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LAMBETH WALK

Canon Jeremy Davies, Precentor (Friday 1st August 2008)

As I write this (as it happens on the thirty-sixth anniversary of my ordination) at the end of June, the Gaflon Conference of dissident Anglicans, rebelling at the perceived un-biblical liberalism of the Anglican communion in the west, is coming to an end in Jerusalem. And as you read this, the Lambeth Conference is well under way at Canterbury. Some of the Gaflon bishops have said they will not attend Lambeth in protest at the presence at the latter conference of bishops who, for example. colluded in the consecration of Bishop Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Visitors to Salisbury Cathedral quite often ask is this a Catholic Church as they recognise liturgy and ceremony and order reminiscent of what they are used to at home. My answer is always yes, this is a Catholic Church – and then follow this with an explanation that the Church of England (if not the Anglican communion) is both Catholic (though not Roman) and reformed. Even Pope John 23rd and subsequent Popes have recognised that 'Anglican' doesn't fit easily into any of the available ecclesiological models. It is sui generis – while also having characteristics that link it to orthodox, catholic and protestant understanding. It has been that breadth of sympathy, that generous inclusiveness, that willingness to talk, share and listen across denominational boundaries, that has made me (and many others) glad to be an Anglican. Others have scoffed at us for "not believing anything, but doing it very well"; have derided our lack of doctrinal definition, our fudges on the great moral questions; our lack of theological coherence. I don't believe we are a church of easy compromise and compromised doctrine (though I recognise how frustrating the Church of England must be to move hard-edged traditions – including sister Churches within the England communion). But the Church of England, true to its theological centre going back beyond the Reformation, and expressed by Richard Hooker in the sixteenth century, and constantly re-expressed by Anglican divines up to and including our own Archbishop Rowan, has always recognised the importance of scripture, tradition and reason. All these are important, and need to be held as constant dialogue, even if that often means constant tension. It will need another article, sermon or lecture, to unpack how those three legs of the tripod interact with each other. But at Lambeth the future of the Anglican Church is a stake, and what the Church of England (much vilified by other parts of the communion) brings to the table, is a sense that without the three strands of the tripod the soul of Anglicanism is lost, and our distinctive contribution to the wider ecumenical scene is lost as well. Lambeth will help us decide whether we are truly Catholic – or not.

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