Rowan Williams has sent out invitations to the 2008 Lambeth Conference. These are important because they have always reflected a kind of de-facto survey of who is in and who is out of communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury, a traditional definition of who is part of the Anglican Communion. To tell the truth, I am a little surprised at the timing. I was expecting him to wait until after the September deadline for us to respond to the Primate's Dar Es-Salaam communique to decide whether the American church got invitations at all. The fact that they have been issued previous to this deadline seems to me to make the statement that the Episcopal Church is still at the table no matter how we respond in September. This may ratchet down anxiety at the September House of Bishops meeting and allow +++Rowan's presence to be much less confrontational.
Of course, the big non-story. +Gene Robinson has not been invited. Despite Susan Russell's statement that she is "outraged and appalled" (Which is pretty much a boilerplate phrase in Integrity press releases), I think anyone with ears to listen knew this was coming. It was laid out pretty clearly in the Windsor Report.
The REAL story - Martyn Minns, the newly-installed bishop of the break-away CANA has also not been invited. Not only that, but Anglican Communion Secretary General Kenneth Kearon has indicated that CANA falls under the same category as AMiA - that of an Anglican splinter group not in communion. While he indicates that +Gene might be invited as a guest, there is no such indication about Minns, who has become a real pain in the posterior for Rowan Williams. There are also a couple of African bishops who have not been sent invitations, due to serious corruption charges.
Those on the left are outraged at +Gene's exclusion. I would prefer for him to be there as a full voting member, but I find it hard to be "outraged" about something that has been blindingly obvious since his consecration - namely that as a pioneer, he will pay a price for his witness. Those on the right are outraged at +Minns' exclusion. This is what happens when you decide your impatient self-righteousness trumps dialog and relationship.
For those of us somewhere in the center, I think this is a hopeful development. It points to the fact that, statements from Bob Duncan and Peter Akinola notwithstanding, the Episcopal Church has done everything it can realistically do within its polity to show that we wish to remain in the Anglican Communion and that the communion leadership knows it. We withheld our representatives from the ACC meeting, we stopped all episcopal consecrations for a year, we developed a DEPO and Primatial Vicar procedure, we passed B033 at General Convention despite incredible resistance from both right and left, and our two most liberal dioceses (California and Newark) refrained from electing GLBT candidates to the Episcopate as a symbol of defiance.
I think the invitations indicate two things:
- The extreme right is increasingly unable to get traction. ECUSA continues to be gracious even in the face of continuous vitriol from its detractors. Indications are that the right is beginning to splinter and fight over the bones. Our ability to maintain this graciousness has to do with the inspired leadership of our Presiding Bishop (whom many of our male bishops seem to have a crush on.)
- ECUSA is and will continue to be a member of the Anglican Communion. +++Rowan will not enable the anger and rude behavior of the extreme right. If Nigeria and his ilk decide to "opt-out," that will be their decision. Most of the communion will stick with +++Rowan and us by extension.
I know people on the left may be very hurt by +Gene's exclusion, but we can't mistake the battle for the war. This might be considered a tactical setback for ECUSA, but it looks to me like we are moving towards a strategic victory. Only time will tell.
David+
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Can I please, please have one? A
An article I wrote on prayer for our parish newsletter. Appropriate for the National Day of Prayer.







