"I remain committed to the future of the Anglican Communion…"
by the Right Reverend Thomas Clark Ely, Bishop of Vermont
Mountain Echo, September 2008

[Bishop Ely's notes from the Lambeth Conference and links to other Lambeth Conference news, photos and documents]

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

Go to index of Bishop Ely's Mountain Echo columns and letters to the diocese

Go to Bishop Ely's Notes from the 2008 Lambeth Conference