In the last days, I’ve seen evidence of the kingdom of heaven among bishops who agree and disagree about the hot-button issues, bishops who speak different languages, and among bishops who come from vastly different contexts. One bishop in Madagascar has told of a diocese that is devastated every year by cyclones, sometimes several times ”“ yet he continues his work to rebuild. He holds a vision of a cathedral and churches that will be shelters from the storm, both literally and figuratively, and used for schools during the week. He says, “I will build more churches and fill them with the poor.”

Another bishop in Sudan tells us about his people who are returning refugees, who have nothing, no ability to grow crops or feed themselves, and are struggling to reestablish their lives. He also tells us of the presence of Al Qaeda, and large guns being carried south by nomads, and he tells us of his fears that warfare will soon break out in even larger ways. Yet that bishop, and his brother bishops, continue to speak good news to their people, to tell their stories to others, and to seek our prayers and support, particularly from the more powerful nations of the world who may yet convince Sudan to care for all its people.

The kingdom of heaven is like 650 bishops marching through the streets of this city a couple of days ago, insisting that together we can end global poverty, if we have the will to do it. Your prime minister shares that hope, and has pledged his assistance in very concrete ways, as he told us in a powerful speech on Thursday. That hope is like a mustard seed that can grow into a tree of life large and generous enough to shelter all the people of this world, but it’s going to take lots of us to water and fertilize it.

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Update: Ruth’s sense of the conference at this point seems largely to dovetail with that of Jim Naughton here.

This is a very valuable interview and worth the time. He says he is cautiously “hopeful” going into this week, but concerned about the domination of the conference by the “very vocal” Episcopal Church participants.

It now looks as if the Lambeth Conference is beginning to go in the direction hoped for by both the Archbishop of Canterbury and Rome ”“ preventing schism through the centralisation of authority.

The three major proposals are these:

1. A new Anglican ”˜Faith and Order Commission’ which will looks a lot like an embryonic Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The body would “give guidance” on doctrinal questions to the Anglican Communion.

2. A “blueprint” for a Code of Canon Law ”“ a set of rules which are “descriptive” rather than “prescriptive”. It is likely that these rules would prevent, say, conservative African bishops exercising oversight over conservative American dioceses which do not recognise their own bishop’s authority.

3. An ”˜Anglican Covenant’ ”“ a document setting out core Anglican beliefs and a biding agreement to abide by them. This would almost certainly exclude the possibility of a practising gay man becoming a bishop.

These ideas come out of the Windsor Continuation Group, which is responsible for implementing the 2004 Windsor Report commissioned by the Archbishop of Canterbury to chart a way through the crisis engendered by the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003. One of the main players in this group is the Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, who is close to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the man to watch in the current crisis.

With only a week to go before the Lambeth Conference ends, the stakes could not be higher. These plans are, essentially, Dr Williams’s proposals for resolving the crisis; and there aren’t any others that stand a chance. The big question is: will the North Americans accept them? And will they be enough to bring back the Gafcon bishops boycotting Lambeth?

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