The same goes, of course, for Lambeth. As I write, the bishops we are hosting in this diocese are arriving and being welcomed. I do hope that all who can do so will give them a great sense of how special they are and how privileged we are to meet them. They come from vastly different places ”“ imagine the contrasts between the Yukon and Lesotho, between Texas and Tanzania, between Australia and Chile! ”“ but are all leaders and shepherds of God’s people in challenging times. Please pray for and with them and let them know that you will be continuing to pray in the next three weeks.
We none of us know ”˜how Lambeth will work out’. There are huge issues on the table, as we all know. The unity of God’s people is massively important in the New Testament, far more so than the western church has often realised. But it is never ”˜unity at any price’. The ideal of Anglican comprehensiveness has meant seriously different things at different times and places; I hope we won’t be bombarded with people suggesting that Richard Hooker and the Elizabethan church believed that ”˜anything goes’. Why would they have taken so much trouble over the Articles and the Prayer Book? It isn’t enough to say, with any new proposal on any topic, ”˜we Anglicans are called to live with difference’. The question is, as I have said a thousand times, how do we tell the difference between the differences we can live with and the differences we can’t live with? The quest for an authentically biblical and Anglican comprehensiveness that will take us forward into this new century in worship, mission and ministry is what the Windsor Report and the Covenant Proposals are all about, and those are the markers that Archbishop Rowan has said, several times, must pave the way ahead.
Lent & Beyond has posted many prayers for the Lambeth Conference. If you type “Lambeth” in the search box, you’ll get a potpourri; “Our pagan roots” are prayers of representative confession; also “Our Wounded Anglican History” are prayers of representative confession concerning the origins of the Church of England; “Canterbury” yields several prayers specific for the Canterbury Cathedral.
SOMA UK and Crosswinds are posting prayers from England. Rev. Rob Eaton is organizing a proxy prayer service.