Olympic fever

I hadn’t realised that having a “red button” could be quite so addictive! Yet since the opening of the Olympics in Beijing, I have been moving from event to event with an ease which would have totally baffled my grandparents. But in these digital Olympics, one minute it’s archery, then cycling followed by a quick check on the rowing, before moving on to the semi final of a sport which, at any other time, I would never have dreamt of watching. I think that I have a dose of Olympic fever and at this rate it is going to be an exhausting two weeks.

Whilst most of the time I recoil at the way in which our lives have become dominated by a culture of ‘winners’ and ‘losers’ – when it comes to sport, healthy competition is right at the heart of it all. It is about striving to excel and that can only be measured by running, jumping, throwing or whatever it is – faster, higher or further than everyone else.

Most of the competitors in the Olympics are youngsters who have discovered the drive, determination and self-discipline to excel in their sport. They have learnt how to believe in themselves and in their potential. In an age when we have endless headlines demonising youngsters, it is just so refreshing to see young people from around the world celebrating the self-belief which has been awakened in them through sport. Behind each of them are scores of others who didn’t make the grade to be in their national team, but who also have much to celebrate.

Of course it is not just about the Olympics. Around the world there are countless numbers of young people who have learnt how to believe in themselves and in their potential – not just in sport but also in their work, with their friends and in their communities. It is this self-belief which is the key to their confidence. Such self-belief comes from the adults – parents, coaches, teachers, friends etc – who have encouraged them. Behind each and every one of these athletes there has been that essential positive attitude and celebration. Such an approach to life won’t have come through disapproval, criticism or the much vaunted Anti-social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) – but through the encouragement, approval and commitment which young people need if they are to believe in themselves and take their place in our world.

As we can see on our screens, when youngsters receive this, their potential is released and they jump high.

If resolution 1.10 is important, what about resolution 19?

The more I read the final Lambeth Document, “Capturing Conversations and Reflections”, the more I rejoice that we did not go down the road of resolutions and votes. To have a ’snapshot’ of the engagement between the Bishops is probably of far more worth, than adding to the fossilised remains of earlier conferences, which leave skeletal resolutions disconnected from the tissue of conversation lying behind them as some sort of guide to the heart and mind of the church.

Much has been made of Resolution 1.10 from the 1998 Conference, as though this is an enduring and unerring piece of truth. It has become almost a test for orthodoxy.  But if this resolution has such enduring status, then all resolutions of the Lambeth Conference must be given the same status. So what about Resolution 67 from 1908?  Very importantly it states

“We desire earnestly to warn members of our Communion against contracting marriages with Roman Catholics under the conditions imposed by modern Roman canon law, especially as these conditions involve the performance of the marriage ceremony without any prayer or invocation of the divine blessing, and also a promise to have their children brought up in a religious system which they cannot themselves accept.”

I am also concerned that there is not enough campaigning with regard to Resolution 6.f from 1888:

“That the most careful regard should be had to the danger of any encroachment upon the rest which, on this day, is the right of servants as well as their masters, and of the working classes as well as their employers.”

and what has been done about Resolution 36 from 1908?

“The Conference, having regard to the uncertainty which exists as to the permanence of the practice commended by St. James (5.14), and having regard to the history of the practice which professes to be based upon that commendation, does not recommend the sanctioning of the anointing of the sick as a rite of the Church.
It does not, however, advise the prohibition of all anointing, if anointing be earnestly desired by the sick person. In all such cases the parish priest should seek the counsel of the bishop of the diocese. Care must be taken that no return be made to the later custom of anointing as a preparation for death.”

But most urgently of all, how do we reconcile Resolution 19 from 1897 with 1.10 from 1998?

“That it is important that, so far as possible, the Church should be adapted to local circumstances, and the people brought to feel in all ways that no burdens in the way of foreign customs are laid upon them, and nothing is required of them but what is of the essence of the faith, and belongs to the due order of the Catholic Church.”

As I heard the conversations between Bishops from very different context explaining how issues in sexuality affected their mission within their context, social norms and cultural inheritance – Resolution 19 sounded very modern. It addresses the crux of these matters – what is the essence of faith and of order?   The conversations of which I was part were really about ‘foreign customs’ being forced upon radically different parts of the Communion – and some of those radically different parts were contained within the same province!

So I am starting a campaign for Resolution 19 and it will become my ‘litmus test’ for orthodoxy.

Quintessentially beautiful

Last night I visited the village of Donington-on-Bain, which is a quintessentially beautiful and very English village nestling in a fold of the Lincolnshire Wolds, to meet with the PCC of the local group of parishes.

Encouragingly the parishes are looking to their future.  We had a very positive conversation about possibilities for the future and how to sustain the mission and ministry of the parishes in a changing context for the church’s ministry.  It was not an evening for making decisions, but once again I encountered the deep and fundamental support which exists for the church within these communities.

There are always those ready to write the obituary for the church, but they fail to recognize the faith and commitment of people such as those whom I met last night.  When we face the challenges of the future, then the church will always be robust and will continue to witness within its communities.  It is only when we resist the future and try to work in ways which deny the realities facing the church that we become vulnerable, for then we become introspective and absorbed with secondary issues about being church,  rather than being servants of a Gospel of hope.

The Gospel of hope is just so much more attractive than the council of despair which can at times be heard from the church – indeed that gospel of hope is also quintessentially beautiful.

Lambeth Reflections

Looking back on the Lambeth Conference two days after it closed, I feel even more convinced that we used our time well.  The key thing in my mind is that, with issues before us which could have led to fundamental division, we were counter-cultural and did not get drawn down a path which would have ended up with ‘winners and losers’.

The temptation to resolve a number of issues, not least the gay issue, was ever before the conference and its designers.  It was a path which would have suited some and which was eagerly anticipated by the press.  Such a path would, however, have led to division – for it would have brought resolution but at the cost of losing parts of the Communion.

As I see it, although the divisions within the Communion have been portrayed as the ‘orthodox’ versus the ‘liberals’, this is a parody.  They are just different ways of understanding how the God we encounter in Jesus Christ works in and through history.  They stem from a shared belief that God was in Christ and that the Spirit leads us into truth. The division comes about whether the work of the Spirit has been completed or whether we continue being led into truth as an ongoing process of the Spirit as it leads us to discover and understand more about salvation,  the human condition and its context.

We live in a culture of ‘winners and losers’, it is most evident politics – but does it make it a better world?.  It is a culture which drives the market, shapes the globalisation of economics and which is champion by those who most frequently found amongst the winners.  The culture of ‘winners and losers’ is a culture of division and injustice, especially when one group are constantly amongst the losers.  There is little evidence that the culture of ‘winners and losers’ leads to peace, harmony, human flourishing or justice for the poor.  It is a competitive culture leading to the survival and success of those who are better educated, more confident and for those who can attract majorities without really engaging with the truth.  It is a culture which is loved by those who enjoy  division and who thrive on conflict.

The indaba process which has dominated this Conference, with all its imperfections and frustrations, has enabled the overwhelming majority of bishops within the Anglican Communion to engage with each other.  In my study group we approached the key question of biblical authority from vastly different stand points, but we engaged with, shared and respected each other’s sincerity and faith.

Whilst the Conference did not produce grand statements, resolutions or answers – it did produce Bishops prepared to listen to and understand the complexity of each other’s faith and position.  The divisions and issues have not gone away, but we have sat closely with God and this will serve us well when the time is right for us to address these things.  We have renewed a common mind about poverty, injustice and the integrity of creation.  We have explored having a covenant relationship – creating a space in which we can relate to each other in the Communion.  Most importantly we came away with no thirst or desire to separate, but rather we appear more determined to keep a common voice to witness, support and encourage each other in the 130 countries of the Communion.

Finally we have been enriched by each other – as one Bishop put it “We are the product of this Conference”.  So it has not been about resolutions or paper work, but the people who have the great privilege of being Bishops in mission and in serving God’s Church.

We have also had a opportunity to be appropriately counter-cultural,  for there are no winners and losers in Christ, but all are one in his love.

Lambeth Day 16

Those who have been supporting the process of Bible Study followed by an Indaba were vindicated this morning.  I sat, listened and contributed as one of 40 bishops engaging with issues in human sexuality.  As far as I could tell, everyone was able to make a contribution and the challenges facing us were clarified.  There was no ‘grandstanding’ and people were able to make their contribution without having to run the gauntlet of a plenary of 660 bishops  - which would have ensured that only a minority were heard.

In my Indaba, one thing about which there was unanimity was that our attitude to homosexual people must be positive, generous and full of Christian love.  There, however, the unanimity ended.   In my Bible Study group there had been a recognition that we are each trying to be faithful to God and to our understanding of the nature and authority of scripture. By the time we came to the Indaba I detected the underlying presumption that a ‘real Christian’ is essentially fundamentalist when it comes to using the Bible.

The discussion was however very helpful in enabling both sides to hear the problems faced by the other.  The problems are essentially both theological and cultural – but culture can be a vicious thing.  So we encountered one Bishop who shared his concern that, if the Communion was understood to be accepting of homosexual practice, then he would have no credibility amongst the people of his Diocese and he would be deposed.  It also became evident that homosexuality in many parts of the world remains taboo and so the Church cannot even raise the subject.   In many countries in the Communion homosexual practice remains illegal and again the Church cannot be seen to be accepting it.

Yet we also heard from cultures where homosexuality has become an accepted expression within the spectrum of human sexuality and so a Church which is perceived to be ‘anti-gay’ is seen to be prejudiced and hypocritical in its call for justice and peace.  One Bishop shared his concern that young adults in his congregations were looking for a Church which is inclusive and that they would leave if he went back without this issue having been resolved to enable their church to be an inclusive one.

Where is all this going?  Well, the one thing which has become apparent is that there is no general appetite for a ‘winners and losers’ outcome about this issue.  It may well be that the time is still not right for a clear way forward to be found.  That will frustrate the press (who are back here again in large numbers now that we are on to sex) and those who want a clear resolution.

Sometimes it takes a very long time for the Church to absorb the challenges which modernity thrusts at us. The discussions about homosexuality have been going on within the Communion for about 30 years – which feels a very long time. We need to remember however that the Church is still trying to accommodate the theological implications of  a Sun-centered theory of the universe which Galileo posed in about 1610, of Darwin’s theory of evolution from  the 1840s, of the double helix in the 1950s and of Lemaître’s Big Bang theory from the 1920/30s.  Perhaps we need to just allow ourselves the time needed to find a balanced way to accommodate issues in human sexuality, in the same way as we have found ways to accommodate evolutionists and creationists within the theological spectrum which is part of the Anglican identity.

The Archbishop of Burundi started the day with a memorable sermon which ended with the words “…..before the Communion was, I am.”   Whatever comes out of the Conference about these matters, in the end we have been Christ centred in all this and there has been no room for those who would wish to demonise those with whom they disagree.