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Covenant is obviously a very key central biblical concept. Our intent is however specific and limited for our gathering.

My intention is to try digging into the deep core pulse of the covenant reality in the God-Israel relationship and its working out or otherwise of its vocational existence.

While the paper’s focus is not on the challenges and crisis of the Anglican Communion, it is inevitable some reflections and comments would be made to it, with particular reference to the vocation of the Global South as our evolved existence since 1994 has defined it, and now in its fellowship with the wider orthodox family in the Communion….

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He went on to say that the Anglican Communion had been reflecting on the need for a covenant “in the light of confusion, brokenness and tension within our Anglican family ”“ brokenness and a tension that has been made still more acute by recent decisions in some of our Provinces.?

“In all your minds there will be questions around the election and consecration of Mary Glasspool in Los Angeles. All of us share the concern that in this decision and action the Episcopal Church has deepened the divide between itself and the rest of the Anglican family. And as I speak to you now, I am in discussion with a number of people around the world about what consequences might follow from that decision, and how we express the sense that most Anglicans will want to express, that this decision cannot speak for our common mind.

“But I hope also in your thinking about this and in your reacting to it, you’ll bear in mind that there are no quick solutions for the wounds of the Body of Christ. It is the work of the Spirit that heals the Body of Christ, not the plans or the statements of any group, or any person, or any instrument of communion. Naturally we seek to minimize the damage, to heal the hurts, to strengthen our mission, to make sure that it goes forward with integrity and conviction.? Naturally, there are decisions that have to be taken.? But at the same time we must all…share in a sense of repentance and willingness to be renewed by the Spirit.

Read it carefully and read it all and note if you desire to you can watch the full address on video there.

A historic gathering of worldwide Anglican leaders started yesterday at St. Andrew’s Cathedral. But the fourth ‘Anglican Global South to South Encounter’ (GS4E) was already marked by intense feelings of distress.

The Anglican Global South, grouping 20 provinces in the southern hemisphere, represents three-quarters of the 75 million Anglicans around the world.

“My sisters and brothers from around the world, I am troubled, I am sad; in fact I am confused,” said newly retired Nigerian Archbishop Peter J Akinola.

Speaking at the opening service, Bishop Akinola traced the recent history of the inability of the Anglican Communion to resolve its theological-ethical crisis.

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His Grace Bishop Anba Suriel, the representative of the Coptic Orthodox Church, reminded us that the Covenant of Christ involves the shedding of blood. For some, it means martyrdom or death as we will normally understand that word. It is a price still being paid by some today, as did some Egyptian Coptic Christians last Christmas. However, to be faithful in our witness is also one form of martyrdom. It is costly to remain faithful to the truth and teaching of Scriptures. He said his Church is praying that this Encounter will be a faithful witness in the midst of challenges in the Communion.

We were reminded of the seeds of the Anglican Church growing in various parts of Asia. Pastor Rinzi Lama and Pastor Shyam from the Anglican Church in Nepal shared on the grace of God in helping the Anglican Church in Nepal, though still in her infancy, to grow to 7,000 worshippers today.

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We all know that signing the covenant will not stop TEC from pursuing its own agenda. In fact only recently, it elected and confirmed another openly practicing lesbian priest to the episcopate. The Communion is still unable to exercise discipline. We are God’s Covenant to the world, yes, but we are divided. We lack discipline. We lack the courage to call ”˜a spade a spade’. Our obedience to God is selective.

My sisters and brothers from around the world, I am troubled, I am sad in fact I am confused. If the churches in the Global South sign up, would they then become a new Communion? Wouldn’t that further polarize the church? On the other hand the Churches in the Global South cannot forever continue to merely react to the actions of the Western churches. If TEC for political reasons chooses to sign, and we can’t stop them, but continues to disregard the mind of the Communion on these matters that have caused us so much grief, it will make nonsense of the whole exercise.

Where do we go from here?

Our desire in the Global South is for a genuine healing of the Church. Our desire is for the restoration of sacramental communion among all the churches in the global Anglican family. Much precious time has been spent, or maybe wasted, on this crisis. The real mission of the church, which is to make Christ known to all is suffering and in some cases neglected. We in the Global South cannot continue in this way. Yet, we see no light at the end of the tunnel. Time is God’s precious gift for which we are accountable to God as His stewards. This Encounter must show us the way forward in all of this.

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In concluding, I wish to make two points:

a) The absolute necessity for economic empowerment in the Global South and

b) The treachery of another Gospel which is afraid of and denies the deity of Christ.

The first point: We in the Global South must realise that God has not cheated us in the area of natural and human resources. It is God’s will that we grow economically, to provide for our needs for the work of God and give to those in need. It is not God’s will that we remain perpetually dependent on the handouts from the sacrifice and self-denial offerings of other people. More so, when sometimes these handouts are given with strong strings attached to buy loyalty or compromise on critical issues of faith. We should dig deep wherever we are, and educate our members of the grave danger of living on other people’s resources. We must work together on equal partnership in the fellowship of the gospel with those who are sincere, and who live according to the truth of the Gospel. Grants, donations, gifts and any form of assistance given rather patronizingly should be rejected. We must relate and negotiate from the point of strength rather than a beggarly position.

In Being Faithful13, this idea is captured this way:

“…but there are ways of providing support and showing concern that are ultimately irresponsible, even if well-intended. We think, for instance, of the way that support to the poverty-stricken, both within individual nations and between nations, has sometimes helped create a demeaning culture of dependency and perpetuated problems of vulnerability and indignity rather than solving them”.

The LORD also gave us some talents (Mt. 25:14 ”“ 30). We must not condemn ourselves by sheer lack of enterprise. Secondly, the deity of Christ is increasingly becoming offensive in some quarters in our communion. For others the uniqueness of Christ cannot be taught in our pluralistic society. But pluralism was there, in the first …[century]. The Jewish religion was there, so were the Greek Philosophies and religions, hence it was said that the cross was foolishness to the Greeks, and a stumbling block to the Jews. The creeds, the 39 articles (see 2, 3, 4) and the Holy Scriptures, all uphold the deity and uniqueness of Jesus, the Christ. To deny these fundamentals is to abandon the way; it is apostasy; it is “another gospel”, which is condemned in scripture.

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Check it out and you can find many other resources at [url=http://anglicanprayer.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/roundup-of-south-to-south-resources/]Lent & Beyond[/url].