lambeth

as a one-person-in-christ ecumenical movement, i've been following the proceedings at lambeth the past two weeks fairly closely, because i think the anglicans are bravely doing important work for the whole church, work made much more difficult because we have not addressed many issues late from any seriously theological bases, especially human sexuality and industrial capitalism.

there fore i was encouraged to find these words from brian maclaren, posted on terry martin's blog:

" ...i know that most people think the "news story" here is about divisive controversies over sexuality, but my sense is that the real news story is very different. there is a humble spirit here, a loving atmosphere, a deep spirituality centered in bible study, worship, and prayer, and a strong desire to move beyond internal-institutional matters to substantive mission in our needy world.

in every conversation and gathering I've participated in, the spirit has been kind and holy and positive. that sort of good news doesn't attract the media the way a salacious or pugilistic story does ... it will be interesting to see whether the press reports what is actually happening here, or if they need to rewrite the narrative to fit the shape of war-tales they are more accustomed to telling..."