Just before our holiday I had to face an occasion which I felt was quite daunting in my delicate state of mind, of which I have mentioned before; the retreat and then the ordination service of five Ordinands in the Diocese of Connor. All this was closely followed by a very large Wedding for Glencraig, in fact so large that our own Church wasn’t big enough and we had to go to Holywood. It wasn’t the first choice for any of us, particularly Bride and Groom, but, I’m afraid practicalities had to rule the day!

When you are preparing yourself for any big occasion, whether a presentation at work or a speech or whatever it may be, the one sure thing to remember is that the occasion will arrive, but also it will pass and it will be over and done with. I know Christine finds it useful to say that in so many hours such ‘n such a thing will be all over. However much I know that that is true, I can never get it out of my head that I still have to do it!

But it’s true! As sure as eggs is eggs, the occasion will arrive and, believe it or not, it’s suddenly all over and done with. You see, ‘Time and tide wait for no man’. Now, who said that? That’s homework for next week; ‘Time and tide wait for no man’.

I have no doubt that when the evening of Sunday 3^rd August arrived, Archbishop of Cantebury Rowan Williams went home and poured himself the biggest glass of whiskey he’d seen and sat down with a huge sense of relief. The Lambeth Conference was finally over.

So much has happened with him since then, with newspaper reports and all the rest, but at least Lambeth itself was over.

I should’ve followed the proceedings in Lambeth more closely, especially when our ol’ friend Bishop Alan was there for the first time. But I was on holiday, you understand, and I just joined the masses and let them get on with it, while I remained in blissful ignorance. When I got home I just picked up some brief mentions on the news, and I haven’t even properly looked up the website (to my shame).

So I shouldn’t really have started talking about the Lambeth Conference this morning, because I feel so unqualified to make any real comment about it at all.

However, I have picked up some real and lasting impressions. The most amazing of which was the real desire within Anglicanism to remain a communion. That longing to remain as a body seemed to override any thought of schism. In fact compared to 1998, the mood of the conference had been “dramatically different” from the tone of the sexuality discussions at the 1998 Lambeth Conference according to the Primate of Australia, as reported in this week’s Gazette.

 

In last week’s Gazette Bishop Clarke spoke of “the overwhelming sense of immense privilege of being here and meeting with so many remarkable people of God.” He also detected “ immense pain” within the Conference and when asked if he discerned gloom and doom, he replied: “No, but I see concern and uncertainty over the future; a love for the Anglican Church; and a desire that it stays together, but many bishops are not sure how this will be possible.” There is a great deal of uncertainty.

Our own Bishop Harold has, in his years as Bishop of Down and Dromore, built around him a clan of very conservative evangelical like-minded people. They hold sway in what is actually a very diverse Diocese, although you wouldn’t think it. He wrote an ‘Ad Clerum’, a letter to his clergy from Lambeth itself. I found it hard to follow and he wasn’t very clear in what he was saying. In an earlier Ad Clerum, he had asked us to keep his personal views between ourselves. One thing is very clear; that he is very much looking over his shoulder the whole time. It is a position he has put himself in! If he finds it impossible to receive Holy Communion at Lambeth, then he has to realise that he is out of communion with our own House of Bishops who are receiving. I didn’t hear him, but I believe he was on Sunday Sequence on 13^th July. As a “PS” in his July Ad Clerum, he says he did receive Holy Communion at the opening service at Canterbury on 20^th July. So now, everybody’s clear!

Many moons ago, when the Ordination of Women was a hot topic, the Dean of Christ Church in Dublin vehemently opposed it. He was asked by the media, “Dean Patterson, are you threatening to leave the Church of Ireland?” To which the Dean replied, “No, I’m threatening to stay in it!”

There’s no doubt that in our Gospel reading, Matthew expects his readers to ‘hear’ this story in terms of their own journey of faith. For Peter to get out of the boat at all was an incredible thing to do. But just one glance down at the waves and he was gone.

If we only see the waves then we’re not looking straight ahead. If we only see the problems and tribulations, we will see an impossible task ahead. What we are called to do, as individuals and as a church, and it’s so basic and obvious, but so hard to do in practice, is to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, and our ears open for his encouragement.

I think this Lambeth, the bishops were more ready and more prepared to do that, and that is why we still have a Communion. Long may it continue.