Like many people, I have had to pray and work my way through to be able to be a pastor accessible to gay and lesbian Christians. I have counseled in relationships, buried church members and their friends, been present during long illnesses with families and friends. And I have learned Christ in them, and cannot deny Christ’s full blessing upon them. Please don’t make us choose which “us” we must be in communion with.

Finally, as far as the reference in Part One Observations regarding creedal errors, under the section on “Turmoil in the Episcopal Church”, I want to state as a bishop in the Episcopal Church in the USA that I firmly believe in the Virgin Birth, the physical resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, that He is my Savior and that I am saved only by the Grace of God as shown through the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ who forgives my sins, and that I believe Jesus to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. Thank you for your attention and this opportunity.

Read it all. Once again, it needs to be stated in the strongest possible terms that ministering among gay and lesbian people, and enabling the church to be accessible to such people, which is a good thing, is NOT the issue. Rowan Williams hit the nail on the head when he said:

Unless you think that social and legal considerations should be allowed to resolve religious disputes ”“ which is a highly risky assumption if you also believe in real freedom of opinion in a diverse society ”“ there has to be a recognition that religious bodies have to deal with the question in their own terms. Arguments have to be drawn up on the common basis of Bible and historic teaching. And, to make clear something that can get very much obscured in the rhetoric about ”˜inclusion’, this is not and should never be a question about the contribution of gay and lesbian people as such to the Church of God and its ministry, about the dignity and value of gay and lesbian people. Instead it is a question, agonisingly difficult for many, as to what kinds of behaviour a Church that seeks to be loyal to the Bible can bless, and what kinds of behaviour it must warn against ”“ and so it is a question about how we make decisions corporately with other Christians, looking together for the mind of Christ as we share the study of the Scriptures.

The question to Bishop Scarfe is by making the church accessible do you mean publically affirming in leadership behavior which Christians have always considered out of bounds? Which the Anglican Communion has said is not something which the Bible permits? Which the Church East and West has not understood the Scriptures to allow but calls them to forbid? Which even the Episcopal Church has never officially endorsed? In other words for too many Episcopal Church leaders inclusion, alas, has become a code word for inclusion of public immorality in Christian leadership which the Episcopal Church unilaterally and incoherently is making part of the common witness of Anglicans throughout the world, overturning the doctrine of marriage in the process. If that is what is meant then the theological argument has not been made for it, and the global church has not been convinced but has consistently rejected it–KSH.

The topic for Friday, Day 4 was “Serving Together: The Bishop and Other Churches. The Eucharist was led by the Church of North India and the Church of Bangladesh.

The Bible Study covered John 8:31-59, which includes disputes between Jesus and the Jewish authorities of the day – in the midst of which occurs the startling statement by Jesus that “before Abraham was, I am.” Interestingly, John tells us that this conversation is with some who “had believed in him”. We were challenged to re-hear the story as followers who have believed, and to consider the ways in which Jesus’ hard words might be spoken to us.

The Indaba groups discussed the main topic, which was essentially around the bishop’s role in ecumenical relationships. We had some good solid discussions about the foundations of Christian “koinonia” in our group, focusing on the Apostolic Witness as recorded in Scripture – particularly Ephesians 4:1-6. There was some interesting variation from different perspectives, but a very large amount of agreement in most of it.

Later in the afternoon, I attended a “self-select” group in which Abp Rowan, Kallistos Ware and some other ecumenical representatives (including RC) discussed the Windsor report and its ecclesiology (its theological understanding of the nature of the Church). A very helpful bit that came out was the observation that koinonia (fellowship or communion) is a mystery, and a gift of God which is a reality already given and undergirding our efforts to mend the broken relationships that exist between Christian Church bodies.

Read it all.

Second, there is a sense that the Conference has done all its preliminary work, has got to know one another, and is now ready for the final seven days, beginning on Monday (tomorrow, Sunday, is more or less a rest day and that’s how I intend to spend it). The tricky thing now is that there are several different processes going on simultaneously which are designed to come together into some kind of ”˜reflection’, or even ”˜statement’, but nobody (except perhaps the planning group?) has a clear idea of how precisely this will happen. There are several sessions labelled ”˜conference reflection’ as the week develops, and these will presumably be used as plenaries to discuss the major issues that are coming up. +Rowan said, when he invited us all fourteen months ago, that the point of the Conference was to take forward the work of the Windsor Report on the one hand and the Covenant proposals, which nest within Windsor, on the other. We are having ”˜hearings’ and other sessions on aspects of these, which should then eventually dovetail with the ”˜Indaba’ group processes (they report to a central secretariat which will try to pull their insights together). I spoke at a ”˜self-select group’ yesterday on the Windsor/Covenant theme and was subjected to a barrage of anxious and fearful American comments, including two who were objecting that the Covenant seemed to be ”˜anxious and fearful’. That’s the sort of double-edged conversation you tend to have from time to time . . . There is another ”˜hearing’ on Monday to take forward the Windsor process, and we are waiting for that quite eagerly to see what the group who have been working on it will come up with. It’s all supposed to come together towards the end of the week, and this is where, please, you will focus your prayers, that we may be given wisdom faithfully to discern God’s will and the leading of the Spirit, and how our commitment to live together under scripture (which we embody daily in the Bible Studies) will translate into actual policies and healing and life for our beloved Communion.

Read it carefully and read it all.

First topic on their agenda: THE HOLY BIBLE, ITS AUTHORITY AND MESSAGE. So far has the pendulum swung from literalist respect for the authority of the Bible, the bishops feel, that even some professing Christians are tending to look upon it as a collection of fairy stories. To combat this tendency, the bishops hope to educate the public to interpret Biblical statements and events in terms of the thought forms of the people who wrote the Scripture down. Said one bishop: “The Bible mustn’t be thought of as the Koran is thought of. It hasn’t got the personal authority of the word of Mohammed behind it, but its every word is illuminated by the Holy Spirit. This idea we must get across once again, and if we can, people may understand that the Bible can help them deal with many of today’s problems by guiding them in the way the problems should be approached.”

Ok, before you click please guess (a) what year it was and (b) how many bishops were there. Then read it all.

The feel of the conference at the moment is that it is turning around. I am sure it is something to do with the weather being so lovely, but bishops have started being nice to each other. The indaba process is beginning to work properly. Some extraordinary theological reflections are coming out of them which will be published in full later this year. That will be the important document that comes out of the conference.

Read it all and do please watch the video.

The proposal to ban future consecrations is the most significant move yet over the issue.

The paper, which was commissioned by Dr Rowan Williams, will be debated by 650 bishops tomorrow at the Lambeth conference in Canterbury, the once-a-decade gathering of the Anglican Communion.

It is set to start the first real clash of the conference, with liberal bishops expected to fight any attempt to restrict their autonomy.

However, Dr Williams is determined to impose tighter governance of the Anglican Communion to try and hold it together.

The paper, “How do we get from here to there?”, stresses that it is vital that an Anglican Covenant be agreed so that churches around the world are mutually accountable and united by a common set of beliefs. This must happen as soon as possible, it says, to prevent further haemorrhaging of the Anglican Communion over the issue of homosexual clergy.

Until a consensus is reached, the American and Canadian churches must refrain from consecrating more homosexual bishops and carrying out blessing services for same-sex couples, the paper says.

Read it all.

As the Anglicans go into the final stretch of the Lambeth Conference, let’s all band together and pray for the faithful who travelled so very far to meet and discuss God work on this small planet. Especially as I’ve heard they’ll be drawing out the biggies this week; the hard-hitting questions of the Episcopal civil war, and internal policing and such. It all sounds very serious, so let’s pray for God to give them wisdom and compassion and understanding as they enter into the last week.

Our thanks to Laura for this much needed support.

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today’s theme was “The Bishop and the Environment” which turned into a second Bible Study (having already had one on Jesus healing the blind man in John 9). For this second study we read the first Creation story in Genesis, and then considered three questions: “What does this story say to us about the challenge to ‘sustain the earth’?” “How, in your context, do you experience the fallenness of creation?” “How in the Anglican Communion globally can we participate more effectively in efforts to ‘sustain and renew the earth’?”

Good questions, all of them! But rather strange, I thought, as the Creation story per se doesn’t seem to me to speak directly to any of them! (Perhaps you can get to those questions in some circuitous route, e.g., God considered the creation good; what was good about it? is it still ‘good’? in what ways? how has it been damaged? what responsibility do we have to deal with the damage? etc. But, my own conviction is that a Bible Study ought to be about the passage in question, and not a tangent to a tangent to a tangent from it.)

This afternoon we posed for the official “Lambeth Photograph,” all 650 of us (in rochets and chimeres, on a very warm afternoon!) on risers specially erected for the occasion. It took about an hour to get all the Bishops into place, and then they took the photos using two cameras side-by-side snapping simultaneously. Later they will digitally merge the two into one very wide-angle photograph to commemorate the Conference.

Interestingly enough, in addition to the photo with all the male Bishops, the women Bishops also had a separate set taken of them by themselves. (I have to wonder how they might have reacted to the suggestion that there be a male-Bishops-only photo taken.)

This afternoon was open, and I was invited to a small party given by Alan and Ruth Gledhill, both reporters for the London Times. Our own George Conger has become friends with Ruth over the past few years, and he is actually staying in the little house the Times has rented for them for the duration of the Conference. Ruth is the religion reporter for the Times, and in my opinion one of the best such journalists in the world. So it was a treat to be included in a house party for about 30 folks: Bishops, journalists, and staffers.

Not a lot of news, today, I’m afraid. Tomorrow will be a day of worship. And then this last week should prove to be a “make it or break it” time for this 14th Lambeth Conference. Do keep praying that the Holy Spirit will have his way among us.

Warmest regards in our Lord,

–(The Right Rev.) John W. Howe is Bishop of Central Florida

Here are the first four principles from the booklet entitled: “The Principles of Canon Law Common to the Churches of the Anglican Communion”

While the document is based on this earlier draft, a quick comparison with just these four principles will show that significant changes have been made to the final published text.

Read it all.

The Indaba process is, I think, evolving. It seems to have begun like a Western ecumenical Lent group – buzz in pairs, talk in quartets, report back with coloured pens and stick it all on the wall and have bright ideas about what is strikingly common and what is strikingly missing. The problem has been Western haste – five topics that would each keep a UN department fully deployed for years despatched in half a morning – instead of (as I understand it) a long period of listening and consultation on a single pressing matter – a meeting lasting days. But ‘they’ are listening to us and it should evolve….

In short, the Anglican Communion, via its Indaba groups and its plenaries at Lambeth, needs to head for a new settlement. One possibility is a split into evangelical and liberal Communions (in which there might be room still for traditionalists of all stripes in the former – if Sidney behaves on lay presidency and evangelicals don’t get as upset about Mary as one or two of them seemed to be when Cardinal Diaz gave us his memorable phrase Fiat, Magnificat and Stabat as models of Christian discipleship). The other is to say that the cork is out of the bottle on women’s ordination but we (which wouldn’t include me) could nonetheless ‘all’ regroup round a Covenant-monitored common hermeneutic (which certainly could not include serial monogamy or homosexual marriage) and maintain the Communion, which would be a godly thing and faithful to the Lord’s high priestly prayer.

Read it all.

As hard as this may be to hear, the Episcopal Church of the Sudan may be showing the Communion a way forward. Recently the Archbishop of the Sudan made some very strong statements about Bishop Gene Robinson and the Episcopal Church. Since the Sudanese along with Liberian bishops and some others had been invited by our Presiding Bishop for a reception tomorrow afternoon, when we first learned of Archbishop Bul’s statement to the press, we thought it signalled a rejection of us and a further splitting in the Anglican Communion. This does not appear to be the case.

We in the Episcopal Church have always said that we do not demand agreement with our positions in order to be in relationship. Now is the time to live into that commitment. The Archbishop of the Sudan was signalling to the rest of Africa, and I imagine particularly to the bishops of GAFCON who have stayed away from this conference, that he and the Sudanese are not being “bought” by the Americans. They do not agree with our actions, just as our other partners in Africa do not necessarily agree with us. And still they are choosing to be in relationship with us.

Hold in mind the words of Bishop Mdimi Mhogolo to me when we first entered into a partnership for Carpenter’s Kids. “We do not agree with your decision [concerning Gene Robinson] but we think the division is the devil’s work to keep the church from ministering to a suffering world.” Of course, Bishop Mdimi said those words to me in private and the Archbishop of the Sudan went very public very unexpectedly. Nevertheless, I believe we should keep this particular door wide open. The Sudan is one of the places where extreme poverty and extreme violence combine to produce some of the greatest suffering on this earth. As long as the bishops choose to be in relationship with us, we can move ahead to minister together to this suffering world.

Read it all.

There are a whole bunch here, click on the one’s which interest you.

This is a 60 page download and is a key background document to be aware of as Lambeth 2008 continues to unfold.

The message Friday during an afternoon self-select group session was a gentle one delivered by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor, Archbishop of Westminster. He said the search for unity was worth the effort, but that “new tensions only slow the progress.”

But Bishop Alvarez said that what had been “a very good process even under Pope John Paul II” has changed under the new pope.

“They are the ones who are the obstacles,” Bishop Alvarez said, contending that Pope Benedict was placing too much emphasis on issues such as the ordination of women and homosexuals, which were not issues decided during the Church’s first seven ecumenical councils. “My concern is that they open themselves to dialogue instead of just saying this is wrong.”

Read it all.

Back to Ordinary days, this being the Ordinary Day 5. Same schedule, 7:15 Eucharist, today by The Church of North India and the Church of Bangladesh, then breakfast. Bible Study today covered John 8: 31-59. While we discussed that my Bible Study is becoming closer and closer and wanted to process the day before, the ironies, the incredible sight and feel of marching with our brothers and sisters for a cause that deserves and needs our moral and spiritual voice, hunger and poverty. That day will not soon be lost on any of us. Thanks to Mary Allen, one picture was found with me, kind of in it. I put it in just above. Also, you can see the BBC news video at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7523539.stm

Today, we turned our focus to one of the issues that I have the most passion about and the one that I think is the most serious for us to have a voice; Climate Change and Global Warming. In my self select session I again attended the Climate Change workshop entitled today “The consequences of of climate change From South to North” The Chair was John Prichard, Bishop of Oxford, UK, and Tom Wilmot, Bishop of Perth, Australia and Bishop Mark McDonald, National Indigenous Bishop, Toronto, Canada and former bishop of Alaska. This was a fascinating discussion. I am very heartened by how many bishops see this as a major focus and how many want to know more.

Read it all.

The topic for today was Serving Together — the Bishop and other churches.

In our Indaba group, we watched the video by Dame Mary Tanner, of the World Council of Churches. One of the members reminded us that Desmond Tutu had said apartheid was too strong for one church. We talked about other things that are too strong for one church, such as poverty, racism, cultural-values and environment. For example, the MDGs and environment are larger than the Anglican Communion — these and others are issues for other religions and groups as well. We talked that in order to end poverty, we must deal with environment.

Read it all.

The paper proposing the Faith and Order Commission arose out of the July 23 hearing. In addition to proposing a new instrument of unity, the provisional paper released today also questioned the usefulness of the Anglican Consultative Council as it is currently configured.

“There are questions about whether a body meeting every three years, with a rapidly changing membership, not necessarily located within the central structures of their own provinces, can fulfill adequately the tasks presently given to it,” the paper stated. “Not all believe that a representative body is the best way to express the contribution of the whole people of God at a worldwide level. There are many ways in which the voice of the whole body can be heard: diocesan and provincial synods, networks, dialogues and commissions.”

The concluding work of the Windsor Continuation Group will involve trying to come to some consensus about where the bishops as the Lambeth Conference think the Anglican Communion should be headed. Archbishop Handford cautioned against expecting an immediate solution by the end of this conference.

“This isn’t a quick fix,” he said. “Dialogue is [the] key.”

Read it all.

In a press conference, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams would not go into detail about the proposal, saying only that “there is a very strong feeling that we need another level of structure to have a clearing house for some of these issues.” He added: “I don’t want to say anything about the detail because it’s a flag raised to see who salutes it.” He said the proposal was being discussed by bishops in their indaba groups today. “We’ll see how it flies.”

Already some questions are being raised as to whether such a commission would be equivalent to the powerful Pontifical Biblical Commission of the Roman Catholic Church, composed of cardinals who meet in Rome and whose duties include protecting and defending “the integrity of the Catholic faith” and deciding on “controversies on grave questions which may arise among Catholic scholars to ensure their proper interpretation.”

Asked how the Lambeth Conference might be able to offer such prescription since it has no authority to impose rules or prescriptions, Archbishop Williams said, “I’m looking for consent, not coercion. But unless we do have something to consent to, something which we trust to resolve our differences, we shall be (moving) further apart. It’s not as if we can just co-exist without any impact on one another.”

Read it all.

Q: The bishops would be asked to affirm the code of practice? Is it your mind that the provinces would make a promise to follow these principles?

A: This is, again, a descriptive exercise

Q: Then there are no teeth? It is a pretty picture
A: It is not at all, it is incredibly significant

Q: It is a VERY pretty picture?

A: It is exploring what we can deduce about our life together as we look at the way the material presents law around the word. This is not the covenant

Q: How does this feed into the covenant then?

A: It will be illustrative of some of the material that will be encapsulated in other ways in the covenant but the covenant process and this one are two distinct processes

Q I am trying to glean what this is. Could you say this is a tool to use by the AC in order to make the covenant work? I cannot believe that you do not hope it will have some effect on the communion?

A: Yes I speak about this having “persuasive authority” which is a legal concept. And very often you would do that when something is not written in a particular code or constitution. You must understand that the laws, the COE laws, are thick. The US TEC law is of a significant size. There are provinces where very little is written and you have bear bones. Part of this is to help provinces like that. If you are trying to figure out what the law could be in your province this could help you to find your way through.

Read it carefully and read it all.

Along with keeping his distance from Robinson, Archbishop Williams has ensured that the conference will hold no formal votes that could highlight divisions.

“Are we heading for schism? Well, let’s see,” Williams said at a news conference. “If it is the end, I do not think anyone has told most of the people here.”

Robinson said some people in the church are fearful of change and fearful that supporting gay people is contrary to Scripture.

Over the years, he said, “Scripture has been used to denigrate women, justify slavery and not welcome divorced people.” Thinking does change, he said, and “it’s not a matter of if, but when people will accept homosexuality” in the highest ranks of the church.

Read it all.

Earlier this week, Massachusetts Bishop M. Thomas Shaw sent back an e-missive from Lambeth to his flock. Emulating St. Paul (“speaking the truth in love”), Shaw alluded to “some frustration emerging in the conference around how [the indaba groups] are very process oriented and aren’t allowing for the conversations that people are really interested in to take place.” He further noted that “There’s been some controversy over a statement issued by bishops of Sudan and signed by Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul, calling for Gene Robinson’s resignation.”

“It’s going to take us awhile to find our way,” writes Shaw, who spent part of the following day at Buckingham Palace, bantering with Prince Philip. “It seems to me that that’s what we’re doing, finding our way, and for the most part, I think people are being faithful to that.”

My father wasn’t particularly religious and he wasn’t particularly Episcopalian. (Note to my sons: Don’t even think about discussing my religious beliefs in public.) He had a genial demeanor, and I remember him discussing Kit and Frederica Konolige’s classic book, “The Power of Their Glory; America’s Ruling Class: The Episcopalians” with me. The authors, who may have coined the term “Episcocrats,” take a sardonic view of the “Tory Party at prayer,” as Episcopalians are sometimes called.

But my father somehow concluded that, the criticisms notwithstanding, Episcopalians emerged from the book more or less unscathed. “[The authors] seem to think that we are good people, at heart,” he said. Now I wonder if they were right.

He leads an international fellowship of 77 million Anglicans but doesn’t like to travel first class.

His official residence is a grand palace in London, but he and his family live in small rooms furnished like any other middle-class British home.

He is the successor of Saints Augustine and Thomas Becket but counts himself a fan of “The Simpsons.”

With his bushy beard and black berets, Rowan Williams might more closely resemble the headmaster at Harry Potter’s Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry than previous archbishops of Canterbury. But the Welshman is considered one of the most important — and powerful — thinkers in Christianity today.

“Without a doubt, he is one of the most theologically astute archbishops of Canterbury that there has ever been,” said the Rev. John L. Peterson, who, as former secretary general of the Anglican Communion, worked closely with Williams.

Read it all.

[The indaba process’s] main thrust is to enable every member of the group to take responsibility for the process and agreed outcome. The group I am in has witnessed some very powerful and moving exchanges.

For an American liberal to hear how his action has led to the deaths of fellow Anglicans in another part of the world is not easy. There is work to do here and no guarantees that the hearing will turn to understanding; but that will not be the fault of the process.

Whatever the final outcome next week, what cannot be denied is that this has offered a new experience and a new way of doing our business.

Rather than displace serious attention to hard issues, these groups have provided a context of respectful relationship in which hard things can be said and heard.

Many western liberals now understand better how their actions affect people in New Guinea and Tanzania. And many Africans now understand better that the assumptions they bring to the debates also need to be checked.

Read it all.

Canterbury: A “bombshell” report is expected to be delivered to bishops attending the 14th Lambeth Conference on July 28 that is expected to call for the Episcopal Church to abandon its push for gay bishops and blessings.
Lambeth: Is Inquisition on the cards?

The request is expected to come in the third presentation of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) to the bishops at Lambeth and follows a call for the creation of an Anglican Holy Office to police the boundaries of the faith.

Backed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Anglican “Faith and Order Commission” will be a fifth instrument of unity for the Anglican Communion.

Plans for were disclosed on July 23 during the second of three briefings on the work of the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) chaired by the former Presiding Bishop of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Bishop Clive Handford.

In its briefing paper to the bishops, the WCG commended the creation of an “Anglican Communion Faith and Order Commission that could give guidance on the ecclesiological issues raised by our current ”˜crisis’.”

Read it all.

In the briefing, Williams was asked how an Anglican covenant would be imposed upon the community when no one entity in the communion has the authority to enforce such a document. “I’m looking for consent, not coercion,” Williams responded, referring the journalist to his July 20 presidential address.

“Unless we do have something about which we consent, [something] we trust to resolve [the issues] we shall be flying farther apart,” he said. “It’s not as if we can just co-exist without any impact on one another as local churches. There have to be protocols and conventions by which we recognize one another as churches and by which we understand and manage the exchange between ourselves.”

Williams acknowledged that “no one had the authority to impose things, we have to do it by consent, but ultimately some may consent and some won’t, and that in itself is an issue.”

The continuation group’s paper also goes into detail about what it calls the “lack of clarity” about the role of each of the communion’s Instruments of Communion and their relation to each other. The paper suggests the need ask whether the instruments “are fit to respond effectively to the demands of global leadership” and suggests that there must be a “communion-wide reflection which leaders towards a common understanding.”

For instance, it notes “questions concerning the authority of a Lambeth Conference and the nature and authority of its Resolutions” and likens Lambeth resolutions to those issued by “the councils of bishops in primitive Christianity” in that “they are of sufficient weight that the consciences of many bishops require them to follow or at least try to follow” them.

Read it all.

The Communion’s big agenda must flow from the love of God and not omit the god-ward axis in Micah’s challenge to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with God.

At the same time we should not underestimate the significance of developing our institutional life.

At a time when the hegemony of the Western World is giving way to a multi-polar world in which the cultures of Asia and Africa will rightly have an increasing voice it is time to develop our arrangements for conversation, cooperation and mutual accountability.

We should draw on the history and the thought of the whole Christian church in attempting to discern the fundamental principles which have shaped the Anglican engagement with God and neighbour thus far.

In this task we cannot do without the bishops who are not at this conference. Their absence is a real loss.

Read it all

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Thursday was, as expected, a very long day (and a significant “break” in our routine). I think it was quite a good day, the highlight (for me, at least) being the “rally” on the front lawn of Lambeth Palace. Archbishop Williams was at his most eloquent, but the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, was even more so, in his passionate call for the governments of the world – but even more so for the Christians of the world to pressure their governments – to recommit to the Millennium Development Goals, and make them a reality.

If you have seen pictures of that event you may have noticed an oddity: hanging on the twin pillars outside the entrance to the Palace were banners enunciating two of the three phrases from the day’s text, Micah 6:8. One read “Do Justice,” the other “Love Mercy.” Missing altogether was third piece of the command: “Walk Humbly With Your God.”

Fortunately, however, that third (and arguably most important) piece was not at all neglected by any of the day’s speakers.

Frankly, I cannot recall hearing an elected official, serving in anywhere the capacity of a Prime Minister of England; speak so openly about his/her personal faith in Christ and its implications for service.

The rest of the day was lovely, and it unfolded as was planned and expected.

Today the “revolt” I have been predicting began to surface. It is a very mild one, indeed, but a growing frustration is being expressed in many of the “Indaba” groups about what one senior Bishop called the “jejune” conversations taking place, to the neglect of the truly deep concerns that most people want to talk about. It is also a concern about “process” – breaking into small groups to discuss every specific may provide for “every voice being heard,” but the fact is, not every one wishes to speak to every specific issue.

Our group, and several others, did away with the small group structure altogether today, and we had a discussion of the whole: in 90 minutes 16 out of 36 people spoke, and the others were glad to listen. The subject today was “The Bishop and Other Churches” (read: ecumenical cooperation).

There is a growing “push” to get to the issues that remain of greatest concern at this moment in our history: Human Sexuality and the Anglican Covenant. We have only seven working days left, ten hours of “Indaba” discussion: We shall see what the next week brings.

The Bible Study today was on John 8:31-59, and the two statements of Jesus that our commentary/study guide termed the “high point” and the “low point” of John’s Gospel. “High point”: Jesus’ unqualified assertion, “Before Abraham was, I am.” (verse 58) And the “Low point”: his accusation that “the Jews” were “from your father, the devil…” (verse 44)

The commentary acknowledged that this verse has been cited by many throughout Christian history as a basis for anti-Semitism, and it asked us to consider carefully that “the Jews” in question were among those “who had believed in [Jesus].” (8:30, 31) This was not a condemnation of all Jews everywhere; this was a condemnation by a Jew (Jesus) of other Jews, who had – on some level, at least, and in some fashion, at least – believed in him. (Could there be implications for any of us, today? Is it possible that we might “believe” inadequately enough that he would have harsh words for us, as well?)

Our group got into a very interesting discussion at that point, and we reached no consensus. The question was: is it possible for someone who says, “Jesus is ‘my way’ [or, perhaps, ‘our way’],” but who cannot say, “Jesus is ‘the way'” – to be a real Christian?

(We were in full agreement that such a limited confession is “sub-Christian,” but some thought that a person able to make even that much of a confession might be trusting Christ sufficiently for his/her salvation that when the time comes Jesus will not say to that person, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Others were convinced that putting such qualifications on one’s confession effectively puts him/her outside the Family.)

I will be interested to see whether this begins a thread on the list serve!

It reminds me of the Final Exam Jaroslav Pelikan asked at the end of his “History of Christian Theology” course at Yale: “Must Theology be Trinitarian to be Christian?” A one word answer was not sufficient!

(BTW, I got an “A.”)

If our Conference unfolds as currently planned, the topics remaining are:

July 26 – The Bishop and the Environment
July 27 – Sunday Worship
July 28 – The Bishop, Christian Witness and Other Faiths
July 29 – A Plenary Session, no topic announced
July 30 – The Bishop and the Bible in Mission
July 31 – The Bishop and Human Sexuality
Aug 1 – The Bishop, the Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process (1)
Aug 2 – The Bishop, the Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process (2)
Aug 3 – The Bishop as a Leader in God’s Mission

August 4 – my bus leaves for Heathrow at 4 AM.

Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Warmest regards in our Lord to all of you,

–(The Right Rev. ) John W. Howe is Bishop of Central Florida

Watch it all if you are inclined to this sort of thing–the featured guest is Laurie Goodstein of the New York Times.

Conference organisers went round every bishop in their “indaba” discussion groups asking if they would mind being identified to the press so a list of consenting attendees could be compiled. But of course this would not include those who had just failed to make it to their session that morning, not just the publicity-shy ones.

Today we finally received the long-awaited document – 12 typed pages of names and dioceses in no particular order, some underlined, some crossed-out and some with ticks next to them for no discernible reason.

The information-hungry hacks scoured the list for unexpected attendees, such as a cache of hidden Ugandans. But instead the all-knowing George Conger, of the Church of England Newspaper, spotted a notable absentee. The Archbishop of Canterbury, head of the entire 80 million-strong Anglican Communion, is not on the official list of attendees at the Lambeth Conference.

Read it all.

Listen to it all.