My own view (and that of others) has long been that TEC\u2019s behavior has been so brazenly destructive of the Communion\u2019s conciliar life on a number of levels, that the entire American church\u2019s college of bishops should not be invited to Lambeth at all. Without some major, formal, and agreed recommitment to the character of conciliar life, TEC\u2019s participation in the Communion\u2019s gathering threatens to be subversive, not edifying, inevitably confusing, not clarifying. The Anglican Communion is not \u201cthe Catholic Church\u201d\u009d tout court, by a long shot, and requires a kind of conserving energy that goes beyond whole-sale pneumatic openness-within-order. Individual TEC bishops might, if they so chose, petition Canterbury and the Primates for a seat at Lambeth on the basis of affirming a commitment to the principles the Primates themselves laid out in their recent Communiqu\u00c3\u00a9 (the \u201cCamp Allen Principles\u201d\u009d) \u201d\u201c this may already be implied in Canterbury\u2019s current invitation, although this is not wholly clear — or at least a commitment to previous Lambeth resolutions, whose imposing legitimacy has now been clearly affirmed by the interlocking agreement of other Anglican Communion synods.<\/p>\n
Perhaps something like this is still possible in the post \u201d\u201cSeptember 30th Anglican world, when TEC\u2019s House of Bishops will have given their common response to the Primates. Many of us hope for this and urge this, of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Primates themselves. But my opinion is only that \u201d\u201c an opinion among many. I have no role in inviting, and I can only advise, from the farthest distance, on the character of prudence demanded by the current situation. The Lambeth Conference should go on with (preferably) or without imposed criteria. Even the most pessimistic \u201cconservative\u201d\u009d must agree that the numbers are there for traditionalist bishops to do whatever they discern as fitting, if they indeed show up and pursue it. That is the nature of a council: if “what they pursue” is right, it will stick.<\/p>\n
But quite apart from Canterbury or this or that party\u2019s hopes or judgments, Lambeth can be, in terms of the Holy Spirit\u2019s leading, whatever it wants to be. Neither Canterbury, nor the Design Committee, nor those who do not attend can make or unmake the conciliar character of Lambeth. And those who do attend may well, should they choose to exercise the tools of the Spirit they are given (to the degree that any of us have such a \u201cchoice\u201d\u009d), transform through the Spirit\u2019s work whatever the Lambeth Conference may initially appear to be into a true and authoritative council of the Communion and even of the Church at large. The Holy Spirit controls the course of a gathering of saints; and the saints are eager to work with God. The Church of Christ eagerly seeks counsel together, even when its \u201cformal councils\u201d\u009d are obscured.<\/p>\n
And why would anyone wish to be otherwise than eager in this regard? There are clearly those who want to declare the Lambeth Conference conciliarly ineffective, and to depose it from (or deny it) any conciliar role, even before it convenes. A question to be asked of these people is whether they want to declare themselves, before the fact, as letting go of the charismatic calling of the Church. For, in the context of the Christian faith and the Church\u2019s life, they need not do so. \u201cTalking down\u201d\u009d the Conference or deliberately absenting oneself from it may or may not undermine the authority of Lambeth (indeed, depending on how it is done, it may in fact enhance it!). But if it so undermines it, it also may well undermine the authority of those who deliberately reject the Conference itself. For such preemptive rejection will cloud the eagerness, trouble the faith, dampen the fire, quench the Spirit. Let archbishops and their episcopal colleges come and \u201cfight the good fight\u201d\u009d, sustained \u201d\u201c as surely they will be \u201d\u201c by the Holy Spirit of God. These are good people, whose deepest hopes the Lord would shape and honor. Let those who pray, come together and pray; let those who serve, come together and serve; let those who teach, come together and teach; let those who heal, come together and heal. Let the Holy Spirit list where He will within the Church as she gathers in the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n