Some Lambeth Bits & Pieces

From Bishop Cathy Roskam's blog:

The planning team for this Lambeth is to be commended. It seems to me they have thought of everything down to the very last detail to make sure that we are comfortable, welcomed and well cared for.

As for what is to come, the Archbishop has been very clear that there is no expectation that all the problems of the Anglican Communion are going to be solved in two weeks. Rather the goal is, led by the Spirit, to grow prayerfully in understanding, relationship and respect for one another.

I think we made a good beginning today. But I also think the whole body is diminished by the absence of Gene Robinson, a duly elected and consecrated member of our House of Bishops, our colleague and friend. It seems like a missed opportunity.

Nevertheless we will continue to build relationships and help to build bridges of understanding, as both Gene and the Archbishop would like us to do.

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From +Stacy Sauls reflection in Episcopal Life:
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I think we're off to a very good start. I have an overwhelmingly positive feeling for today. A great deal of community building occurred among my brother and sister bishops. There was an air of optimism and hope. It's not that we expect that all the problems of the Anglican Communion will be solved in the next two weeks, but an indispensable foundation for the future of the Anglican Communion will be laid.

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The problem for those wanting to comment on what's happening is, of course, that there actually isn't much happening ... yet. (And might not be, if conference organizers end up organzing the conference they've set out to organize!) The bishops are "on retreat" which means they're mostly praying, singing, reflecting or listening to Archbishop of Canterbury waxing spiritual.

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All good things.

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In the meantime, bloggers are reduced to "breaking news" about each other (such as Scott Gunn's "Dave Walker Is Up To Something") and secular journalists are reduced to writing about the fact that there is no news to write about (as noted by Jim Naughton over at Episcopal Cafe in "Can a quiet conference produce 'good stories?'"):

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There is a difference between the public’s right to know and a reporter’s right to a compelling story. My concern for the Lambeth Conference is that a critical mass of reporters—or perhaps just a handful of influential ones—will deem the conference a failure if it does not produce the sort of stories that they want to write, that they will say so repeatedly in the pages of their papers or on their blogs, and that this perception will become reality.

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The only inoculation against this outcome that I can perceive—outside of an unexpected outbreak of forbearance from the British press—are vivid daily media briefings that feature bishops with good gripping stories to tell about how the conference’s theme of the day figures in their lives and ministries, and the lives and ministries of their people.
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Over the next two or three days, be wary of stories purporting to expose secret goings-on, or those that complain of conference policies that keep the media at a distance. There just isn't that much going on yet.

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More to come ... when something happens! :) ... (But there are new photos over at the Lambeth Photo Blog.)

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