Post Lambeth Wrap-up

Here is a good article summarizing the final blast out of Lambeth.

Archbishop of Canterbury says gay ban needed to preserve unity

by Daniel Burke
Religion News Service

CANTERBURY, England -- The spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion said the communion will be in "grave peril" if its North American churches ignore temporary bans on gay bishops and same-sex unions.

"If the North American churches don't accept moratoria" on gay bishops and blessings, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said on Sunday (Aug. 3), "as a communion we are going to continue to be in grave peril."

The archbishop also said conservative archbishops from the so-called Global South must stop transgressing traditional geographic boundaries and seeking to adopt like-minded parishes in the U.S. and Canada.

Williams' comments came at a press conference at the conclusion of the Lambeth Conference, a once-a-decade gathering that brought together more than 650 bishops representing the world's third-largest Christian body.

Nearly 200 bishops, mostly from Africa, boycotted the conference because they refused to meet alongside bishops from the U.S. or Canada who allow same-sex blessings or approved of the election of an openly gay man, V. Gene Robinson, as bishop of New Hampshire in 2003.

Read the rest of the article here.

Lambeth and sexuality

While I have not been posting much about Lambeth here, MadPriest has an excellent blog entry. Here it is:

madpriest and the lambeth elephant

If you were to ask people on my side of the Atlantic to name the European countries with the most permissive attitudes and policies concerning human sexuality, I expect most would answer The Netherlands and Sweden. So to read the following in Sweden's THE LOCAL this morning was a stark reminder of how far society still needs to travel to erase violent, homophobic acts from our so-called enlightened continent.

Two men in their late 20s were stabbed and robbed of their mobile telephones in the Tantolunden area of Södermalm in Stockholm on Sunday night in an attack police are classifying as a hate crime.

“They were two homosexuals who were attacked. The assailants uttered slurs which played on their sexuality and that they had just kissed one another. Then they drew knives and demanded valuables,” said Therese Johansson of the Södermalm police.

Shortly after the exchange of words, one of the two victims was stabbed in the stomach and fell to the ground. He was taken in an ambulance to Karolinska University Hospital in Solna, where he was kept for observation early Monday morning.

The attack came just as Europride, an event for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, got under way in Stockholm.

On the other side of the world, yesterday, in Knoxville, Tennessee, a man walked into The Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist Church and opened fire, killing two people and injuring many more. Although this may just be the act of a mentally disturbed man with a grudge against churches, some parts of the media are emphasising the fact that the church concerned had a well-known o=policy of inclusiveness, especially in respect of gay people.

These two stories from the last 24 hours were, no doubt, only the tip of the iceberg, reported because of their sensationalist content. The number of mundane attacks on gay people, both verbal and physical, over this last weekend - the ones that didn't make it into the world media reports (the ones that weren't even reported to the police) - will remain unknown. But one thing is for certain, it will be a very large number in deed.

There will always be people like the gunman in Knoxville, haunted by demons that drive them to do evil things. But the vile men who attacked the gay couple in Sweden were, most likely, just ordinary, unintelligent yobs looking for an easy target on which to vent their hatred. These moronic cowards are given are given, in their minds, implicit permission to pick on gay people and other minority groups, by society in general and the leaders of society (especially leaders who talk of morality) in particular.

When Tony Blair first stood for election I, as a good socialist, voted for his party. When his gung-ho actions in Iraq led to the death of hundreds of thousands of "innocent" people I was incredibly angry. But I did not count myself as responsible for these deaths because I was honestly unaware of Blair's potential to commit such atrocities when I voted for him. However, at the next election, even though I had always voted Labour, they did not get my vote. For the first time ever I spoilt my ballet paper. To have voted for him would have given him my approval of his military strategies and made me personally responsible for any further deaths.

The bishops meeting at Lambeth this week have a similar decision to make. It's a very simple decision. Do they decide to provide implicit permission to the homophobic bullies of the world to continue the verbal and physical abuse of gay people, by going for a policy, wrapped up disingenuously in claims of unity and democracy, that excludes gay people from full personhood and membership of the Church? Or do they sacrifice their power and influence in certain less enlightened parts of the world and promote a policy that can, in no way, be construed as stating that gay people are less than fully human and, therefore, fair game for the psychos? Going for the first option but with that pathetic proviso they are wont to add that the abuse of gay people is unacceptable is just tosh and they know it. In fact, it's more evil than just saying "Kill the gay!"

The problem for those of us in the Anglican Church who are not bishops is that, should our leaders go for option one we will all become complicit in their treachery and responsible for all future acts of violence against gay people, just as I would have been guilty for the deaths in Iraq had I voted for Blair a second time. This will become even more acute if we are forced by the proposed "Inquisition" to keep quiet about our own views. If regarding gay couples as sinful is made an equivalent doctrine to believing in the Incarnation of Christ, any Anglican of integrity will have just two choices: to leave the church they love or to publicly condemn the doctrines of the Church until the Inquisition throws them out.

A Lambeth song

This was pretty cute. Stolen shamelessly with a tip of the biretta to Padre Mickey.

Friday Red Mr. Peanut Bank and Gallito Mescalito Blogging

from Padre Mickey's Dance Party by Padre Mickey

Yay! The guy from Cable and Wireless came and replaced all the phone cable yesterday so now we have internet access at home! And now, tonight's special Lambeth Edition of Friday Red Mr. Peanut Bank and Gallito Mescalito Blogging:



Tune: "Anything You Can Do" from Annie Get Your Gun



GAFCON Bishops
Anything we do,
Is holier than what you do.
We can do everything
Holier than you.



Lambeth Bishops No, you can't.
GAFCON Bishops Yes,we can.
Lambeth Bishops No, you can't.
GAFCON Bishops Yes, we can.
Lambeth Bishops No, you can't.
GAFCON Bishops Yes, we can, Yes, we can!



Lambeth Bishops Everything we do
Is actually Anglican.
Everything you do,
Is Donatist bull.



GAFCON Bishops No, it's not.
Lambeth Bishops Yes, it is.
GAFCON Bishops No, it's not.
Lambeth Bishops Yes, it is.
GAFCON Bishops No, its NOT!
Lambeth Bishops Yes,it is. Yes, it is!



Lambeth BishopsOver 800 bishops
Meeting with few mishaps.
From Fiji, Japan, and Panamá
All do Bible study and Indaba
We march to support MDGs.



GAFCON Bishops (spoken) Will that work?
Lambeth Bishops (spoken) Er, possibly.
GAFCON Bishops (spoken) You make us smirk!



GAFCON Bishops Any prayer we say
We know God will answer.
We know that God won't
Even listen to you.



Lambeth Bishops Is that so?
GAFCON Bishops It is so!
Lambeth Bishops No, it's not!
GAFCON Bishops It is so!
Lambeth Bishops No, it's not!
GAFCON Bishops It is so!
Lambeth Bishops No, it's not!
GAFCON Bishops It is so!
Lambeth Bishops No, it's not!
GAFCON Bishops It is so! It is so!




Lambeth Bishops All of our liturgies
Are full of tradition
Unlike all that aisle rolling
And hand waving you lot do.



GAFCON Bishops That's not true.
Lambeth Bishops It IS true.
GAFCON Bishops No it's not!
Lambeth Bishops It IS true
GAFCON Bishops No it's not!
Lambeth Bishops It IS true
GAFCON Bishops No it's NOT!
Lambeth Bishops It IS true
GAFCON Bishops NO IT'S NOT!
Lambeth Bishops It is true, Yes it's true!!




GAFCON Bishops Everything we believe
Comes from the Bible!
You guys believe
What the Pagans all do!



Lambeth Bishops No we don't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes you do!
Lambeth Bishops No we don't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes you do!
Lambeth Bishops No we don't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes you do!
Lambeth Bishops No we don't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes you do!
Lambeth Bishops No we don't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes you do! Yes you do!!



GAFCON Bishops
We don't need the ABC
To appear all Englishy
The 1662 BCP
Is the true book, can't you see?
We can grab any diocese we want!




Lambeth Bishops (spoken) Without bein' caught?
GAFCON Bishops (spoken) Sure.
Lambeth Bishops (spoken) That's what we thought--you crooks!



Lambeth Bishops We are the true
World Wide Anglican Communion!
GAFCON Bishops Believe what you want!
We'll be replacing you.
Lambeth Bishops No you won't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes, we will!
Lambeth Bishops No you won't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes, we will!
Lambeth Bishops No you won't!
GAFCON Bishops Yes, we will!
Lambeth Bishops No you won't! No you won't!
Everybody (shouted) THIS AIN'T OVER YET!!!



The Right Reverend Gallito Mescalito ¡¡SSHHRRRIIIEEEKK!!

I AM

Comments from Bp. Marc Andrus from Lambeth.


I AM - By Bishop Marc Handley Andrus

During the Lambeth Conference we are studying the Gospel of John in small groups. Particular attention is being paid to the “I Am” statements. Enormous attention has been paid to seven of these statements, each of which uses a metaphor to speak of Jesus, his ministry and his relationship to God and us. These are:

I am the vine
I am the living water
I am the gate
I am the bread of life
I am the good shepherd
I am the light of the world

A lifetime can be spent meditating on the I Am statements. The are each related to the appearance of God to Moses in the burning bush, a story itself filled with holy mystery. And each metaphor is theologically mysterious, capable of infinite meaning. Finally, they can be thought of in relation to each other, having been woven into one gospel, and relating all to the ministry of the Son.

But here in this Lambeth Conference I am drawn to other I Am statements of Jesus in the Gospel of John, lying outside and containing the metaphoric I Ams. In each of these less well known statements, Jesus puts no metaphor before you in order to help you understand him, but refers directly to himself.

One of these is in the conversation with the Samaratan woman at the well. Another is when Jesus meets his disciples in the midst of a storm on a lake at night, as he comes to them walking on water. At the end of John’s gospel, at night again, Jesus says to the ones who are inquiring where Jesus of Nazareth is in order to arrest him, “I Am he.”

The Lambeth Conference brings questions of identity forward in our lives. We are with people of many different ethnicities, cultures, and languages. In the presence of great diversity our easy assumptions of identity are unsettled, and deeper ways to ground our identity can emerge. We can begin to see our life in Christ as the ground of our being, our identity.

As we are drawn deeper and deeper into relationship with one another we find that the descriptors that may catch our attention at first, those associated with ethnicity and culture, rich and capable of being explored in depth as they are, do not begin to sum up human life. Gender, sexual orientation, economic status, all these are important too. And then we begin to learn the personal histories of people, certainly conditioned and connected to all the above, but articulated in unique ways having to do with the inner life of people, their gifts and aspirations.

At some point we may come to understand, as we perceive the deepest aspirations of another person, their courage and hopefulness in the face of their own life challenges, that we are seeing Christ in that person. Christ speaks I AM from within all life, if we have ears to hear and eyes to see.

What Jesus, when he speaks of himself without metaphoric mediation is about is affirming the goodness of creation and the apprehension of the depth of human beings within that creation. He reminds us that we are all “offspring of the divine,” and have the divine image planted within us.

The Lambeth Conference is reminding me of the life Baptism has drawn me into and prepares me for each day. I am trying to look for Christ in each person here.

A tip of the biretta to FranIAm for posting this!

love one another

With Lambeth going on there is still much going on in the news and blogs concerning GAFCON and those who elected to boycott the Lambeth Conference.

I think those who believe that separation is the way to go should really meditate on the reading from Romans for the Daily Office. We are reminded to "owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law."

For people focused on purity and the law I hope they would take this reading to heart.

what is it all about?

Here is part of an article about Lambeth found in The Independent.

Lambeth Conference: God help the church

The row over gay bishops threatens to tear apart the Anglican Communion. It's not all about sex, explains Cole Moreton. But why should the rest of us care?

Sunday, 20 July 2008

So, there's this group of men from all over the world, and they're having a fortnight away together. They like to wear long, flowing robes and are very fond of the colour purple. Some have ostentatious rings, others go for flamboyant hats or blingy crosses on long chains. Right now, they are staying on a university campus, living in halls like the old days. What's on their minds? Sex. Particularly gay sex. They are obsessed with homosexual intercourse. They think about it all the time, and the rows they have over it are tearing them apart. But only one of these men, at least in public, is gay. And guess what? He is the only member of their club who has not been invited to this great big house party. Sometimes the Lambeth Conference does look very queer indeed. So much attention has been given to this gathering of bishops, but what is really going on? Is it really a huge moment in the life of the Anglican church, part of the biggest change in English religious life since the Reformation? Or is it just a series of incomprehensible hissy fits? And why should unbelievers care, anyway? In the immortal words of Cilla Black's camp classic...

What's It All About, Alfie?

The 650 bishops who are there represent 80 million Anglicans. The Lambeth Conference happens only every 10 years. Which part of Lambeth is it in? Er, the part that is Kent. Canterbury, actually, where they are talking and praying together for the next fortnight and not falling out. Definitely not. They're all friends, honest. Except the ones who were too angry to come. About a quarter of those invited did not turn up. They had their own soirée instead, in Jerusalem last month. But why were they so angry?

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

That's what it's all about. Not bonking bishops, vicars in knickers or curates with their hands on the organist, though. Tabloid tales of lusty clergy are a great English tradition, like saucy postcards. Only last year a real-life rector's wife told how her former husband wanted tarty sex every day – or, as the News of the World put it: "the Vicar of Dicker forced his wife to defrock like a stripper". Phew! There have been serious sex scandals too, of course, but none has brought down the largest Protestant church grouping in the world. That seems to have been left to the love between a 60-year-old Kentucky man and his partner.

Mad About The Boy

Gene loves Mark. They've been together for a long time now, and were when the Rt Rev Robinson became Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003. He had to wear a bulletproof vest that day, because someone promised to express the love of God by shooting him. Millions of others decided the Episcopal Church had departed from the "traditional" view of the Bible that homosexuality is a sin. If it did not repent, they could no longer bear to be in the same worldwide family of believers. Liberals asked who the traditionalists were to impose their interpretation of the Word. Others prayed hard and wished it wasn't happening – including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the thoughtful, fretful Rowan Williams, who really didn't want to be the man who let the Anglican Communion destroy itself.

You can read the rest of the article here.

Train Wreck

Interesting that the good bishop attributes the presence of those who participated in +Gene's consecration as a divisive issue contributing to the train wreck, but the boycott of Lambeth by many "Global South" bishops does not seem so divisive.



Anglican communion a 'train wreck', says bishop
By Jonathan Wynne-Jones
Last Updated: 8:27AM BST 20/07/2008
The Anglican Communion is like a "slow moving train wreck", according to a senior Church of England bishop who has given an extraordinary insight into the crisis that is engulfing the Church.

The Rt Rev Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, has revealed that there is deep unease over the future of the communion and an atmosphere of mutual suspicion among bishops.

His comments come as about 650 bishops meet at the once-a-decade Lambeth conference in Canterbury, with continuing division over the issue of homosexuality.

Bishop Wright, a senior figure in the Church hierarchy, expressed concern that the summit was lacking direction and admitted that the Anglican Church was in a mess. "All sorts of forces have built up over the years in the communion through misunderstanding and people doing things differently without really consulting," he said.

"Sooner or later this was all going to meet and hit the buffers. It's been like a slow-moving train wreck."

The bishop, who is highly respected and a close friend of the Archbishop of Canterbury, told The Sunday Telegraph that the presence of American bishops involved in the consecration of Gene Robinson, the first openly homosexual Anglican bishop, was proving divisive.

"A lot of people here have a lot of questions about why the American bishops are here," he said. "Those questions are in the room."

Around 250 bishops, mainly from Africa, have boycotted the conference in protest at Dr Rowan Williams's decision to invite the American bishops, whom they hold responsible for causing the schism. Organisers have drawn up an agenda lacking any major votes or debates in the hope that it will limit ­conflict.

Arctic synod says recent same-sex blessing votes hurt church unity

The Anglican Journal reports:

The synod of the diocese of the Arctic, meeting in Iqaluit, Nunavut from May 27 to June 3, passed a motion criticizing decisions by four dioceses of the Anglican Church of Canada that support blessing same-sex unions.

“Synod expressed great disappointment as some diocesan synods have decided to move forward with approving the blessing of same-sex civil marriages, after General Synod 2007 (made) it clear that this would not be allowed until the Lambeth Conference had time to discuss the issues this summer,” said a press release issued by the diocese of the Arctic synod. “This then indicates that Canadians are not serious about unity elements that hold the church together.”

It also passed a motion expressing “strong support … for those in the Southern cone dioceses, recognizing them as members of the Anglican Communion.”

Read it all here.

But of course since it is not the Synod of the Diocese of the Arctic that gets to recognize who is and who is not a member of the Anglican Communion, their recognition doesn't really matter a whole lot.