The time has come, the Archbishop said ...

... to speak of many things.
Of shoes and ships
and sealing wax,
And cabbages and kings.
And what's the point of Lambeth Conference,
And whether pigs have wings.


The Anglican News Service has just posted an update on the upcoming Lambeth Conference entitled "Better bishops for the sake of a better church."

Hard to argue with that one!

The Archbishop's whole address is available on YouTube (posted below) but here's a take-away quote if you're in a hurry:

"What I would really most like to see in this years Lambeth Conference is the sense that this is essentially a spiritual encounter. A time when people are encountering God as they encounter one another, a time when people will feel that their life of prayer and witness is being deepened and their resources are being stretched. Not a time when we are being besieged by problems that need to be solved and statements that need to be finalised, but a time when people feel that they are growing in their ministry. And for that to happen once again, we are going to need the prayers and the support of so many people around the world."
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So here are some of my wonderings:

Is this the "Ultimatum" that George Conger and Baby Blue (among others) reported, with such glee, was "Coming Soon From Lambeth Palace"???? (Ruth Gledhill seems to think so ...)

Or were those reports, like so many others, the sort of "much ado about nothing" we will be hearing more of as the Lambeth Conference approaches?

And, might we do well to "bookmark" this one as we live through these next days and weeks and months together as a "case in point" -- remembering not to be "tossed about" by every blog post and random bit of speculation?

Finally, let's read, mark, learn and inwardly digest this small but important sentence from the Archbishop's presentation regarding the Lambeth Conference:

"It has never been a legislative body"

Right-o. Bingo. Thanks be to God. Alleluia. Amen
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