Monday evening

I arrive home at 2145 having been on the go trying to meet people, answer people and pray with people since 0930 this morning. Today has been far, far too long and so very much remains undone.

However, I did hear +Idris tonight speak brilliantly on the Anglican Communion. It was a Regional Council worth attending. We are so lucky to have the access that we have to our bishops.

+Idris closed his talk on the Anglican Communion with the question, “Is this Anglican Communion worth fighting for?”

I had to admit that I’ve come to the conclusion that it isn’t worth fighting for. Anglicanism as a brand, already problematic in Scotland because of its association with England is starting to represent something quite hideous in the popular mind, and I think I’d rather have something quite new.

Comments

  1. Andrew says

    Of course it’s worth fighting for! I have been to many foreign countries: Australia, the USA. Hong Kong and Kenya among them. Wherever I go to an Anglican Church I am received with welcome as a friend. People express genuine interest in the church I come from, to the extent of asking me to post them the church magazine when I get home.

    This remarkable international web of Christian fellowship must not be lost because of arguments over points which the most of us percieve to be totally insignificant. I just wish we would stop being obsessed with sexual matters and get on with being Christians!

  2. kelvin says

    Would any of those churches cease to exist if the Lambeth Conference did not take place? Would the international friendships stop if the Anglican Communion office became a Federal Anglican Council Office?

    And how much of a communion are we when one of the “Instruments of Communion” demonstrate their lack of communion by being unable to share bread and wine with Rowan Williams?

    The fight for the Anglican Communion is a fight for something that is technically not there any more.

  3. Robin says

    I think the Anglican Communion as it stands at present has outlived its usefulness and is an impediment to the Gospel. (The very word “Anglican” has been a handicap to evangelism and ecumenism in Scotland ever since it was first invented, and I never use it if I can possibly avoid it!) I should prefer our Scots bishops not to go to Lambeth, because I can see no point in their doing so but can see a significant risk of their presence being misunderstood.

    Andrew in his comment makes a good point. The “remarkable international web of Christian fellowship” is indeed to be treasured. But in order to maintain it, do we really need to sign up to doctrines we believe to be untrue, and abandon and suppress beliefs and practices we believe to be in keeping with the Scriptures and consonant with Christ’s Will?

    I have been to Anglican churches in foreign countries and welcomed as a friend. But I’ve also been to Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Presbyterian churches in other countries and been welcomed every bit as much as a friend. I wasn’t asked to sit a doctrinal test, or to change my beliefs. If the Anglican Communion broke up, would we stop welcoming people to our churches here in Scotland? I can’t imagine that we would. I expect the welcome would be just as warm as ever. And why would this not be the case for Scottish Episcopalians in churches overseas?

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