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August 1, 2008

The Final Stretch

We now have 72 hours to complete our work, and we have begun frantically to complete the task ahead of us. Our morning started as usual with Eucharist, which today was led by the Church of Pakistan. Bishop Samuel Azariah, bishop of Rainwind, was the preacher.

The Bible study assigned for today was John 15:1-17, dealing with Jesus’ beautiful image of the vine that develops the Gospel’s central theme of love. This was the last of the ‘I am’ sayings in which Jesus identifies himself by using a metaphor (for example, bread, light, gate, resurrection, etc.). But it is also different from these earlier examples, because it includes the disciples within the image. As Jesus makes clear, the vine and the branches are indivisible.

Then we continued with a double portion of Indaba group meetings–one in the morning and the other one in the afternoon. We have been dealing with the Anglican Covenant, going line by line in small groups formed by our Bible study group. We were given a red and a green marker, and we were supposed to underline in green those things that we found OK and in red those things to which we objected. We also were told to use yellow for those points where we want further clarification. What was interesting is that we were never given a yellow marker–but nevertheless, we marked a few things that required further explanation.

As I inquired around of some of my colleagues, most of them had a hopeful outlook. I just don’t feel that optimistic: I think that a divide still exists that will be very hard to bring together.

Let me share with you some of the statements that I noted that worry me and that seem to be in the mind of a few here. For example:

“Theological critique of rights-based arguments needs to be undertaken, especially in the United States, whose founding political documents hold certain rights to be natural and self-evident. These documents picture humanity as endowed by its Creator with inalienable rights including to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. From a theological perspective, however, humans are gifted by God with rights and do not possess them inalienably. In the context of the Communion, we all need to speak in a voice that cuts across the grain of national identity.”

What is apparent to me is that some would like for us to give away our American natural and self-evident rights, handing them over to conform to some other culture’s understanding of freedom.

Another example is the following statement: “Episcopal colleges are by no means obligated to consecrate to a see a candidate elected according to the process of a diocese, especially if it defies the consensus of the wider Church. The consequences of participating in the consecration of such a candidate to the episcopate have been serious, because the bishop provides a unique focus for catholicity in the Communion. This action could be likened to the rape of Tamar by her brother described in the book of I Samuel 13.”

And then this: “Homosexuality might be increasingly common in society, but like other sins such as divorce, polygamy and adultery, it should perhaps not be brought to the altar.”

Or this: “One can feel excluded from the Communion by a liberal fundamentalism focused on justice and rights rather than biblical imperatives.”

In between the two Indaba group meetings we also had a hearing dealing with the Lambeth Conference Reflections. These hearings have been held at the Spouses’ Main Venue and are very well attended. Unfortunately some of the statements you hear there make you feel that you want to pack up and go, because with that much intolerance expressed, there seems no hope for the future. But regardless of that we stay, because we think that Christ wants us to be here and the power of the Holy Spirit can make all things new.

The evening was free, and I had a chance to attend to Diana. Besides going to the chiropractor she had to visit the medical clinic in order to get some pain killers. The
M. D. prescribed some medicine that seems to be helping some. What is interesting is that with the socialized medicine here in Britain both the doctor and the medicine were free. What a strange custom!

I know I have asked you for your prayers for God’s blessing upon this Lambeth Conference. Please pray a little extra this weekend for God’s guidance and strength to be able to continue uniting our beloved Church. Also don’t forget to pray for Diana’s healing and relief from her back and sciatica pain.

Blessings,

+Leo

July 31, 2008

The Bishop’s Finger

If you are not fully awake in the morning, you would certainly wake up after a couple of enthusiastic hymns at the early morning Eucharist celebrated by the Church of Burundi. I had the pleasure of meeting their primate, the Most Reverend Bernard Ntahaturi, in 1999 during a meeting of the Anglican Consultative Council in Dundee, Scotland. He also visited our diocese last year, attending All Saint’s, Ft. Lauderdale, and Bethesda by the Sea in Palm Beach. He preached an energetic sermon in which he encouraged all of us to continue strengthening the bonds of affection of our communion.

Bible study and Indaba groups have begun discussing our differences. Our Indaba group divided in two in order to be able to provide a more effective discussion. One thing you can say is that everybody has treated each other with the utmost respect and consideration. I am sure that this is a disappointment for the secular press, because what some of the reporters were expecting was nothing short of a fist fight.

In the afternoon we continued in plenary, working on a document to be released at the end of the Lambeth Conference. One thing that is evident is that we are not going to have a solution to our differences in a conference of only three weeks, but we are going to leave here knowing that we have come much closer to an understanding.

My day ended with attending a reception given by the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs. Williams at the Old Palace next to Canterbury Cathedral. Every night he has invited a small group of bishops and their spouses to visit his home away from the Lambeth Palace. The Archbishop and Jane have two teenage boys, who were also present. Unfortunately Diana was not able to attend, because she is still in a lot of pain that has manifested now as sciatica. In the morning she went to see a chiropractor and she was feeling a little better for a while, but later on during the day the pain came back.

From the Archbishop’s reception a group of us walked along High Street to a reception given by the University of the South. As you know, whoever is bishop of Southeast Florida becomes automatically one of the trustees of Sewanee–so there we were in a hotel right next to the Bishop’s Finger Pub, remembering our Alma Mater. Later on we all got in one of the local double-decker buses and headed back to the University of Kent.

Please keep Diana in your prayers for her recovery and for the pain to go away. Also pray for all the bishops during these crucial three days ahead.

+Leo

July 30, 2008

Come to Britain and lose lots of pounds

Now I can go back to my cardiologist and tell him that at last I was able to lose as many pounds as he suggested. Unfortunately the pounds have been Sterling, and not of the fat kind he would have preferred.

My advice to you if you are planning to visit the United Kingdom in the near future is to think twice, because our dollar here is beginning to feel like the paper money of one of those underdeveloped countries where you need to carry a basket full of currency to be able to buy a cup of coffee.

This morning started with the Eucharist celebrated by the Church in Hong Kong (Sheng Kung Hui). The Bishop of Hong Kong and Archbishop of the Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui gave a gracious sermon encouraging our generosity in dealing with each other.

My Bible Study spent half the time dealing with the Archbishop of Canterbury’s presentation the night before, focusing on how we can accommodate our differences and still maintain the integrity of our belief.

The rest of the time we dealt with our Bible reading assigned for today: John 11:1-44, which describes the resurrection of Lazarus. We learned from each other’s different Bible insights and managed to cover all the characters that appeared in that lesson.

Later on my Indaba group spent about 45 minutes discussing how to proceed. Eventually we decided to stay in the same room, and tried to carry on the discussions among the 40 of us in a room designed for about 20. We tried to determine what we think is the best way for us to go forward in the Anglican Communion in the midst of our divisions. I proposed that we should break into groups of 20 in order to give everyone a chance to speak, but the group voted that we should remain in the larger group. Then I suggested that those who had not spoken before should give their opinions first, so we kept quiet until those who had been silent had shared their opinions. I believe that tomorrow we will be able to give our position on how we think we should proceed. The reality is that as Anglicans we have many positions, and also that as Anglicans we do not consider our brains to be an obstacle, but a gift of God for us to use to determine God’s will in our lives.

In our Indaba group one of the Welsh bishops reminded us of the passage in Acts 10 that describes how Peter was able to understand Gods’ new teaching and revelation, and how that understanding applies to our churches in the 21st Century.

I also have to report on Diana’s experience this afternoon. She visited different places of interest including the palace of Anne Boleyn, as well as many churches.

Tonight we were invited to participate in the reception given by Virginia Theological Seminary, where our diocese sends many of its seminarians. It was a wonderful reception, and we had a chance to meet a lot of old friends.

Well, it is now to say good night again. May God continue blessing you.

+Leo

July 29, 2008

Looking for the Center

The morning Eucharist, led by the Canadian Church, was a multilingual experience that went beyond English and French. The preacher was an American, the Rt. Rev. Mark Macdonald, who is the National Indigenous Bishop of the Anglican Church of Canada, but is also the bishop in charge of Navajoland in the United States. He previously served as the bishop of Alaska.

After the Eucharist this morning was different from previous days, because we didn’t have our Bible Study Groups until late in the afternoon. Instead, the morning was dedicated to a Bible study in which all the Bishops and their Spouses participated–with all the men on one side and all the women on another side, including the women bishops!

At the beginning of the session I thought that it wasn’t going to work, but I found at the end of the session that it surely had contributed to the understanding of all of us of physical abuse against women.

The American House of Bishops met in the afternoon, and there was a lot of sharing of the best way to transmit our willingness to continue within the Anglican Communion.

The Bible study continued, and after that we rushed to Evening Prayer where the Province of Myanmar (Burma) presented a very moving video of the death and devastation caused by the cyclone and the floods it created. It was good to see how the Anglican Church in Myanmar was able to respond to alleviate the pain caused by the effects of the cyclone.

Immediately after that presentation the Archbishop of Canterbury gave his second Presidential Address, in which he basically encouraged us to move towards a Covenant.
He elaborated on how both sides may feel, but in the end called the church to move to the center and try to work out the impasse in which we find ourselves.

Pray for us this week, and hopefully we will be able to hear each other in the days ahead.

Blessings,

+Leo

July 28, 2008

No Rest For The Weary

What a wonderful Sunday–but definitely not much rest. Diana and I got into our coaches early to go to Sunday worship at Canterbury Cathedral. For everything here you queue at all times, so you have to leave about two to three hours earlier to make it on time. We got to the Cathedral with plenty time to see the cloisters, visit the crypt and light a couple of candles.

When we finally went into the Cathedral it was already packed–and I mean full to capacity. My bow tie, a gift of a couple from St. Joseph’s, Boynton Beach, must have impressed the usher, because he walked us almost to the front, where we could see the Archbishop celebrating and hear the Dean’s superb sermon.

The full choir was there, and the music, both old and modern, was out of this world. The service was close to perfect, except that they just don’t know how to communicate people without creating excessively long lines. (I imagine that if they started using the multiple communion stations that we use in America, they would lose the privilege to queue, which seems to be a national pastime in the UK.) It seems that part of the religious tradition here is for the distribution of the communion to take as long as the service.

Well, they are forgiven in my book, because besides the great music and sermon, at the end of the service we were served the best meal that I have eaten on church grounds–except for the Italian extravaganzas that Fr. Marty serves every year at St. Joseph’s. I got in trouble with Diana, because when she saw my plate with one or two of everything (salmon, lamb, chicken, sausages, beef and vegetables) she kept reminding me of the terrible tirade I could expect from my cardiologist. I explained to her the importance of not offending our hosts at this crucial time in the Anglican Communion.

In the afternoon we had a break before returning to the Cathedral for Vespers, so we did something that we wanted to do since our first visit to Canterbury. We took one of the little boats and floated on the river and canals that go through and sometimes under Canterbury. The weather was perfect, so we had a very pleasant ride.

After Vespers we were received by the Mayor of Canterbury. She was indeed very pleasant, and when I told her that I was the bishop of Southeast Florida and described the territory I covered, she wanted to know how could she get on the ballot for November in our elections and run for mayor.

The reception was at St. Augustine Abbey, which was destroyed when Henry VIII disbanded the monasteries. It was a walk through the ages as we visited the tombs of St. Augustine of Canterbury and the other Archbishops that served in Canterbury. Among them was the tomb of St. Theodore of Tarsus, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was able to complete the unification of the Celtic Church with the Latin Church that Pope Gregory had planted in England. His tomb was of special attraction to me, because I did my middler year thesis in seminary on St. Theodore and St. Chad.

By the time we got back to the University of Kent, where we are living, it was already past dinner time. By the time we went to bed, I was exhausted.

This morning I woke up early because I was invited by the Church of the Province of the Indian Ocean to take part in the Eucharist. The celebrant was Bishop Ian Roberts of Mauritius, the Primate of the Province. The preacher was Bishop Roger Chung Po Chuen, bishop of Antsiranana. Both Patsy and Todd McGregor were present, as well as other bishops of the Province, including the new bishop of our companion diocese,
Antananarivo, Madagascar.

By the way, Patsy had a chance to talk to our Presiding Bishop, and she came away from that conversation very hopeful. Please continue to keep her and Todd in your prayers.

Speaking of our Companion Dioceses, I have been able to spend some quality time with Bishop Laish Boyd, the coadjutor of the Diocese of the Bahamas and Turk and Caicos Islands. I haven’t been able to spend much time with Archbishop Drexel Gomez, because being one of the Primates he is even busier than what the rest of us are.

In my Indaba group I have Bishop Reid of Jamaica, as well as Bishop Gregory from Montego Bay–and also someone else whom many of you know: Bishop James Ottley, now assistant bishop of the Diocese of Long Island. Absent from this Lambeth are Bishop Holguin of the Dominican Republic and Bishop Allen of Honduras, but the Diocese of Cuba is represented here by all three of its bishops, Miguel Tamayo, Nerva Cot Aguilera and Ulises Aguero Prendes.

Our Bible Study today dealt with John 10:1-10, where Jesus says, “I am the gate.” It involves a journey, both entering into the sheepfold and going out to find pasture. All gates have an inside leading to secure and intimate dwelling and an outside leading to pasture and abundant life. While the enclosure is for safety, rest and refreshment, the sheep cannot always live in the enclosure. The shepherd also leads them outward into the world. There is a balance between ensuring individual security (inside) and effecting collective abundant life (outside).

I was able to share some of the experience of our diocese with the Nehemiah Process that many churches have adopted, equipping them to go out into the world and be more effective in sharing the good news.

The Indaba group dealt with the relations of our church with other faiths. We divided in groups after seeing a DVD presentation by several of the bishops here on how they are dealing with other faiths in their dioceses. My small group consisted of a bishop from south London who deals with people from many different faiths; a bishop from South Africa, dealing mainly with other Christian traditions and some Muslims and Hindus; and a bishop from Sudan who described constant pressure, and at times persecution, that his diocese experiences from Muslims. He shared with us a common occurrence in Muslim countries: If a person converts to Christianity, that person is killed. I shared with them my experience of living in an area where the other prevalent faith is Judaism. I must say that our Jewish neighbors have always been more than gracious in their relations with the Episcopal Church, and we should consider ourselves lucky to be sharing our communities with them.

We also received the news today that asylum has been granted in the UK to a Nigerian Anglican, Davis Mac-Iyalla, director of Changing Attitude Nigeria (a group that works for full acceptance for gay and lesbian persons in Anglican Church). He fled Nigeria in 2006 following a series of death threats and settled Togo, where a brief period of calm was followed by further intimidation, culminating in a violent assault in April of this year. In the same week another gay Anglican was severely beaten while representing Davis at his sister’s funeral in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. The UK government’s recognition that Nigeria can be a dangerous place for gay Anglicans contradicts some of the statements by the Nigerian Anglican Church that homosexuality never existed in their church. Sadly, the Nigerian Anglican Church refuses to condemn the violence against gay and lesbians in that country.

This afternoon we had the second hearing on the Windsor Process, as different ideas are expressed on how we should continue ahead in the communion. More of this later on.
Not much change since last time.

Tonight we had a superb presentation by Sir Jonathan Sacks, chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Britain and the Commonwealth. His theme was “Covenant” as he sees the concept expressed in the different Covenants that appear in the Old Testament. He said that unlike most forms of identity, a Covenant is not a “yes-no, us-them, if-I-am-right-you-are-wrong” way of partitioning reality. It recognizes that we have multiple identities and loyalties. That is because it is not ontological, but relational.

The whole assembly gave him a standing ovation like no other at this Lambeth Conference. If you want to read further, order his book The Home We Build Together, which deals with multiculturalism and suggests that we should see society as the home we are building together.

Well, it has been a long description, but take in consideration that I covered Sunday and Monday. Time to go to bed, and luckily there is no queue for that! Good night.

Blessings

+Leo

July 26, 2008

Smile, you are on Lambeth Camera!

This morning the Eucharist was celebrated by the Australians, who provided beautiful music indeed and a great sermon on the responsibilities we have to take care of our planet, to be stewards of this marvelous earth that God has made. The sermon was given by Bishop George Browning, Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn and chair of the Anglican Communion Environmental Network.

Our Bible Studies dealt with John 9:1-41, which tells of Jesus’ healing a blind man and of the attitude of the Scribes and Pharisees before and after this healing. We saw that after his healing the blind man was able to say, as Jesus did, “I am he.” The question for us is if we are also able to say “I am he,” a person Jesus has healed and transformed.

Our Indaba group dealt with the environment and our involvement in improving how we relate to our planet, God’s creation. I was glad to share that at my request we have “gone green” in our diocesan office. I think that we all can do something to help preserve our planet for those who will follow us.

We were told that next week we will be dealing in our Lambeth Conference directly with the issues that have created so much controversy in the Anglican Communion. Please keep us in your prayers especially in the coming week, with this challenge we have ahead of us.

After the Indaba groups we rushed to have lunch and get ready for the Lambeth Photograph. This may sound simple, but it was a very hard task to get over 700 bishops in rochet and chimere, plus all the ecumenical representatives who were present, lined up in row after row to take the group picture. It took over one hour, but luckily the sun was not out; in fact, it looked as if it were going to start raining any minute. We were told not to leave our places if it started raining, and thanks be to God, it did not. Usually the photograph is available before we leave the Lambeth Conference, but I am sure that it is bound to appear on the internet in a few hours. If you cannot find Waldo among the bishops, see if you can find me!

The good news for us here is that we are able to take it easy today and tomorrow. We are scheduled to go to Canterbury Cathedral tomorrow morning, and then in the afternoon some of us will go with the High Sheriff of Kent for tea and a tour of his extensive gardens at Doddington Place, which is a woodland garden with a recently restored Edwardian Rock Garden. Others will go to a Civic Reception in St. Augustine’s Priory usually given by the city leaders.

This blog is going to take Sunday off and God willing I will be back with you again on Monday.

Blessings,

+Leo

July 25, 2008

The Untouchables

The day started today with the customary Eucharist, which was led today by the Church of North India and the Church of Bangladesh. One of the issues we discussed this day was ecumenism, so it was appropriate that these two churches that were formed as a union of different Christian denominations be the celebrants.

The Church of North India came into existence in November 1970 after 41 years of consultation. Christians in that area realized that that to give witness to Christ in a country where Muslims and Hindus were the immense majority it was necessary to unite. Anglicans, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, Church of the Brethren, British Methodists and Disciples of Christ joined together to form a church that today has over 1,250,000 members with 28 dioceses. They united in accepting a common baptism, Lord’s Supper and three-fold ministry of bishops, priests and deacons. They have dioceses and hold synods, and their Presiding Bishop is called a moderator.

The Church of Bangladesh is smaller by comparison to the Church of North India, as the nation of Bangladesh is much smaller than India. This Church was formed by Anglicans and British Presbyterians, and it has a similar structure to the churches of North and South India.

The homily was given by the Rt. Rev. Purely Lyngdoh, Bishop of North East India and Deputy Moderator of the Church of North India.

In many ways today was a day in which the issue of the “Untouchables” of India, or the Dalit, as they are called, dominated many of our discussions. The word Dalit actually means “broken people.” There are over 200 million Dalits in India; they are the lowest you can be in the caste system of India, condemned for life to the most degrading existence that a human being could have. A common job that they can do is cleaning the excrement from the sewers. They are discriminated against and not allowed to move out of the class in which they were born.

I learned that about 70% of Indian Christians are from the Dalit or Untouchables caste, and that the Christians have been their only salvation and support, providing education, moral support and defense of their civil rights.

The Indian bishops asked us to make our dioceses aware of the many American, British and Canadian businesses operating in India that are cooperating indirectly with the discriminatory practices against the Dalits, so that we can work together for needed changes

Our Bible study continues dealing with hard questions presented in scripture. Today our study dealt with Bible verses that are quite controversial, and need to be rethought. Our text was the Gospel according to John, chapter 8, verse 44, in which Jesus tells the Jews that they are from their father, the devil. This verse has been used in the past to justify the persecution of the Jews.

The reality is that there are a number of verses in the Bible that should not be understood literally. Take Psalm 137, verses 7 to 9: I am sure that God doesn’t want us take anybody’s children and smash them against the rocks, or for us to murder homosexuals because of their sexual orientation, as ordered in Leviticus 20:13.

In the past, verses like these have been used to encourage hate and discrimination, be it against Jews, Arabs or gays. Every time we read one of these hate passages in the Bible we need to refer ourselves to what Jesus taught and to the core of his teaching. All the law and the prophets depend on the Great Commandment, found in the Gospel of Matthew 22: 34-40 or in Mark 12:28-34. Look it up! There are no other commandments great than these.

Our Indaba group continues. The format has been modified, and it seems that they are hearing us, because we had extra time to deal with our theme for today. We started with a DVD with an interview with Dame Mary Tanner, the current president for Europe for the World Council of Churches, who encouraged us to discuss “Called To Be One Church.” This statement, adopted by the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches on February 29, 2006, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, makes clear that the fellowship of the WCC remains committed to the goal of full, visible unity for the sake of credible mission and effective service to the world in need. The document asks churches of different denominations to consider whether they can affirm the description of the Church in the text, and invites them to a conversation about the degree of fellowship and mutual accountability they have with other churches and the effectiveness of their shared mission.

It was quite an interesting conversation that led me to believe that we are not ready to deal with issues of organic unity. I think that we are ready to deal with uniting to deal with social issues, but that was about all my group was ready to move on. We had in the group a bishop from the Church of South India, and of course his experience was different from ours in this country, but he confessed that there is a lot that everyone has to sacrifice of what we hold dear in order to achieve organic unity. What seems evident is that all of us believe in ecumenism, but don’t practice it.

In the afternoon we met as provinces and The Episcopal Church (TEC, as they call us here) gathered again inside the Big Top, because we are the largest group of bishops in Lambeth. One of the reports dealt with a meeting of some bishops who have links or Companion Relationships with the Church of Sudan. As you probably know, earlier this week the Primate of Sudan recently made some very unfortunate statements condemning our Church; but the report we got today from the American bishops who met with the Sudanese bishops was that a new statement will be presented in which they will clarify their statements, which have been used by the rightists to blast the Americans.

Let’s see if they do this. I was very discouraged to hear the Sudanese Primate make these extremely homophobic and discriminatory statements. It is quite interesting how people who are persecuted and ask for our help think nothing of being persecutors of other people who are being discriminated against. I will report in the next few days if they change their statement.

Many American bishops were discussing also how to help the Dalits, or Untouchables, of India, and it seems that something is going to come of this. I pray that we can be of help and a channel of grace to those “broken people” whom God loves. I don’t know if you know that two of our American bishops are East Indians, born in India, and are quite knowledgeable about this issue; I am sure that they will be good resources.

Talking about something else that God loves very much, tonight’s presentation came from Professor Chris Rapley, who spoke about the environment of our planet. He dealt with issues that are well known to many of us, but it is amazing how caring for our planet and its environment is not big on the agenda of many. Dr. Rapley has been the Director of the Science Museum since 2007, and he is a well known expert in climate change who was previously Director of the British Antarctic Survey.

Well, again is time to say good-bye. I hope my Lambeth Notes are helping somehow to give an idea of the hard work and seriousness that all bishops present are bringing to this conference. Even when we have disagreements, I can assure you that we respect and treat each other with dignity. I am proud of the love for each other that we express in our Bible studies and Indaba groups. A lot of misconceptions are erased on both sides, and with your prayers, all will be able to remain at the table. The only ones here that don’t seem too happy are the secular press, because they were hoping to report on a big family quarrel that has never materialized.

Blessings,

+Leo