In his brief opening remarks, Archbishop Williams spoke candidly about the tensions and divisions within the Anglican Communion. He spoke of the grief that is ours to share because of the absence of those bishops who have chosen not to attend. “We need their voice,” he said, “and they need ours in learning Christ together.” He went on to invite our prayers, our love, and our respect for those who are not here, observing that while we are indeed a wounded body, “the body of Christ is always a wounded body because we are a body of sinful human beings.”
The emphasis during our time together, he reflected, must be upon deepening our relationships, not imagining naively that building relationships alone will solve our problems but understanding that we dare not pretend to address the issues before us without first offering one another the kind of deep and loving attentiveness to relationship that Jesus in fact commands.
To that end, our time together over the next several weeks will be grounded in daily prayer and bible study””the source from which our other conversations will flow. As Archbishop Williams observed, “scripture gives us the language that draws us together, and we need to be fluent in that language.
I couldn’t agree more….
Why does this report bring me so little hope? In part, I think it paints an ABC unwilling to consider or discuss in his talk why a quarter of his bishops refused to gather with a group including so many heterodox bishops. It is all well and good to say we are all sinners and we all need to talk, but that has been done for years and years with no apparent positive result. In the meantime the negative result of the heterodox destroying the church is clear to even to a layman like myself.
So is the ABC to continue in denial? Will he continue to suppress any discussion of sin and the need for repentence? Will he continue to see the orthodox as being very unkind for trying to point out the destruction that the heterodox are bring to the work of Christ? Will he continue to see the orthodox as whiners who stay away from the table? Will he continue to see the need for all Anglicans to give the scripture such loosey-goosey reading that its only real requirement is that you must never hurt a sinners feelings?
It appears the answer to all these questions is ‘yes’. It also appears I have answered my own question as to my lost hope. Now, I have only prayer that some good will come of this Lambeth.
[blockquote]“the body of Christ is always a wounded body because we are a body of sinful human beings.â€[/blockquote]
The wounds are deeper because of the efforts of a small minority of your flock, Dr. Williams, to redraw the lines around the word “sinful.” That means the wounds are never disinfected, never bandaged and are allowed to fester to the point that amputation is almost certainly the only treatment left. You had the chance to treat them, but resolved only to dither, delay and deflect. Now the saws are being deployed.
And yesterday O’Neill’s lawyers were busy trying to bankrupt our Day School by suing the head of the school, accusing her and the board of felony trespass and theft of a school that he claims to be his…a totally unnecessary harassment when the question of who owns the property could easily and politely be settled in the courts…without trying to use up the school’s resources and to hurt little children, a third of whom have a parent deployed in Iraq.
Of course O’Neill is excited by being chosen for this task by Rowan…who himself thinks a primate’s protection of congregations like ours and schools like ours from terrorist activities like O’Neill’s is a sin worse than refiguring the gospel.
“…we dare not pretend to address the issues before us without first offering one another the kind of deep and loving attentiveness to relationship that Jesus in fact commands..” This will be good news for Bishops Cox and Schofield.
Folks – be careful these next few weeks and stay vigilant for folks like this who will “Scripture-wash” or “Faith-wash” or “Unity-wash” their PR efforts while over there – only to return to their posts and resume the lawsuits, the heretical pronouncements, the SSB’s, etc. They do this time and time again. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice (or dozens of times) shame on me.
I didn’t see the word “repent” in there anywhere.
An unfortunate omission.
Don
“The emphasis during our time together, he reflected, must be upon deepening our relationships, . . .” How will this “deepening” of your relationships occur when so many of those with whom you disagree are not even there? The media is focusing on the fact that a quarter of Anglican bishops are not there, but that 1/4 of bishops represents a HUGE portion of active Anglicans globally. I suspect that its substantially over 1/2. Perhaps a better use of your time at Lambeth would be to reflect on why bishops representing half or more of the global Communion feel that they cannot be with you. What in your own actions as bishops of the TEC might help to account for their absence? I think that would be a more profitable use of your time than deepening your relationships with those who are not there with you to participate in that process. Whatever purpose this conference had totally escapes me when I read reports such as this. These folks are seriously out of touch with reality! The whole thing seems such a sham before it even begins.
Please don’t ask folks to wait yet again, to just be patient and open and caring and get flushed down again. Wait three weeks to hear anything official from Lambeth. Wait until February for COE to have a draft of “protections.” Wait until summer ’09 for General Convention. Wait while working from within. We orthodox never really learn. I don’t want to be within ECUSA and I refuse to wait–continually wait. So, it’s Rome for me. There are issues there, but at least His Holiness is clear about what he believes and can be trusted on what he says. And I know he is a Christian. I can’t say the same for ABC or PB. ABC and PB know that–and don’t care.
[blockquote]“We need their voice,†he said, “and they need ours in learning Christ together.â€[/blockquote]
Group hug, everyone, and cue up the Cum By Ya!
This speech is an excellent example of what I was talking about below, re: “arid” This is a barren speech, full of platitudes but without real nourishment. Every line says, “We Dare not act.” This is a dry wind blowing over a parched land. LM
At Hebrews 11:1 St. Paul writes:
[blockquote]
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
[/blockquote]
We are a community of [i]faith[/i]; within that community there is a range of beliefs, only some of which are essential.
It is a persistent theme in the teachings of Jesus that a complete understanding of God’s way is beyond the human mind.
… oh that we could be proficient in “the language of scripture” — then we would be in the mess we are in!
… (edit ) then we would “not” be in the mess we are in!
Well, I believe +++Rowan is right in calling for a silent retreat and intensive prayer. The revisionists behave more like politicians than shepherds, which has to be evident in England as their dog-and-pony show rolled in. Take away their cellphones, Blackberries and other means of political scheming and keep them silent. I pray that God will make Himself plain to them.
I think it is important that people like Don Armstrong in #3 continue to remind us of the reality of such actions that contradict what is professed by the likes of Bp O’Neil.
How would it go in his bishops group if he started off by saying. “Well, in my diocese we are living out Scriptures by suing another Christian church and day-school.” What an example! But I bet nobody at Lambeth has the guts to challenge that type of behavior.
Rob, the uninvited at GAFCON, has finally found a meeting he has an invitation to.
#8, I believe Gafcon was about the same refusal to wait you are expressing. I believe that is why so many of those bishops are not at Lambeth. They are through waiting. They are going where the Lord leads them, across geographic boundaries and into the backyards of those at Lambeth. That is why there is such decrying of their absence. If they were at Lambeth, it is possible they could be talked out of this boundary crossing in the name of “unity.” Because they are absent, they will continue their mission in the name of the Lord (the one about going into the world and baptizing and making disciples of all men in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit), and that is a threat to those at Lambeth (well, most of those). It would be easy for Lambeth to ignore Gafcon, if Gafcon said it was leaving the Anglican Communion. But it did just the opposite – it said we are staying in the AC and we are going to do to the reappraisers what they have been doing to us for years – ignore them, just like they did us (especially the AbofC and TEC’s PB) after Dar es Salaam and the previous Primates’ meetings and declarations. Gafcon will build a church within the AC and force the new AbofC in 10 years to recognize what they have done, much to the chagrin of TEC and ACofC, et al … or a new AC will emerge without TEC, ACofC and maybe AbofC, as has been noted so often in the past, with its center somewhere below the equator and well east of the Greenwich Meridian.
#15
El Paso Court records show that Don Armstrong and his CANA parish filed suit against the Bishop & Diocese of Colorado and not the reverse.
Are you sure it wasn’t a COUNTER-Suit?
JE <><
[url=http://www.gazette.com/articles/armstrong_34251___article.html/grace_episcopal.html]from the Colorado Springs newspaper…[/url]
“March 26, 2007: Diocese releases financial misconduct allegations against Armstrong. On the same day, Grace Church’s vestry votes to leave the Episcopal Church to join the Convocation of Anglicans in North America (CANA).
“April 6: Grace CANA files lawsuit against diocese to keep church property at 601 N. Tejon St. “
#20 that may be. either way..that is where reconciliation and action should start not across the ocean where one can talk the talk while avoiding the walk with one’s Christian and Anglican neighbors. What would be more effective? spending 2 weeks in discussion groups with people one may never see or hear from again, or negotiating a reconciliatory settlement amicably with those in the communion in your backyard. Which is really living out the scripture the Bishop professes. I’m not pointing fingers. We all need to be held accountable to what we profess, even if it is painful.
And the truth is:
The vestry of Grace Church & St. Stephen’s voted to conduct a vote of the congregation to determine if the congregation wanted to leave to go to CANA…
Then the Diocese of Colorado froze Grace & St. Stephen’s checking accounts and trust income.
Then the parish filed with the court for declaratory relief…which is not a law suit, but to simply make the court aware that we are entering a dispute that very well may require adjudication, and we would like this particular court in El Paso County to hear that dispute.
The Diocese then began legal process against the parish, suing personally the vestry, some of the staff and lay members of the congregation, and the Day School…trumped up a kangaroo ecclesiastical court to bring charges against me, and then filed complaints with the police–which is called judicial abuse.
We have only made filings with the court in response to the claims of the diocese and a little breakaway group…we have not filed any personal law suits against the Episcopal perpetrators, although there is evidence filed with the court in the form of an extortion letter sent by O’Neill to members of the Grace CANA vestry.
The vestry of Grace & Stephen’s and CANA had a complete forensic investigation and audit performed that found no wrong doing.
Any questions?
22. Don Armstrong:
Only pure gold makes it through the fire.
God bless.
Don
one question for Don- was it really on Good Friday that you chose to involve the court system, before the Diocese did?