From the Lambeth Conference Canterbury: July 22nd, 2008

From www.forwardinfaith.com

FiF International News
Lambeth Conference - 3
Jul 23, 2008

“A Diminishing Sense Of Communion”

The Windsor Continuation Group is one of the two bodies which have been tasked to deal with the issues facing the Communion. The chairman of the Group is Bp. Clive Hanford, the retired Primate of the Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East.

Bp. Hanford met with the press at today’s press conference to outline the “preliminary observations” describing “where we are” which the Group presented to the Lambeth Conference on Sunday evening. The Group recognizes that the presenting issues “are not always the issues that we are actually dealing with”. It recognizes “that there has been an inconsistency between what has been agreed and what has been done”. It recognizes that there has been “a breakdown of trust”, rooted in “real fears of a wider agenda” over doctrine and polity. It recognizes that the divisions in The Episcopal Church will likely “play out in the wider Communion”. All of this, the Group states, has led to “a diminishing sense of Communion” (sic), and increasing pressure on the instruments of unity.

All of this, the Group concluded, has caused the Communion’s ecumenical partners to ask questions about Anglican identity.

“We believe in the Anglican Communion”, Bp. Hanford stated: God called it into being, God has given it a work to do, and God is doing that work through it. Many good things are happening in it: evangelization, catechesis, service. It may be an “inclusive Communion” in which “all are welcome”, he said, but “that is not the same thing as `anything goes’”.

The indaba session on Friday, August 1st, will look at “The Bishop, the Anglican Covenant, and the Windsor Process”. The Continuation Group has suggested that the session take up two questions:

What might mutual accountability under God in life and mission look like at its best in the period between now and the completion of the Covenant process?
What personal sacrifices might that involve for each of us?
At a hearing tomorrow, the bishops will have an opportunity to describe “where we would like to be”; and at another hearing next Monday, they will talk about how they might get there. The Group’s goal, Bp. Hanford said, is to continue its work “in conversation with, in principle, the whole Communion”. And this dialogue, Bishop Hanford emphasized, will not end with the Conference: the Group wishes to explore ways in which those who have absented themselves from Lambeth can all join in.

Tuesday’s second presenter was Mr. Tom Behr, spouse of Bp. Wolfe of Rhode Island. He said that the spouses’ gathering was hearing about the power of love and of the Gospel on cultures around the world. In Uganda, for instance, it was the Gospel that made possible the reconciliation of 273 warring tribes. The spouses also heard “heartrending” stories about persecution.

Mr. Behr concluded by saying that “it would be a tragedy of great proportions if this Communion fell apart”. Amplifying this in response to a question, he said he did not think it had already come apart: “there are apparent differences”, he recognized, but “God can intervene”.

Bp. Sebastian of Harare, Zimbabwe, spoke of the urgent issues facing his people: the need for peace and security, for the availability and affordability of basic necessities, for the rule of law, for respect for human dignity. Religious freedom is denied under the present system, he said. The police have surrounded the church buildings and denied the priests and people access to their them since November at the instigation of Dr. Kanunga, the former and now excommunicate diocesan, who is an ally of Mr. Mugabwe. When people gather elsewhere to worship, the police interrupt their worship, even pulling communicants away from the altar rail.

But denied access to their churches and opportunities to meet, Bp. Sebastian, has strengthened his people’s commitment to the Gospel. His lay people have an increased sense of ownership of their church – and an increased willingness to call evil by its name, even in the face of a gun.

Bp. Sebastian is cautiously hopeful for the discussions between Zimbabwe’s rival parties which had just been announced. But he is mindful that an earlier “memorandum of understanding” between Mr. Mugabwe and Joshua Nkomo ended with the former’s party swallowing up the latter’s.

Bp. Sebastian denied out of hand Dr. Kanunga’s assertion that he is a “puppet”, noting that he does not belong to any political party, and that the people of his diocese belong to all the parties.

The bishop was not concerned that sexuality, and not persecution, seemed to command the Conference’s attention. Every nation or group of people has different issues, he said. That does not mean they should have nothing to do with issues affecting others.
Asked about a description of the church in Africa as teaching the prosperity Gospel and holding a dualistic belief in heaven, Bp. Sebastian noted that there was not one African church, but many – and said he had not come across the one described.

A nineteen-year-old with no vision beyond this world is doomed to end in the grave. As an inner-city parish priest, Bp. Michael Curry of North Carolina in the United States conducted the funeral of a young man killed in a drive-by shooting. He was arrested to hear another young man say as he touched the casket, “see you soon”. It was that experience which gave him a passion for evangelism, sharing “a way of life that can give life” and enable the best that is in us. “For some in this world”, Bp. Curry said, “that is life and death”.

There is something compelling about sharing the life of Jesus in the lives of individuals and in the life of the world, Bp. Curry said.

Evangelism begins with the Word, the call and summons of the Gospel. But while Bp. Curry believes passionately in Jesus, he does not embrace the exclusivity of the claim that no one can come to the Father except by Jesus. He is not God, he said, and therefore he doesn’t have the answers. “Let’s let God be God”, he said, “and let us be who God has called us to be”, and let Him sort out the rest. Our job, he said, is to share what we know with generosity and compassion.

The press are here to report the news, not to be the news. But there was something of a verbal tussle at the end of the press conference over the press office’s refusal to provide a list of the bishops present. The request arose from rumors that bishops from Nigeria, Kenya and Rwanda had come, despite their Provinces’ decisions not to take part.

Archbp. Aspinall reported that a Nigerian bishop had sent a FAX saying that he planned to come, but had not yet registered; that five Kenyan bishops had registered; and that he did not know if any Rwandans were present.

The tussle resulted from conflicting statements about why the list could not be provided – security concerns, or privacy rights. That conflict was never satisfactorily answered. The archbishop stated that he would put the request for the list to the Conference leadership, and report back its decision.

The tussle revealed some of the frustration of the press here. We were accredited, and presumably vetted. But despite Archbp. Aspinall’s assertions that we are “free to walk around the campus and speak to any of the bishops” there are in fact restrictions on our movements. We cannot walk inside the enclosure surrounding the Big Top. Only a limited number of us can be admitted (under supervision) to the plenary sessions. Members of the press who wished to worship at the Conference services have been turned back. We are allowed to attend “fringe events”, but only if its organizers notify the conference authorities of the names of those they are willing to admit at least 45 minutes in advance of the event, Archbp. Aspinall announced yesterday – and he was unable to tell us how those “authorities” could be contacted.

Asked directly about the cost of the Conference, Archbp. Aspinall said he did not know the cost, and that since expenses were still being incurred it would not be known until the books were closed. He did confirm that there is a shortfall, but could not say how large it is. Some forty per cent. of the bishops and spouses present, he noted, are receiving full or partial subsidies. Money is still come in, he said, as a result of the appeal to the people of the Communion.

Archbp. Aspinall could not confirm that a deposed Ugandan bishop had been invited to speak to one of the self-select groups. He did note that the members of the group would be free to extend such an invitation: the process is in the hands of the bishops.

On a lighter note, it appears that a group of German-speaking Evangelicals decided that the bishops could use a little help with their Bible studies. Wearing colored lanyards tucked into their pockets, they did manage to get on campus on Saturday, but were duly escorted away. One of them was arrested the next day in Canterbury.