Many of the people attending these gatherings have smoldered for years over the church’s creeping universalism, the flouting of biblical authority, the increasing numbers of same-sex blessing ceremonies and the tolerance of gay clergy and bishops in the Episcopal Church.
GAFCON also is the conservative Anglican alternative to Lambeth, the once-every-10-years conference of Anglican bishops at the University of Kent in Canterbury, England, starting in mid-July.
Lambeth usually attracts more than 800 bishops, but GAFCON has peeled off about one-quarter of that number who have elected to go to Jerusalem instead.
No doubt the folks meeting in the Middle East have a strategy for Lambeth, a huge world stage where for three weeks every cause imaginable gets huge media exposure.
Unfortunately, this year’s Lambeth was organized to confound the media by avoiding decisive votes and statements. The massive gathering will be organized as a series of private Bible studies among the bishops.
So, no matter where you turn, there are a lot of secret meetings going on. At some point, the smoke needs to clear.
Not if the ABC can help it. There is unity in objuscation and un- clarity.
[blockquote] organized as a series of private Bible studies [/blockquote]
Would that they would study it all instead of dismissing most of it. Perhaps one topic they could ponder is whether Jesus was speaking as Lord and Savior or just being a Pharisee when he advocated and invoked Deuteronomy 8:3 – well, if Matthew 4:4 is [i]in[/i] the revisionist gospel.
Julia of the Washington Times is a fair, objective reporter, who has followed this crisis closely for years. But I think there’s a bit of journalistic frustration evident in this particular article that isn’t helpful. She complains about the secrecy of the pre-GAFCon meeting as if some sort of conspiracy were afoot, which seems a bit too sensationalistic. And she seems to complain that it’s taking too long for the smoke to clear, so reporters can write the definitive story about the breakup of Anglicanism at last. There’s not much real news in this article.
But that last line of hers about the smoke clearing raises the question: If at some point the smoke needs to clear, where does the smoke come from? What causes it? Is it the smoke of a wildfire? or a house on fire? or gunsmoke from a battlefield? or perhaps even smoke that’s created as a deliberate smokescreen to cover some deeds meant to be kept out of sight? I’m not sure what she has in mind, although my guess is that she intends an allusion to the gunsmoke from a big battle finally dissipating in the wind when it’s over.
At any rate, the smoke will certainly clear eventually. And when it does, the orthodox majority of the Anglican Communion, led by the brave leaders of the major Global South provinces, will be left standing tall and proud. And the heretical advocates of a false gospel will be left discredited and defeated.
David Handy+