A Basket of Carp

Some Thoughts after Lambeth

From all the comments and anecdotes filtering out to those of us afar off, it appears that Lambeth was a good meeting, all things considered. Anglican hierarchies and the structures at the highest levels seem snarled, either in trying to deal with conflicts for which they are not equipped or simply in carefully nurtured hostilities. And if the failure of the famous "bonds of affection" is an accurate description of what has happened to us, then starting to rebuild those bonds bishop to bishop, stranger to stranger, seems both a long shot and the only one likely to work over time. So it was probably wise to start over, as it were. with individual bishops spending time with bishops whose places were far away and very different. The Bible groups, and the "indaba" meetings clearly fostered such encounters. The drawback, of course, is that such a method won't do a great deal if the bishops don't meet again for ten years.

Lambeth's chief concrete product is Reflections, a melding of the "indaba" groups' reports. We are well aware of the small group form -- and its limitations. Still, the gist of a discussion does come through, and it is worth reading, for what was said and what was left unsaid.

Bishop Gray (Miss.)

Speaking to the Windsor Continuation Committee at the Lambeth Conference, July 28, 2008:

Within my own province I voted not to consent to the election of Gene Robinson for reasons both theological and ecclesiological. I have followed both the letter and spirit of the Windsor Report.... For my faithfulness to this Communion I have been rewarded by regular incursions into our diocese by primates and bishops who have no apparent regard for either my theology or ecclesiology. I have made some peace with this reality.... What I cannot make peace with is the portrayal of my sister and brother bishops in the Episcopal Church, who disagree with me, as bearers of a false gospel. That portrayal does violence to the imperfect, but faithful, grace-filled, and often costly, ways in which they live out their love of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am in serious disagreement with many of them, but do I see the Church in them? As God is my witness, I do.... And, in the midst of our internal conflicts, they show me Jesus.... We are a multitude of diverse theological, ecclesiological and sacramental perspectives. And the vast majority of us have figured out a way to stay together.

Robert Duncan: A Destiny Foretold.

Like Archbishop Akinola of Nigeria, Bishop Robert Duncan always seems to wind up in charge of every outfit he belongs to. One of them is Common Cause of which he is Moderator. And since the consecration of Bishop Robinson in 2003, with the resulting divisions, a snide little remark has followed Bishop Duncan, that what he wanted most was to be Primate of his own traditionalist North American Anglican Province. If so, Common Cause looks like his vehicle.

GAFCON, a group of traditionalist Primates with others who met last June in Jerusalem, have urged the creation of a North American Province out of Common Cause. With that encouragement, Bishop Duncan is convening a meeting of Common Cause in early December aimed the constructing a separate North American Province.

Having completed the extraction of the Diocese of Pittsburgh from the Episcopal Church, Bishop Duncan has rushed what was formerly the Diocese of Pittsburgh, along with the former Dioceses of San Diego, Quincy, and Fort Worth, into the waiting arms of Archbishop Venables of the Southern Cone (of South America). The Southern Cone is one of the Anglican Communion's 38 Provinces and in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury -- that is, authentically Anglican. Archbishop Venables provides an Anglican way station, however remotely, to those who have abandoned The Episcopal Church.

Common Cause is a group of churches and organizations (including the four dioceses) who have the Episcopal Church in their past. When they meet in December, with a like group of Canadians, they intend to seek recognition as a Province, something only the Archbishop of Canter-bury can provide. Holding on to a technical Anglican membership through the Southern Cone contact, Duncan and company will call on the GAFCON Provinces to provide support strong enough to persuade the Archbishop of Canterbury to recognize Common Cause as an alternative traditionalist Anglican Province in North America--where there are already two Provinces: the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada.

Now What? I have no idea where this is going to end up or what the shape of the Church will be. What I do know is that all the slogans and strong feelings are destructive unless they aim to strengthen the bonds we have in Christ Jesus. And if we imagine that we can accept division and check "them" off as no longer a part of "the beloved community" then we are more than wrong -- we are, in the Biblical sense, fools.

So, while the separatists maneuver and those seeking to defend the materialities do their own maneuvering, the rest of us need to be learning to declare in worship and life the bonds of Christ across the moats and walls, both the real and the made-up. We have no clearer word than that we are to love one another. If we give ourselves to that work, maybe we will learn to defeat the petrifying of our differences.

Between the Advents

We're turning now from Advent, from the first coming of Christ to be our Savior and his second coming, when he shall set everything to rights, and then present the world redeemed to God the Father. But we live in the time of ‘now': between the Advents.

And the 'now' of our lives today is under an overhanging wave of economic troubles. And we will face the details of the ensuing year differently, depending on our own special circumstances. But one thing is clear for all of us. Whether by choice or necessity, we are being called in the emerging situation to live lives of simplicity.

Simplicity

The circumstances of our lives may already have given us a simple way of living. But for most of us the call to simplicity is a call to examine the way we live, the things on which we spend our resources of money and time and strength.

Simplicity is a spiritual discipline and a spiritual goal. We can in times of privation or limited resources have our sacrifices extorted from us, as we are forced backward step by step into a simpler life. Or we can embrace an opportunity to learn new ways of living sacrificially, new ways, and spiritually richer ways, of growing closer to God as we re-order and re-arrange the priorities of things and activities in our lives. We face a new encounter with the reality of God, our need of him, and the power of his grace.