In the Name of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit: The One God
Vocation and ministry, that is what the Lambeth Conference 1998 is all about. 800 bishops will gather in Canterbury this coming July. The largest group ever assembled for a Lambeth Conference to discuss four areas of our calling as Christians, especially as we consider the call and vocation of bishops in the Church of God as they lead the people of God. The four themes are:
1. Call to full humanity.
2 Call to live and proclaim the good news.
3. Call to be faithful in a plural world.
4. Call to be one.
These themes have within them both an inward looking Church as well as an outward looking Church. Might I say, evangelisation that calls us to be in dialogue with God's world and God's creation. Particularly, of interest to the media will be the way the Conference handles Section One and I am sure this will be of interest to you as well.
Called to full humanity. This Section will deal with everything from International Debt to Human Sexuality. It has before it a mighty big task indeed. The reality is we must be called to understand humanity if we are to be able to minister effectively to God's people. God's people suffer, God's people hurt. A baby born in Uganda enters the world owing the world £120, this according to statistics by Christian Aid. International Debt immobilises, it sterilises, it freezes, any kind of progress that these developing countries are trying to make.
Recently the Archbishop of Canterbury along with one of my staff members, Canon James Rosenthal, visited Uganda. Every stop on the way there were pleas from the people to the Archbishop to do all in his power to help lift this burden from the backs of the people of Uganda. What will the Conference say about International Debt? What will the Conference say about its consequences? These are things about which we are now engaged in prayer and we ask you to consider the same in your prayers.
One of the most difficult topics that will be discussed in Section One is Human Sexuality. Indeed the issues of co-habitation, divorce, homosexuality, all these concerns have been raised as well as polygamy by people around the Communion. Pray God this will be done in an open and caring way. Some of you know it is the desire of the Archbishop of Canterbury, supported by the Primates meeting, that there will be an International Commission on Human Sexuality, similar to the one we had for women being ordained to the episcopate. It is up to the Conference to either support or reject this request, but it is certainly one way to deal with these very timely, personal, and important issues.
As you know, in many parts of the Anglican Communion, the Church is growing and alive. In some parts it might be a bit stagnant and maybe needs a little boost and revival. However, we are all Called to Live and Proclaim the Good News. The more we realise it is not a specialist field, the more effective we will be. One of the realities is that more people need to do the work of evangelists rather than having conferences to talk about it. The reality is we must present the good news of Jesus Christ in a way that can reach the hearts and the minds of the people to whom it is presented. Of course, the Anglican Communion is now coming to the close of what has been called the Decade of Evangelism, or in the Roman Catholic Church, the Decade of Evangelisation. There will be stories we will hear and stories to tell, stories to share. The reality to bring others to the knowledge and love of the living Christ. This is something that is at the heart of what the Christian way is all about. It does not need a decade, it does not need a particular designation. It just needs our renewed commitment to get on with the work that we are called to do.
One of the greatest challenges we face in this generation is how do we live in a plural world. How do we respond when people ask, 'Do you believe in an alternative to baptism?' What do you do when we hear that in England there will be more Moslems worshipping Allah by 2015 then will be Anglicans worshipping Jesus? How do we live together in a plural world? How do we understand the independence and the plurality that exists in our nations? How do we re-value what it means to be a Christian country? How do we understand other religions? This week I have been in Japan and I return home with a new appreciation for these questions and how these questions are lived in a Province like Japan. All this reflects on our vocation and ministry to live in a plural world. It is not easy. It is a challenge. How are we faithful in the midst of such plurality?
Obviously, our Call to Oneness includes our conversations with the Roman Catholics, Orthodox, Lutherans, Oriental Orthodox, Methodists and Baptists. We all know the call of John, Chapter 17, that Jesus prays that we will be one. From the beginning of the Church there has been difficulty being one because of different cultures and traditions.
How do we make a proper witness to one Lord, one faith, one baptism? Indeed the Anglican Church throughout the world, in our 37 Provinces, puts a lot of money, effort, expertise and importance on the whole issue of dialogue with other Christian denominations. Indeed, this is an important task that we have before us so that we can understand the Gospel out of the different cultures and traditions.
Tomorrow is Pentecost. Tomorrow we sing "Come Holy Spirit, kindle in us the fire of your love." If the Holy Spirit gives us that fire and enthusiasm, then indeed the Spirit of Christ will permeate our lives, our Church, our communities, our homes, our hearts. We must be, faithful witnesses to Him who died and rose again but Jesus said, 'I will not leave you comfortless. I will send another. I will send the Spirit of Truth to abide with you for ever' and that Spirit of Truth leads me to our final thought. We pray that the Holy Spirit will enkindle Lambeth '98. Lambeth deserves our prayers, Lambeth deserves our attention. Our Church is growing. Our Church must begin to speak more clearly to the suffering and the injustices of the world. Our Church must be confident in its faith and practise but most of all our Church must be more like Jesus Christ himself. For Jesus is our foundation. Christ is made the sure foundation. Christ the head, the cornerstone. So we are called for humanity, called to proclaim good news, called to be faithful in a plural world and called to be one. It is a mighty task. It is our vocation and ministry.
Pray for the Lambeth Conference, pray for the leaders, pray for those who attend, pray specially for the women bishops who are going to attend as they face likely difficult circumstances from time to time. Pray for the Spouses Conference. Pray for all the hundreds of volunteers that are going to make the Conference possible. Most of all pray for Archbishop George Carey as he brings us together in this peculiar and wonderful way what we call the Lambeth Conference.
May God strengthen our Church. May God strengthen our vocation and ministry. Lambeth reminds us we are a global family, with many needs, many joys! We are a diverse, yet united family, of interdependent churches. Our vocation and ministry is to a broken world. In a world of caring there is no "over there". There is only all of us - everywhere - one human, and for us, proud Anglican family. May Lambeth help us as Anglicans on our journey.
In the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.