Ad Clerum

The Bishop of Lichfield has issued an ad clerum to his clergy and ministers detailing his thoughts on the Lambeth Conference. You can read what he had to say here. At the end of this is Bishop Jonathan's Lambeth Blog, which he wrote as the conference progressed.

Bishop Jonathan Writes...

After our very encouraging CrossTalk Conference at Swanwick, renewing our covenants with our companion link dioceses in South East Asia, South Africa, Canada and Germany and after an exciting few days of giving hospitality to various bishops and their wives, including the Howes from West Missouri and the Archbishop of New Zealand and his wife, we left for Lambeth with high hopes but also some anxiety. Would the Anglican Communion stay together or fall apart?

Many of us came looking for a clear result. The Archbishop of Canterbury had acknowledged that the chaos of different provinces going their own way could not continue. We had waited long months for progress on the Windsor Report which laid out a way of distinguishing those things which were so important that we had to consult the Anglican Communion and those things which could allow local variation. We were all aware that 200 conservative bishops were absent, having been to a rival conference in Jordan and Jerusalem. We prayed for them every day.

Archbishop Rowan was in an impossible situation. The Americans and Canadians hoped to keep their heads down and not be expelled. The Asians and Africans hoped for a clear statement that the American practices were not biblical. The Archbishop was stretched both ways. His plan was to make space for God to act among us, and to make space for all sides to come together and understand one another better. In other words he wanted us to be together Christianly and generously before we decided or acted together. So instead of a conference agenda with resolutions and amendments we had plenty of opportunity to be ministered to, to listen, to try and understand.

It began with three days retreat in the Cathedral, which shut its doors to tourists in order to give itself entirely to us. This generous hospitality was a key part of the Conference and helped us all to be more generous to one another too. There were powerful addresses by the Archbishop in which he spoke of Christian and less-than-Christian ways of being a world communion, and there was plenty of time for us to pray and be quiet. We soon discovered the first of many misunderstandings. For us “Retreat” assumed silence. For the Africans and many others it meant “Conference.” We only understood later why they had been so noisy! But it was a great way to start our weeks together.

We soon settled into a daily routine of a Eucharist at 7.15, followed by Bible Study in small groups for the first half of the morning, looking together at the “I am” sayings in John’s Gospel. It was marvellous to wait on God together with people from the other side of the world. For the second half of each morning we met together in “Indaba Groups” combining six Bible Study Groups and working together at the task of being a bishop today in our different contexts. We represented every sort of Anglican and it was fascinating to see respect and understanding grow as we questioned one another. We began with the less controversial topics and only latterly tackled human sexuality and how to act as a communion. By that time we had built up enough friendship for us to be direct.

In the afternoons and evenings there were all sorts of meetings to choose from, and in particular a series of “hearings” about the Windsor Process and the Covenant. This allowed anyone to speak from the floor and speak they did. We soon discovered that the main tensions were not between advanced, liberal Americans and conservative, developing nations. The differences ran down the middle of all our countries, but especially The American Episcopal Church which at one stage looked as if it would tear itself apart in front of us all.

It was made more difficult because the organisation failed at one or two crucial points. The hearings were held in an impossibly hot hall where we all sat in our own puddles of perspiration and got anxious. Long, long queues meant that no one could relax at meal times and the programme became congested. There was no time to think. Many Americans gave up and went and had their meals at local restaurants.

But the hospitality of Rowan kept on having its effect. He refused to control the process and wanted things to emerge from the grass-roots. He spoke movingly of strengthening the centre of our Communion and not allowing the extremes to dominate. In the Bible Studies and Indabas we got beyond politeness and started tackling the issues. There were one or two Americans and Canadians who couldn’t see that they had done anything wrong and were convinced that having actively gay clergy was just the obvious next step in the civil rights movement. But most of them were full of regrets about moving ahead on this matter without consulting the world-wide church and we had some genuine apologies. Many of us who had started the Conference extremely suspicious of the integrity of TEC found ourselves growing in respect for those in our groups who were frankly moderate and even conservative. It was also healthy for us English to see that we sometimes came across to the Africans and Asians as still colonialist in our attitudes and to the Australians and New Zealanders as insufferably self-righteous. No one could say any longer that the Americans were 100% wrong and the rest of us 100% right.

So did we get a result? It is not completely clear but I believe we did. We all backed the assertion of the Archbishop of Canterbury that the 1998 Lambeth Resolution 1:10 must stand and form the basis for the immediate future. The vast majority agreed on an unconditional moratorium on same-sex blessings, actively homo-sexual bishops and incursions into dioceses from other provinces. We agreed on a covenant to define doctrinal and ethical boundaries. We agreed that the Windsor process must continue, even if it meant that some dioceses would have to leave the Anglican Communion. As we left the Conference it seemed that the miracle we had prayed for but hardly dared hope for had happened. Peace with honour was breaking out in the Anglican Communion.

Will this be enough to satisfy the GAFCON conservatives? It won’t satisfy those at the very extremes of either side, but I believe most people, including most ordinary GAFCON delegates, want the Anglican Communion to work and are willing to continue to work at building up a strong and properly Christian centre.

The highlights of the conference were definitely the London Day when we stopped the traffic in support of the Millennium Development Goals, the amazing opening and closing services in the cathedral, the key note guest speakers and ecumenical contributions—and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s leadership. No one else could have moved us away from anxiety and hatred to the beginnings of love and respect. The process is only at a start and it is fragile. The wild men will continue to say and do wild things to gain attention. Some important matters are still vague and need clarifying. None of us can be satisfied with muddle. But to sort it out will take time. There is much work to be done over the next months and in this our own companionship links will prove to be of great importance. I believe that our Archbishop deserves our support, our patience and our continuing prayers; it might just be that under his leadership the miracle continues and the dream of an Anglican Communion of all nations but faithful to God’s one revelation in Christ Jesus emerges stronger than ever.

The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill
Bishop of Lichfield

The Bishop of Lichfield's Lambeth Blog

 

Day 18

- 2nd August 2008

Yesterday we had another in the series of “Hearings” in the sweltering sports hall, where the document called “Reflections” is looked at, page by page, and anyone can get up and suggest a correction. The debate gets pretty sharp at times in the heat.

The liberal Canadian bishop of New Westminster insists that illegal “incursions” into his diocese by conservative bishops happened before Gene Robinson, for instance in Singapore.

The conservative American bishop from Albany says that the reason that the homosexual issue has split the Communion is because it is an issue of salvation: it is refusing to call a sin “a sin.”

The retired Bishop in Los Angeles, Bob Anderson, accuses the Church of England of hypocrisy because the C of E is condemning the Americans but never consulted the worldwide Communion about their own novel development of “flying bishops” who invade any and every diocese.

The Archbishop of York gets up to explain that our Flying Bishops or Provincial Episcopal Visitors act under the authority of Diocesan Bishops, within their own province and go only where they are invited. This is quite different from the case when a conservative parish in America asks for episcopal oversight from the other side of the world.

This morning a minor miracle takes place. Our Indaba group, drawn almost from every nation under heaven, agrees all but unanimously on the way ahead for the Anglican Communion. We agree to a moratorium on actively gay bishops, on same-sex blessings and incursions from other provinces until a Covenant can be drawn up. 

We agree to a Pastoral Forum to advise the Archbishop of Canterbury and provide mediation for disputes between provinces or dioceses.

We make several suggestions for strengthening and improving the “Instruments of Communion” including the idea that a future Archbishop of Canterbury might be elected from across the world.

We should strengthen the teaching office and decision-making ability of the Lambeth Conference.

The constituencies of the Anglican Consultative Council and the Primates Meeting need sorting out; at present they are not representative and America dominates.

Forty-three out of forty-five bishops agree to the moratoria and the Pastoral Forum and the other two more or less cancel each other out. There is one bishop who says that this would be too hard for his gay and lesbian people and another who says that the American church must repent before we can restore fellowship.

In the discussion afterwards we are told that the US House of Bishops has regretted for the hurt it has caused and its lack of consultation and has issued a public apology - though no one has the exact wording. We are also told that the Canadians have voted against same-sex blessings - though two dioceses are pressing their bishops to change that. We are told that in the lawsuits in America between parishes and their dioceses it is the dioceses who are the defendants and the conservative parishes who are the accusers.

The Old Catholic Bishop of Germany, points out that these issues are about life and life takes time. It took the Church hundreds of years to define the Trinity, decades to agree to contraception and to women being ordained and we can’t expect to get sexuality right in just a couple of decades. We must not be too impatient.

This is only one Indaba group out of 16, but both its tone and its content are a real answer to prayer. If most of the others have similar outcomes the Conference will come to a happy conclusion, the Windsor Process can continue and the Anglican Communion is likely to be saved.

Praise the Lord…and keep praying!

• Update: 10th September 2008
  
  Bishop Jonathan has been contacted by a number of people responding to the claims in this blog about the lawsuits taking place in the United States.  The subject is being discussed in length on a number of blogs.  Bishop Jonathan responds: "I followed this up and the situation is that, although things vary a great deal in different corners of the country (for instance in some parts of New England parishes pre-date dioceses), I was misled and a significant number of diocesan bishops are taking legal action against traditionalist parishes and priests." 

Day 17

- 1st August 2008

There are, it is said, around 200 Anglican bishops who are not here. Exact numbers are hard to come by and we hear that 50 extra Sudanese bishops and their wives came along unannounced.

About the same number of people are here as ten years ago but the Anglican Communion is growing so there should have been more (though how they would have coped with any more in the big top, let alone in the dining rooms, is anyone’s guess).

The reason they are not here is that they come mainly from the Dioceses of Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda, whose primates have lost patience with the slow pace of progress in following up the crisis over the ordination of Gene Robinson as Bishop in America and the Blessing of same-sex unions in Canada.

We pray for the absentees every day in the services and hope that they won’t split away permanently as some of them threaten to do, who feel that the Global South provinces must make their own way in the world and cut the formal links with the Archbishop of Canterbury.

It is plain to see that he is being pulled both ways. Many of the Americans and Canadians and some from all over the world don’t want any kind of formal process to which they would be subject (any more than they want to recognize the International Court at The Hague). Most of the Africans, Asians and a sizeable chunk of Americans, English, Australians and New Zealanders need a firm agreement to take home with them if the Anglican Communion is not just to fragment.

At long last we have started to discuss both the presenting problem (human sexuality) and the question of how we can have a coherent government for the Anglican Communion (The Covenant) in our Indaba Groups. With 45 people present there are all sorts of different views but the large majority are in favour of a moderate conservatism.

The key points are that:

• The Lambeth 1998 resolutions on sexuality (1:10)are not going to be revisited.
  
  
• A complete moratorium must be observed on:
  ordaining active homosexuals as bishops, blessing same-sex couples,
  and incursions into other provinces,
  until the Anglican Covenant can be brought in
  
  
• The Windsor Process, which will firm up the government of the Communion and distinguish between which things are to be agreed upon everywhere and which things can be left to local choice, must carry on
  
  
• A Pastoral Council will be established to tackle problems between provinces
  
  
• An Anglican Covenant will help people understand what are the core doctrines and principles of the Church and establish a way of tackling those who decide to ignore the voice of the world-wide church.

It is becoming clear that very few people want either the complete centralised control of the Roman Catholics or a loose federation of churches and we have to do something about the present Anglican chaos.

Following the above points may not satisfy everyone but could provide the kind of firm boundaries within which different provinces can be free to live and make their own decisions for the mission of their world. But there is still time for it all to go horribly wrong. Keep praying!   

Day 15

- 30th July 2008

Today the Archbishop made an intervention to give a mid-point perspective to the Lambeth Conference. We are used by now to him saying “On the one hand this and on the other hand that,” and so it was no surprise that he refused again to come down on one side or the other.

To the question “What is Lambeth 2008 to say?” he insisted that there was a prior question: “Where is Lambeth 08 going to speak from?” and the answer to this was that “We speak from the centre as Anglicans, as the body of Christ.”

“That imposes demands on us - checking our tendency to speak from one dimension only.” So he presented what each side in the homosexuality debate was thinking and asked each side to be generous to the other.

This is a risky game of course. It makes room for the Holy Spirit to change our hearts and challenges us to grow up and be mature in our discussions. But equally, if there is no hand on the tiller, it gives space for people and pressure groups to steer the conference in an unrepresentative way.

The next day the usual morning routine was broken and bishops and spouses were invited to the big top together for a session on the controversial issues that are splitting the Communion. Or so we thought. When we got there we found it was to have a session on violence against women and children.

They hadn’t told us beforehand because they feared that some of the men would not turn up! There was a brilliant theatre piece by Riding Lights, somehow bringing together Jairus’ daughter, the woman bent up double and several other episodes from the gospels.

I found myself wiping away more than the odd tear when Jesus raised up Jairus’ daughter. Then there was an excellent reading of one of the Old Testament’s texts of terror, the rape of Tamar in 2 Samuel 13.

The men and the women were seated separately in the tent so that we could discuss the story and the whole business of women’s powerlessness in single-sex groups. The men in my group seemed a rather quiet and timid lot who retreated further and further into themselves as the questions about the Church’s abuse of women became more and more hectoring.

We had another steaming hot afternoon in the Sports Hall, discussing the second draft of a document which we will take home with us when we leave and which will say what we want to say to the world.

The Reflections Group have been spending long hours collating all the material produced by the Indaba groups into something coherent. The trouble is that it is largely descriptive and as yet extremely bland.

We discover that we agree with goodness and disagree with sin. Worse than that we don’t get on to the controversial stuff until the last couple of days. Will we have time to say anything about that?

Day 12

- 27th July 2008

A big part of the Lambeth Conference is hospitality. Rowan and Jane Williams have 150 people to their home every evening. Other groups put on special meals to wow their supporters.

We have been given the Old Catholic Archbishop of Utrecht and Bishop of Germany to look after. They are old friends and it is a pleasure to help them find their way round campus. One was meant to be here for the first half of the conference and the other for the second but this weekend they are both here.

On Saturday night we take Bishop Vobbe out to have a beer by the sea at Whitstable. It is so warm that there are crowds and barbecues on the beach and people are still swimming.

On Sunday we take Archbishop Vercammen plus the Bishop of Savannah, Georgia and his wife to St Martin’s, Canterbury, the oldest parish church in England and receive a warm welcome.

The guest preacher this morning is the Archbishop of South Korea who speaks movingly of how God first spoke to him through the sound of a church bell. He somehow knew it was God speaking to him and this set him on the way to becoming a Christian.

After the service we walk round the outside to the Roman doorway where Queen Bertha entered the church with her chaplain before Augustine landed in 597. It is a very special moment.

Then we drive over the Romney Marsh in sparkling sunshine to Rye and give our guests lunch in beautiful Mermaid Street. An American poet from Savannah came to live in Rye along with Henry James and T.S. Eliot in the first half of the twentieth century.

In the evening the Bishop of New Orleans and his wife invite us together with a dozen others to celebrate his birthday. We have a great time. Only at the end of the evening do they ask me what the English bishops are thinking about the consecrating of active homosexuals.

I try to explain that we don’t understand how, after a 90% vote against it at the last Lambeth Conference, the Americans first signed up to the Primates’ agreement not to appoint such a bishop and then went ahead and did it - and don’t appear to understand why this is causing problems for the rest of the Anglican Communion.

The party breaks up before I get an answer and so the question is left hanging for another day.  

Day 10

- 25th July 2008

We have now had six days of unbroken sunshine. After two months of cold and rain this is a real answer to prayer for the 1500 people walking long distance round the University of Kent campus.

The hideous concrete buildings have been covered with greenery, the trees have grown up and the university is beautiful in such fine weather.

The trouble about a conference filled with good people from many different parts of the world is that they are often very convincing. I find myself sitting next to people who complain about how the Americans are so litigious. “Why are the Presiding Bishop and others taking theologically conservative clergy to court, instead of settling things with mediation in a Christian way?”

So next time I sit next to an American I put that question. “That’s not true,” he says, “on the contrary it is the conservative clergy who are taking The Episcopal Church to court. We are simply defending our parishioners.”

And so it goes on—over this and many other topics. For each disputed area both sides have a reasonable case and are convinced that the other side has got hold of a caricature about them.

In our Bible Study groups, however, although up to now we haven’t discussed the controversial topics very much, we are building respect for one another and are getting to the point where we can be vulnerable with one another. Several of those in my group of eight are first-generation Christians, having been converted from Buddhism.

Six Bible Study groups join together to form a larger group of 45-50 called an “Indaba” group. We have been working on a different topic each morning such as “The Bishop and Anglican Identity,” “The Bishop and Evangelism,” “The Bishop and Social Justice.”

We are led by a very gifted younger bishop from Panama and our members come from just about every corner of the world.

An American bishop tells me about his “Fresh Expressions” of church. He’d noticed that the population of a town in his diocese was rising, with many new families coming to live there because of new work in the neighbourhood. The local Episcopal church was a good one but it took all the energy of the middle-aged and elderly members to welcome one another and there was little energy left over to welcome any newcomers.

So the bishop decided a new church was needed. He searched for and eventually found a priest who had the pioneering gifts and was up for the challenge. When this priest moved into the town he visited and leafleted extensively, asking the newcomers what they would like out of a new church. He didn’t ask anyone at this stage to come to him; he went to them and listened to them.

The answer was clear: the new jobs were fine but there were no facilities for pre-school children or safe places for young people. The diocese helped the pioneer priest with a loan to buy a good site next to a school. They put up a new building that looked like a church at the front but had the facilities for 85 pre-school children and other youth work.

A few years down the line the priest reports 300 people using the church on a Sunday and is aiming for 600. The debt on the buildings has not yet been paid off but the centre and the parish are paying their way.

Day 9

- 24th July 2008

Thursday 24th was the London Day—the best day of the Conference so far. We all got up in time for a 6am breakfast. Unfortunately at the main dining hall they hadn’t reminded the staff who unlock the WCs and they remained locked.

We had a smooth journey in dozens of coaches through the rush hour into London and arrived at the Embankment 45 minutes early. Dozens of purple-clad bishops and their wives besieged the WCs. A kind bishop took some of us off to have coffee and when we got back the organisers were busy distributing placards for us carry.

It was a perfect day for a march through Whitehall, to remind the powers-that-be of their promises to tackle world poverty and to offer our support for international initiatives by our political leaders that would reduce the numbers of babies dying from curable disease and increase education opportunities.

It was a good cause and we felt more than justified in stopping the traffic round Parliament Square and over Lambeth Bridge. It seemed a huge crowd of demonstrators. When we arrived at Lambeth Palace there was a large stage by the great front door and the Archbishop welcomed the leaders of other churches and faiths as well as the Prime Minister.

Both the Archbishop and the PM gave very strong speeches and the PM asked the people from the 130 countries there to put pressure on their governments to keep the Millennium goals before them until real progress had been made. He thanked us for all the churches had done to keep these vital matters before government. He sketched the progress we had made since 2000.

He spoke movingly of what still needed to be done and the sizeable task it would be. He reminded us that few people had believed that apartheid would end or the Berlin wall come down. We could have hope that the goals were achievable. Could this be a turning point in the resolve of the churches to make a difference? There was heartfelt applause.

By now the heat was stifling and we were glad to be able to go through to the rear gardens where an enormous and beautiful tent was set up. When we went inside and saw how vast it was we understood why there are such long queues back at the university. But here 1500 people were fed in an hour and a half and after a walk round the gardens we proceeded to Buckingham Palace for tea with the Queen.

In spite of the scorching sun the Duke of Edinburgh wore a three-piece suit and grey topper, so we didn’t feel overdressed in our cassocks. The gardens were lovely, the teas were delicious and Her Majesty spent much more time than we had expected in greeting her guests.

I was delighted to see Bishop Ng Moon Hing of West Malaysia, one of our companion link bishops, being presented to her. She had been twice to his cathedral, she said. It was also good to see one of the stewards, the daughter of a parishioner, being presented.

We were very tired by the time we had fought our way back through the rush-hour and a collective groan went up when we saw that there was a half-hour queue for our late night salad—but it was worth it.

Everyone agreed it had been a splendid day, that the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs Williams had shown inspiring leadership to church and nation and that we had been given exceptional hospitality.

Day 5

- 20th July 2008

On Sunday we had the grand opening service and everyone was taken down to the Cathedral in an efficient fleet of buses. We walked through the Burgate in our cassocks, passing a small demonstration with slogans like “Woe to you who are at ease in Lambeth.” It wasn’t quite clear what they were demonstrating about but some at least were not from Britain.

The helpers in their yellow sashes guided us through the gates and the bishops went to the crypt to get ready. The service was magnificent; the procession of bishops seemed to go on forever and the support by ecumenical guests was impressive. Ten years ago we sat with our wives in the nave; this time all the bishops were in the Quire and Presbytery. Perhaps the high point of the service was a wonderful Gospel dance by the Melanesian dancers, carrying the gospel book in a boat to the nave.

The musical setting of the service was the Congolese mass which featured in the film If. It was marvellous to see the cathedral choir relaxing into music with a real beat - such a thing would have been frowned on a few years ago.

Some of the hymns, including the opening one, were a bit weak on mention of God but there were rousing favourites too. The preacher tried unsuccessfully to apply the parable of the wheat and the tares to the Anglican Communion in an otherwise clear sermon. There were contributions from many different countries.

All in all it was a wonderful occasion and we felt proud and privileged to be part of a world-wide movement.

In the afternoon we held the introduction to the Conference proper in the Big Top. Archbishop Drexel Gomez explained the Covenant Process which had started with the Windsor Report in 2004. This wrestled with the question of how a world-wide church could make decisions together.

In particular it tackled the question of which things are matters of local choice, which matters must be agreed internationally and how you can tell the difference. He hoped that we would be able to finalize a Covenant for the world-wide Anglican Communion by May 2009.

Then Bishop Clive Hannaford gave a clear explanation of the opportunities during this conference for hearings about how we have come to be divided over sexuality and how to repair the break which has so wounded us and our ecumenical relationships.

Finally the Archbishop of Canterbury came in to a standing ovation and gave a barn-storming address. “We have to decide how to make choices. The old way of resolutions and papers was too western and too twentieth century and had proved ineffective. The voices heard most were western voices comfortable with the old procedures. But conferences work best when the majority owns the process and feels it has shaped the results.

"We are not to be content with ‘squaring a circle’; nor do we feel happy about either letting the Communion lapse into a loose federation or a tightly controlled magisterium. We are led to the idea of “counsel” and “covenant” as ways of self-limiting our freedom. The alternatives are not irreparable schism or total uniformity. All the bonds of affection are real. We are faced with an astonishingly large opportunity to love our enemies and respect our opponents.”

After prolonged applause we turned to worship with a renewed hope for the Conference and for the Communion. Maybe, just maybe, the Holy Spirit would lead us through this crisis and out the other side.

Day 4

It is surrounded by a large fence and you have to show your pass to get in.  We are assured that this is not to keep out campaigning groups but an instruction from the insurance company to protect the equipment from thieves.

You walk three sides round that, and find a cramped tiered seat with 1,000 others.  Then you have to manipulate a large song book in one hand and a folder full of liturgy in the other with an open bag on the floor, without elbowing your neighbour too much.  But it doesn’t seem to matter too much. 

The music team is first-class and we learn a lot of new songs.  The liturgy is led by a different nationality every day, so sometimes it is in English and sometimes not.  One of the liveliest groups is the Brazilians and we see bishops doing the samba round the altar. The atmosphere is good and people join whole-heartedly in whatever is offered to them.

The last day of the retreat is held in the Big Top.  I hope this will help the transition to Conference mode.  Otherwise we might have kept business and retreat in separate compartments.

There are many memorable phrases from the Archbishop of Canterbury in his retreat addresses.  “Bishops are deeply unreliable allies.  All the causes and campaigns want us on their side.  And we have to say to them that there is always more to being on your side.  Sometimes we have to say, ‘I must let you down for the sake of the Body.’  To make that more than dithering is the challenge.

“A bishop is fully with and for his people and partly a stranger, always on the road.  He doesn’t just take on the local colour and language but also takes on the language of God. Ezekiel 3 reminds us that sometimes the people next door are the ones whose language is the hardest to learn.  The bishop has to be a linguist. To learn a language you have to be obedient.  We want to communicate God’s language.  To be not just a stranger but a Christ-like stranger.  The bishop listens with one ear to God and the other to the needs of the world: ‘Tell me what you want me to do for you.’  St Paul had been an expert in his faith but then had to learn to be a fool before the same people among whom he had been an expert.  Harder still he then had to be jeered at by Gentiles (Acts 17).

“Christian leadership is not about commands and decisions but clearing the way to the cross.  Our mission is not us taking Jesus where he has not been before, (What an extraordinary idea!) but us following where he has cleared the way.  People ask about any new development in mission or fresh expression, ‘Is it Anglican?’  That is not an easy question to answer given our variety! But the right question to ask is rather, ‘Is this new development of God and his future? Is it part of the new and living way?’  (Hebrews 10)  If so, then we need to draw it in and make it Anglican."

The Archbishop made several oblique (and not so oblique) references to the troubles of the Communion and the amount of time he and so many others were having to spend on them.  But the way he was able to keep to an atmosphere of retreat was a great way to draw us all in.

Days 2-3

I still haven’t made it to Morning Prayer at 6.30, partly because it is almost a mile away from our rooms, but we are enjoying the Morning Eucharist at 7.15 a.m. However because it can take up to an hour to queue for breakfast we have bought our own cereal and are eating it in our own quarters. We are not the only ones!

For the next two and a half weeks the first half of each morning will be spent in the same Bible Study group as we pray and discuss the early chapters of John’s Gospel together. It takes some time to find the student room where we meet but we are helped by dozens of volunteers wearing yellow sashes who guide us down the labyrinth of corridors.

There are five Chinese in my group, including all three bishops from Hong Kong. This is a bit of a missed opportunity because they all meet every Thursday back home and speak perfect English. They were hoping to meet some people from Africa or India but are far too polite to say so. But they are all avid Bible students and I learn things from John’s Gospel which I have never seen before. The hour and a quarter are all too quickly over.

Then we are loaded into coaches to go down to Canterbury Cathedral for our two and a half day retreat. There are no queues and we are taken very efficiently into the City centre and guided to the cathedral with the help of dozens of yellow sashes, many of whom I find I know from my time in this diocese.

The retreat proves to be a great success. The Dean makes us all feel welcome in a way which touches our hearts. The Chapter have closed the whole area to tourists for the duration and given it all over to us. Canterbury Cathedral has not always been this friendly.

Archbishop Rowan gives us solid and thoughtful addresses about the heart of being a disciple and then we are free to explore the cathedral and its precincts, find a chapel or a quiet corner to pray in and generally soak up the atmosphere. I know the building so well and yet had forgotten how beautiful it is.

Not all the bishops are used to being silent and there is quite a noise in the nave. But I am not very good at quieting my inner voices either and am grateful for the chance to be still in a tiring schedule. On the way back on the coaches I can hear from all sides that a retreat has been a good way to be together before we get down to the business.

Getting things sorted on campus soon tests my inner life again. I am trying to look after the Archbishop of Utrecht and spend time queuing with him for his tickets to the opening service in the Cathedral. When we get to the front of the queue they tell us that, contrary to the announcements, they do not have his ticket there!

Then I spend a frustrating hour in another queue for some advice missing from the university instructions as to how to make email work from my room. Happily, Gavin Drake is on hand and manages to sort out the connection. We are in contact!

Day 1

- 16 July 2008

We had a smooth journey from Lichfield and enjoyed spending it with the Bishop of West Malaysia, a real missionary statesman. His own parish grew from one congregation to 47 before he became a bishop and has now reached 50!

Our hearts rose as we came past the Kent orchards, over the hill and saw the majestic white towers of Canterbury Cathedral in front. At the University there were no signs for the Lambeth Conference but by asking people we managed to find Registration. There the nightmare began. It was hot, and people who had travelled from all over the world were tired.

The first queue was to register baggage. That took about 20 minutes. The second was to register oneself. That took an hour and a half. There were about 20 stewards to greet us but only one person at the end of the line to register us as we arrived in our hundreds.

Then, because they had lost some of the photographs we had sent beforehand, there was a third queue to be re-photographed.

We were just in time to walk to the other end of campus and the Conference Big Top. Our excitement mounted again as the tent filled up, but we were not so excited when most of the next hour was spent in thanking the people who had “organized” the conference.

After that it was supper time and another hour to queue. You might think that I should not whinge, and probably I shouldn’t, but exactly the same thing had happened 10 years ago and we had written several letters over the years to the organizing team, warning them how the University works and how to avoid queues.

We had even been to meetings and raised all the issues and had been calmly told that everything was in hand and that all problems would be taken care of. It was difficult to applaud those same people after hours of queuing on the first night!

We were glad to meet bishops and their wives from all over the world; people we’d met through various means and to whom we owed hospitality. Jane and I have two comfortable single bedrooms about a mile from the main campus, so we are glad we have brought bikes with us because morning prayer is at 6.30 a.m.!

We have great expectations.

Day 0

We drove down to the Lambeth Conference in high spirits after an excellent week with our companion link dioceses. The CrossTalk Conference at Swanwick was an inspiration and encouragement for all the parishes who took part. We pay lip-service to the notion that we are a world-wide church but worshipping in a multi-ethnic crowd brings it home like nothing else. Our Diocese can be proud of itself for hosting such a large event and making everyone welcome. We were grateful to the Bishops of Qu’Appelle (Canada), Matlosane (South Africa), West Malaysia, Kuching (East Malaysia) and later the Archbishop of Waikato (New Zealand) for visiting so many parishes. And a big thank-you to all who helped ferry them round, recover lost luggage, and make them feel at home.

On Thursday we had an all-day Bishop’s Staff Meeting to pray with our partner bishops and archdeacons and discuss how we could deepen our links in the years to come so that we can work at our common mission. We have some considerable missionary statesmen among our partners and it will be a privilege to work with them. If you know of anyone who might like to teach English for a couple of years in South East Asia or a young person who might like to do some months of voluntary work, please let me know.

On Saturday we had a splendid celebration in Stafford at which every guest diocese made a contribution followed by a Chinese meal for 170.

The climax was the service in the Cathedral on Sunday at which we were able to announce that the Bishop of Singapore and Archbishop of the Province, John Chew, wanted to come in to the relationship and sign a covenant with us too. There was great applause when this was announced. The Bishop of Shrewsbury preached a fine sermon and it was a solemn moment when the covenants were signed.

During the week the companion Bishops travelled far and wide and other guests came and went, including the Bishop of West Missouri. The Archbishop of New Zealand paid a special visit to the tomb of Selwyn, the great missionary hero of New Zealand. In the stale atmosphere of the tomb his wife fainted away and we had to call an ambulance! But with the help of an unplanned visit to the Good Hope Hospital she soon recovered.

So will the Lambeth Conference live up to the excitement of our own diocesan Pre-Lambeth celebrations? It will have to be good to match what we received last week!