkers, sometimes humbling and always a joy to be part of.  (I once made a bird house.)

We finish Bible Study at 10:30 a.m. and begin our Indaba Group at 11 a.m., ending at 1 p.m. “Indaba” is a Zulu word referring to a process by which a village responds to a threat or makes a major decision about village life. The process is one of giving room for every person to have opportunity to speak and to ensure that every voice is heard. Our Indaba group has 40 members, so we work in groups as small as one and as large as 40. It is a rather fascinating process. In the past week, we have been dealing with various conference themes: the environment, interfaith and ecumenical concerns, among others. This week we will begin dealing with some of the heavy lifting: the Windsor Report and the proposed Anglican Covenant. I’m sure there will be much more to say about this as the week goes on.

After lunch, we have a variety of self-select groups dealing with various topics related to strengthening the bishop in his/her role and ministry, or issues facing our various churches or the Communion. There is so much being offered that no one could ever do it all. And somewhere in the middle of this, you have to find time to do laundry.

After tea (we are in England, after all), Evening Worship and the Evening Meal, there is usually a Plenary of some sort (Cardinal Dias from the Vatican spoke one night on evangelism, and Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of Britain is to speak tonight.) Following that, as a spiritual “digestiv” is Night Prayer for those who wish it before bed.

In my next blog, I’ll say something about some special days – our day in London which included a march through Westminster in support of the MDGs and ending poverty, lunch at Lambeth Palace and a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace – and the afternoon spent in taking the group picture of those attending the Lambeth Conference (Imagine almost 700 bishops dressed in rochet and chimere in 90 heat climbing up risers some 30 feet high.) More on all that later.

Monday, July 21, 2008

Imagine more than 700 bishops gathered in the somewhat dim crypt of Canterbury Cathedral, all of them vested in their rochet and chimeres, and waiting for almost an hour to be led up to the procession into the Cathedral. The pent up energy is amazing. We are walked out of the crypt around the north side of the Cathedral and through the great West Doors into the Cathedral. As far as the eye can see, there are people packed on both sides of the great Nave, singing with loud and energetic voices a hymn that begins, “We sing a love that sets all people free, that blows like wind, that burns like scorching flame, enfolds like earth, springs up like water clear: come, living love, live in our hearts today.” Down the long aisle we go, towards the great steps that lead through the screen that divides the cathedral in half, and into the Quire, which appears again as long as the Nave. Up several more steps is the High Altar, and behind that, up more steps, stands St. Augustine’s chair, the traditional seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. All the bishops are seated in the Choir and around the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is a stunning sight and a stunning moment to be a part of. The liturgy proceeds in a very familiar way to Episcopalians, lessons are read in various languages. Then comes the moment for the Gospel Procession. For a moment…silence. Then drums and singing are heard in the distance, and dancers from Melanesia (in the Pacific Ocean) burst out of a side door, dressed in grass skirts, flower garlands, body paint. First come 6 dancers and singers, followed by 4 men carrying a small boat garlanded with flowers. The Archbishop blesses the golden Gospel book and the Deacon places it in the boat and the procession moves down the Quire, singing and dancing. Since there are flat screen monitors placed about, we watch as they burst out of the narrow door in the screen between the Quire and Nave and down the steps. We in the Quire can hear the gasp as the entourage makes its dramatic entrance. They proceed to the great crossing and all kneel in a circle as the Deacon takes the book and reads the Gospel. They dance back into the Quire as the preacher, the Rt. Rev.  Duleep de Chickera, the Bishop of Colombo (Sri Lanka), climbs into the pulpit in the Quire.

What follows is one of the most magnificent and dramatic sermons I believe I have ever heard. The Cathedral was absolutely quiet as he spoke, and the message he delivered was pure Gospel in all its beauty and liberating power. A brief synopsis (go online to http://lambethconference.org to read it in its entirety): God formed the Church out of the crisis of a broken world, and we as the Church are called to transform the world. Yet we are as the Anglican Communion are a wounded community: some are not here by their own choice. This is a complex crisis that will not be healed quickly. There are two realities we must keep in mind because without them, this Lambeth Conference is meaningless: The first is that if we continue to seek to uproot the “unrighteous”, eventually none of us will remain. This is so because transformation comes from within, and is not imposed. The disciples of Jesus stay together and journey together. The second reality is the need to strengthen bishops to be greater leaders in God’s mission.

Three challenges arise from this: First, we must return to self-scrutiny – retreats, spiritual directors, etc. in order to evaluate our own life in relation to the fullness and abundance of life in Jesus. The second challenge is that of unity in diversity: Soon, in this service we will come forward to receive the sacrament and many lips from many cultures will touch the same cup. In Christ, we are one and there is enough to go around. The Church is called to be an inclusive communion where there is equal space for everyone, regardless of race, ability, gender or sexual orientation. We must reinforce this for the sake of the Gospel. The third challenge is that of the prophetic voice: The Anglican Communion must face the challenge of a broken world. The prophetic voice is a voice of the voiceless…those who cannot speak for themselves. So the Anglican Communion must speak on their behalf, those in Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, Sudan, etc. And we must call to accountability those who abuse power, repressive regimes which oppress. In a sense, the prophetic voice is monotonous…but it is a relentless monotony. And in authentic prophetic witness, there can be no self interest. 

Bishop Duleep closed with a quote from Archbishop of Canterbury William Temple: The Church is the one institution that does not live for itself. We do not live for ourselves: all our energy and skills as followers of Jesus must be directed toward abundant life for the other.

As the good Bishop stepped out of the pulpit and Archbishop Rowan began the Nicene Creed, there was a clear increase in the energy level after such a powerful and uplifting sermon.

The service continued in its form so familiar to us and after the prayer of consecration, we all said the Lord’s Prayer in our own native tongue. It was like hearing the murmuring voices around the glassy sea before the throne of God. During Communion, our hearts were strengthened (and many eyes damp) as we sang a wonderful hymn that begins, “Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live…”, each verse followed by the magnificent refrain, “All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.”

Soon, we found ourselves processing out of the Cathedral, and the magnificent service was over.

From there, I went to another service, not held in the magnificence of a Cathedral, but in the simple setting of St. Stephen’s Field. It was a service held in honor of one who sadly was not welcome at the earlier service, Bishop Robinson of New Hampshire. I accepted the invitation to join that service and to escort Bishop Robinson along with about 30 other bishops of The Episcopal Church. It was poignant to leave one service where we sang, “All are welcome…” and to go to a service for those who in many places are not welcome. I pray that God continues to break open our hearts to one another in love and compassion.

Later in the afternoon (the days get long at Lambeth Conference) back at the University of Kent under the big tent, we heard Archbishop Rowan’s Presidential Address to the Conference. In that address, he noted that the old methods of former Lambeth Conferences have not worked so well in the recent past, partly because they have arisen mainly from Western culture, and it is time to find our common voice in a way other than using resolutions and voting. He also noted that decisions are most potent when the most people have a voice and help shape the decisions of the body. So for this Conference, we are going to use a method from Africa known as “Indaba,” a Zulu word. Indaba happens when a crisis or major decision faces a village. The chief assembles the village to insure that everyone contributes to how to perceive the matter at hand and to contribute to its solution. It is a method that begins in small groups of one (!) and proceeds to larger and larger groups until the village articulates its understanding and direction. It is a somewhat slow process that ensures that all voices are heard. It includes neither resolutions nor voting, especially important here at Lambeth since this is a conference and not a legislative body.

The regular rhythm of the Conference begins tomorrow, including Bible Study, Indaba Groups, and self-select interest sections, and regular worship. I will also soon have to do laundry.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Day two of the retreat at Canterbury Cathedral with Archbishop Rowan was a very nutritious day in several ways. First, the Dean of the Cathedral, in welcoming us to the Cathedral told us that we were not visitors…that this was our Cathedral, and that it was completely open to us. So during breaks, quiet reflection times, lunch and other free moments, I found myself (along with all the others) walking through the massive Cathedral. It is a powerful thing to stand and then kneel and pray at “the Martyrdom”, where Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered on December 21, 1170. There are many side chapels, richly decorated tombs and holy sites – such as St. Augustine’s Chair, the traditional seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury. This is a prayer-stained place and saturated with holiness.

In his first retreat address, Archbishop Rowan dealt with the issues of discipleship and leadership. Here are some rather random quotes from his addresses: In the New Testament, the apostle is one who is always traveling, and comes as both friend and stranger. The bishop is both a linguist and a prophet…learning the language of God and then communicating God, who is beyond all language. The bishop must also listen “stereophonically”, that is listening to God with one ear and to those among whom s/he ministers with the other. Paul is the great example of this: a learned man who was struck by the power of Christ and then went to Arabia for fourteen years to learn the words of Christ. He returned and began to stammer this new language. Paul belongs to everyone and no one. Paul, like all bishops, is public property. This requires discipline regarding whatever resists God’s spirit. Archbishop Rowan closed by quoting from William Stringfellow, an American lay person, an Episcopalian and theologian. Stringfellow placed great emphasis on being a “Biblical person” as distinct from being a “religious person”. The “biblical person” is caught in God’s spotlight…called to dangerous witness entailing risk and who works out his/her future with fear and trembling; as opposed to the “religious person” who is always calm, cool and is sure of all the answers. In his second address, Archbishop Rowan spoke about the community in which the bishop lives and works. Being a bishop is a shared ministry since bishops are called to live in community, both the community of local churches and the world-wide church and its bishops. He spoke of faithfulness to Anglican identity as faithfulness to one another.

The theme of the last day of the retreat was leadership: the leadership of Christ and the leadership of the bishop. Hebrews 10 describes Jesus as opening a new way for his people, and this is a constant theme in Hebrews. The way Jesus has opened is the way of atonement and reconciliation. Therefore, leadership, according to Hebrews, is not about commands and decisions, but about clearing the way and making it possible for us and others to go where we could not go before. That is Jesus’ leadership; we Christians and bishops lead by following Jesus. Our mission is not taking Jesus where he has not been before (there is no such place). Our mission is about us going to the place where Jesus leads us. It is not we who lead a nervous Jesus to a new and unknown place; it is he who takes us, his nervous followers, by the hand and leads us. The ministry of the bishop is about both insight and oversight…that is, discernment and action. Most often, our failures in leadership arise from a failure in our hope in Christ.

The retreat was a deep feeding for all bishops gathered. Tomorrow is the grand opening service of the Lambeth Conference at Canterbury Cathedral.

Wednesday/Thursday, July 16/17, 2008

We arrived at the University of Kent in Canterbury – where the Lambeth Conference is actually housed – about mid-afternoon. The University is situated on the brow of a ridge about 2 miles from the town of Canterbury. From the University’s perch on the hill, there is a magnificent view down into the town, and in the middle – like a great ship under full sail – is the great Canterbury Cathedral, seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the mother church of both the Church of England and the Anglican Communion. It is quite a dramatic and moving sight.

After registration and being shown to our rooms, all 700 or so bishops, many spouses and various staff members – about 1200 in all – gathered in a very large blue tent set up for the duration of the Conference as a worship and meeting space large enough to hold us all. (Please, no circus jokes…I’ve heard them all…) We were then greeted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams; given a brief orientation and about 10 pounds of Conference materials. Supper in the dining hall came none too early and the dining hall boasts a quite spectacular view of the Cathedral through the main window. Since the University is spread out over a large area, walking distances are substantial, so bedtime came none too soon for those gathering for the beginning of the Conference tomorrow morning.

On the morning of July 17 we are loaded onto buses and taken down the hill to the Cathedral for the start of a three day retreat led by Archbishop Rowan as the opening segment of the Conference. Today and tomorrow, the Cathedral will be closed off to all but the bishops for prayer, conversations and reflections.

Archbishop Rowan’s two addresses today had to do with the work and ministry of a bishop and strengthening each bishop present in that ministry. A few notes from the presentations follow: Each bishop – and each believer in Christ – is a place where God’s Son is revealed. “Success” in apostolic ministry does not arise from removing oneself from the weaknesses and failures of others. We are called to bear one another’s burdens and to make room for the other. The bishop, said the Archbishop, is the sign of who we all are called to be: the new humanity in Christ. Just as there is no such thing as an individual Christian, so there is no such thing as an individual bishop. The Oneness and unity of the Church is about the quality of our life together, not just institutional oneness.

After the first day’s retreat ended about, the Cathedral was opened to visitors for Evensong at 6:30. What a treat it was to see the choir of St. Paul’s, Greenville, process into the Quire and sing a magnificent Evensong as they had done for the past four days. They did themselves, their parish and their diocese proud. It was truly a joy to be present for this great moment, and afterwards, for a wonderful dinner on their last night in England. 

Friday, July 11, 2008

Still waiting at the airport for thunderstorms to pass....

I’m finally sitting in the lounge at Philadelphia airport, waiting for my flight to London.

After waiting at the Greenville airport for five hours on Wednesday (5pm-10pm – including one hour on the airplane, waiting on the tarmac), the flight was cancelled. Called Anne who came and picked me up, and home we went, and I am rebooked for the same flight schedule the next day. I call my English hosts at 2AM (our time/7AM their time) to alert them so they won’t make an unnecessary trip to the airport. On Thursday, I arrive at Greenville airport, only to learn that our flight is delayed an hour because of weather around Charlotte, my destination for this leg of the trip. We leave a little after 7PM, and I know it will be tight to make an 8PM departure from Charlotte to Philadelphia and ultimately my 10:45PM flight from Philadelphia to London.

OK, so here’s the short version: arrive on Thursday in Charlotte,  Gate E32 (only a few miles from the North Pole) and have about 10 minutes to make Gate C6…a friendly gate attendant promises to call C6 and have them hold the plane. Arrive at C6…plane has left…gate attendants claim plane left before they received call. What to do now? Back to US Air Club, very frustrated…now two days late. To use the vernacular, I “vent” to three understanding and helpful attendants at the USAir Club. One brings me cheese and crackers (and two apples because, she says, “You need fiber,” another offers sympathy, and a third works on rebooking reservations. As it all ends up, I’m put up in a comfortable hotel Thursday night, have my reservations rebooked and upgraded, and am given two meal vouchers. When I arrive at the USAir Club on Friday morning, one of the ladies who had helped me the night before says, “That was an awesome thing you did last night! You came in here with a missed connection and walked out with a hotel room, two meal vouchers and two upgraded tickets. You knew when to be firm and when to be flexible. It was awesome to watch!”

It all sounds funnier now than it actually was at the time. I still had to get a wake-up call at 1:45AM to once again call the Iredales, my English hosts, but since I could not get an international line through the hotel, I had to call (poor) Anne at 2AM, wake her up and have her call the Iredales.

Today, Friday, I’ve spent in the Charlotte and Philadelphia airports. I arrived in Philadelphia around 1PM, and have been able to wait in very comfortable surroundings for my 9 hour layover prior to my 10:45PM departure for London – finally. So I will arrive in London on Saturday, three days later than intended.

As I was walking through the Philadelphia airport earlier this afternoon, I spotted a familiar face across the hallway and moved toward it, expecting to greet my friend. It turns out that it was not my friend, Desmond Tutu in person, but a poster with a life-size picture of him on it. Knowing Archbishop Tutu, I felt no surprise in glimpsing him (I thought for a few moments) through the airport crowd. As I drew closer to the poster with Desmond’s picture on it, I read the words printed down the side: “His moral compass points to equality. Where does yours point?”

In the midst of all the frustrating and delaying events of the past few days for me, I was reminded and strengthened in my resolve (and Desmonds’) and the resolve of Archbishop Tutu and, God willing, all Christians everywhere to respect the dignity of every human being, to work for justice for all people, to put an end to violence, oppression and prejudice among all the people on this planet. So my resolve in that regard was strengthened by a chance meeting with my friend, Archbishop Tutu – or at least his spirit – in an unexpected place. It was a “post-it” from God, which not only strengthened my resolve around living into our baptismal vows, but also reminded me that as I head onward to England and the Lambeth Conference, a large part of the work that the 8oo bishops gathered will be to make sure that our moral compass as bishops and as leaders of the church points ever more steadily toward equality for all God’s children.

Have you checked your moral compass lately?

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

So here I sit in the Greenville (NC) airport, waiting to board my flight for the first leg of my journey to England and the Lambeth Conference. The wait is getting be rather long…the flight has been delayed over an hour because of thunderstorms in Charlotte and up and down the East Coast. There are other types of thunderstorms. The latest ecclesiastical thunderstorm to roil the church airways is taking place in the Church of England, whose General Synod (governing body) has just voted to allow women to be ordained bishops. As I read some of the press reports about the very vigorous debate in the Synod, I had a sense of déjà vu, back to the late 1970s in our own Episcopal Church and the stir around the ordination of women, first as priests and then in the early 1980s to the episcopate with the consecration of Barbara Harris as a bishop. But the issue was far from “settled”, either in our own Church or in the Anglican Communion. By the time of the last Lambeth Conference in 1998, there were roughly a dozen women serving as bishops in the U.S., Canada and New Zealand. There were also traditionalist bishops throughout this Church and the wider Communion who raised the thunderclouds of threatening to boycott the Lambeth Conference if women bishops were invited and present.  So here we are, thirty years later, still wrestling with the ordination of women to the priesthood and episcopate. So what’s different and what’s new? What’s different from thirty years ago is that in parts of the Anglican Communion, the ordination of women is pretty much a settled reality which has gained a growing acceptance (The Episcopal Church, for example, and other Churches around the Communion. There are also other parts of the Communion which are in the midst of heavy thunderstorm activity around the issue (the Church of England) and yet other parts of the Communion in which the prevailing present sentiment is a resounding “No.”

So, what’s new and what’s different? Actually, not much. When the Anglican Communion faces a decision as momentous as the ordination of women, each member Church as the freedom to engage the issue within the context of its own life, culture and societal realities. Generally, we find that member Churches of the Communion have a wide variety of responses and reactions both within their own membership and abroad through the Communion. The beauty and strength of the Anglican Communion (and, I believe, a gift of the Spirit) is that we can tolerate and thrive as a tradition within the freedom of individual differences – sharp as they may be – but also within the freedom within a broad comprehensiveness. Traditionally, the Anglican Communion is a big tent, if you will. My guess, as I continue to sit in the airport (when will these thunderstorms pass?), is that with the variety of internal issues facing the Anglican Communion today (differences around Biblical authority and interpretation, ecclesiology, a generous and broad catholicity hard up against a movement to pull the Communion more strongly in a more protestant and fundamentalist direction, ecumenical and interfaith relations, and so on) as well as seeking to fulfill the divine call to pursue God’s Mission in the world, we will continue to see different parts of the Communion engaging the various issues in a variety of ways, with varying amounts of energy, and over a long period of time.

Again, not much new or different here. The point is that for a reformed Catholicism (for that is who we are as part of the Anglican Tradition), the working out of these various issues will not be settled quickly, though it is always a temptation to make a definitive pronouncement quickly – and usually in error (the 1930 Lambeth Conference denounced birth control as a means of family planning, only to change its position drastically in 1948 in its endorsement of both. It did, after all, take the Church several centuries to decide which books belong in the New Testament, four centuries or so to formulate a Creed, and six or seven centuries to ponder what it means to claim that Jesus was both fully human and fully divine (we’re still working on that one…). The message here is that we should beware of quick fixes in the life of the Church, or to quickly come up with “definitive” answers that are just a bit too glib or too pat. As for me, I like our tried and true Anglican and Catholic way: a long discussion peppered with controversy spread out over an extended period of time during which there are a variety of vigorously help positions and a growing consensus over the years as the Church works out its theology and practice. And, in our tried and true Anglican way, we will hold together not by finding uniformity or even agreement, but by finding ourselves kneeling around the Altar as the people of God receiving the gifts of God, and that is where we will find our unity as a world-wide family of churches.

So I’m eager to get on the way here (Charlotte is still socked in with thunderstorms!) and get on to England (thunderstorms there, too, but of a different kind!) and gather with my brother and sister (!) bishops. Together, prayerfully and gathered around God’s altar, through open and honest conversation, we will seek God’s will as we wrestle out how we as a Communion are called to carry out God’s Mission in these opening years of the Third Millennium – as reconcilers within societies and among peoples, as bridge builders among nations and religious traditions, and as healers of disease and feeding a starving humanity.

Monday, July 7, 2008

The Lambeth Conference begins on July 16. But before the Conference begins, the 700 or so bishops attending (and their spouses) have been invited to enjoy a week of hospitality July 10 – 16 in a diocese of the Church of England.

An old friend, John Pritchard, whom Anne and I met at the 1998 Lambeth Conference (he was Archdeacon of Canterbury then) is now the Bishop of Oxford and has invited me to the Diocese of Oxford for the hospitality week. And a busy and enjoyable week it promises to be.

I arrive in England on July 10 and will be staying with Frank and Jill Iredale in the town of Princes Risborough (between London and Oxford) in their home, named The Old Barleycorn. Built as a stagecoach inn on the road to London in 1803, the Old Barleycorn became a private residence only in 1966. My clergy host is the Rev. James Tomkins, a member of the clergy team for the Risborough consortium of several small parishes.

Along with me sixteen other bishops from different parts of the Communion will be hosted by the diocese during the week. There are a variety of luncheons with clergy and lay leaders in the diocese, a diocesan Eucharist on July 12, Sunday worship (I’ll be preaching in two parishes on July 13) and a ride on a train with a steam engine (Fr. James somehow learned of my interest in and love of trains). We’ll be attending “Vertigo”, a diocesan youth event, and a meeting with the Mother’s Union. A trip down the Thames by boat follows on July 15. On the 16^th, we all board buses and head off on the two hour or so drive to the University of Kent near the Town of Canterbury, where the Lambeth Conference begins that evening.

In a serendipitous way, the choir from St. Paul’s, Greenville (here in our own Diocese of East Carolina) will be on tour and will be singing Evensong at Christ Church, Oxford, on July 11. It will be a pleasure to greet this fine choir and to hear them perform in such a glorious setting!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Lambeth Conference is the gathering of the bishops of the churches of the Anglican Communion at the invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. The Lambeth Conference is named after Lambeth Palace, the London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury where the first Lambeth Conference gathered in 1867 with 76 bishops present. With the exception of the years during World Wars I and II, the Lambeth Conference has gathered every ten years since. 

Archbishop Longley, the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1867, called for the bishops of the communion to gather for two main reasons: first, such a gathering was requested by Canadian bishops who expressed their desire for fellowship with bishops of other churches of the Communion; and, second, the Lambeth Conference was called in response to a controversy surrounding the issue of who was the legitimate bishop of a diocese in South Africa (i.e., The Colenso Affair). When Archbishop Longley issued the invitation, some English bishops were scandalized by the idea of such a gathering and refused to attend. Comparing life in the Anglican Communion today to the circumstances surrounding the first Lambeth Conference, it appears that not a great deal has changed. At a distance of 141 years since the first Lambeth Conference, we approach this summer’s Lambeth Conference with an enduring need for fellowship and conversation among bishops and facing controversy around the episcopate and competing visions of the church. It appears that some things in our life as a Communion have not changed since Archbishop Longley welcomed his guests to the first Lambeth Conference.

Traditionally, the Archbishop of Canterbury has invited all active bishops of the thirty eight member Churches of the Anglican Communion to attend the Lambeth Conference. However, for the upcoming Conference this summer, the present Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has withheld invitations for at least two diocesan bishops (one from The Episcopal Church and one from the Church of Uganda) and for several persons who have been irregularly ordained bishop and whose status as bishops of the Communion is in significant doubt.

Let us be very clear: the Lambeth Conference is a conference and not a congress. It has neither legislative nor governing authority or jurisdiction in any of the thirty eight autonomous, self-governing churches which constitute the Anglican Communion. The member churches of the Communion are listed in the Constitution of the Anglican Consultative Council, which has been approved by all the member churches of the Communion. (The Anglican Consultative Council is one of the four Instruments of Unity, along with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference and the Primates Meeting. The Anglican Consultative Council is the only instrument of unity which includes lay and clerical representatives from the member churches.) Removal of a member church from the Communion would take the unanimous agreement of each governing body of each of the thirty seven other member churches.

Regarding what’s going to happen at the upcoming Lambeth Conference, my own intuition is that since there are to be no resolutions to be considered, there will probably be more news generated by what happens around the edges, outside the Lambeth Conference itself. (And, as an aside, I urge you not to rely on the commercial television network news or the secular press as your main source of information or interpretation about the Lambeth Conference. Instead, go to Episcopal News Service or Anglicans Online for more accurate news and more knowledgeable interpretation.

The structure of this Lambeth Conference is designed to be conversational and collegial. As I understand it, neither resolutions nor pronouncements will made by the Conference as a body. The 700 or so bishops who gather in Canterbury will meet daily in groups of eight for Bible study (St. John’s Gospel), prayer and conversation. On a less regular basis, we will meet in expanded groups of 40, and on a few occasions will gather as a plenary of 700 bishops in Canterbury Cathedral. While the bishops gather for daily conversation and prayer, a parallel conference for those spouses attending will also be taking place, its theme being “God’s People for God’s Mission.”

The Lambeth Conference will take place July 16-August 3 in Canterbury. Participants housed at the University of Kent, located about 1½ miles from the center of the Town of Canterbury and its Cathedral. The University is located on a ridge and one can stand outside and look down on the town and Canterbury Cathedral. It is truly an awesome and inspiring vista.

The focus of the Lambeth Conference will be around the themes of “The Bishop and the Nature of Episcopate” and “Equipping Bishops to be More Effective in their Ministry.” Other themes to be addressed are: The Bishop and the Environment; Engaging a Multi-Faith World – Christian Witness and Other Faiths; When Power is Abused – Gender Relationships; The Bible and the Bishop in Mission; Listening to God and Each Other – the Bishop and Human Sexuality; Fostering our Common Life – the Bishop, the Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process.

I see this and every Lambeth Conference as part of a stream of prayerful gatherings of those charged with episcopal ministry. Every Lambeth Conference has been filled with energetic conversation, vigorous fellowship focused reflection and on occasion deep disagreement. In our traditional and time-honored Anglican way, it is in collegial fellowship and prayerful conversation that the Anglican Communion hammers out what constitutes faithful and effective Christian witness within the Catholic Tradition as the realities of the Gospel meet the difficulties of life in a broken and sin-sick world.

I approach this, my second Lambeth Conference, with confidence, thanksgiving and humility.

First, I go to the Lambeth Conference with confidence: Confidence in God and God’s purposes for the Anglican Communion and the mission God has entrusted to our hands; and confident the Anglican Communion’s part in building in the new society of justice, hope and reconciliation established by the resurrection of Jesus. I go with confidence in the healing and reconciling power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to restore broken relationships. And I go with great confidence in our messy Anglican way of being able to live without complete clarity about all things. I go with confidence in our Anglican ability to muddle through great disagreements while continuing to be of one heart as we gather around God’s Altar.

Second, I go to the Lambeth Conference with thanksgiving. I am thankful for the gift we are called to be to one another through the grace of baptism. I am thankful that our baptism brings us into solidarities with people vastly different, solidarities with those with whom we may disagree, and solidarities which span the deep rifts and divisions that life sometimes brings. I am thankful that the water of baptism is thicker than blood and that our baptism binds us together for eternity. That means we can neither cast one another out in an ultimate way nor escape the eternal relationship established with God and one another through the bond of Baptism.

Lastly, I go to the 2008 Lambeth Conference with a sense of humility. I remember from the 1998 Lambeth Conference that the food served us daily in the University Dining Hall was by the standards of the pampered palates of us from the United States and other first-world countries, simple and bland “institutional” food. I heard complaints about that food from some who were attending from wealthy churches and nations. But I also know that for many bishops and their spouses, the simple food of the dining hall represented a vast increase in the quantity, quality and dependability of their daily food intake from what might be available back home, and certainly the same was true for many – if not most – of the people they serve in Jesus’ name. 

At this Lambeth Conference, the gathered bishops will hear the stories of many brother and sister bishops and we will learn in poignant ways that their witness to the Gospel has called for risks and sacrifices that many of us in this church have not known and will never know. We will be convicted and humbled and made proud and given courage through hearing their stories with open hearts. And I pray that they will hear our stories from the Church in the United States as we tell of our own struggles for justice in Christ’s name, our missionary desire to include all people in the loving embrace of God and full inclusion for all in the ministry and life of the church within our own context.

In closing, I remember that at the 1998 Lambeth Conference, we talked about two things: sex and international debt. It appears that for all the publicity and controversy about sex over the intervening ten years, little has changed. But while we here in the United States haven’t heard much about international debt since the 1998 Lambeth Conference, I do believe that the witness and calls to action that Lambeth 1998 made about eradicating the burden of international debt which keeps so many of the world’s poor in virtual economic slavery to first world countries has made a critical difference in the lives of many of the world’s poor nations and peoples over the intervening years.

I go to the Lambeth Conference with confidence, thanksgiving and humility. I ask you to keep our Presiding Bishop, all the bishops of The Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury and all bishops soon to gather in Canterbury in your prayers for our beloved Anglican Communion. Pray that through our time together we become more effective witnesses to the Gospel and greater heralds of the new society being built on the foundation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

The week before the opening of the Lambeth Conference was given over to a “hospitality initiative” during which bishops attending the Conference were hosted in various dioceses. I was a guest of the Diocese of Oxford and its bishop, John Pritchard, who is an old friend and who has visited here in our diocese. (John’s father was a priest of the Church of England and some years ago brought his family to Greenville to live for a year, while John was a teenager. John remembers his time in Greenville fondly.) While I was in Oxford, my local host was the Risborough Parish and its Vicar James Tompkins, and I was the guest of Frank and Jill Iredale (and Rufus the cat) in their lovely and comfortable home. They were gracious hosts indeed.

I arrived at Heathrow Airport on the morning of July 12, some 48 hours later than scheduled due to weather-related delays. I was greeted at the airport by the Iredales and off we sped to the town of Oxford in hopes that we might arrive in time for the opening service in Christ Church Cathedral which stands in the midst of Christ Church College. We arrived too late for the service, but happily in time for the lunch following.
 
As I was walking up the steps to the dining hall where the luncheon was being held, I had the strange feeling that I had been on those steps before, and when I walked into the dining hall, I was sure I had been there before. It was a strange sense of déjà vu, especially since I had never been to Oxford before. When I mentioned this sense of déjà vu to my hosts, they laughed and told me that the steps were probably familiar because they are the steps the young Harry Potter walked up (in the first movie) and into the college dining hall, which for the movie became the dining hall of Hogwarts. After that, the fact that the college had been established by King Henry VIII over 500 years ago and visited by Elizabeth I paled into insignificance. Lunch was a warm welcome to the seven bishops visiting from the United States, the Phillipines, the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Later, the Iredales took me on a wonderful walking tour of Oxford and its various colleges. 
 
On Sunday, I preached twice in Risborough - once in the morning at St. Dunstan’s and again at Evensong at St. Mary’s. After a delicious lunch at the Iredales with several parishioners, Tony Kerwood (a parishioner) treated and several others to a ride on a train pulled by a steam engine with a very proper English Tea served (salmon sandwiches, cucumber sandwiches and scones slathered with double cream and strawberry jam). I don’t know which was better, the train ride or the tea! 
 
On Monday, I went with my clergy host to the school attached to his church and had a good time meeting the students and teachers. Afterwards, we went to a lunch for the clergy of the Deanery and had a fascinating conversation with a priest from Pakistan who had to flee his country and seek asylum in England due to religious persecution. We talked a bit about the recent decision of the Church of England to ordain women as bishops and the controversy that followed. I reassured them that we in The Episcopal Church had been in much the same place some thirty years ago and that the presence of women as deacons, priests and bishops (and now as our Presiding Bishop) has been a rich and wonderful blessing. 
 
Tuesday morning, July 15, John Vince (another parishioner) took me to Ewelme (pronounced "you-elm"). There I saw St Mary's church, built in 1437 by Alice, Duchess of Suffolk, who was the granddaughter of Geoffrey Chaucer. Attached to the church is an almshouse, a 15th century version of a home for old folk, and attached to that is a school - also founded in 1437 – which has 84 students in grades K-6. After some 571 years, parish, almshouse and school are all still going strong.

On the morning of July 16, all the bishops visiting in the Diocese of Oxford gathered at a church and boarded buses for the two-hour journey to Canterbury.