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The Bishop of Croydon writes ... 
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Identity
Call me weird if you like, but I am looking forward to the Lambeth Conference which begins mid-July. Various journalists have decided that they should be given free access to all aspects of the Conference and some are very miffed that they are to be excluded from much of what will go on. Well, that’s just tough.

Surely it must be right and appropriate that bishops are able to meet to pray, study the Scriptures and share their stories together without the presence of microphones, cameras and notepads. There are times when it is appropriate for bishops to take counsel together without having to watch every word or feel unable to change their mind on a matter. Surely it must be justifiable for bishops to meet together without their agenda being either set or manipulated by others.

I am looking forward to meeting with seven bishops from other provinces each morning for study of John’s Gospel. This will be followed by five such groups coming together to meet, talk and pray together. In this context of prayer, worship and mutual conversation around the Scriptures we will be able to forge new relationships, gain new insights, challenge our own narrow prejudices and learn what we can to improve the service we offer our dioceses. This will prove stimulating and does not need to be justified by ‘outcomes’ such as resolutions and statements.

Inevitably, however, there will be many people wanting to create stories out of the Conference – stories not of quiet encounter and mutual learning or of prayer and the gaining of spiritual wisdom, but of conflict and tension which might or might not exist. And this reminds me of a comment made by Professor Nicholas Boyle about ‘national identity’. In response to a question he suggested that countries try to identify who and what they are by where they have come from (much of the ‘what does it mean to be British’ debate starts here) rather than by asking what they wish to become.

It seems to me that what will be going on at Lambeth will be precisely this: not just a review of where we have come from as an Anglican Communion (important though that is), but what sort of a Communion we wish to become as we share a common mission in an increasingly complicated world. But this sort of conversation takes time and is not amenable to the instant-response soundbite culture that many of our media demand.

Our engagement with bishops from other provinces will bring us face to face with experiences of suffering, violence and deprivation that we do not experience here. Our own brother bishops from Zimbabwe will be with us – grateful, no doubt, that brave journalists are showing the world what is happening in that sad and beautiful country. We will have an opportunity to hear afresh what is happening to the brothers and sisters we know from our link dioceses and parishes. And I guess we will find ourselves compelled to pray more urgently for them as we share in their distress and fear.

Please pray for all of us at the Lambeth Conference – including those who need to find stories to print – that our mutual engagement might renew the Church across the world, firing the bishops with hope, courage, vision and vigour. And please pray that the frivolous stories will not displace the real stories which should take our attention: global suffering, Zimbabwe, justice and the world’s need of a church which reflects the Jesus we read about in the Gospels.

+Nick Croydon
 

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