An Anglican Lament
by Matt Kennedy, Stand Firm:
It seems that we are on the brink of another Lambeth Conference. I heard that it was coming up and vaguely noted to myself that I should mark the date and start paying attention. But it is all so deadly boring.
What a difference a decade makes. For Lambeth 2008, I was on the scene in Canterbury, fresh from the first Gafcon meeting in Jerusalem. Hopes that the Communion might still rally, that orthodoxy might somehow still win the day were sinking but had not yet been utterly smothered beneath the waves of good disagreement.
In the weeks leading up to the conference, I had taken up the argument that orthodox bishops ought not attend Lambeth since bishops from the Episcopal Church were also in attendance. Meeting with them as colleagues would communicate that the disagreement over sexuality, while serious, is an in-house dispute between brothers in Christ; that a bishop can promote, bless, and even engage in same-sex sexual relationships and still be a Christian brother and minister.
Setting aside briefly the question of biblical obedience, one of my greatest concerns was (and remains) the same-sex attracted Christians who would observe the discussions. When one is caught up in a particular sin, the desire to self justify is great. Consider, for example, the person who loves to drink more than he should, for whom moderation is a terrible struggle. If there were to arise a group of leaders within the church who questioned the biblical injunctions against drunkenness, who strongly argued that these proscriptions had to do only with drunkenness in the specific context of pagan worship and not inebriation in general and certainly not in the context of a caring Christian community, the lover of inebriation would find such arguments appealing. If leaders he respects and trusts were to treat those who make such arguments as “Christian leaders” or “believers who offer a different perspective”, he would be encouraged to believe that the matter is adiaphora, non-essential, a matter about which Christians might in good faith disagree. Why should I stop myself from getting drunk when all of my leaders, even those who oppose it, believe that this is a behavior that Christians in good standing can engage in and still be considered Christians in good standing?
See also: Global South Bishops will be rocked that American Lesbian Bishop will lead “inclusive Eucharist” service on eve of Lambeth Conference, by David Virtue, Virtueonline
and
A trial that should shame all Anglicans, by David Baker, Christian Today: “Bishop [Michael] Curry seems to have forgotten his own sermon – at least if his treatment of a fellow bishop in the US is anything to go by….You might rightly wonder about Bishop Love’s crime…His crime, if one can call it that, is not to permit same-sex marriages in his diocese.”
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