GENEralities

Just this: Why I return with hope from the Church of England General Synod.

Thank you, VirtueOnline.

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If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the text of the resolution:

That this Synod, aware of the distress caused by recent divisions within the Anglican churches of the United States of America and Canada

a) recognise and affirm the desire of those who have formed the Anglican Church in North America to remain within the Anglican family

b) acknowledge that this aspiration, in respect both of relations with the Church of England and membership of the Anglican Communion, raises issues which the relevant authorities of each need to explore further; and

c) invite the Archbishops to report further to the Synod in 2011

Votes for 309, against 69, abstentions 17

Motions to pass to next business and to adjourn the debate were lost.

Notice that Canada is included. There’s a ton of comment all over the blogosphere, but I like David Virtue’s take:

First of all, the resolution said orthodox Episcopalians are indeed being persecuted by revisionists; however much TEC leaders whine that the brokenness is caused by those leaving, the resolution says otherwise.

Secondly, the resolution said that these faithful orthodox Anglicans want to remain in the Anglican family and not become outsiders. In fact, it did more than that. It was a wedge that will, in time, lead to a full chair at the Anglican Communion table.

…the rest of David’s piece here.

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A few days ago Archbishop Mouneer Anis, Primate of Jerusalem and the Middle East, resigned from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion. Archbishop Anis is a wise and faithful leader in the Anglican Communion. There are many quotes from his letter of resignation throughout the blogosphere, but I’ve not found anyone who quoted this bit; the conclusion of his letter of resignation:

O, yes!

His whole letter, which is worth the read, is here.

Don’t you love the way, whenever Anglicans make a solemn declaration of something, they number all the paragraphs? So decently and in order. 

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Anglican Down Under quoting The Ugly Vicar quoting Bishop Stephen Neill in a post on being Christian, Anglican and Evangelical; in that order:

Show us anything clearly set forth in Holy Scripture that we do not teach and we will teach it. Show us anything in our teaching or practice is clearly contrary to Holy Scripture, and we will abandon it. (Anglicanism, Pelican Books, 1965, p 417)

Good stuff. All here and here.

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Here.

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An Anglican hurtin’ song.

H/T Ruth Gledhill from anglicanbeachparty

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Ruth Gledhill

Things seem to be brewing up—earlier today. 

Sudanese Bishops

In addition to calling on Gene Robinson to resign, the Sudanese bishops at Lambeth have called the Episcopal Church in the States and the Anglican Church of Canada:

to demonstrate real commitment to the requests arising from the Windsor process. In particular:

• To refrain from ordaining practicing homosexuals as bishops or priests
• To refrain from approving rites of blessing for same-sex relationships
• To cease court actions with immediate effect;
• To comply with Resolution 1:10 of the 1998 Lambeth Conference
• To respect the authority of the Bible

Exactly. I echo that call to the Primate and Bishops of the Anglican Church Canada. 

Succinct Biblical Wisdom from JI Packer

Not exactly Lambeth, but a lucid account of one of the reasons for the crisis we face: 

Prominent Christian Theologian Dr. James Packer Speaks Out on Homosexuality

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Here are some Lambeth things that have caught my eye out on the blogosphere. I make no attempt to be “balanced.” I believe the US and Canada have caused the break-up of the Anglican Communion. It grieves me no end to be a part of one of those schismatic provinces.

First, a letter from the Bishop of Bolivia to the Archbishop of Canterbury explaining why he and his wife are not attending the conference:

Suffice it to say that I have lost any confidence in any of the “Instruments of Unity”. Each Instrument in turn has “supported” those who maintain traditional Anglican teaching in word only, while at the same time, quietly distancing them.

Hat-tip to David Virtue. Read it all here.

And speaking of David Virtue. He writes:

The real question will be once Lambeth is over will the North American churches aided and abetted by the churches in Wales and Ireland continue to move forward with same-sex blessings, ordain and consecrate more homogenital priests and bishops without fear of presentment?

The Episcopal Church’s Anglo-Catholic wing is all but gone. Once the Dioceses of Quincy and Ft. Worth have left TEC it will be the end of the Anglo-Catholic wing of the church in North America. This will certainly be good news to revisionists like Jefferts Schori and a whole host of liberal bishops. The question then will be what becomes of the church’s evangelicals? Said one liberal bishop, their day will come. Indeed it will.

Ultimately there will no place for anyone orthodox at the Episcopal table and still and all someone here is going to have to address the elephant in the sanctuary – GAFCON – and until they do this might very well be the last Lambeth Conference.

For the moment the bishops here are clearly valuing the focus on worship, Bible study and spiritual input in a historic cathedral setting. This is obviously a very good place to start. But where is it all going?

On the Kent University campus where the bishops meet there are no Christian symbols, no cross, no projection of Christian symbols in the main auditorium where the bishops gather in plenary session. This is precisely a replay of what happened at GC2006 where the TEC ran up 16 flags of cooperating dioceses, but had no Christian symbols to indicate that the Episcopal Church was even remotely, well, Christian. Will TEC stand for The Episcopal Communion in time?

By contrast GAFCON had 303 bishops representing 75% of the Anglican Communions’ 55 million members with Christian symbols (in the face of orthodox Jewish hostility).

The 600 plus bishops here represent a mere 15 million Anglicans worldwide. England, the US and Canada have the most bishops present – and the most liberal – representing only 4% of the Anglican Communion!

Here in Canterbury Rowan Williams is playing a high wire act, hoping and praying that the Communion will not fall apart on his watch. He is trying to pull a Houdini act that many believe will fail. He is trying to find the right Hegelian (synthesis) mix.

As one wag observed, Williams can say Jesus is Lord, while revisionists like Mrs. Jefferts Schori say Jesus is not Lord (the language is too patriarchal). For his sins Williams is hoping that he can get away with saying, Jesus is occasionally Lord.

Check the whole piece out here.

Some other blogs which are posting good coverage of this particular Lambeth walk are:

• Bishop of Q’uappelle, Greg Kerr-Wilson’s blog.
• Anglican Mainstream.
• Stand Firm.
• Ruth Gledhill of The Times.

If you’re really keen, you can subscribe to them all with Google Reader and you’ll have one convenient place for reading all of them

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The Lambeth Conference starts in 3 days. The rhetoric gets cranked to new heights.

Ruth Gledhill of The Times reports on the situation: 

The Times has learnt that the crisis is likely to worsen, whatever is decided at the conference, because the Episcopal Church of the US plans to overturn its pledge not to consecrate any more openly gay or lesbian bishops.

The US church, which will dominate the conference with 125 bishops attending, is expected then to elect rapidly and consecrate a further five or six such bishops.

The rest, here.

Ephraim Radner challenges the bishops to pay attention:

What are American Anglicans to do who remain committed to the Anglican Communion’s vocation of unity-in-council for the sake of the Gospel?  If the Lambeth Conference cannot take it upon itself to act with clarity and evangelical coherence in the face of the threats to our common life, you abandon us.

…not to mention us Canadian Anglicans. And what is he calling said bishops to do? 

You must state clearly that the actions of TEC as an official body, and of certain Canadian dioceses, are unacceptable to you as bishops of the Communion.  And you must decide, resolutely, that those bishops from these churches who are in agreement to press forward in ways the Communion has now clearly and consistently repudiated no longer partake in your common councils.   I am not eager to state this; but I know of no other reasonable course to take at this point. This is not a matter of punishment, or even “discipline” in any technical form:  it is a matter of common Christian sense.  TEC (to use this example) has demonstrated clearly, and with increasing hard-heartedness, that it does not wish to respect the common recommendations and pleas and even hopes of the Communion as a whole.  Not only that, TEC’s enacted wish to go her own way has caused chaos in our midst. 

Amen. 

It’s all here. 

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Archbishop Williams is clearly steering the Lambeth Conference away from any sort of accounting for The Episcopal Church and Anglican Church of Canada’s increasingly brazen flaunting of orthodox faith and the decisions of the last Lambeth Conference. The Anglican Covenant becomes weaker with every revision.

GAFCON and a Final Statement

These paragraphs resonate with my feelings on our present plight:

Read the full statement and declaration here.

A Fair-Dinkum Aussie Summary

Aussie Bishop Robert Forsyth has done the best job of summarizing the bones of the statement:

The Archbishop of Canterbury’s Response

What Do I Think?

It seems to me that Archbishop Williams and the leadership of the Anglican Church of Canada are revisionist at heart. They bewail and criticize conservative attempts to hold to the faith once revealed, but never question what has been done New West, Montreal, Niagara or Huron. Synods trump Scripture, Tradition and common sense. I continue to be profoundly disillusioned with them. I like what has come out of GAFCON.

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