Posted on 12/28/2015 9:02:22 AM PST by NRx
Pointless man calls useless meeting:
The Archbishop of Canterbury today wrote to all 37 Primates inviting them to attend a special Primates' gathering in Canterbury to reflect and pray together concerning the future of the Anglican Communion.
The meeting, to be held in January 2016, would be an opportunity for Primates to discuss key issues face to face, including a review of the structures of the Anglican Communion and to decide together their approach to the next Lambeth Conference.
The agenda will be set by common agreement with all Primates encouraged to send in contributions. It is likely to include the issues of religiously-motivated violence, the protection of children and vulnerable adults, the environment and human sexuality.
Notice which issue is listed last.
Archbishop Justin Welby said: "I have suggested to all Primates that we need to consider recent developments but also look afresh at our ways of working as a Communion and especially as Primates, paying proper attention to developments in the past.
"Our way forward must respect the decisions of Lambeth 1998, and of the various Anglican Consultative Council and Primates' meetings since then.
That's got be an encouraging development, right? Not so much, no.
It must also be a way forward, guided by the absolute imperative for the church to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, to make disciples and to worship and live in holiness, and recognising that the way in which proclamation happens and the pressures on us vary greatly between Provinces. We each live in a different context.
"The difference between our societies and cultures, as well as the speed of cultural change in much of the global north, tempts us to divide as Christians: when the command of scripture, the prayer of Jesus, the tradition of the church and our theological understanding urges unity. A 21st-century Anglican family must have space for deep disagreement, and even mutual criticism, so long as we are faithful to the revelation of Jesus Christ, together.
Annnnnnnnnnd there it is. By the way, ACNA's going to be there.
The Archbishop of Canterbury will also extend an invitation to Archbishop Foley [Beach] or his representative to be present for part of the time.
According to Tanzania's Eliud Wabukala, the GAFCON primates will also be there.
This is a courageous initiative and the GAFCON Primates will attend in the hope that Archbishop Welby will, like them, stand firm to guard the gospel we love, knowing that we cannot rewrite the Bible to suit the spirit of a secular age.
This time, GAFCON and the other orthodox Primates are willing to attend, but they know that after many years of debate, action is needed to restore the spiritual and doctrinal integrity of the Communion they care for so deeply. They are clear that their continued presence will depend upon action by the Archbishop of Canterbury and a majority of the Primates to ensure that participation in the Anglican Communion is governed by robust commitments to biblical teaching and morality.
What sort of "action" does GAFCON have in mind? And what will happen if "action" doesn't happen? I suppose anything from an open break to Yet Another Strongly-Worded Open LetterTM and right now, Yet Another Strongly-Worded Open LetterTM must be considered the prohibitive favorite.
It has been suggested that the way forward is for the Anglican Communion to abandon the idea that there should be mutual recognition between the provinces and that it should instead find its unity simply in a common relationship with the Archbishop of Canterbury.
This is not historic Anglicanism; the See of Canterbury is honoured and respected as the Mother Church of the Communion, but the unity of the Communion does not depend upon the Archbishop of Canterbury. Rather, it depends upon the various provinces being able to recognize each other, with all their differences of culture, as truly apostolic and committed to the faith as it has been received. Tragically, that recognition has now broken down and affection for Canterbury is no substitute.
Quite right, Archbishop. The unity of the Communion does not, in fact, depend on the Archbishop of Canterbury but on the ability of the provinces ro recognize each other in Christ. But the question still remains. If this meeting fails, what, if anything at all, are the traditionalist primates actually prepared to DO about it?
Because it seems to me that this meeting is set up to fail. "I have suggested to all Primates that we need to consider recent developments but also look afresh at our ways of working as a Communion and especially as Primates, paying proper attention to developments in the past," cannot be squared with "A 21st-century Anglican family must have space for deep disagreement, and even mutual criticism, so long as we are faithful to the revelation of Jesus Christ, together." At least by anyone with intellectual and theological integrity, anyway.
Why? Not only do liberal and conservative Anglicans no longer worship the same God, they no longer speak the same language. Terms like "God," "Jesus Christ, "sin," "resurrection," "Holy Ghost," etc., mean one thing when Episcopalians use them and something entirely different when Christians do.
So if Welby truly wanted to respect past Anglican decisions, the Americans and the Canadians would, at the very least, be reduced to some kind of non-voting observer status within the Communion. As I see it, Welby wants the primates to help him come up with a way to plausibly tell people that he respects Anglican decisions of the past while simultaneously keeping the US and Canada on the first team.
If a result like that emerges from this meeting , the conservative primates need to finally ACT. And yet another Strongly-Worded Open LetterTM while once again piously intoning that Anglican unity does not depend on Canterbury is not acting. Been there, done that way too many times.
Doesn't the fact that Welby went out of his way to invite Foley Beach to this thing suggest that my gracious lord of Canterbury may be inching toward the idea of ACNA recognition? Surely that has to count for something.
It certainly would have.
Six or seven years ago.
But that was then, this is now. The mere fact that Foley Beach would be recognized as a Real Anglican Primate alongside Mike Curry and Fred Hiltz would not solve the basic and underlying problem. Namely, that ACNA and the GAFCON provinces would still connected, however theoretically, with "Christian" churches whose teachings are antithetical, indeed openly hostile, to their own.
The only way ACNA recognition might make a difference is if Foley Beach at least temporarily became the sole North American "official" Anglican primate because the Episcopal Organization and the Anglican Organization of Canada had been kicked to the sidelines. And you and I both know that that's never going to happen.
If it does, future North American Lambeth checks will contain a LOT fewer zeroes.
An everyday occurrence at companies, organizations and government offices all over the world!
About six months ago, my stress level over these type of things was getting so high, it was unhealthy. I almost lost my job over asking my boss to excuse me from them for that reason and just telling me what he wanted done as a result of the meetings he attended. Our organization, like so many others, is full of self-importance grandstanders, finger pointers and self-promoters.
After some months of deliberation, he finally reached the conclusion on the lack of real necessity for such frequent meetings and agreed. Stress, headaches and needless conflicts are down. Real work accomplished is up, at least insofar as my department is concerned.
Oh, I thought the headline was about obama having another press conference.
I thought it was about Jeb Bush :D
You must work at the same place that I do.
As an Anglican, I pray for the GAFCON and ACNA bishops. May they stand firm.
I also pray for the Archbishop of Canterbury and the leaders of TEC, ACofC, and the Church of England, may the open their eyes and repent.
I was raised an Anglican, but left a long time ago when they abandoned Scripture.
I hold meetings of three or more in a conf room with no chairs. Cuts the BS down.
Anglican Communion has been dead since Henry VIII was King of England. The smell of its rotting corpse is now becoming unbearable even to those in charge of it.
Why do they keep callling meetings between gorrilalas and chimps and other primates? What purpose does it serve???
So Gary Larson can draw upon them...
Amen.
Couldn’t be. We’re in different states. But funny how the same type of thing is so commonplace, isn’t it?
Three or fewer seems to be the magic number for actually getting something done.
Been going on a LONG time....I once (1985?) had to be at a meeting at 6am with the INTEL Oregon Site Manager, and all the Fab management....WHY? As the highest level manager on site asked....we agreed....to babysit. Even then, meetings were ridiculous. That and a bunch of other stupid things Intel did.
Put them in a flock and they are one of the stupidest. We often thought that was something they had in common with people.
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