Lambeth Day 4 - 7/20/2008

Lambeth Day 4

Sunday morning’s Eucharist at Canterbury Cathedral was a feast of pageantry and exceptionally good liturgy. All of the bishops processed two by two, vested mostly in rochet and chimere, making a colorful flow as we moved first up and then later back down the long center aisle of the nave to and from the Quire, as it is spelled. More impressive to me than the number and brightness of the long stream of colleagues was the feeling I had, seeing us so similarly clad, that we are all equal in the eyes and heart of God who welcomed us there. I was reminded of when I was a schoolboy in elementary school and we wore uniforms, not to stifle our individuality and uniqueness, but to make each equal, not distinguishable by earthly economies of class and wealth and social status. Likewise did we gather in that grand and ancient place of worship, equally loved by Christ, making equal claim to his Gospel, and equally accountable to serve the world in his name.

The sermon, preached by the Bishop of Colombo (Sri Lanka), the Rt. Rev. Duleep de Chickera, was profoundly moving. Bishop de Chickera, as much as any bishop here, serves in a diverse and violently conflicted context. In his diocese and country there are practiced Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Christianity, against the backdrop of a fierce and decades old war. He has a gentle and strong spirit that meets you in a calm that is assuring and at the same time holds you accountable, in some ways like a caring grandparent who, without the slightest condescension, reminds you of your responsibility. His was a call to a stark self-examination, a willing surrender to unity-in-diversity, and a relentless and prophetic advocacy on behalf of others – for the Church to be, in Archbishop William Temple’s words, “the one institution that does not live for itself.” I urge you to read it in its entirety, which can be found at http://www.lambethconference.org/daily/news.cfm/2008/7/20/ACNS4438.

After Communion and in poignant juxtaposition to Bishop de Chickera’s word of gospel encouragement and accountability, we sang Marty Haugen’s inspiring hymn, Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live, whose refrain pleads:
All are welcome,
all are welcome,
all are welcome in this place.
The irony of those words following the preacher’s was both painful and rightly challenging.

Later in the afternoon I attended, with some twenty colleagues including the Bishop of New Hampshire, an outdoor Eucharist offered by Changing Attitudes and Integrity, the Church of England and Episcopal Church organizations of support for GLBT Christians. As the weather alternated in its apparently typical English summer fashion back and forth between sunshine and light sprinkles, I felt brightened and further refreshed to be, for a second time that day, worshiping with encouraging companions whose love for the Church is genuine and generous.

While the Church struggles to welcome in a manner that fully embraces the identity and convictions of all God’s precious children, I am again made aware of how difficult true welcome is, the welcome Jesus extended to the Samaritan woman, the leper, the tax collector Zaccheus in his tree, and my own sinful self. For in welcoming others as Jesus welcomes us, in taking them into ourselves as he takes us into his holy self, we will be changed. To our deep fear of that change Jesus says only, “Fear not, for I am with you.” We ought to need nothing more.