Latest letter from my bishop

Tom Ely (top row) during organization of Lambeth bishops' group photo. (ENS photo)

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Dear people of Vermont

These last few days of the Lambeth Conference have been very full, not only with content and a busy schedule but also with much more passionate conversations calling all of us here to a deeper level of listening and engagement with one another. I am blessed to be part of a diverse and faithful Bible Study group where I feel listened to and where I feel nurtured and fed by the stories and experiences of others from very different parts of the Anglican Communion.

Since my letter to you on July 28th the conference has focused its attention on the topics of Inter-Faith Relations, the Bishop and the Bible in Mission, the Bishop and Human Sexuality, and the proposed Anglican Covenant and the continuation of the Windsor Process. On Tuesday July 29th the bishops and spouses participated in a powerful joint session on power and abuse, with a poignant focus on violence and sexual abuse toward women and children. This included a lengthy Bible Study session on the biblical narrative of the rape of Tamar (2 Samuel 13:1-22). We also held our second successful reception for bishops and spouses with Bishop Gene Robinson.

These past few days have also featured many fine self-select options. I have chosen to participate in the offerings related to the draft Anglican Covenant. I have tried to express the sentiments I heard from Vermonters regarding this development within the Anglican Communion, and I have tried most especially to speak against those portions of the draft Covenant that put in place excessive juridical structures and in favor of a Covenant in Mission, such as that proposed by the Inter-Anglican Standing Commission on Mission and Evangelism (IASCOME). There continue to be many strong voices calling for a Covenant that sets forth a clear process and set of procedures for dealing with issues and actions arising in one part of the Communion that are “deemed to threaten the unity of the Communion and the effectiveness or credibility of its mission.…”

We have also begun in these last few days to engage with the “Reflections” document being prepared by a group of bishops (one from each Indaba Group) known as “the listeners.” This has added the element of “hearings” to our schedule, in which conference participants are offered an opportunity to respond to each new draft of this substantial document. The document is meant to provide a fairly comprehensive account of our time at Lambeth while offering something of the flavor and substance of our time together and our conversations. It is not meant to be a report from Lambeth as much as an account of Lambeth. Its development is meant to draw primarily upon the Indaba process, however the format of the hearings is such that people come to the microphone one at a time for no more than three minutes to offer a response to one or more portions of the document. Obviously this is not Indaba, but the hope is that it adds to the Indaba process by providing individuals with an opportunity to address the draft report and its authors directly.

We received the latest version of the Reflections Document this evening just after 5:00 P.M. The last few pages were being photocopied as we waited in a crowded lecture hall (the same venue where we hosted the conversations with Bishop Gene Robinson). Clearly all of us would have preferred more time to digest and comment on this penultimate draft. In my view, the sections dealing with the Environment, the Bible, Mission and Evangelism, Human and Social Justice, Ecumenism and Inter-Faith relations are among the strongest portions of the document. Among the strengths I see in the most recent draft are:

1. It offers of a comprehensive overview of the conference and the various and significant agenda topics we have been discussing.
2. It offers a glimpse into the depth and breadth of conversation at the conference and the many mission and ministry connections that have been renewed, strengthened and begun here.
3. It offers an important measure of confidence by reminding readers that our common life and time here has been centered in prayer, worship, and Bible Study, and that we have lived as a community of learning more through conversation than through debate.
4. It offers hope in the reality that the vast majority of bishops gathered at this Lambeth Conference were willing to listen and learn from one another.

The sections of this Reflections document that provide the greatest challenge to me are those dealing with the topics of Human Sexuality, the draft Anglican Covenant and the Windsor Process. This is not surprising, and it is important to note here that the current draft is not the final product and our time to engage in conversation with the drafting group about the text was limited to less than one hour. I don’t know when we will see the final draft of the document on Sunday, but it is unlikely that we will have further opportunity to influence the wording of the final product. That is not necessarily a bad thing, since there is no way for a group of 650 bishops to perfect the wording of such a document, and the drafters have done a rather remarkable job overall in capturing the fullness of our Indaba conversations. It will be a document that each of us will need to reflect upon through the lens of our own experience these last two weeks and share with others our perspective on what is written from the vantage point of our participation in the conference and especially our Bible Study and Indaba groups.

For the most part, the current draft of the section on Human Sexuality offers an accurate account of the conversations as I have participated in them. The reality is that there is a huge need for more conversation, as well as additional biblical and theological discussion around the communion in this area. Some of that took place these past two weeks, thanks to the presence and witness of faithful GLBT Christians and straight allies who made themselves available for conversation on the campus, in the Marketplace, in the various self select groups and through a host of fringe events.

My observation is that misunderstandings and misinformation abound with regard to the realities of homosexual orientation and behavior. There are many reasons for this but among them is the stark reality that in many Provinces of the Anglican Communion the greater focus of mission and ministry is necessarily upon the day to day realities of poverty, disease, education and survival. Throughout the conference I was greatly impressed by the number of bishops from other parts of the communion who sought out opportunities to listen and learn more about the lives and ministries of GLBT Christians. I am sad that others did not, or for various reasons felt they could not. I am grateful that the current draft of the Reflections document acknowledges some of the positive effects of the full inclusion of gay and lesbian persons in the life of our church in addition to naming the many negative results attributed to the ordination of an openly partnered homosexual bishop and the blessing of same sex relationships. It has been a great joy and privilege to share stories from Vermont that have helped others expand their knowledge and understanding of the contributions of GLBT persons in the life and ministry of the Episcopal Church.

The section on the draft Anglican Covenant in the document we received today voices well many of the concerns I heard talked about in the several self-select sessions on the draft Covenant that I attended. It will be interesting to see what the covenant drafting group does with the many responses they received that have not yet been fully digested and incorporated into this section of the Reflections document. I heard many voices from many parts of the communion calling for a more deliberate process and for a Covenant, if there is to be one at all, that relies more on mutual generosity and trust, as opposed to safeguards and juridical process. As I understand the process, the drafting committee is still receiving responses from Provinces throughout the Anglican Communion in anticipation of a next draft that will be submitted to the Anglican Consultative Council in the spring of 2009.

The section addressing the Windsor Process is by far the least polished and for me the least satisfactory portion of the Reflections document. In part this is due to the reality that most Indaba groups did not discuss this topic until earlier in the same day we received the Reflections document. I also think the reality of a separate Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) and the work it has been doing prior to and during the conference has contributed to a lack of clarity about just what we were being asked to comment on in this area. In my judgment, the matter of the various moratoriums remains a topic of considerable division and misunderstanding. The idea of a Pastoral Forum was given its first public airing at the Lambeth Conference and I think there is considerable confusion about its purpose and place within the structures of the Anglican Communion.

In conversations around the Windsor Process, many are fond of saying that certain actions by the Episcopal Church have “torn the fabric of our Communion,” and I do not doubt the conviction of their belief. However, there is equal conviction on the part of many—including myself—that our actions have helped to break the bonds of oppression. I prefer to withhold further comment on this section of the Reflections document until the listeners have the opportunity to incorporate some of the comments made during the late afternoon hearing. In any event, the work of the WCG is meant to go to the Anglican Consultative Council this coming spring, and so the conversations here at Lambeth are but one aspect of the ongoing Windsor process.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the closing day of the Lambeth Conference, and it is a very full day! Much of it will be spent saying farewell in our Bible Study and Indaba Groups. We will have a final plenary session that will include an address by the Archbishop of Canterbury. We conclude the conference with Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral beginning at 6:00 P.M. I take away much from this conference, and I am glad we were here. Perhaps more than anything else I leave with a deeper knowledge and appreciation for the mission and ministry of others throughout the Anglican Communion and all its many contexts. I remain more convinced than ever that the mission we share in common is far more uniting than the differences that challenge and threaten to divide us. I have listened to some difficult words these past couple of weeks, and I have heard some incredible stories of faithful mission and ministry in difficult and demanding settings. Through it all I remain ever more strongly convinced that within the Body of Christ we can never say to one another, “I have no need of you!”

Ann and I leave early Monday morning for a week of vacation in Scotland, so I am not planning on sending any further communication about the Lambeth Conference until we return to Vermont. We thank you from the depth of our hearts for your prayers and support during these past few weeks while we have been away from Vermont. I want to offer a word of thanks to the members of the Ministry Support Team for their good work while I have been at Lambeth, and especially to Anne Brown who has done a great job of keeping you informed via the diocesan Web site. We look forward to sharing more about our time at Lambeth when we return.

Faithfully,
+Thomas