“We have not in this meeting given evidence of any belief that we have no future together,” said Archbishop Rowan Williams in his presidential address, delivered on the eve of the last day of the ACC meeting. “The question is, of course, what that future will look like.”
Archbishop Williams said that Anglican provinces are “a bit reluctant” to engage the proposed Anglican Communion Covenant in greater detail because it “does underline for us that the possibility of division is there, the possibility at least of certain kinds of division.” He said people have spoken of the future of the communion as a federation, “an association within which some groups are more strongly bound to one another and some groups less strongly bound.” He added, “I suspect that will be more inevitable if not all provinces do sign on to the covenant. And I hasten to add that’s not what I hope. It is what I think we have to reflect on as a real possibility.”
[blockquote]“We have not in this meeting given evidence of any belief that we have no future together,â€[/blockquote]
How many of you folks read this sentence more than once? It is because of strings of tortured sentences like this that he is often misunderstood. This is the language of an academic and he has failed the test of a speaker to “know the audience”.
Feeling deeply sad about this, along with many of you. (This, even though the coming dissolution of the Anglican Communion prompted me to leave The Episcopal Church two years ago.) It’s like watching them tear down your childhood home.
Sad and sadder. The man’s English is tortuous at best. He is clearly admitting failure without being up front. He never confronts his own behavior. He pulls in the Holy Land stuff! He has lost the Communion by his perfidy – to echo Dean Munday. In my view he has sold his inheritance for a mess of pottage. He will have unleashed a level of distrust and may have brought together the Global South in a way that no one else could. TEC is now unfettered in its steamrolling over those who dissent. May God have mercy on his soul!
I’d contradict the man. There is every evidence that we have no future together unless we, like him, kowtow to the Dominatrix of the Church of Gold and their Agenda. He blinks at reality. He played. Does he really think that he can obscure and deny his role? This degree of inappropriate reality checking is cause for significant alarums!
Deacon Dale, I had to read it three times and I still am not sure what it means. And as for the future of the AC being uncertain, that’s like saying the Titanic has a small leak.
#2 The sadness is crushing at times. What is most hurtful is the lack of truthful speech and action, the waiting in hope, then being manipulated again. The death of the Anglican Communion will be one of integrity more than issues. One of the fundamental difference between the orthodox vs reappraiser is this liberal love of political process — the “activists” model. It destroys everything — most of all, truth in love.
Actually it is a double negative; it is just bad English.
The Communion itself is strong and vibrant, growing in many parts of the world, often in places like Nigeria and South East Asia in the face of institutional and religious persecution.
But there is a problem at the top in its institutions. The move away from ‘parliamentary procedure’ something which the Church of England had a hand in building towards corrupt manipulative faux ‘Indaba’ processes and “listening” processesses funded by TEC affiliated pro abortion and pro gay rights organisations is a real problem:
http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/22457/#363014
Williams is now so inured in his devious processes that he can no longer remember what a straight and democratic procedure is. His entire efforts are to stop TEC and ACoC reaping the results of their divisive behaviour, and in doing so he and he alone has destabilised the Communion. The inside and the outside divisions are solely a division about how to respond to his PERFIDY.
[i]“We have not in this meeting given evidence of any belief that we have no future together,†said Archbishop Rowan Williams in his presidential address[/i]
Well that’s clear then. NOT!
What a way to use a double negative to just keep people confused. The absence of something is not a positive. The ACC meeting has not given any evidence that there IS a future together. That dear sir is the problem.
And in fact, I and many would argue that there is in fact much evidence from this meeting that there is no future together. (e.g. comments from bishops and other delegates who sound prepared to just get on with their local ministries and forget about the larger Anglican Communion). But that would take eyes to see and ears to hear.
[blockquote] Archbishop Williams urged Anglicans to think about how the Instruments of Communion – the ACC, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Lambeth Conference, and the primates’ meeting – “can continue as organs of life-giving exchange†even if other alliances emerge.[/blockquote]
Ironic in that he is the one singularly responsible for the demise of the [i]former[/i] “organs of life-giving exchange.”
And what was the murder weapon? The indaba-do. Yet, Rowan is still brandishing it.
He is too smart not to realize the colossal failure that he is. Thus, he deserves derision for not resigning. Hard words but true.
Spiritual blindness, caused by giving place to evil, is a most pitiable estate. It causes even one’s words to become meaningless babble.
We must set our faces like flint, toward Jerusalem.
And to prayer.
#7. Dear Pageant,
It’s not actually not only a double negative; but, it is most certainly not a double positive. Not unlike many academics, Rowan not only prefers non-direct statements, he is unable to not think in them.
Not only will people no longer pay attention to what he says, They will be no longer able to not only misunderstand what he is or is not saying. Or not.
Best wishes (or not, if that is not the Lord’s will), — Stan
[blockquote][b]He issued a plea that, no matter what happens, Anglicans should think of preserving the structures[/b] that will allow them to continue working with each other. “My plea is ‘don’t write off those instruments of communion whatever may happen in the years ahead,†the archbishop said. “There’s an awful lot we want to do together…I believe very strongly that even if we are facing a more diverse or divided future, we would still want to do these things,†he said. “I really don’t believe that if not all provinces sign up to the covenant in the years ahead, that (it) means the development and educational things we do together instantly disappear…â€[/blockquote] – emphasis mine.
A question for those who actually watched or heard the speech . Was there ANYTHING about the Gospel? This is a pretty shocking report, that it’s all about [b]preserving the structures[/b] for the sake of the “educational things we do together” . God help us, is this what ++Rowan has come to?
I once had respect for this man and could see his love of Christ. I remember a sermon of his that moved me to tears and worship – I think it was his sermon to the Global South gathering in Egypt where he gave an incredibly beautiful and eloquent presentation of what it means to be cross-centered people and to keep our eyes o Jesus.
There is none of that now, at least not in this report. It is deeply tragic. Instead it’s all about preserving the structures and finding the least common denominator.
Then there is this:
[blockquote]Archbishop Williams said that, in explaining the decisions reached by the ACC on issues, including postponing the presentation of the proposed covenant to the provinces pending more consultation and more work on the more controversial section dealing with dispute resolution and the question of who can sign the covenant, delegates can say the following in defense: “We did it because we heard that, through all these procedures, Christian people will be able to recognize each other a bit more fully, a bit more generously and a bit more hopefully.â€[/blockquote]
Note the “we did it” – he includes himself. Perhaps as close as we’ll get to his admission that this seems to have been a strategic move, not just a procedural mess up.
But if he honestly thinks the result of the lovely bait and switch of the covenant resolution will lead to greater hope and generosity, he is seriously deluded. How can dishonesty produce love, charity or any other good fruit?
Finally:
[blockquote]He urged Anglicans not to put off discussing the covenant. “The text is on the table. Begin the discernment, begin that intelligent engagement as soon as you can,†he said.[/blockquote]
Oh for heavens sake, the text has been “on the table” for 3 years or so. Give me a break. Sorry, I can find nothing, NOTHING at all, to commend in this speech.
A little compare and contrast. I’ve found the link to ++Rowan’s talk at the Global South Encounter in Egypt Sept. 2005:
http://www.globalsouthanglican.org/index.php/comments/rowan_williams_full_talk_given_at_the_3rd_encounter/
It’s not the sermon I’m talking about that moved me to tears, but still it was powerful re: our unity in Christ. Such a contrast to the compromise and pablum in Jamaica.
I am now reminded of the questions of the disciples when at Jerusalem :
Mark 13:1   And as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!†2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.†(ESV)
Structures are not what the Kingdom is about. Jesus calls people to worship Him is Spirit and in Truth. I believe that the ABC is drowning while clutching a deck chair on the Titanic that is the AC at this point.
For those of you too lazy to click on the link (wink), here’s a little taste of why I see such a stark difference. This is what ++Rowan preached in Sept. 05:
[blockquote]Just in passing, I mentioned in passing ‘the instruments of Unity of the Anglican Communion’. I would be much happier, I have to say, if we spoke of the ‘servants of Unity in the Anglican Communion’, because whatever the instruments of unity are, I don’t think that they are in any sense conditions to be met for Christian faithfulness. They are human institutions which seek to serve the unity of Christ’s body and I would put all those instruments of unity, not least the Archbishop of Canterbury, under the rubric of St Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 3; ‘it is not ourselves that we preach, but Jesus Christ as Lord and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake’. Whether it is the Archbishop of Canterbury, the ACC, the Primates, or the Lambeth Conference, that must be what they hold in front of them. I think someone recently said that ‘the path to heaven doesn’t necessarily lie through Lambeth’. I agree entirely. The path to heaven lies solely through Jesus Christ our Saviour and the unity he gives, and the only use and integrity of the instruments of unity is when they serve that.[/blockquote]
While now his only plea seems to be to preserve the structures for their own sake – a total 180 degree turn from what he proclaimed 3 1/2 years ago.
Might not the problem be that English is not Rowan Williams’ first language? Could it not be that speaking in coherent English is not easy for one who’s first language is Welsh? Or is that not the case?
Frances Scott
It sounded to me, just from reading the transcript of the news conference after the Covenant smash-up, as if Williams has lost the trust of Bishop Mouneer Anis. Here, he has lost the trust of Englishman Pageantmaster and American Karen B., both people who used to urge Christian patience and working with the process. As Karen B. says, Williams used to sound like an apostle. Not now, and that is so sad.
To clean your palate, this is what the speech of a leader sounds like:
[blockquote] I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned upon us. Hitler knows he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all of Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States including all that we have known and cared for will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, “This was their finest hour.â€[/blockquote]
or this, from the same man:
[blockquote] Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days – the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race. [/blockquote]
“My plea is ‘don’t write off those instruments of communion whatever may happen in the years ahead,†the archbishop said. “There’s an awful lot we want to do together…I believe very strongly that even if we are facing a more diverse or divided future, we would still want to do these things,†he said. “I really don’t believe that if not all provinces sign up to the covenant in the years ahead, that (it) means the development and educational things we do together instantly disappear…â€
What do those instruments mean when the content for which they were established has gone up in smoke? Why would anyone care about instruments that have failed and failed and failed abysmally, each in its own turn?
The rest just sounds like he’s ready to go on into that Brave New TEC World and doesn’t particularly care who is coming with him.
Like Karen, I have been deeply moved by RW’s words a number of times. Since last week, I’ve been wondering if they were just pretty pencilings on paper.
[blockquote]Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days. These are not dark days; these are great days – the greatest days our country has ever lived; and we must all thank God that we have been allowed, each of us according to our stations, to play a part in making these days memorable in the history of our race. [/blockquote]
Well said, and worthy of a fellow Englishman’s words in support:
[blockquote]He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say ‘To-morrow is Saint Crispian.’
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And say ‘These wounds I had on Crispian’s day.’
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he’ll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day….
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.[/blockquote]
#16 English is the Archbishop’s first language.
# 21 Gasp.
“We have not in this meeting given evidence of any belief that we have no future together” but plenty of deeds to suspend what past we have had when we claimed to be a communion. Oi vey. Stuff happens. Get over it. I did. Luv, the ABC
#23. dwstroudmd,
You and Mike B. make me laugh out loud without being mean spirited. Thanks to both of you and keep it up,
Blessings
Sorry #18 and #20, these words are conjuring “dreams of your fathers,” not today’s Britain. Rowan Williams is quite compatible with the new Euro mindset. Check out the following: Mark Steyn, “Israel Today, the West Tomorrowâ€
http://www.commentarymagazine.com/viewarticle.cfm/israel-today–the-west-tomorrow-15134?search=1
and Theodore Dalrymple, “The Quivering Upper Lipâ€
http://www.city-journal.org/2008/18_4_otbie-british_character.html