Lambeth Conference welcomes ecumenical partners
Episcopal News Service, Canterbury. July 20, 2008 [072008-01]
Pat McCaughan
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams welcomed as "sharers in our work together" about 70 Anglican Communion ecumenical partners at a July 19 evening worship service in the 'big top' blue tent pitched on the grounds of the University of Kent in Canterbury.
"We pray that you will show us something of the depths of God in what you have to share with us," Williams told the Lambeth Conference guests while preaching at the service, attended by about 900 bishops, spouses and other visitors.
"We pray you will provoke us further in that endless journey of love and discovery towards the perfection that we never arrive at or master because there is always more of God's love in Jesus Christ to encounter," Williams said. He promised additional guests throughout the July 16-August 3 conference, saying "this is not the entire spectrum of people we are expecting to join us in these weeks."
The full text of his sermon is available here.
In a departure from previous conferences, the July 16-August 3 gathering, themed "Equipping Bishops for Mission," will feature as principal speakers ecumenical partners such as Cardinal Ivan Dias of the Vatican's Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, and the Rev. Brian McLaren, an American evangelical and founding pastor of Cedar Ridge Community Church.
"It's quite a change in the way we've been doing things," acknowledged the Rev. Canon Kenneth Kearon, Anglican Communion Secretary General. He said some ecumenical partners are in full communion with the Anglican Communion, others are partners with strong dialogue.
The gathering of about 650 bishops from across the communion will be considering "various ecumenical documents as we move forward as a communion…working in terms of mission."
Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the Province of the West Indies said "as Anglicans ecumenism is an extremely important part of our outlook. We always invite our ecumenical partners and churches to become participants in the work we are doing because we believe in the end that all believers should be working toward fulfillment of the Lord's wish in John 17 that we all may be one.
"Their presence here this afternoon is an assurance of concern and interest in the Anglican Communion and a willingness of other churches to work with us towards building up a stronger Christian environment for a global world," said Gomez, who is chairman of the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations and who also officiated at the Saturday evening service.
The ecumenical visitors add another dimension to the conference, according to Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane, the primate of Australia. "They remind us we are not alone in this," he said. "They remind us that we are in relationship with a lot of people who are not in the Anglican world."
The evening's worship service bulletin included letters from a number of ecumenical partners, including one from Vatican Cardinal Secretary of State Tarcisio C. Bertone on behalf of Pope Benedict, which extended "cordial greetings" to Williams and the Anglican bishops.
"His Holiness assures you of a remembrance in his prayers at this time," according to the letter which characterized Lambeth deliberations as "ecclesiological questions" that pose a "grave" challenge to the hope for full and visible unity that has been the long-standing goal of our joint ecumenical endeavor. Citing a 2006 commitment to "continuing dialogue to address the important issues involved in the emerging ecclesiological and ethical factors making [our] journey more difficult and arduous."
The letter also acknowledged that a Catholic delegation led by Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, with the participation also of Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, will be present during the conference. "It is a sign of the fact that we are indeed pilgrims together towards the goal of unity that the Lord desires for his disciples."
Numerous other prayerful and congratulatory letters were included from a variety of churches throughout the world extending congratulations, prayers and good wishes for the conference.
Metropolitan Geevarghese mar Theodosius of the Mar Thoma Syrian Church of Malabar in South India said the churches must strive to maintain unity "in spite of the diversity God has given to people, [because] we live in a global era."
Presiding Bishop Mark S. Hanson of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America and the President of the Lutheran World Federation, told ENS "it was a great privilege to have been invited to be part of the retreat first, to begin in the context of prayer, listen to the archbishop's very thoughtful reflection on the text, to let the anxiety calm down.
"The issue is how to center our life in community in Christ and not define our community on the basis of sexuality…Perhaps finding our unity within diversity right now is a powerful testimony to a world that doesn't do well with unity or diversity."
He said he has high hopes for the future of ecumenical relations. Increasingly, the global community challenges us all, he added. "When I am with folks their questions are how do I live as a Christian with a Hindu on one side and a Buddhist on the other. I don't think we understand unity with diversity within the body of Christ."