Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Lambeth opening hopeful


Bishop bloggers and others are beginning to report in from the Lambeth Conference.
Bp Lane of Maine gets the prize for the first video blog report.
Bp Whalon of Churches in Europe and Bp O'Neill of Colorado both report a hopeful spirit among the bishops as they gather. Episcopal Cafe reports more than a few last minute arrivals from around the communion. All but one Province (Uganda) has at least one bishop there although some may pay the price doled out by their archbishops when they return.

O'Neill writes:
The tone this evening was, to my ear, both realistic and hopeful. We should not expect, Archbishop Williams stated in a dose of realism, that in two weeks time we shall find a solution to our problems. It is however realistic, he observed (even faithful I would add) to hope that in two weeks time “we will find the trust that will give us all the energy to change in the way that God intends.”


Whalon writes:
See this gallery of pictures taken this afternoon. It includes a shot of the Bishop of Butare, Rwanda, the Rt. Rev. Venuste Mutiganda. There are a lot of very late arrivals from bishops thought to have declined their invitations.

We start tonight at 6pm. I have already seen many friends from around our church and the rest of the Communion, and met several bishops. All are optimistic that when we finish in three weeks’ time, we will have moved ahead as a Communion. “When Anglicans work together, we change the world...” seems to be on everyone’s lips. From those lips to God’s ears!


Dave Walker is cartooning the whole circus - see his photos of the "tent."

UPDATE:
Bp. Knudsen of Maine writes:
Some kind of computer malfunction brought the registration queue (in England, it's not a "line", it's a "queue") to a dead stop. Looking down on the group of 200+ waiting to register, I felt a lump form in my throat. HERE is the Anglican Communion; people in native dress, the air thick with many languages, warm hugs and hellos happening all up and down the line (sorry, the queue). THIS is who we really are: members one of another within the Body of Christ... of varied convictions and backgrounds, drawn together by the merciful love of God made known to us in Jesus, the Word made Flesh, in whom is our hope. I found myself wishing that every newspaper from across the globe would snap pictures and write stories about the hugs I saw happening...the eye contact, the body language, the clear sense of family. Of course, we don't agree about everything (find me a family who does!) but golly, it's a grace-filled bit ** to sit on a small hill in Canterbury, England, toes in the grass, watching Anglicans love one another. God is with us.


And Bp Alan Wilson opened his suitcase to find his suprise survival kit.

6 comments:

Leonard said...

Sounds good, light-the-lights, cameras blazing, action, scene one/act one LET THE SUN SHINE IN is about to begin and the CAST is almost, almost fully complete...even complete with Bishops from a country and Anglican Church (The Akinolian Church of Nigeria) where no doubt new "legislation" is being quickly introduced forbiding OPEN MINDEDNESS in the midst of the Holy Spirit...the NEW LAW will result in a familiar theme of Nigerias version of human right persecution...sentence: five years for assembling in public/church sponsored events with fellow human beings!

"We shall see what we shall see" is what my Mom always said to me.

Onward!

Anonymous said...

Prayers ascending... (including, that the doors be flung open to +New Hampshire? ;-/)

Doorman-Priest said...

Minns won't be far away. He is going to be on vacation in Britain and so will be nearby Lambeth, as Time magazine once said, "just in case he's needed."

It would be hard to imagine under what circumstances

Anonymous said...

from what a Lambeth Conference steward can see, and that's a whole lot, as you may suspect, things look pretty smooth and relaxed on the ground. As for what some bloggers and 'journalists' are trying to pump through the media... not quite.
)
Leonel

Counterlight said...

Schism is not the disagreements over this or that, it's the breaking of fellowship. It is reassuring to see that fellowship still has power.

Bill B. said...

How might I be included in the blogroll of friends?

Fr. Bill