Posted on 07/11/2005 5:55:49 PM PDT by sionnsar
John Lipscomb, Episcopal Bishop of the Diocese of Southwest Florida, has some reflections on the Windsor Report. Some highlights:
The Church is the Body of Christ. It does not exist as a static entity, but as a living organism where growth and change are inevitable. I have made a commitment to accept and live within the framework of the Windsor Report as part of the process of maturation in our Communion. I encourage the congregations of the Diocese of Southwest Florida to join in such a commitment by resolution of our vestries or bishops committees. I also encourage the clergy of our diocese to make a personal and public decision to support the recommendations of the Windsor Report. We may not agree with all of the recommendations of the Report. This Report is, however, the point from which we will continue our development as a Church in communion with the See of Canterbury.
Within ECUSA there will be those who after prayerful consideration conclude that they must be faithful to the decisions of the General Convention 2003 which have strained and in some cases broken the bonds of affection within the Communion. To decide on such a course is to make a conscious decision to walk apart from the Anglican Communion.
There will be others who will choose to accept the recommendations of the Windsor Report and remain in communion with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the other Anglican provinces. Those who choose to remain must fully embrace the radical claims of interdependence within a global community. Such individuals, congregations, and dioceses have a rightful and constitutional claim to be the Episcopal Church in the United States.
I pray that we will walk together bearing witness to the transforming grace of God in Jesus Christ. If we cannot walk together, I pray that we will be gracious to one another for the sake of the Gospel. Whatever our individual decisions must be, let us bear witness to the transforming power of God that will one day renew and restore all people to unity with God and with one another in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is this not the mission that we share?
While it is always dangerous to try to read too much into what Episcopal bishops write, this seems about a close to a declaration of Anglican independence as one can possibly come.
Lipscomb states that his diocese will live with the Windsor Report and that those dioceses that do "have a rightful and constitutional claim to be the Episcopal Church in the United States." This sounds an awful lot like a man who will stay seated when ECUSA is shown the door.
Hopefully. Whether Lipscomb will actually walk away when the time comes remains to be seen. And for me, it may be too late anyway. But this is an encouraging sign.
Traditional Anglican ping, continued in memory of its founder Arlin Adams.
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