Lambeth Letter from Bishop Bud Cederholm: July 29, 2008

July 29, 2008

Dear Friends,

Greetings and peace in Christ.

We are in the last few days of the conference and there are no significant developments or news to report. I don’t agree with Alex Beam who wrote in his Boston Globe column on Saturday that this is a conference of “nothingness.” The world may see it that way, but then again, St. Paul said “be not conformed to this world.” We are doing what bishops are supposed to do, not just provide oversight but also offer insight, as Archbishop Rowan Williams has reminded us. To do that requires listening, prayer, study and discernment. We are doing that, and it is hard work and tiring. I applaud the American church, which has made every effort to listen to the needs and concerns of others while compassionately, not arrogantly, sharing ours.

Of course there are differences and diversity among us in the American church too. One of my dear friends who is conservative on matters of human sexuality spoke movingly at a hearing about seeing Christ in his brother and sister bishops with whom he disagrees. This was in response to condemnation of us by a few. I wanted to run over and hug him right there and then, until I remembered where I was! He and others like him in our House of Bishops who remain loyal to the Episcopal Church and partners in mission are icons for the Anglican Communion of how diversity can be embraced to build God’s kingdom on earth.

I wrote before that the highlight of the conference was the MDGs march in London. Last night the most profound talk (really a sermon) and newest highlight was given by a prominent Jewish rabbi in England and friend of Archbishop Williams. Some might say, is there anything a Jew can offer to the Anglican Communion at this point in our history? Yes indeed. (Of course there is much more another Jew from Nazareth has and continues to offer as well.)

Rabbi Jonathan Sachs, author of several books and one highly recommended to me, The Dignity of Difference (let’s all read it and send comments to each other! Or get together and discuss it...let me know), spoke to us passionately about the meaning of covenant. Here are some pearls:

The power of politics and economics (wealth) are two ways people can get others to do something for self benefit as well as the benefit of others. Power and wealth can be shared for good or not-so-good purposes. However, sharing love is a third way that benefits self and others. It is the only way that sharing anything (political power, economic power, etc.) gives back more than we give or share.

A covenant based on love and not power or law, but love of and from God and for others, is needed in a culture that is diverse and where there are differences and divisions (as between peoples, nations, classes, religions. ideologies and within the Anglican Communion). Covenants that unite are about relationships and not simply contracts based on self interest.

He quoted a mid-20th-century rabbi who talked about two kinds of covenants seen in the Hebrew Scriptures: a covenant of fate and a covenant of faith. A covenant of fate is where people experience the love and presence of God in suffering. The covenant with Noah was such a covenant. The Hebrew Scriptures describe the flood as destroying most of Creation, but the people of God (Noah, family and creatures of the earth) were bound together through suffering and loss and discovered God’s presence. God’s promise and covenant for new life was for all Creation.

God’s covenant with Abraham was a covenant of faith. Abraham trusted and surrendered to God’s will and call and was blessed with a child and a new land for God’s people (Jews, Muslims and Christians are people of the Abrahamic covenant of faith, though we are diverse and different in how we understand and interpret that faith). When the Israelites were in slavery and were set free to go into the wilderness, they had a covenant of fate with God and each other in their shared suffering and knowledge that God was with them. When God gave the Law to Moses it became a covenant of faith.

I report this because when we talk about a covenant in the Anglican Communion, we can learn from Rabbi Sachs. The world is fragmenting and in serious conflict. Difference and diversity are not valued and people suffer from poverty, disease, violence, war and abuse. When people of different faiths fight there can be no peace. When Anglicans of the same faith can not appreciate the gift of diversity there can be no peace within the communion. However, Rabbi Sachs reminded us that the purpose of any covenant is to build relationships on love, forgiveness and trust.

If we can’t iron out our differences in theological and scriptural interpretations, perhaps we need to understand we have a covenant of fate and not just faith. The covenant of fate calls us to join in the suffering of others all over the Anglican Communion and world (those needs the MDGs are focused on, human trafficking, violence against women, health issues and care for women and children, HIV/AIDS, war, the plight of refugees…). God is found in the suffering of others. Christians say Jesus is found in suffering. What would the Anglican Communion look like if we lived into a covenant of fate (not that God brings suffering or predetermines the suffering of some), suffering, sacrificing and serving others, bringing hope and love to others? Might this be the covenant and the mission we have with Anglicans while we work on what our covenant of faith with God in Christ Jesus means in the issues that divide us?

Rabbi Sachs urged us to shed tears of compassion and serve others if we are to remain strong as a communion and church—globally as well as locally. For centuries the Anglican Communion has been able to pull together despite its differences and diversity and has been a model and gift to the world for a way to share God’s love in the midst of conflict and difference.

He gave the example of Palestinian and Jewish parents who have lost children in violent conflicts in Israel/Palestine and who travel together as a united witness to the horrors and suffering brought about by hatred and violence. In God, they have formed a covenant of fate together. We, too, in the USA and in the global communion bear witness to a covenant of fate in sharing in and serving the suffering of others and a covenant of faith in proclaiming Christ’s presence as well. Today we gathered with spouses to talk and learn and pray about the violence and abuse perpetrated on women and children around the world, including human trafficking. (I learned of some ways dioceses have responded to violence against women and girls…talk with me if you want to know more.)

I have joined the conversations on the environment here. The urgency we hear from our Anglican partners around the world who are suffering from global warming is dire. The UK releases 9.5 tons of carbon per person per year—imagine what the average U.S. citizen releases—while the average Ethiopian releases .06 tons. The developed world’s release of vast amounts of carbon dioxide affecting all areas of the globe is sinful and unjust. The Anglican Communion needs to act with urgency, including building partnerships to save God’s Creation for our grandchildren. Talk included adding a new season to the calendar year: the season of “Creationtide” (Sept.-Oct.), with liturgies produced to celebrate Creation. (What do you think? Any ideas?)

Finally we talked about the need for much more interfaith dialogue and relations with Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus and others across the Anglican Communion. We were reminded that “there can be no peace among nations without peace between religions.”

I check in regularly with my best friend, fashion coordinator and reality check, Ruth Ann, whose love sustains me, as do your prayers. The love of Jesus Christ, the power of the Holy Spirit and my relationships with fellow bishops in these long and challenging days are indeed transforming and filling me with all hope, faith and love. I am blessed, and so is the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion, by your faith and witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ in God’s mission of inviting, forming, sending and serving.

Go Sox,

+Bud