Ruth Gledhill, writing from England, indicates that there are at least some in the UK who understand what is happening here. She points out in her article that a motion to reconsider A161 was supported by 60% of the deputies on the floor (including myself) but requires 67% to carry. The hope today is to get that 60% behind something that can be passed by both the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops in the special session coming up this morning.
“It is with some relief that I learn from a source in the US that The Episcopal Church is not as careless about its Anglican Communion membership as its actions over the past few days might have implied. Indeed, there is apparently great concern that the new Presiding Bishop, Katharine Schori [pronounced Shorry, not Scorri] should be able to take her seat alongside thd other 37 male primates at the next and all subsequent Primates’ Meetings. And that she should be invited to the next Lambeth Conference in 2008. (If indeed there is a next Lambeth Conference. Kent University is booked but the invitations haven’t gone out yet, so who knows? That would be one way of avoiding an unseemly scrum, to cancel the whole thing altogether. We must never underestimate the Archbishop of Canterbury’s sense of humour.) Not all deputies are however happy with any attempt to remain in what remains of communion.”
It may be that I am too willing to compromise, but I, for one, am praying and working very hard for us to find a way to stay in communion in a way that is honest about the fact that we do not repent of what happened in 2003, but that we also do truly regret the consequences that our act has had on the larger Communion.
Weblog – Ruth Gledhill – Times Online: What happens next at TEC GenCon?
(Via Weblog – Ruth Gledhill)
-Nick
Just out of curiosity…
You write: “but I, for one, am praying and working very hard for us to find a way to stay in communion in a way that is honest about the fact that we do not repent of what happened in 2003”
I too desire earnestly to keep the worldwide communion in tact. But, I wonder if, what you suggest – communion without repentence – means that amid foundational divergence, that is, while the global Anglican communion has called for the foundation of communion to be centered on Christ and the Scriptures, the Episcopal Church has decided that her own decisions provide the grounds by which communion with her is to be maintained and established, keeping in communion now would only mean that communion is fostered by indifference and not love. I think for both parties involved (TEC and Anglican Communion) this will not do. Communion it seems would be superficial and in name only…Just a thought/question.
In conversation with James Merrick: Whom are we asked to love? It is in a stance of humility of witnessing God’s ever-present love that we invite all to the Table. Jesus did as much.
Whom are we asked to love? Thus says Jesus:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
It has been 30 years since women were first ordained in the Episcopal Church. We recognize women’s sacramental and administrative roles in the Church and have rightly not barred them from any level of service to God, the Church or her people.
In response to the excerpt of Ruth Gledhill’s article in the Times Online. The language “careless about its Anglican Communion membership” far mischaracterizes what I have witnessed as a depth of prayer, consideration of consequences, and desire to listen.
I think considering how the monastic orders in North America understand the vow of obedience might be helpful in this context. They don’t understand it to mean that one must always obey without question. If one receives instructions and those instructions don’t seem right it is most obedient to speak up and clear up the confusion or rectify the error. I think that TEC is trying to do something like this in the Anglican Communion, but without having any clear mechanism for doing it.
Jon