The Church of England has issued a press release on the opening of the Lambeth Conference:
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams opened the Lambeth Conference to the sounds of South African Alleluias and prayers for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He spoke to the gathering of Anglican Bishops from around the world addressing the first plenary session of the Lambeth Conference yesterday (July 16). He stressed that the Conference had a very strong emphasis on drawing together round the Bible and had been designed as a place “in which every voice can be heard and in which we build Christian relationship”.
He said that his own prayer and hope for the Conference “is not that after two weeks we will find a solution to all our problems but we shall as I have written more than once in some sense find the trust in God and one another that will give us the energy to change in the way God wants us to change. That is the most important thing we can pray for, the energy to change as God wants us to change individually and as a Communion.”
Read the rest below.
Other reports agree that the Conference is began on a hopeful note.
Bishop Stacy Sauls reporting for the Episcopal Church writes:
I think we’re off to a very good start. I have an overwhelmingly positive feeling for today. A great deal of community building occurred among my brother and sister bishops. There was an air of optimism and hope.
It’s not that we expect that all the problems of the Anglican Communion will be solved in the next two weeks, but an indispensable foundation for the future of the Anglican Communion will be laid.
The day began with Eucharist with singing. Then we gathered for Bible Study, based on the prologue to John. The primary agenda for that was getting to know each other. I think the Bible studies will be incredibly enriching.
There is also a family reunion aspect to this Lambeth Conference. While most of the Episcopal Church bishops have not attended the Lambeth Conference before, we are connecting with others, including many bishops from around the world who we know in other context
Read all of Saul’s report here.
Dave Walker, official Lambeth cartoonist, reports at the Church Times blog here.
Reports from the Stewards, young adults from around the world, are here and here.
Bishop Alan Wilson reflects on Rowan Williams opening Bible study here.
Rowan has given us two half hours of Bible teaching, to lead into a wandering, thoughtful, slightly arty, smorgasbord reflection and retreat experience in one of the most amazing holy places in the world.
In Galatians 1:15 Paul says God reveals himself not “to” me (safe option in most translations) but (Greek) “in” me. So every calling or vocation is an invitation to become, gradually, a place where God’s life is revealed, his promise and judgment. We sometimes meet fellow disciples who make us realise, with devastating clarity, how far we need to change. This is holiness.
and
So Unity is not just everybody feeling good about each other, a quantitative thing, but a qualitative thing — each person impoverished by the another’s loss, each person enriched by others’ holiness. This is what Church is for, according to Saint Paul; and we’re off with some homework to reflect on what it means in our own lives.
This isn’t, of course, what Rowan said as much as what I heard him say. So, it’s time to go away and reflect… I am massively looking forward to tomorrow
Read it all at his blog.
To receive a “feed” of most of the blogging bishops click here
All the items from the “Lambeth Conference Daily” for July 17:
Finally, there is Mary Frances Schjonberg’s fine report for ELO.
Full Press Release:
NEWS FROM THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE:
Archbishop of Canterbury opens Lambeth 2008
News release July 17,2008
The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams opened the Lambeth Conference to the sounds of South African Alleluias and prayers for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He spoke to the gathering of Anglican Bishops from around the world addressing the first plenary session of the Lambeth Conference yesterday (July 16) He stressed that the Conference had a very strong emphasis on drawing together round the Bible and had been designed as a place “in which every voice can be heard and in which we build Christian relationship”.
He said that his own prayer and hope for the Conference “is not that after two weeks we will find a solution to all our problems but we shall as I have written more than once in some sense find the trust in God and one another that will give us the energy to change in the way God wants us to change. That is the most important thing we can pray for, the energy to change as God wants us to change individually and as a Communion.”
Some Bishops have chosen to stay away although only one Province (Uganda) has no Bishops present. Dr Williams acknowledged this fact, “I think it’s important I should say that it’s a great grief that many of our brothers and sisters in the Communion have not felt able to be with us for these weeks, a grief because we need their voice and they need ours in learning Christ together.”
Dr Williams said that – as he had written to many people in recent months – “I respect and accept the decisions that have been made but together we need in prayer to acknowledge the wound that that makes in our fellowship” and, “ that we still have to mend relations that have been hurt. I hope that in these weeks we shall daily be remembering those who are not with us upholding them in our prayers, in our respect and love.”
He continued: “I don’t imagine that simply building relationships solves our problems but the nature of our calling as Christians is such that we dare not, and I say very strongly, dare not pretend that we can meet and discuss without attention to this quality of relation with each other even if we disagree or find ourselves going in different directions. The Lord of the Church commands that we must love one another in the process and there is no alternative to that. I trust that you are here in that confidence, in that willingness to love one another.”
The Archbishop added that this sounded “so simple” but it had to be said “because we know as we meet that we are also a wounded body.” He added there were no magic words to heal those wounds “but as we seek to meet Jesus Christ in each other we hope that the wounds that are still open will in some sense also be open to receive the work of God the Holy Spirit in our work.”
Dr Williams concluded his address by encouraging the bishops who are now in retreat until Sunday morning “to be there and let God come to you”.
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