Bishop Thomas Ely's Notes from the 2008 Lambeth Conference (July 16–August 3)
[Click the Lambeth Images link at left for photos of (and by) Tom and Ann Ely.]
Note 1, Monday, July 21
Note 2, Thursday, July 24
Bishops Ely and Rickel give daily briefing, Saturday, July 26
Note 3,
Monday, July 28
Remarks by Bishop Michael Ingham at the Wingsor Continuation Group Hearing,
July 28
Remarks by Bishop Duncan Gray at the Windsor Continuation Group
Hearing, July 28
Note 4, Saturday, August 2
Mountain
Echo Column, September 2008: "I remain committed to the future of the Anglican
Communion…"
"I remain committed
to the future of the Anglican Communion…"
Mountain Echo, September
2008
Whenever we gathered for worship at the Lambeth Conference, we were invited to pray the Lord’s Prayer, each in our own language. For the next 30 seconds, the assembly was filled with a symphony of voices praying the same familiar words in the myriad of languages spoken throughout the churches of the Anglican Communion. Sometimes I would just listen and soak in the richness of that holy half a minute and all that it symbolized for me about what is the strength and the hope of the Anglican Communion—a people praying, learning and doing together for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s reconciling mission in the world.
This prayerful symbol of our unity in Christ, offered in the variety of languages that represent the Anglican Communion’s cultural and contextual diversity, is one of the lasting reflections I bring home to Vermont from my first Lambeth Conference. Others include the morning when the Archbishop of Japan offered a moving apology to the Church of Korea; poignant testimony from bishops in the South Pacific [Lambeth Daily video] about the devastating effects of global warming and rising sea levels threatening the future of island after island; the enrollment of the names of the Martyrs of Melanesia in the Chapel of the Modern Martyrs in Canterbury Cathedral; story after story of the challenges of refugee resettlement in Sudan and Tanzania; the faithful witness of indigenous people in Australia, Canada and New Zealand; the contextual challenges facing Christians who are the religious minority in India, Asia and the Middle East; the struggles and stories of sacrificial ministry in Zambia, Malawi and other parts of Africa as the church ministers amidst the dreadful and deadly reality of HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; and the jubilee stories of liberation in Central and South America as the church offers hope amongst the poorest of the poor. The list could go on.
Each of these incarnational expressions of mission and ministry from around the Anglican Communion serves as a living reminder of why the Anglican Communion is important and worth the effort needed to maintain and strengthen our relationships with one another. There are obviously differences and significant tensions within the Anglican Communion that cannot be minimized, but to let those disagreements diminish the opportunity we have to work together in the service of God’s reconciling mission would be sad indeed. I remain committed to the future of the Anglican Communion as a communion of churches united by worship and service and living faithfully into the Gospel message of salvation, grace and transformation in all our varied contextual realities.
It was my experience
that among the bishops gathered at Lambeth, there is a strong commitment
to mending and strengthening the bonds of our common life in Christ.
The “Reflections” document, growing
out of our indaba groups,
bears witness to this hope while honestly recognizing the challenges
we face.
For me, the Lambeth Conference was a doorway into the incarnational reality of the Anglican Communion. More than a communion of churches, the Anglican Communion is a communion of faithful Christian women, men and children from all corners of the world who care deeply about the world, its people and one another. The Anglican Communion is a living, changing, dynamic, transformational expression of what it means to be the Body of Christ in the spirit of the 4th chapter of Ephesians: “speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (vss. 15-16).
At the conclusion of his “Presidential Address” on the final day of the conference, the Archbishop of Canterbury encouraged us to be “bearers of good news” to our communities back home. First and foremost for me is the importance of proclaiming the Good News of God’s saving grace, justice, love and compassion for all. The trusting relationships that were forged during those eighteen days of prayer, study, conversation and community are one key to the effectiveness of that proclamation. Another is the continuing faithful witness of every member of the wonderfully diverse churches of the Anglican Communion. I am so very blessed to experience that faithful witness in the people of the Diocese of Vermont, and so I was proud to share many wonderful stories of that faithfulness throughout our diocese with other bishops from around the world.
Because of the tensions within the Anglican Communion surrounding human sexuality, I felt it was especially important to share stories about the effective ministries of our lesbian and gay clergy and about the ministries of all the GLBT members of our diocese. I tried to present the incarnational reality of the faithful lives, committed relationships and fruitful ministries of GLBT Christians in the life of our diocese and the larger Episcopal Church. It is difficult to assess what long term effect such story telling might have, but since it was the similar telling of stories by others that so broadened my understanding and awareness of life in other parts of the Anglican Communion, I hold out hope that the telling of “our stories” might serve a similar purpose in the hearts and minds of others.
Returning from Lambeth, I have both hope and concern about the future of the Anglican Communion. My hope rests in the reality that God’s mission unites us more than disagreements about human sexuality divide us. The fact that the conference attendees resisted the desire expressed by some to “resolve” our differences and instead remained committed to the ongoing process of indaba also gives me hope.
My concern is that the compelling desire for unity might lead to the creation of structures that compromise the Anglican commitment to comprehensiveness and the autonomy of member churches. I have particular concerns about the continuing “Windsor Process,” the proposed “Pastoral Forum” [included in the previous link to the report from the Windsor Continuation Group, Part 3] and the “Draft Anglican Covenant.” Clearly these will be important items on the agenda of General Convention in 2009, as well as in the various synodical structures of the other member churches. My experience at the Lambeth Conference is that I am not alone in my concerns. My hope is that we will take the time necessary to think through the various proposals under discussion and shape a dynamic future for the Anglican Communion that is built more upon the incarnational realities of mission and less upon the conceptual configuration of an institution.
I want to express again my gratitude to all who held us in your thoughts and prayers during the Lambeth Conference. Our experience was exhausting, stimulating, and wonderfully Anglican. Thank you for the privilege of serving among you and for the honor of carrying “our” story to Lambeth. I hope in the months ahead that there will be many opportunities for me to share the stories of others from around the Anglican Communion with you.
Faithfully,
+ Thomas
Dear people of Vermont
These last few days of the Lambeth Conference have been very full, not
only with content and a busy schedule but also with much more passionate
conversations calling all of us here to a deeper level of listening and
engagement with one another. I am blessed to be part of a diverse and
faithful Bible Study group where I feel listened to and where I feel
nurtured and fed by the stories and experiences of others from very different
parts of the Anglican Communion.
Since my letter to you on July 28th the conference has focused its attention
on the topics of Inter-Faith Relations, the Bishop and the Bible in Mission,
the Bishop and Human Sexuality, and the proposed Anglican Covenant and
the continuation of the Windsor Process. On Tuesday July 29th the bishops
and spouses participated in a powerful joint session on power and abuse,
with a poignant focus on violence and sexual abuse toward women and children.
This included a lengthy Bible Study session on the biblical narrative
of the rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1-22). We also held our second successful
reception for bishops and spouses with Bishop Gene Robinson.
These past few days have also featured many fine self-select options. I have chosen to participate in the offerings related to the draft Anglican Covenant. I have tried to express the sentiments I heard from Vermonters regarding this development within the Anglican Communion, and I have tried most especially to speak against those portions of the draft Covenant that put in place excessive juridical structures and in favor of a Covenant in Mission, such as that proposed by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism (IASCOME). There continue to be many strong voices calling for a Covenant that sets forth a clear process and set of procedures for dealing with issues and actions arising in one part of the Communion that are “deemed to threaten the unity of the Communion and the effectiveness or credibility of its mission.…”
We have also begun in these last few days to engage with the “Reflections” document being prepared by a group of bishops (one from each Indaba Group) known as “the listeners.” This has added the element of “hearings” to our schedule, in which conference participants are offered an opportunity to respond to each new draft of this substantial document. The document is meant to provide a fairly comprehensive account of our time at Lambeth while offering something of the flavor and substance of our time together and our conversations. It is not meant to be a report from Lambeth as much as an account of Lambeth. Its development is meant to draw primarily upon the Indaba process, however the format of the hearings is such that people come to the microphone one at a time for no more than three minutes to offer a response to one or more portions of the document. Obviously this is not Indaba, but the hope is that it adds to the Indaba process by providing individuals with an opportunity to address the draft report and its authors directly.
We received the latest version of the Reflections Document this evening just after 5:00 P.M. [The final version is here, where it may be read or downloaded in pdf format.] The last few pages were being photocopied as we waited in a crowded lecture hall (the same venue where we hosted the conversations with Bishop Gene Robinson). Clearly all of us would have preferred more time to digest and comment on this penultimate draft. In my view, the sections dealing with the Environment, the Bible, Mission and Evangelism, Human and Social Justice, Ecumenism and Inter-Faith relations are among the strongest portions of the document. Among the strengths I see in the most recent draft are:
- It offers of a comprehensive overview of the conference and the various and significant agenda topics we have been discussing.
- It offers a glimpse into the depth and breadth of conversation at the conference and the many mission and ministry connections that have been renewed, strengthened and begun here.
- It offers an important measure of confidence by reminding readers that our common life and time here has been centered in prayer, worship, and Bible Study, and that we have lived as a community of learning more through conversation than through debate.
- It offers hope in the reality that the vast majority of bishops gathered at this Lambeth Conference were willing to listen and learn from one another.
The sections of this Reflections document that provide the greatest challenge to me are those dealing with the topics of Human Sexuality, the draft Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process. This is not surprising, and it is important to note here that the current draft is not the final product and our time to engage in conversation with the drafting group about the text was limited to less than one hour. I don’t know when we will see the final draft of the document on Sunday, but it is unlikely that we will have further opportunity to influence the wording of the final product. That is not necessarily a bad thing, since there is no way for a group of 650 bishops to perfect the wording of such a document, and the drafters have done a rather remarkable job overall in capturing the fullness of our Indaba conversations. It will be a document that each of us will need to reflect upon through the lens of our own experience these last two weeks and share with others our perspective on what is written from the vantage point of our participation in the conference and especially our Bible Study and Indaba groups.
For the most part, the current draft of the section on Human Sexuality offers an accurate account of the conversations as I have participated in them. The reality is that there is a huge need for more conversation, as well as additional biblical and theological discussion around the communion in this area. Some of that took place these past two weeks, thanks to the presence and witness of faithful GLBT Christians and straight allies who made themselves available for conversation on the campus, in the Marketplace, in the various self select groups and through a host of fringe events.
My observation is that misunderstandings and misinformation abound with regard to the realities of homosexual orientation and behavior. There are many reasons for this but among them is the stark reality that in many Provinces of the Anglican Communion the greater focus of mission and ministry is necessarily upon the day to day realities of poverty, disease, education and survival. Throughout the conference I was greatly impressed by the number of bishops from other parts of the communion who sought out opportunities to listen and learn more about the lives and ministries of GLBT Christians. I am sad that others did not, or for various reasons felt they could not. I am grateful that the current draft of the Reflections document acknowledges some of the positive effects of the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in the life of our church in addition to naming the many negative results attributed to the ordination of an openly partnered homosexual bishop and the blessing of same sex relationships. It has been a great joy and privilege to share stories from Vermont that have helped others expand their knowledge and understanding of the contributions of GLBT persons in the life and ministry of the Episcopal Church.
The section on the draft Anglican Covenant in the document we received today voices well many of the concerns I heard talked about in the several self-select sessions on the draft Covenant that I attended. It will be interesting to see what the covenant drafting group does with the many responses they received that have not yet been fully digested and incorporated into this section of the Reflections document. I heard many voices from many parts of the communion calling for a more deliberate process and for a Covenant, if there is to be one at all, that relies more on mutual generosity and trust, as opposed to safeguards and juridical process. As I understand the process, the drafting committee is still receiving responses from Provinces throughout the Anglican Communion in anticipation of a next draft that will be submitted to the Anglican Consultative Council in the spring of 2009.
The section addressing the Windsor Process is by far the least polished and for me the least satisfactory portion of the Reflections document. In part this is due to the reality that most Indaba groups did not discuss this topic until earlier in the same day we received the Reflections document. I also think the reality of a separate Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) and the work it has been doing prior to and during the conference has contributed to a lack of clarity about just what we were being asked to comment on in this area. In my judgment, the matter of the various moratoriums remains a topic of considerable division and misunderstanding. The idea of a Pastoral Forum was given its first public airing at the Lambeth Conference and I think there is considerable confusion about its purpose and place within the structures of the Anglican Communion.
In conversations around the Windsor Process, many are fond of saying that certain actions by the Episcopal Church have “torn the fabric of our Communion,” and I do not doubt the conviction of their belief. However, there is equal conviction on the part of many—including myself—that our actions have helped to break the bonds of oppression. I prefer to withhold further comment on this section of the Reflections document until the listeners have the opportunity to incorporate some of the comments made during the late afternoon hearing. In any event, the work of the WCG is meant to go to the Anglican Consultative Council this coming spring, and so the conversations here at Lambeth are but one aspect of the ongoing Windsor process.
Tomorrow (Sunday) is the closing day of the Lambeth Conference, and it is a very full day! Much of it will be spent saying farewell in our Bible Study and Indaba Groups. We will have a final plenary session that will include an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury. We conclude the conference with Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral beginning at 6:00 P.M. I take away much from this conference, and I am glad we were here. Perhaps more than anything else I leave with a deeper knowledge and appreciation for the mission and ministry of others throughout the Anglican Communion and all its many contexts. I remain more convinced than ever that the mission we share in common is far more uniting than the differences that challenge and threaten to divide us. I have listened to some difficult words these past couple of weeks, and I have heard some incredible stories of faithful mission and ministry in difficult and demanding settings. Through it all I remain ever more strongly convinced that within the Body of Christ we can never say to one another, “I have no need of you!”
Ann and I leave early Monday morning for a week of vacation in Scotland, so I am not planning on sending any further communication about the Lambeth Conference until we return to Vermont. We thank you from the depth of our hearts for your prayers and support during these past few weeks while we have been away from Vermont. I want to offer a word of thanks to the members of the Ministry Support Team for their good work while I have been at Lambeth, and especially to Anne Brown who has done a great job of keeping you informed via the diocesan Web site. We look forward to sharing more about our time at Lambeth when we return.
Faithfully,
+Thomas
Dear people of Vermont,
We have entered the final week of the Lambeth Conference and the schedule continues to be challenging to body and spirit. Thank goodness for the times of Eucharist and prayer that punctuates our time! And thank goodness for Sunday, which offered a time of Sabbath rest, worship and recreation (yes, I did manage to arrange a game of golf in the afternoon!).
The conference themes last Friday and Saturday focused on ecumenism and the environment. It is important to remember that despite attempts by the media and some within and outside the conference to focus our agenda on the issues of human sexuality, the reality is that there is a much broader and more significant agenda on the hearts and minds of many of us. In Bible Study, Indaba and self select groups, as well as in plenary presentations, concerns about issues like poverty, HIV/AIDS, evangelism, the environment, and ecumenical and interfaith matters are all very much on the hearts and minds of conference members. I am learning so much about the challenges of mission and ministry in places in the Anglican Communion that I knew nothing about, and I am grateful for each new encounter. There will be much to share about these Communion Partners around the world, most of whom are eager to talk with me about our diocese and about how we might move forward in mission together.
In my last missive I wrote about the statements from the Episcopal Church in Sudan and commended them to you, particularly the statement regarding the urgency with which we are asked to help work for peace in all of Sudan and especially in Darfur. The other statement addressing the subject of human sexuality and especially the matter of homosexuality was a difficult word for me to hear, although it is a word I have heard before, including a similar statement issued in 2006. I worried how this statement might affect our relationship with the Diocese of Bor and my relationships with Bishop Nathaniel Garang and Ezekiel Diing. I have now had the opportunity to talk at length with both of them, and they assure me that they want to continue in relationship with me and the people of Vermont. They both send their greetings back to the people of Vermont and especially to the Sudanese living in Vermont. Despite our disagreements regarding homosexuality, there is a shared bond of affection for our mission work in helping the people of Southern Sudan and in our learning from them about mission and ministry in a vastly difference context. I will have more to say about this relationship when I return to Vermont, but for now I want to signal that I very much want to continue this relationship for our mutual benefit and ask that the people of Vermont walk with me in that regard, remembering that there are many Sudanese living in Vermont who look to the Episcopal Church for their spiritual home.
As the conference moves into this last week, we are also moving more fully towards those thorny issues of human sexuality and the draft Anglican Covenant that all of us recognize to be of critical importance to the future of the Anglican Communion. My sense is that there is far more good will among the bishops present at Lambeth to stay in relationship despite our differences than there is to move quickly to “settle” matters in a way that creates unprecedented and potentially damaging structures within the Anglican Communion. I don’t know what the best way forward through all this will be, but I am fairly certain that this Lambeth Conference is but one step along the way—and by no means the final step.
The Indaba process offered to us by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the conference design team has been challenging, and for many reasons we are not able to fully live into that model. Nonetheless, most of us are trying to do so, believing that structuring our time together around debate and resolutions would be far less productive in service to the purpose of building trusting relationships. It remains to be seen how the Indaba process will play out and how the “Reflection” document that is being prepared as a result of the Indaba process will be received. We received a first and very preliminary draft of this document today [download pdf] and I have yet to review it in any depth. It comes to us in outline form and not as “polished text.” It is likely to be a document of some substance in both length and content and will require thoughtful review, reading and understanding if it is to be of value within the Communion.
Along with and connected to the Indaba process have been presentations of the “observations” from the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) and subsequent comments offered in plenary sessions by those bishops able to get to the microphone in the allotted timeframe. [The document may be viewed here, or download a pdf - 53kb. Note that an additional page in the hard copy given to the bishops has been added to the end of those versions. It is also at the bottom of this page.] Today we received part three of these observations, which among other things offered for consideration the creation of a “Pastoral Forum” at the Communion level to “engage theologically and practically with situations of controversy as they arise or divisive actions that may be taken around the Communion.” At first glance, this seems to me a far too highly structured addition to our “Anglican Way.” Some are already calling it a “fifth instrument of communion,” and the WCG suggests that it might be incorporated into the Anglican Covenant for which many are hoping but about which many (myself included) remain quite cautious. I’m sure this will be a matter of considerable discussion in our Indaba Groups over the course of the next few days.
The report from the WCG also sets forth the strongest (to date) recommendation that the moratoria spoken of in the Windsor Report (public Rites of Blessing of same sex unions, the consecration of those living in partnered gay relationships, and the cessation of cross border interventions) need to be adhered to without compromise and without delay. The document interprets and understands moratorium in the broadest possible fashion as applying both to future actions and in retrospect: “…that is that it requires the cessation of activity. This necessarily applies to practices that may have already been authorised as well as proposed for authorisation in the future.” Despite the responses of the General Convention to the Windsor Report and subsequent responses from the Executive Council and the House of Bishops of our Province, there continues to be a sense that what was once the Windsor Process has now become the Windsor Commandant and that there is only one acceptable response—namely compliance. The report does include a page about “Ministering pastorally and sensitively to all,” but there seems to be a huge disconnect between those words and the rest of the report. I have asked Anne Brown to post the testimony of two bishops for whom I have deep respect and whose comments at the hearing were among the most clear and helpful to me. [See comments by Bishop Michael Ingham and Duncan Gray below.] Again, all this will be a matter for continued discussion in our Indaba Groups.
Let me end this rather long missive by saying that my commitment and that of many at this conference to the full honoring and inclusion of GLBT persons in the full life and ministry of the Episcopal Church remains steadfast. There was talk at the hearing today from the WCG inviting us to consider what personal sacrifices each of us needs to make in order to restore a sense of trust, fellowship and communion within the Anglican Communion. Once again, I believe that is asking the wrong people the wrong question. The significant sacrifice being asked for and offered up in this report (yet again) is that of GLBT members of our communion and not that of any bishop at this conference, except in so far as our pastoral ministry among GLBT members will be compromised if not downright injured. If indeed we are bishops for the whole church, as we are being reminded over and over again at this conference, then we must be bishops for all the people of the whole church and not diminish the personhood and ministry of some in order to serve the goal of unity. At the end of the day, the facade of unity bought with price of the exclusion of some is not the Gospel I have come to know and believe, and which I try to live. My colleague, Bishop Marc Andrus of California, got it absolutely right I think when in the hearing today he reminded us of the words of Jesus in Matthew 9:13, “Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy not sacrifice.” What if we were to reframe the whole conversation in terms of compassion? Perhaps it is still not too late to do so.
I’ll try to write again soon. Please continue your prayers for all of us here at Lambeth and pray that the Holy Spirit will inspire us to a find a way forward that allows us to celebrate both the unity and diversity of our church in service to God’s mission.
Faithfully,
+Thomas
Bishop Ely asked that the following remarks by Bishop Michael Ingham of the Diocese of New Westminster, Canada, and by Bishop Duncan Gray III of the Diocese of Mississippi, be posted on his page. Both bishops were commenting at a hearing on a presentation from the Windsor Continuation Group on Part III of their “Preliminary Observations.” (The document may be viewed here, or download a pdf - 64kb)
Remarks by Bishop Michael Ingham
At the Windsor Continuation Group Hearing
Lambeth Conference
July 28th 2008
I came to this conference hoping to take back to the Diocese I serve something of value with respect to the difficulties facing our Communion. Unfortunately, the document handed out today is a non-starter where I live.
Let me give four reasons.
1. The Windsor Report is just that ˆ a report. It is not yet an agreed policy within the Communion. It is not yet a doctrine. Some of our Provinces have responded to it, some have not, and many of the responses raise critical questions that have not so far been addressed. And yet the Windsor Report is being introduced today as an agreed benchmark from which it is assumed we can move forward. This is not so.
2. The document we have today is punitive in tone, setting out penalties and the like, instead of inviting us into deeper communion with one another through mutual understanding in the Body of Christ. Furthermore, it entrenches the principle of outside interventions. The suggestion of a Pastoral Forum in fact institutionalizes external incursions into the life of our churches.
3. It seeks to impose a singular uniformity upon the complex diversity of our Communion. I quite understand that in some parts of the Anglican Communion homosexuality is subject to criminal law and cultural prohibition. However, I live in a country where homosexual people enjoy the same rights and responsibilities under the law as every other citizen. To discriminate against homosexual people, as this document suggests, is no more acceptable in Canada than to discriminate against women, black people or Jews. If this becomes the position of the Communion, it will put the Anglican Church of Canada in the position of having to support and defend irrational prejudice and bigotry in the eyes of our nation.
We already live with a good deal of diverse practice across the Anglican Communion ˆ in the ordination of women, the re-marriage of divorced persons, and the admission of the baptized and unconfirmed to Communion. Why can we not live with a similar diversity in this matter too?
4. It ignores reality. Whatever this document says, illegal incursions will continue. We have heard already how they continue to happen even in places that maintain the traditional position of the Church on homosexuality. And furthermore, gay and lesbian people will not go away, nor will they be healed, because they are not sick. It is the church that is suffering from blindness and prejudice, and it is we who need to repent and be healed.
To conclude, this document will not invite us into mutual dialogue and a search for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. It is an old-world institutional response to a new-world reality in which people are being set free from hatred and violence. It will not do to impose a rigid uniformity on a body so diverse as this Communion. The document will further divide us if it attempts to do so.
(Posted with Bishop Ingham’s permission)
Remarks by
Bishop Duncan Gray III
At the Windsor Continuation Group Hearing
Lambeth Conference
July 28th 2008
A bit of personal history: I have been nurtured and shaped within the Evangelical tradition of my Church. Most importantly, this means that the ultimate authority of the Holy Scripture and the necessity of an intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus as the way to the Father are foundational and non-negotiable components of my faith.
Within my own province, I voted not to consent to the election of Gene Robinson, for reasons both theological and ecclesiological. I have followed to the letter and the spirit of the Windsor Report — before there was a 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, preferring to think of the irregularly ordained as Methodists — and some of my best friends are Methodists!
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 way, in which they live out their love of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, I am in serious disagreement with many of them on the very critical sacramental and ethical issues about which the Communion is in deep conflict. Are we sometimes, at best, insensitive to the wider context in which we do ministry, and at worst, deeply embedded in American arrogance — Absolutely! And for that insensitivity and arrogance we have begged the Communion's forgiveness on several occasions. “But do I see the Church in them?” as the most serious question at the last hearing asked. As God is my witness, I do. Despite my profound disagreements I continue to pray “One Lord, one faith, one baptism.” We continue to reaffirm our creedal faith together. We continue to gather round the Lord’s table together, bringing the brokenness and imperfectness of our lives into the healing embrace of our Lord who sends us out together to the poor, the weak and the hopeless. And, in the midst of our internal conflicts, they show me Jesus.
There are dozens of bishops like me in the Episcopal Church. We are not a one, or even two dimensional Church. 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.
How is this possible? I think it begins with the gift from Saint Paul, who taught us the great limitations of even our most insightful thought. We do, every one of us, “see through a glass, darkly.” And none of us can say to the other, “I have no need of you.”
One day, Saint Paul says, we will see face to face, the glory that we now only glimpse. But in the meantime, as each of us struggles to be faithful, may each of us, the Episcopal Church and the wider communion, find the courage, and the humility, to say to one another, “I need you — for my salvation and for the salvation of the world.”
(Posted with Bishop Gray’s permission)
The Lambeth
Conference
Daily Account: Saturday, July 26, 2008
Bishop Thomas C. Ely of Vermont
Bishop Greg Rickel of Olympia
(Herb Gunn photo)
The topic for today
was Safeguarding Creation – the Bishop and the environment.
We started the day with Eucharist presided by the Province of Australia. Based
on the stewardship of creation, Bishop George Browning of Canberra, head of the
Anglican Network for the Stewardship of Environment, preached and offered a passionate
reflection about the concern of creation and sustainability, and that we need
to provide the moral leadership for this life-transforming challenge of our time.
Bible Study focused on John 9: 1 – 41: “He kept saying, I am the
man.” This is the story of the man born blind who was given sight
by Our Lord. We are finding that Bible study is challenging, enriching
and deepening our relationship more and more each day. In Bible study,
there is an opportunity to share our context for mission and ministry
as bishop.
In the Indaba group, we looked at the creation narrative in Genesis 1
and spoke about the challenges in our own context for dealing with the
environmental crisis. We
spoke about the interrelatedness of all creation. We talked about
South Pacific islands that are gone, the snow on Mt Kilimanjaro that
is melting, and the rainy season that no longer exists in many parts
of the world.
Every day, there have been self-select groups on the environment, and
the plenary program last night , presented by Professor Chris Rapley,
director of Science Museum and director of the British Antarctic Survey,
has brought a greater awareness of the impact of the environmental crisis.
Several bishops gave testimony to their commitment to the environment
and the need for bishops to exercise moral leadership. Reduce,
reuse, recycle and, now is added, respect.
In our Baptismal Covenant, we talk about the respect and dignity of every human
being, and we need to expand that to embrace our respect for all creation.
Today was the day that bishops and spouses gathered for the Lambeth Conference
official photo.
Dear people of Vermont
Thursday was “London Day” at the Lambeth Conference and
it was a fun, rich and important/prophetic day. Fun, because we were
treated to tea and all the pageantry that accompanies a visit to Buckingham
Palace, rich because we were welcomed as guests to Lambeth Palace – home
of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and important and prophetic because
our day began with a “Walk of Witness” for the Millennium
Development Goals, and our Anglican Communion commitment as faith leaders
to the urgent need to hold the political leaders of the world accountable
for the promises made to end extreme poverty through a shared commitment
to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Well over a thousand bishops, spouses and others persons of faith participated
in the walk from Whitehall to Lambeth Palace. The route took us past
#10 Downing Street, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, with
supporters and tourists along the way offering encouragement and support.
This was a walk of solidarity for the bishops of the Anglican Communion.
With all the challenges to our unity and all the struggles to reconcile
differences, this event stands out as a reminder of what really matters
in our common mission – “To do justice, to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with our God.” When we arrived at Lambeth Palace,
we heard inspiring speeches from the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Prime
Minister, and Helen Wangusa, the Anglican Communion’s Observer
to the United Nations.
Lunch at Lambeth Palace and then Tea at Buckingham Palace were wonderful social events – the sort of thing that you are pleased to say that you have done. The hospitality afforded us was gracious and the gardens and grounds of both venues were lovely indeed. Ann and I were close by one of the bishops selected to meet the Queen in the receiving reception and so we take home that fond memory. Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed inside Buckingham Palace and so we will rely on our memories and not our pictures as we recall this event. Ann did have one of the most attractive hats of all the spouses!
Meanwhile, back at the Lambeth Conference, the work of building trusting relationships and being in conversation with other bishops about our engagement in the missio dei continues. My Bible Study group continues to be a rich source of conversation as we engage one another using the various assigned texts from the John Gospel. Every day we go deeper and deeper in our conversations as trust is built up and the biblical text takes on meaning in terms of our common concerns for the mission and ministry of the Anglican Communion in our various contexts. Likewise, my Indaba group continues to be a place of holy conversation, as we have encountered one another these past couple of days around the themes of “Proclaiming the Good News – The Bishop and Evangelism” and “Transforming Society – The Bishop and Social Justice.” The challenge of the Indaba groups is not the content, nor the desire of bishops to engage one another, but the time constraints and some of the limitations of the facilities in which we are meeting. Even with those challenges we are doing well in trying to listen to one another across the many cultural realities that are part of the Anglican Communion.
One of the most difficult realities at the conference these past couple of days has been our struggle to receive and comprehend the public statement from the Bishops of the Province of Sudan regarding human sexuality and in particular the comments offered in a press conference by the Archbishop of Sudan in which he called for the resignation of Bishop Gene Robinson. I want to quickly point out that this was only one of two statements issued by the bishops of Sudan, but it is the one upon which the media has focused its attention. The other statement dealing with the ongoing struggle for peace in Sudan and in particular the conflict in Darfur has regrettably received far less media attention. I would be less than candid if I didn’t say that the verbal statements calling for Bishop Robinson’s resignation saddened and disturbed me. On the other hand, I think there is more about the motivation and meaning of that statement that needs to be considered and so I am suspending judgment on the statements regarding human sexuality and Bishop Robinson until there is the opportunity for deeper conversation with Sudanese bishops, particularly those whom I know best. There have been some conversations, but more are in the offing and I think it best to await the outcome of those conversations through which we might have a clearer understanding of the purpose and meaning behind these statements. In the meantime, I commend to you the more important statement concerning the need for peace making in Sudan. It is an important statement that I hope you will study and take to heart.
On Wednesday evening (July 23rd), we held the first of two receptions for bishops and spouses in which we offered an opportunity to meet and be in conversation with Bishop Robinson. There were over 100 who chose this opportunity from among the many offered that night and the evening proved to be a wonderful occasion for many bishops and spouses to meet Gene and to hear directly from him rather than about him. We hope that those who attended will encourage others to come next Wednesday night for the second reception and conversation.
Conversations about
the Windsor
Report and ongoing Windsor
Process have begun and there is initial stirring about the Saint
Andrew’s Draft Covenant for the Anglican Communion. Both
these items are of major significance as we move forward in this
conference. Many bishops I’ve talked to are quite concerned about section three
of the Saint Andrew’s draft in which some of the most challenging
ideas regarding the structures that might be in place through such a
covenant are put forward. This will become more and more a matter of
interest and concern as the conference progresses.
Ann and I continue to delight in meeting bishops and spouses from around
the world and learning more about their unique ministry contexts, even
as we share the story of ours. There is vast and wonderful tapestry of
people and ministries around the world to which we are connected as part
of the Anglican Communion. The strength of our numbers and common commitment
to Christ’s reconciling mission in the world gives us the capacity
to make the kind of statement we made today to the leaders of the world
with regard to keeping the promises made to help end extreme poverty
across the globe. There is something very important in that prophetic
voice that makes fighting for the future of the Anglican Communion worth
the effort.
Please continue to keep the work of this Lambeth Conference and all its participants in your hearts and in your prayers.
Faithfully,
+Thomas
Monday, July 21, 2008 [Note: This version, posted July 22 at 5:25 pm EST is more complete than the one originally posted earlier in the day.]
Dear people of Vermont,
I finally realized today that the Lambeth Conference is a marathon and not a sprint. So far, in my desire to “take it all in” I have been participating at a pace that I cannot sustain and remain focused on the things that are most important. Don’t get me wrong! I am finding the conference stimulating and rewarding. It is just that there are so many options beyond the core program that it requires a focused effort to determine my daily calendar and leave space enough to pause and reflect. Thank goodness that the daily schedule is punctuated with times of prayer, so that all we do is grounded in the Eucharist and prayer.
The Lambeth Conference officially opened yesterday [Sunday] with a full and rich liturgy at Canterbury Cathedral. Prior to the official opening, the bishops spent three days on retreat, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This was a wonderful and rich gift, with the added bonus that we had exclusive use of Canterbury Cathedral during our retreat. This meant that we could walk wherever we wanted to and pray in whatever space we wanted to and gloriously soak in the awe and wonder of this place that has welcomed Christian pilgrims for over 1,400 years. During the retreat, Archbishop Rowan offered some thought-provoking meditation that helped me focus the ministry of being a bishop and all its many joys and challenges.
The liturgy on Sunday morning was full of spirit and pageantry. I think there were well over 2,000 of us gathered in that sacred space. Among other things, the sermon preached by the Right Reverend Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo (Sri Lanka) called us to embrace a truly Anglican understanding of unity in diversity and to offer our prophetic voice in service of those who have no voice. He quoted Archbishop William Temple who said, “The Church is the only institution that exists not to serve itself.” Ironically, I was seated in the south transept of the Cathedral in front of the altar that celebrates the ministry of William Temple! One of the hymns we sang during communion began with the words, “Let us build a house where love can dwell.” The refrain of this hymn is, “All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.” As I spoke with other bishops after the liturgy, the reaction to this hymn was varied. Some said they could not sing it because it was not true of the Anglican Communion. Others – myself included – sang it with tears in our eyes, because it is the church to which we believe God is calling us, but the church that we have not yet become.
Following the liturgy at Canterbury Cathedral, Ann and I walked to the site of the Inclusive Church/Integrity Eucharist to join Bishop Gene Robinson and others in a celebration of the Holy Eucharist, giving thanks to God for the ministries of gay and lesbian Christians in our church. About 30 other bishops navigated the streets of Canterbury to arrive just in time to share in this celebration (the liturgy at Canterbury went a bit longer than anticipated). There, among other wonderful hymns, we sang one of my most cherished hymns – “There’s wideness in God’s mercy.”
We arrived back at Kent University to join the opening ceremonies of the Lambeth Conference, including the Presidential Address from the Archbishop of Canterbury [link downloads a pdf file]. I took many things from this address but most of all the call and invitation to use this time together to build up a community of trust and love in Jesus Christ. That is what I hope to do as I continue to encounter bishops from around the world and listen to the stories of their ministries and the challenging contexts in which so many of our brothers and sisters in the Anglican Communion exercise their ministries. I am eager to hear the stories of others and to tell the stories of the rich and marvelous things that God is doing in Vermont through the ministry of our congregations.
I am serving as a Bible Study Group facilitator, and I have a good group of bishops who are being very faithful to the process of open and honest conversation. Bishops in my group are from Northern Malawi, Central Zambia, England, Scotland, the United States, Costa Rica and the Northern Territory of Australia. We also began to meet with our larger (40 person) Indaba Groups today. This is where the main work of the conference will take place. On Monday we focused on “The Bishop and Anglican Identity,” sharing with one another our understanding of our ministry as bishop in the Anglican Communion. We also began working with material from the publication “The Anglican Way: Signposts on a Common Journey,” produced by the Working Party on Theological Education established by the Primates of the Anglican Communion.
Ann is attending
the Spouses Conference, which includes its own Bible Study and program.
She reports that it is a rich and positive gathering and that she is
meeting a diverse group of spouses from around the world. We are both
growing ever more mindful of the various challenges that others in
the Anglican Communion are facing. Many in the Anglican Communion minister
in areas of great poverty and need, and their witness amidst that reality
is quite remarkable.
Perhaps the image that best captures the rich diversity of the conference
and indeed the Anglican Communion is the praying of the Lord’s
Prayer in all our worship services. Each of us is invited to pray in
our native language and the experience is quite remarkable. The music
and singing is likewise diverse.
Along with some other bishops from New England, I am preparing for the two opportunities we are offering to bishops and spouses to meet Bishop Gene Robinson. Invitations have been distributed and we hope for a good response. The first of these takes place on Wednesday night. There are many other “fringe events” on the schedule, so it is difficult to know who will appear. I have had a few opportunities to visit with Gene and his absence from the conference continues to be a sad reality. We felt this once again on Monday when Gene was not permitted to attend a Provincial meeting of our Episcopal Church bishops. I tried to work out a way for that to happen and our Presiding Bishop was supportive; however, the conference organizers working with the Archbishop of Canterbury (the conference host) did not support our request. They determined that since this was a conference event meeting in a conference venue and Bishop Robinson was not invited to the conference that he could not be given the security pass needed to enter the venue where we were meeting. While this outcome was frustrating and disappointing, we chose to honor it rather than pursue other options that might have been more divisive and damaging to the overall purpose of the conference. This was a topic of discussion at our Provincial meeting on Monday. There is another Provincial meeting of bishops scheduled for Friday and if Gene were going to be in Canterbury that day (he is scheduled to be in London) I think the Episcopal Church bishops would have pursued a way for including him.
There is a long way to go in this marathon of the Lambeth Conference and we greatly appreciate your prayers for us and all those gathered in Canterbury. I will do my best to write again soon.
Faithfully,
+Thomas
New York Times Article, July 21, 2008: Anglican Bishops Meet in Canterbury (includes a photo of Bishop Ely with Bishop Robinson)
Bishop Ely's column in the July–August Mountain Echo: "I invite your prayers for all attending the Lambeth Conference"
Bishop Ely's interview on WCAX-TV, July 11, 2008
Addendum to Windsor Continuation Group document
The following was added as page 3 of Part III of the printed
document given to bishops and is now included at the very bottom of
the document on the Lambeth Web site link and the pdf file:
Ministering “pastorally and sensitively to all”.
The WCG note that the Resolution 1.10 of Lambeth 1998 included a call for “all our people to minister pastorally and sensitively to all irrespective of sexual orientation and to condemn irrational fear of homosexuals, violence within marriage and any trivialisation and commercialisation of sex”.
We further note that in Dromantine in January 2005, the primates stated that “the victimisation or diminshment of human beings whose affections happen to be ordered towards people of the same sex is anathema to us. We assure homosexual people that they are children of God, loved and valued by him, and deserving of the best we can give of pastoral care and friendship”.
We believe that the time is ripe for the bishops of the Lambeth Conference to reaffirm the commitments expressed in these statements, and to invite them to be committed to challenging such attitudes where they may exist in the societies, churches and governments of the nations in which they proclaim the Gospel as good news for all without exception.
Back to Bishop Ely's remarks on the Windsor Continuation Group presentation.
