My third hope is that the organisers get the balance right between pace and space. At first sight the programme and daily schedule looks pretty daunting to me. Twenty days of input, reflection, discussion, and wrestling with complex issues and competing priorities is obviously a marathon and not a sprint. Given that many bishops will need to keep in touch with their offices in order to keep on top of correspondence and pastoral situations – and will have washing to do (!) – opportunity and occasion simply ‘to be’ is crucial. In our very driven world I hope that a ten yearly Conference of bishops will be marked by the ‘unhurried rhythms of grace’ which Jesus himself modelled so well.
My fourth hope is that Lambeth 2008 provides a compassionate, compelling and uplifting witness to Christian faith, to our Lord, and to God’s power to heal and transform individuals and societies. For all the anxieties around this Conference, including my own, Lambeth 2008 has the potential to re-energise bishops and re-focus the agenda on what is of first importance. That requires better and more gracious handling of disagreement and respecting differing perspectives without denouncing brothers and sisters in Christ. It also needs a willingness to receive rebuke and admit that a course of action was wrong. The gospel is magnificent good news for the whole world and opens up God’s way for human flourishing. I fervently hope that Lambeth 2008 can be a means of confidently, sensitively and persuasively articulating this reality in fresh ways ‘so that the world might believe’.
Four hopes for the Lambeth Conference. Were any of them realised? You may already be able to tell. If they were not, I will not lose heart and I hope and pray that you will not either. God does not give up on his Church – even when Anglican bishops cannot take hold of the great opportunities God offers.
+Lee
