Once again, the world of Anglicanism has made it into the mainstream media. Finally all of the talk about a new province for North America has moved from the drawing board into the construction phase. You can read about it in all of the usual places. Remember as you read that things move very slowly (if at all) in the Anglican Communion and it is clear that there is little interest from the Archbishop of Canterbury to expedite matters.

Given the deep divisions among those who ware trying to create this new province, one wonders whether they will be able to pull it off. To name only one matter of deep disagreement: the ordination of women.

Meanwhile, we will continue to do the work of the church.

The bishops have been meeting all week and there has already been a great deal of speculation in the press and blogosphere. I encourage you to read the reports of the “blogging bishops.” They are often informative and full of insight into what it’s like to be meeting with 600 other bishops from across the world. The cultural, socio-economic, and even religious differences are vast, but it seems that people are talking to one another.

Of course the press sensationalizes. Thus we heard about the bishops of Sudan condemning The Episcopal Church for consecrating Bishop Robinson. What we didn’t hear in the press is that the deep ties between the Anglican Church in the Sudan and the Episcopal Church are strong and that many Sudanese bishops reassured their American colleagues of the importance of those relationships.

There is also a great deal in the press about the Windsor Continuation Group, with the screaming headlines across England: Anglicans to institute the Inquisition! The report of that group was met with considerable skepticism and will hardly be accepted as it stands.

The bishops marched in London on behalf of the Millennium Development Goals, and then they had tea with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.

It will probably get interesting later this week when the Bishops’ discussion groups finally take up the issues of sexuality and authority. Stay tuned!

The Lambeth Conference begins today. Meeting every ten years, it brings together bishops from across the Anglican Communion for prayer and conversation, and occasionally to decide matters of doctrine and practice. There has already been a great deal of news about Lambeth–much of it having to do with who got invited and who didn’t, and about those boycotting.

Many of the primates from the Global South, most notably Nigeria and Uganda, announced they, and their bishops wouldn’t be attending. Others have boycotted less noisily. But it turns out that there is only one province (Uganda) with no bishops in attendance.

As always, Episcopal Cafe and Thinking Anglicans keep up with everything that’s going on. In addition, Episcopal Cafe has listed all of the blogging bishops here. Jim Naughton, one of the best Episcopal journalists is also present and blogging.

It will be interesting to follow the action, but I don’t expect a great deal to happen, especially legislatively. The Archbishop of Canterbury has made it quite clear that he wants to focus on bible study and reflection rather than on resolving the deep divisions. But we’re all likely to be surprised in the next couple of weeks.

Of course, the Archbishop of Canterbury has his hands full. The General Synod of the Church of England voted to ordain women bishops. It was a vote that sparked an uproar among conservatives, many of whom are threatening to leave the Church. There was a well-written profile of Archbishop Williams in the Guardian.

You may have heard something about GAFCON, the Global Anglican conference, or “pilgrimage” currently taking place in Jerusalem. It was organized as a conservative alternative to the Lambeth conference of Anglican bishops that will meet in late July. Many thought that the conference would result in an outright schism, with the traditionalists pulling out of the Anglican Communion and forming something new. While the final communique has not been released, it seems that no such drastic result will ensue. Instead, the traditionalists will continue to work from “within” to reform the Anglican Communion.

On the one hand, this news sounds somewhat positive. A split has been averted. On the other hand, it means that things will continue very much as they have for the past decade: conflict boiling over, vitriolic rhetoric, a singleminded focus on issues of sexuality.

A parishioner asked me last week why St. Christopher’s ended up where it did. He was suggesting that to focus solely on matters of sexuality was to lose sight of the work of the church. It seemed to him to have become something of an obsession with some. That’s certainly true, and it’s also true that one of the leaders of the conservatives in the US, when asked why he continued to do battle with the Episcopal Church rather than stepping away, replied, “I like a good fight.”

In the history of Christianity, conflict has often functioned to clarify issues, to define doctrine and polity, to shape the church. But the real advances have often come when people have chosen, or been forced to withdraw from the larger communion and gone their separate ways. Only centuries later have the opposing sides often come to see the depth of their commonality rather than only their differences. And conflict often leads many on the sidelines, or those less invested, to simply walk away entirely.

You may have heard about events surrounding St. Christopher’s, Spartanburg. Recently, many members of the vestry resigned, and the Rev’d George Gray, Rector, indicated to the Bishop that he was unable to continue serving. In response to these events, Bishop Henderson returned the parish to Mission status, and named the Rev’d Michael Bullock, Canon to the Ordinary, Priest-In-Charge. Bishop Henderson also inhibited the Rev’d Gray. If you would like to learn more about this, details are available on the diocesan website: www.edusc.org.

I visited St. Christopher’s a couple of times when we were living in Spartanburg. It is one of the most beautiful contemporary churches I know. I also have friends on staff there. This has been in process for a long time, and St. Chris’s has been a parish in trouble, for a number of reasons for a very long time, too. Let us pray that from this deep wound will emerge healing and new vitality in that place.

There is also increasing news as we look forward to the Lambeth Conference in July. Some bishops and provinces (notably Uganda) have declared that they will not be attending Lambeth and conservatives are organizing an alternative, known as GAFCON, which will take place in June. Stay tuned–things may get interesting, if you don’t find it all rather boring by now.

A lot has been happening in Anglican-land, and perhaps an update is warranted. You may have heard in the news that Bishop Schofield and the Diocese of San Joaquin voted last December to leave the Episcopal Church and join the province of the Southern Cone (Latin America). That action, which is illegal under the Constitutions and Canons of the Episcopal Church led to Bishop Schofield’s deposition (removal) from the House of Bishops this week. In the meantime, the National Church is working hard to reconstitute the Diocese of San Joaquin with a new bishop. A diocesan convention will be held on March 29 to do the work of rebuilding the structures of the diocese.

Although lay and clergy delegates to the diocesan convention in December voted overwhelmingly in support of the action, surprisingly it seems that many parishes and more than 1/4 of the diocesan lay membership will remain Episcopal and participate in some form in this new convention and the new diocese.

The issue is the same as the issue with parishes. Individuals, lay and clergy, may leave the Episcopal Church, but neither parishes nor dioceses can. Parishes are created by dioceses, and dioceses are created by the General Convention.

There was also considerable discussion at the House of Bishops meeting concerning the Lambeth Conference coming up this summer.

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