The Lambeth Log

We are better for being there: A reflection by Paul Feheley

The dawn is beginning to break in Canterbury and the cathedral is just visible through the mist as the bus pulls away to take me to the airport for the return journey home. It is Monday, August 4, and Lambeth 2008 is finished. There will no doubt be a rush to judgement by many about the success or failure of Lambeth. Were the discussions costly conversations or worthwhile investments? Were they communion enhancing or communion breaking? I want to resist making definitive statements about outcomes in favour of some personal observations on why I think this gathering of bishops and spouses has enhanced the ministry of the church and provided an important witness to a world in need.

The bishops and spouses gathered first to study, learn, and digest the word of God. They used the “I am” sayings from John’s gospel and every day those who were gathered grew in wisdom, learning, and insight. The church is often criticized for not having the correct priorities in place in our work and mission. At this gathering there was solid evidence of putting God and his gospel as the first priority. All that we do proceeds from the word of God, and the world needs to not only see that but also believe it.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu observed some years ago that Anglicans “meet.” That is what happened at Lambeth. There will be those who want all sorts of declarative statements about human sexuality covenants and a host of other things, but the true value of Lambeth is not statements or resolutions, but what is taken back to Halifax or Brisbane, Hong Kong or Bujumbura. The indaba process of mid-sized discussion groups created a way of learning that was foreign to many bishops, but they were open to the process and it worked. If some people expected that Lambeth would “solve” the problems of the Anglican Communion they will be disappointed. Rather, the bishops can take back to their people a sense of what was heard and seen. They can share why it matters in Kenya what we do in Canada and why it matters in Canada what is done and said in Kenya.

I received some criticism based on an earlier piece where I wrote, “Those who have deliberately chosen to stay away will not succeeded in destroying Lambeth.” They didn’t destroy it, although I have no doubt they wanted to. They stood on the outside, criticizing a number of things from afar while the conference participants continued to pray for them. What an incredible loss it is for them to stand outside of the process and continue to ignore the message in 1 Corinthians 12. We all need each other and they have missed the learning and witness that has come from this Lambeth Conference. Even the secular press recognized that Lambeth succeeded in what it set out to do. On Saturday, August 2, the editorial in the Times stated:

“When the Archbishop of Canterbury delivers his final address tomorrow to more than 650 bishops attending the Lambeth Conference, he can allow himself a note of joy and quiet pride. The conference has gone far better than he or even the most optimistic Anglicans could have imagined. There has been no formal schism. No one made a show of walking out. There have been no angry public speeches, accusations or defiant votes. Those attending have found in their hearts a way to remain in communion with each other, whatever the divisions on doctrine, biblical literalism and the ordination of gay priests.

“Credit for much of this must go to Rowan Williams. By focusing on the Anglican Communion as a Christian community and not as a political organisation, he has ensured that the bulk of the discussion has been on those issues where Christians believe their message to be vital: poverty, global harmony, faith, prayer and charity.

“Raw politics has been avoided, and the most contentious issue-Anglican attitudes to homosexuality-has, rightly, not been allowed to monopolise episcopal time and attention but kept in the context of beliefs, and commitments seen as core to the 38 self-governing provinces.”

The fellowship and learning of Lambeth continued at the closing service. It included a remembrance of the Melanesian brothers who were martyred in 2003 for their faith. It was an inspirational closing to a conference where I believe the participants will now go out and be witnesses, telling all that they have learned from the fellowship of the Lambeth Conference.

Will Lambeth solve all the problems? No. Will it settle all the disputes? No. It did not set out to do that. Canadians in particular face many challenges coming from the final reflections but we are better for being there. We are better for listening and we will face the challenges with confidence. We know that however we move forward in these challenges God is with us in word and sacrament and that the Anglican Communion is stronger because 660 bishops were prepared to listen to the Holy Sprit and each other. 

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Listening with the heart: A reflection by Paul Feheley

When I wrote my last piece I was on my way to the Lambeth Conference at the University of Kent. The journey was quiet and inspired many thoughts. I arrived full of hope and expectation, which have been met, if not surpassed, during my first week here. It has been extraordinary in many ways as I work in the area of external communications. Each morning I conduct a press briefing to acquaint the media on the events of the day and to answer sometimes difficult questions around the conference, its procedural rules, and ways of operating. I am not a chief spokesperson but an upfront person who talks, works, and listens in the hope of getting the Lambeth story told accurately. There are many reporters here as well as a large number of bishops that are blogging. You will find no shortage of new “Canterbury Tales” coming from this university campus.

I have made friends with new colleagues in a tight and often tense small media office that fits the caricature of every press room you have seen on TV. On a typical morning there are eight phones going off, at least two to four people trying to answer them, six reporters asking questions, the photocopier jamming, and the BBC proclaiming important cricket scores on the “telly.” And all before 8:00 a.m.!

The experience of being here has left me pondering and breathless: I listened and wept as the Bishop of Zimbabwe told the story of his country divided and rent asunder by political egos and power. I perched on scaffolding with a TV cameraman at the very top of Canterbury Cathedral. I attended the Buckingham Palace garden party and was “called out” to meet and chat with the Queen. I felt the enormous amount of pride as the march in support of the Millennium Development Goals started down Whitehall towards the Parliament Buildings in London on July 24.

The Anglican Communion may well have issues and problems that we struggle with, but the march to eradicate poverty and to meet other millennium goals cuts across every divide that we might have. We were able to say that God’s care for the poor and marginalized was truly a priority.

The most important aspect of the Lambeth Conference to my mind is that it is working. No, it will not solve every issue in the communion and we will not now suddenly all “get along” but I believe people are actually listening with their hearts. A wise French author once said, “and now here is my secret, a very simple secret: it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

What I am seeing here is people listening with their hearts. Pride is moving back a few paces. There are attempts to understand why specific Biblical texts mean a certain thing in a different cultural context and why in different countries certain concepts are such an issue when perhaps in another place this is not so. There is an overall understanding that we are brothers and sisters sharing a common faith in Jesus Christ-this is what the Lambeth Conference has accomplished so far.

Next week will be one of incredible importance to all of us who call ourselves Anglicans. The issues become more sharply defined and each person present will be tempted to crawl back into his or her shell and ignore what others are saying. It will test the hearts and minds of a gifted group of bishops who have come together because they care about proclaiming the good news of Christ in a way that respects the dignity of every human being as our baptismal covenant calls us to do.

It will require dusty knees on all our parts as we lift up our voices in prayer. The preacher at the opening service, Bishop Duleep de Chickera, closed his sermon in a very moving way using a Christian text with a Buddhist chant. Let his song be ours as we and seek the guidance of Holy Spirit for our “beloved church”:

I take refuge in God the Father
I take the refuge in the Son
I take refuge in the Holy Spirit
I take refuge in the Triune God

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The road to Lambeth: A reflection by Paul Feheley

I am on the train travelling on Sunday afternoon from Glasgow to Canterbury. Archbishop Fred Hiltz, the Canadian Primate, his wife Lynne and I arrived in Glasgow Saturday and have been enjoying the hospitality of the Primus of Scotland, Idris Jones and his wife, Alison. Archbishop Fred and Lynne will stay in Glasgow for a few more days and travel to the Lambeth Conference on Tuesday. Read more …

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